‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ Season 2 Episode 7 Recap: “Cui Bono”

It’s Episode 7 of The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2, and we’re finally ready to start Lisa Trammell’s murder trial. Wait, it didn’t start already? It’s easy to forget, what with all of the pre-trial hearings, continuances, and legal system maneuvering that have eaten up most of this season. And yet, here we are, on the cusp of Andrea Freemann presenting her case on behalf of the prosecution, and Mickey’s at home preparing breakfast for a very special guest. It’s Elliott Gould as David “Legal” Siegal! Gould represents all of his best qualities as a legendary actor in these small scenes with Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Mickey. He’s irascible, salty, more than aware of how to play dirty – we get the sense the veteran attorney designed all of those plays – and as an old friend of Mickey’s late star lawyer father, aware of his paternal instincts kicking in whenever his advice is sought. And this time around, it’s all about what to do with the letter left anonymously on Mickey Haller’s doorstep. Legal boils it down. “Either someone’s trying to help you, or they’re really trying to fuck with you.”

It’s episode seven of The Lincoln Lawyer season two, and we’re finally ready to start Lisa Trammell’s murder trial. Wait, it didn’t start already? It’s easy to forget, what with all of the pre-trial hearings, continuances, and legal system maneuvering that have eaten up most of this season. And yet, here we are, on the cusp of Andrea Freemann presenting her case on behalf of the prosecution, and Mickey’s at home preparing breakfast for a very special guest. It’s Elliott Gould as David “Legal” Siegal! Gould represents all of his best qualities as a legendary actor in these small scenes with Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Mickey. He’s irascible, salty, more than aware of how to play dirty – we get the sense the veteran attorney designed all of those plays – and as an old friend of Mickey’s late star lawyer father, aware of his paternal instincts kicking in whenever his advice is sought. And this time around, it’s all about what to do with the letter left anonymously on Mickey Haller’s doorstep. Legal boils it down. “Either someone’s trying to help you, or they’re really trying to fuck with you.”

It’s a copy of a letter sent to Alex Grant by Special Agent Felix Vasquez (Hemky Madera) of the FBI, warning the wealthy property owner that he’s a person of interest in a federal investigation. Did Mitchell Bondurant hip the feds to Grant as some kind of business powerplay, which inspired Grant to murder him and frame Lisa for the crime? Maybe. But before Mickey can use the letter in court, he has to establish its provenance, which sends Cisco off on another one of his twisty and enjoyable searches. This time around, Cisco’s gotta bribe a grizzled roadie for backstage passes to a Def Leppard concert – and help the guy move a gong – so he can grease the palm of his connection in the FBI’s LA office. But Donna (Miriam Flynn) is just as formidable on her mobility scooter as Cisco is on his Harley. She’ll authenticate the letter at her own pace.

In court, Freemann has Lisa’s angry words about Bondurant on the day of her arrest, her gardening gloves splattered with Bondurant’s blood traces, and her toolkit with the missing hammer shaped exactly like the blunt instrument that did Bondurant in. Lorna and Mickey are sending Cisco surreptitious texts. They really need that letter. But Mickey’s stalling tactics pay off when it finally arrives and he uses it to cast doubt on Detective O’Brien’s testimony in the eyes of the jury. If Grant is being looked at by the feds, why wasn’t he considered a suspect in Bondurant’s murder? And now that The Lincoln Lawyer is actually spending most of its time in a courtroom, the promised battle between Mickey Haller and Andrea Freemann is proving worth the wait. Defense counsel and criminal prosecutor trade off shouting “Objection!” as they each work to influence witness testimony, and YaYa DaCosta plays Freeman with a crisp, cold professionalism that highlights how many cards Andrea is holding in comparison to Haller’s progressively weaker hand. FBI letter or not, all of Mickey’s maneuvers feel reactive, not proactive. 

There might have been even more showboating from the lawyers, were it not for Judge Teresa Medina (Marlene Forte) running a no nonsense courtroom. She agrees with Mickey that the letter is valuable, and that it connects a few errant dots. “But I am warning you. Do not turn this trial into a circus. The minute you cross the line from fact to conjecture, I will cut you off. I hope you know what you’re doing.” And while he’s definitely been giving ground to the prosecution, Mickey usually manages to make the most effective moves when he needs them. Besides, he’s taken to wearing his father’s old law school ring that Hayley unearthed in an old cigar box. That’s gotta bring him a bit of hotshot LA defense attorney luck, right? Right?  

Mickey definitely believes that he’s flipped Henry Dahl as an asset. As he told him last episode (The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2 Episode 6, “Withdrawal”), Dahl works for him how, after the contract-stealing scheme and the podcaster’s financial ties to Grant were uncovered by Cisco. He orders Henry to get a message to Grant, that the defense has nothing concrete on him, even though Mickey thinks he does. It feels like something the old Mickey would’ve done, the guy who lawyered out of his Lincoln, the guy who stayed out of the spotlight. The guy who enjoyed practicing law and enacting justice at street level. But here on the big stage of a splashy and very public murder trial, and up against a very, very tough prosecutor who holds a wealth of evidence – and remember, this is the dude who began this season relishing his cover star status for Los Angeles Lawyer magazine – it’s not clear that Mickey’s improvisational moves on the fringes will continue to work in his favor. Put another way, he’s way overconfident. And when Mickey arrives at the courthouse the next morning, it’s to the revelation that Andrea Freemann has entered into evidence yet another huge piece in her favor. 

She’s got the missing hammer from Lisa’s toolkit. And Mitchell Bondurant’s blood is all over that, too.  

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges