NOTE: this post contains spoilers for The Lincoln Lawyer season 2 episode 7, "Cui Bono."
Lisa's (Lana Parrilla) murder trial is officially underway, and Mickey (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) gets some mysterious help from the FBI in his defense case. Although he thinks it will be enough to help win, he's blindsided by Andrea's (Yaya DaCosta) bombshell piece of new evidence. Elsewhere, Izzy (Jazz Raycole) receives some terrible news.
Here's what happened.
Mickey gets help from the FBI
Mickey arrives home to find a mysterious envelope on his front steps. He goes over its contents the following day as he's eating breakfast with family friend, Legal Siegal (Elliott Gould). Turns out it's a copy of an FBI target letter addressed to Alex Grant (Michael A. Goorjian) letting the construction company owner know he's a person of interest in a federal investigation. Legal Siegal says either the letter is real and coming from someone trying to help in Lisa's defense or it's fake coming from someone trying to mess with Mickey. It's up to Mickey to determine the truth.
Mickey tasks Cisco (Angus Sampson) with getting to the bottom of this latest mystery. As Cisco is trying to work his magic, the attorney is in court as the trial has officially started. Mickey's short-term mission is to stall and give Cisco enough time to verify the letter so Mickey can eventually introduce it during the trial. Unfortunately, as Detective O’Brien (Darien Sills-Evans) testifies for the prosecution, the more desperate Mickey becomes to get the letter authenticated, as the detective does some damage on the witness stand.
While testifying for the prosecution, the detective reveals that he found a coffee cop from Cafe Maurice (a coffee shop frequented by Lisa) and a shard of glass assumed to be from a side view mirror of a car at the scene of the crime. Additionally, the security footage in the garage isn't great, which leads Detective O'Brien to believe the killer entered the garage on foot. Finally, when Lisa was initially interviewed by the police, she lied about having seen Bondurant the day of his murder.
By the time Mickey starts cross-examining O'Brien, he still hasn't heard from Cisco. In an effort to buy time, the defense attorney then proceeds to ask questions about evidence collection in the case, which seems to wear on the patience of the judge. Lorna (Becki Newton) for her part, is sitting in court frantically texting Cisco for updates.
Cisco's special contact directs him to a restaurant where he waits, hoping someone shows up with the information he needs. Just as he feels he's being stood up, a man that's been sitting close by eating introduces himself as FBI Agent Vasquez (Hemky Madera). When Cisco asks him directly about the target letter sent to Alex, Agent Vasquez refuses to comment about an ongoing investigation and won't confirm or deny the authenticity of the document.
After asking for a brief recess in court, Lorna relays this information to Mickey who decides a non-denial from the agent is good enough to bring it up during the trial. Before Mickey gets too far though, Andrea objects and asks to verify the authenticity of the document herself. The judge gives her until the end of lunch. To Andrea's dismay, the letter is verified.
As the court reconvenes, Mickey asks O'Brien if he knew Bondurant sent Alex an email threatening to report the latter's suspicious activity. The detective brushes off the email claiming other evidence pointed to Lisa's guilt. Mickey then goes in for the kill and brings up the FBI target letter.
Bondurant sent the threatening email on January 10 and the FBI sent Alex the letter on January 18. Mickey carefully points out the not-so-coincidental timing here, questioning the detective about whether or not he gave adequate consideration to the possibility Alex or someone else could be behind Bondurant's murder. Although O’Brien ultimately reaffirms the way he conducted the investigation, it's clear to the courtroom not enough attention was paid to suspects besides Lisa.
The following day, Andrea calls Vasquez to the stand to testify. He claims that just because Alex was sent a target letter it doesn't mean he's done anything wrong, and when asked, the agent claims Alex is not under investigation — "technically."
Of course, Mickey follows up with Vasquez about the "technically" comment. Vasquez confirms the FBI doesn't usually send target letters to people they believe are completely innocent. When Mickey asks if the FBI plans to open an investigation into Alex, Vasquez responds he won't answer any questions that "might compromise an ongoing FBI operation." Andrea looks gutted by Vasquez's testimony.
During a chance encounter between Mickey and Vasquez in the courthouse bathroom, the latter alludes the FBI made sure to get Mickey a copy of the target letter before the trial as the organization is eager to hear what Alex may say once he takes the stand in the Bondurant case. The federal agency considers Mickey to be doing them a favor as they keep tabs on Alex.
Izzy gets bad news
As all the legal drama unfolds with Lisa's trial, Izzy is preparing to walk into her dream of owning a dance studio. Despite Ray (Shelby Lee Parks) no longer being involved, Izzy still has the money she saved and the money Mickey allowed her to keep that Henry (Matt Angel) gave to Ray to steal the power of attorney contact.
Unfortunately, upon meeting the building manager, Izzy is given the bad news that the dance studio space is no longer available for the price she agreed to, and she's unable to afford the higher rent. So for now, it looks like Izzy's dream will be deferred.
Andrea thinks she has a "smoking gun"
Up until this point, the prosecution's case has lacked one key component — a murder weapon. While crime scene investigators have guessed the weapon was a hammer, they've been unable to locate it. However, working in Andrea's favor in this regard is the fact that the infamous toolkit pulled from Lisa's home is missing a hammer.
In the final moments of the episode, Andrea requests a meeting in the judge's chambers. As Mickey walks into the room, the prosecutor unveils to the judge and Mickey she wants to introduce a new piece of evidence. Naturally, Mickey objects, but Andrea is insistent the evidence is incredibly important. That's when Detective O'Brien walks in carrying a bag containing the now-found murder weapon, which is indeed a hammer.
The Lincoln Lawyer season 2 part 2 is now streaming on Netflix.
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