In The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 episode 1, "La Culebra," Mickey (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) tries to figure out who Julian La Cosse (Devon Graye) is and whether or not he was a friend or foe to the late Giselle, aka Glory Days (Fiona Rene). The hotshot attorney knows if Julian didn't kill Glory Days, then there's likely a more sinister culprit responsible, which means Mickey and his team may be in danger. As if this situation couldn't get worse, an enemy from Mickey's past resurfaces, possibly making attempts to discover the truth more complicated.
Elsewhere, Mickey gets another blast from the past thanks to Hayley (Krista Warner), and this person turns out to be a gift as he becomes Mickey's new driver. In fact, he's on hand when Mickey makes a chilling discovery.
Here's what happened in The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 episode 1.
Going back in time
It's 15 years in the past, and Maggie (Neve Campbell), married to Mickey at the time, approaches him on the beach, wanting to know if he can pick up a young Hayley from daycare as their nanny has the flu. He's hesitant as he's the public defender for a man named Barnett Woodsen (Anthony Darrell) during a preliminary hearing, but Mickey eventually agrees to do it.
While in court, Detective Bishop (Holt McCallany) is telling the prosecution about the night he found the murder weapon in Woodsen's car trunk. Mickey cross-examines the detective, and the officer testifies they had a warrant to search Woodsen's home, including the garage where his car was allegedly parked. The attorney then asks about the weather that night. Bishop says it was raining when he served Barnett the search warrant at 10:30 pm.
Mickey pulls out a report from the National Weather Service stating it started raining at 11 pm and a photo of Woodsen's wet car in the garage after police arrived at his home. As it turns out, Woodsen's car was parked on the street in front of his home the night of the search, meaning the police didn't have a warrant to look inside it as it wasn't in the garage. The case is dismissed.
Afterward, Bishop confronts Mickey in the bathroom and tells him, "These tricks you play Haller, somebody’s gonna end up dead because of you. Maybe you should think about that."
How did Julian know Glory Days?
In the present, Mickey is in a holding room asking Julian how he knew Glory Days. Julian says he knew her as Giselle and she was his client, meeting through a mutual friend named Stacy. He has a background in coding and he was Glory Days' manager/facilitator. When she got a new prospect in her line of work, Julian would do a quick verification of the man in an effort to remove some of the danger in prostitution. All Julian asked for was 20% of whatever she charged for her services.
Mickey hopes to speak with Stacy, but for now, he wants to hear about what happened the night Glory Days was murdered. Julian says he went to her home to collect money she owed him, but stresses he didn't beat her up. He alleges she was high and actually the aggressor that night, but he only slightly pushed her away to create space. The two went back and forth over the fact she had two prospects she was scheduled to meet that day, but she only gave him money for verifying one of them. She claimed the second man never showed, but Julian didn't believe her. Julian eventually left Glory Days' home around 11 pm.
Mickey isn't sure what to think, but agrees to represent Julian at least at the arraignment as he tries to figure out if he'll take on the murder case.
Mickey's murder theory
Mickey arrives home and sees the postcard he got from Glory Days from her time in Hawai'i. He looks at it thoughtfully before he gets a call from the hospital about Legal Siegal (Elliott Gould).
At the hospital, Legal shares he has some minor heart disorders, but assures he's fine. He's more interested in hearing about what Mickey has going on, so Mickey goes right into it. Mickey explains he noticed the postcard wasn't actually mailed from Hawai'i but Van Nuys. He suspects Glory Days never left LA and stayed in her line of work. Mickey then floats the name Hector Moya as Glory Days' possible killer. The lawyer recalls once persuading Glory Days to snitch on the drug cartel leader so she didn't have to spend time in prison. He thinks it's possible Hector killed her as revenge.
The next day in Mickey's office, Izzy (Jazz Raycole) opens a box from Julian's boyfriend David (Wolé Parks) and finds a gold bar as payment for Mickey's fee. Lorna (Becki Newton) and Cisco (Angus Sampson) walk in, taken aback that a client would pay in gold (which turns out to be worth $56,000). After Mickey fills them in on Glory Days’ death and Julian, he theorizes that Hector is involved. After doing some research, Mickey discovers Hector isn't in the state prison database. That means Hector is either in federal custody or he cut a deal to snitch on someone else and is walking around free.
Meet Eddie
After getting a call from Hayley, Mickey shows up at a Beverly Hills courtroom to represent Eddie (Allyn Moriyon), the son of Hayley's former babysitter. Eddie's been charged with carjacking, which he vehemently denies. According to Eddie, he went to a swanky restaurant to meet a waiter friend, then a guy in a Lamborghini drove up and tossed his keys to him, assuming Eddie was the valet. Eddie eventually parked the car, but not before taking a joyride, which the prosecution is sure to mention.
Things are looking bad for Eddie until the car owner takes the stand and shares a story about being carjacked at a stoplight by Eddie and him eventually making it home to his sleeping wife. Eddie whispers to Mickey the woman the man points to is not the woman he was with that night at the restaurant. Mickey then grills the car owner.
Noting the car owner confirmed he doesn't own a smart home, Mickey asks how he was able to get into his house. The owner says his keys, and Mickey reminds him that he stated Eddie took the keys when he carjacked him. Pressing the issue further, it's revealed the man did toss Eddie a set of valet keys as he walked into the restaurant with his mistress. The prosecutor agrees to plea Eddie out for a lesser crime for the joy ride, with no time in prison.
As Eddie and Mickey rejoin Lorna, Hayley and Izzy back in his office, Izzy mentions that Eddie should repay Mickey by becoming his new driver. Lorna and Hayley back the idea when they find out Eddie has a black belt in judo, feeling Mickey could use some protection. Mickey agrees to hire him.
Mickey’s in danger
Cisco meets with Mickey and Lorna and reveals the coroner's report states Glory Days was strangled to death between 11 pm and 3 am. Julian has already admitted he was in her apartment at 11. Cisco further shares he spoke with Glory Days' neighbor, who shared that on the night in question, there was a fire in Glory Days' apartment. The fire department initially attributed it to Glory Days smoking, but Cisco points out that it was impossible for Glory Days to smoke then.
With this information, Mickey pays Julian another visit. Julian says Glory Days' two clients on the day of her death were Brad Nelson, whom she met with, and Daniel Brice, whom she said never showed up. Julian claims he discovered she lied about meeting Daniel.
Mickey then pivots back to Julian's account of pushing Glory Days off him, and Julian eventually confesses he pushed her away by her neck, infuriating Mickey. Julian assures him he's no murderer and Glory Days was alive when he left her apartment. Although Mickey is still not sure Julian is telling the truth, he agrees to represent him.
When Mickey walks with Lorna through the courthouse, he asks her who the prosecutor is on the case. She fumbles through her briefcase and he spots Bishop, who's no longer a detective. Bishop is now an investigator with the DA's office and is looking into the Glory Days case.
As the episode concludes, Eddie is dropping Mickey off at home when Mickey notices his front door is open. The two men search through the ransacked house in utter shock. Mickey is further surprised when he goes to his bedroom, lifts up a pillow and discovers a rattlesnake.
The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.
