With only two episodes left in The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2, we’re really getting down to it in the courtroom. Andrea Freemann has rested the prosecution’s case against Lisa Trammell, and it’s strong, with Henry Dahl’s nagging, late in the game appearance on the witness stand only making it stronger. Mickey, having already accelerated into aggression mode to try and regain some traction, has decided to break his cardinal rule and call his defendant to the stand. And now, with Lisa Trammell sworn in, he has to trust that her life story will unlock some sensitivity in the jury. He plays it sensitive, too, his questions offering Lisa the chance to describe her early life in the Los Angeles enclave of Frogtown, where her family home and her cabinet maker father’s workshop shared the space she lives and works in today as the chef-owner of Elysian Restaurant. “That’s why I didn’t want to sell it, to Mitchell Bondurant or anyone,” Lisa says of the encroaching gentrification in the area that started this whole mess, and brows soften in the jury box. She admits that she detested Bondurant and his disruptive tactics. “But I just wanted to save my home.”
Her testimony certainly resonates with the jury. But this latest round of courtroom maneuvering also becomes a showcase for YaYa DaCosta and Lana Parilla, who as Andrea Freemann and Lisa Trammell bring a spectrum of wonderful subtleties to bear. With Mickey doing the questioning, Lisa warmed to defending herself, and hit all the right emotional beats. But Freemann is cold-blooded on the cross. As the prosecutor, DaCosta speaks quietly at first, but it’s a masterful tension builder, and Lisa becomes increasingly unsettled as the questions continue, finally exploding with anger and curses when Andrea brings Jeff Trammell’s name into the mix. For this chef, it’s like seeing a simmering pot hit its boiling point and keep on going. And when the prosecutor performs a similar feat with Lisa’s sous chef on the stand, disorienting him with a string of gripey, long-forgotten Facebook posts that contradict the praise he showered on his boss, Mickey really starts to sweat.
“The universe is aligning in my favor. The universe is aligning in my favor.” Lorna’s mantra in the courtroom hall as people hurry by is classic Lorna, and it ends up doing some good, because Cisco arrives from the airport just in time. On the stand is Dr. Miriam Arslanian (Anna Khaja), an expert witness Mickey last deployed in Lincoln Lawyer season one during the Trevor Elliott trial, and Cisco has hauled her forensic test dummy “Manny” into the room. There’s no way Lisa could’ve struck the much taller Mitchell Bondurant on the top of his head with a hammer, as Dr. Arslanian illustrates in a lively courtroom sequence. But Freeman deftly reclaims the narrative, removing her heels to match Lisa’s height and showing how it actually could be done. If there ends up being a third season of Lincoln Lawyer – no word on that yet – here’s hoping DaCosta returns as the prosecutor Mickey Haller has yet to best in the courtroom.
Lucky for him, his risky gambit to take down Alex Grant is much more successful. Presented in an enjoyable flashback sequence, with Lorna and Mickey delivering a play-by-play to David “Legal” Siegel in the present, we see how the plan unfolded, drawing Grant in by stroking his considerable ego, only to hit him with a left hook and a right cross. Armenian mob ties and photographic proof of his proximity to Bondurant and the murder scene. Like Andrea did with Lisa, Mickey steadily increases the pressure on Grant, until the slick rich guy with an answer for everything fully breaks, and to the prosecutor’s chagrin – “Overruled, Ms. Freemann!” – he becomes the Fifth witness of this episode’s title. It was a bold move, and Siegel grades it a D-minus for legal ethics but an A-plus for strategy. “If the defense puts somebody else on the stand and corners them into taking the Fifth, there’s no way the jury is not gonna think that they’re guilty of something.” And with that, the defense rests.
There are still more wrinkles. Like a building inspector with a handful of too convenient links to Alex Grant, Lisa Trammell, and Mitchell Bondurant, who has himself suddenly gone missing. But even if Cisco manages to locate that guy, it’ll be almost impossible to do anything about in the courtroom because Mickey already rested the case. No, what matters now is the closing argument of the defense, because Andrea Freemann once again claimed all the energy in the room with the prosecution’s. Can Mickey appeal to the jury’s sentiment one last time? Can he encourage them to search their hearts for what he believes is true, that Lisa really didn’t murder Bondurant? Mickey’s been doing this lawyering thing a long time, and he’s confident that he can. But just because you’re not guilty of one thing doesn’t mean you’re innocent of everything.
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
