The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 premiered with a bang, with the first episode ending on a terrifying note for Mickey (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo). The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 episode 2, "Special Circumstances," sees his team stepping in to save the day on more than one occasion.
As Lorna (Becki Newton), Cisco (Angus Sampson) and Izzy (Jazz Raycole) use their connections to get more information about what actually happened to Glory Days (Fiona Rene) and who was responsible for her murder, Legal Siegal’s (Elliott Gould) advice helps Mickey win an "unwinnable" case.
Elsewhere, Mickey finds himself getting closer to a surprising opponent from his past. Is there new love on the horizon? Here’s a full breakdown of The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 episode 2.
Mickey gives the marching orders
The day after Mickey’s house was broken into, Mickey attempts to reassure Izzy and Lorna that everything is fine, even if he’s secretly not so sure. The police are investigating the incident and Cisco is working with a team to put up security cameras around Mickey's house. Additionally, Mickey firmly believes someone ransacking his home is a sign that Julian (Devon Graye) is innocent.
Mickey calls Cisco and asks him to look into Brad Nelson and Daniel Price, the last two clients Glory Days was supposed to meet at The Roosevelt Hotel. Cisco agrees, but says it will be hard to get footage or information from the hotel without a subpoena. Mickey wants him to do what he can without a subpoena, as getting one may draw attention from the wrong people.
When the lawyer rejoins Izzy and Lorna, Izzy hands Mickey a case file for Oscar Guerrero, a habitual robber. Lorna is surprised Mickey is still representing him given Oscar’s shady disposition. Although Lorna questions if Mickey can get Oscar off for his crimes, the hotshot attorney is confident he can shake the prosecution’s main witness.
Before Mickey leaves for court, he asks Izzy if she found any state files on Hector Moya. She says no. He thinks there's proof the feds took over Hector’s case and believes the best way to confirm that is by going to the federal appellate court in Pasadena. Lorna has a better idea to get the information.
Legal Siegal’s old-school tactics propel Mickey to victory
During Oscar’s trial, Mickey questions Mrs. Welton (Mary Beth Evans), the alleged victim of Oscar’s armed robbery. He makes her read aloud the statement she gave the police and notes she described the gun pulled on her in great detail, but only said the suspect was Latino and in his 30s. Additionally, Mickey calls attention to her not wearing glasses during the crime and her being a housewife, not coming in contact with many people from the Latino community.
Mrs. Welton is fully aware Mickey is trying to discredit her and she responds in force, claiming she is absolutely certain Oscar robbed her. In fact, she was wearing her contacts during the home invasion and claims her eyesight is better with those than with the glasses. An unusually deflated Mickey heads back to the defense table where Oscar is loudly fuming, thinking Mickey blew his case. Oscar becomes so enraged he tackles Mickey to the ground and punches him in the face. Court officers swoop in and take Oscar out of the courtroom, and the presiding judge declares a mistrial, citing there’s no way a jury can be unbiased having seen Oscar attack his lawyer.
Mickey walks out of the court grinning when he bumps into Andrea Freeman (Yaya DaCosta), who notes the blood on Mickey’s shirt. He says it’s been a rough couple of days. When she has those she goes to Cole’s French Dip. He jokingly asks if that’s where she went after he beat her during the Lisa Trammell case. She smiles and walks away.
Later, Eddie (Allyn Moriyon) drives Mickey to pick up Legal, who is being released from the hospital. In the car, Legal and Mickey laugh over Legal’s advice working. As it turns out, Legal suggested Mickey provoke his client to anger in open court to get a mistrial. Legal guesses having seen Oscar’s rage, Mrs. Welton won’t want to testify again, meaning the prosecution will probably offer a plea deal. Instead of 15 years in prison, Oscar is now looking at five.
Izzy helps Cisco get the goods
Cisco goes to The Roosevelt Hotel manager and tries nudging him into handing over a copy of the hotel security footage from the night Glory Days died. The manager refuses to cough up any video without a court order.
Back in the office, Cisco and Lorna recap with Mickey and Izzy what they found out about the two men who were supposed to meet Glory Days. Brad Nelson is really Brad Parsons of Des Moines, Iowa, a management consultant for an agricultural company. During the murder, he was on a plane back home. Cisco was unable to find anything on Daniel Pierce. Mickey appreciates the work from Cisco, but when he asks about the hotel footage, Cisco of course has nothing to share. Moments later, Izzy steps up saying she may have a way to get the video.
Izzy meets with her friend Ty at a coffee shop and asks him about his connections at the hotel. He’s unwilling to help her unless she spills some gossip about Mickey, which she’s not willing to do. Izzy then threatens to tell his boss he used to hook her and others up with Oxy. He reluctantly helps her and she texts Cisco a name.
With that information, Cisco goes back to the hotel manager and offers to share the name of the employee who’s been leaking information to the tabloids if the manager shares the security footage. The manager agrees. When Cisco is finally unable to sift through all the video, it becomes clear that Glory Days was being followed by a mysterious man in all black and she was being honest with Julian when she said Daniel Pierce never showed.
Mickey suffers a blow in court
Mickey and Lorna show up in court for Julian’s arraignment. Mickey is confident he can get Julian bail after seeing a clumsy and meek William Forsythe (John Pirruccello) as the prosecution. However, when the hearing begins, Mickey is stunned when William amends the charges against Julian to include a special circumstances allegation. William goes on to say an incendiary device was used to set fire to Glory Days’ apartment, and the smoke inhalation is what actually killed her, not the strangulation as Cisco originally was told.
Because of the special circumstances charge, the judge is not able to offer Julian bail, which means he’ll have to stay in prison, and it may take eight months for the trial to even start. It’s a crushing blow to Julian and his husband David (Wolé Parks). After being consoled by Mickey, David shares the contact information for Stacy Campbell (Alexandra Siegel), the person who introduced Glory Days and Julian.
Over a very expensive dinner at Nobu, Stacy shares she knew Glory Days as Glenda when they worked together during a topless Wizard of Oz show. The two of them lost contact for a while, but after the Russell Lawson case, they reconnected. Glory Days mentioned if Mickey found out she was still in LA and not Hawai'i, "it would all unravel." The word unravel leaves Mickey rattled.
What happened to Hector Moya? Plus, Mickey's potential new romance
Lorna meets up with a law school classmate at a Korean spa. As it so happens, the friend works for a federal judge in Pasadena, but is off for the day for a judicial conference. After buttering the friend up a bit, Lorna asks her to happy hour. A drunk Lorna eventually stumbles into the office with a federal case file on Hector Moya.
Apparently, the feds took over Hector’s case based on an outstanding federal warrant. He was busted for a small amount of cocaine that was likely only going to carry five years, but a gun enhancement charge was added as authorities found an unlicensed gun in his possession. Furthermore, the gun was connected to a triple homicide in Nevada. He got life in prison, and Mickey thinks the sentence is enough reason for him to have wanted Glory Days dead.
By the episode’s end, Mickey sits for a sandwich at Cole’s French Dip. It doesn’t take long for Andrea to show up and laugh about Mickey taking her earlier advice about the restaurant. They exchange some playful banter and he asks her to join him. She initially declines, fearing what her nearby colleagues from the DA’s office would say, and walks away. She quickly returns and tells him to scoot over.
The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 is streaming on Netflix.
