‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ Season 2 Episode 8 Recap: “Covenants & Stipulations”

With the admission of the blood-spattered murder weapon by the prosecution at the conclusion of The Lincoln Lawyer Episode 7 (“Cui Bono”) – “to whom is it a benefit?” – Mickey Haller is staring down even more damning evidence in Lisa Trammell’s murder case, and he takes the opportunity to perform an interesting and humorous little assault of his own. How’s this for meta? A TV lawyer shitting on a TV show that exists simultaneously in our world and in his. “Juries today grew up on all of that CSI bullshit,” he gripes to Cisco outside the courtroom. “They see blood evidence, forget it. The gloves were bad enough. But this?” Motive, means, and opportunity – prosecutor Andrea Freemann has them all. So Mickey, already floundering, decides to ratchet up the boorish attitude. Maybe his past as the street fighting man of the legal profession still burns. Maybe he really does still got that dog in him. 

As Mickey lays into the prosecution’s witnesses with a forceful cross-examination – “Oh, so suddenly the hammer just shows up?” – Lorna is like WTF? (She literally shows him this, scrawled on her legal pad). He undercuts Freemann’s lines of questioning with an equal amount of aggression, stipulating aloud that the hammer is definitely Lisa’s and the blood is definitely Mitchell Bondurant’s. His usual suave self couldn’t make it to court today. But honestly it’s refreshing to see him take this tack. Freemann was going to bring the hammer into the proceedings, anyway, Mickey tells Lorna later. His harsh tone only made it so she couldn’t parade a bunch of DNA nerds and lab experts in front of the jury like their case was a casting call for the latest CSI franchise.

“Miguelito!” Speaking of casting calls, Mickey’s telenovela actress mother Elena (Angélica María) has arrived unannounced to take part in the surprise birthday party Hayley planned for her dad, who famously hates his birthday. (In a funny aside, Izzy learns that Mickey hates his birthday because Elena always made it about her, which is precisely what plays out in the conference room at Haller & Associates.) At first, Mickey is grateful to duck out of the festive scene when his phone rings. But then he finds out who’s calling. It’s Lisa’s ex-husband, Jeff Trammell (Adam J. Harrington), who has materialized out of nowhere. Seriously, Cisco couldn’t even find this guy. He had an associate searching high and low in Ensenada for Jeff, to no avail. Suddenly standing in the lobby of Mickey’s building, Jeff’s story has also changed. He wants to testify on Lisa’s behalf, “for a piece of what’s next.” Mickey’s eyes narrow. This guy’s just here for a payout from Henry Dahl’s true crime podcast. If Jeff wants to actually be honest, maybe he can use him on the stand. Until then, “Fuck off.”

In a sidebar to the increasingly aggressive legal proceedings of the Trammell case, Lorna finds a moment to apply her burgeoning legal skill set to a predicament of Izzy’s. Her dance studio dreams were nearly dashed when ex-girlfriend Ray became a foil for Dahl, accepting a bribe to let him steal the rights contract from the Navigator. But even though it was Dahl’s cash that Ray paid Izzy with for her part of the studio down payment, the money was still good. Why not move ahead solo? And Izzy did, only to be shaken down by the property manager for an unlawful and blatantly racist rent increase. Which is where Lorna comes in. When the blonde white lady receives no such pushback, the women expose the manager’s unlawful discrimination, cite the Fair Housing Act, and insinuate they’ll alert the press. The rent increase disappears, Izzy secures the studio, and her future is looking bright.

Which brings us back to the courtroom, where the saga of Jeff Trammell comes up anyway. A bitter neighbor of Lisa’s says she always used to hear them fighting, which plays right into Freemann’s characterization of the defendant as aggressive and willing to act on her temper. But the more aggressive side of Mickey is still up for a fight, too, and he destroys that witness’s credibility by getting her to admit she lost out on a million bucks when Lisa wouldn’t sell her adjacent property to Bondurant. It’s a win for the defense, but proves insignificant when smarmy Henry Dahl resurfaces, this time as a witness for the prosecution. And the audio he plays of his podcast interviews with Lisa further paint her as a sworn enemy of Mitchell Bondurant. With this case, and in this season of Lincoln Lawyer, every time Mickey wins, there’s a corresponding loss. And with Dahl’s appearance on the stand, who Haller refuses to cross-examine nearly out of spite, Andrea Freemann rests the prosecution’s case. 

“I have to come out swinging. We’re halfway through Friday afternoon. I can’t let the jury go home for the weekend with Dahl’s podcast in their heads. I have to take a risk.” Mickey is about to break one of his cardinal rules, and Lorna knows it. It’s another WTF moment as she questions his intentions. She says it’s not a risk, but a brazen heel turn that indicates the professional codes he has long established no longer apply. But Mickey puts his pedal down and shifts into third gear. “You’re right, they don’t. I’m a different lawyer now and this is my call.” Back inside the courtroom, Judge Medina asks whether the defense is ready to call its first witness.

“The defense calls Lisa Trammell to the stand.” 

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