Netflix‘s The Lincoln Lawyer takes an interesting turn in Season 4. Although the plot revolves around Mickey Haller more than ever before—since Mickey finds himself on trial for murder—there are multiple times where everyone else steals the show. Season 4 is just as much about how Mickey’s friends and associates affect him.

This Michael Connelly adaptation is based on Connelly’s novel The Law of Innocence, and it’s the season that showrunners Ted Humphrey and Dailyn Rodriguez have clearly been building the whole series toward. It couldn’t have been told without the previous three cycles of plot and world construction. But with Mickey initially behind bars (it’s no spoiler to say he’s not in there the whole season), other characters have to carry the weight, and it opens up the series to new perspectives.

Becki Newton gets the most to do, as Lorna Crane is forced to take over all of Mickey’s open cases—and gets plenty of grief for not being him. At one point she’s disparagingly referred to as “Legally Blonde.” This is an opportunity for audiences to reflect on how much Lorna has grown over the series, becoming a lawyer herself and now running the firm.

Yet the best performance of the season comes from Neve Campbell as Maggie McPherson. Along similar lines, Mickey’s predicament allows for more exploration of Maggie’s character. But there are also other parts to Maggie’s story, such as her budding romance with Jack Gilroy (a very well-cast Jason O’Mara, The Good Wife and The Man in the High Castle) and her trying to protect daughter Hayley from the public scrutiny that comes with Mickey’s case being splashed all over the news. Campbell reminds viewers how Maggie earned the “McFierce” nickname, yet she’s equally great in the necessary vulnerable scenes with Mickey and Lorna. This season really belongs to Lorna and Maggie, and seeing them flourish also makes it easier to accept that Yaya DaCosta’s Andrea “Andy” Freeman does not return—because as great as Andy was (and DaCosta is), this is not her story. Lorna and Maggie are the real emotional core of Season 4.

Guest character-wise, it is very hard to top what Holt McCallany was able to accomplish last season. But The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4 still has a lineup that will delight any TV fan. Constance Zimmer is perfectly cast as “Death Row” Dana Berg, the prosecutor on Mickey’s case. Dana is Robin Larkin, Zimmer’s character in Condor, on steroids. She fulfills the expected ruthless adversary archetype, while making it a blast to watch. Elsewhere, NCIS and Rizzoli & Isles star Sasha Alexander arrives as an FBI agent whose character gets more interesting as she goes on. Scott Lawrence (JAG) is a pretty interesting judge. Elliott Gould returns as Mickey’s mentor, Legal. And Jason Butler Harner plays this season’s cynical detective. Part of the watch value of Season 4 is just enjoying the work of all these familiar faces.

The elephant in the room, though, is the unavoidable element of predictability. Audiences know that Mickey can’t stay in jail for too long, or actor Manuel Garcia-Rulfo wouldn’t have a lot to do, and likewise they’re aware that there’s only so far the story can be stretched given that Netflix has already announced The Lincoln Lawyer Season 5. (It might have been better to keep that renewal quiet for a week or so and let viewers sit in suspense until they got to the end of Season 4.) But the way Humphrey, Rodriguez and their writers work around this is to make the journey the real point of the season. Of course the trial and the end result matter, but Season 4 is more of an examination of how everyone in Mickey’s orbit has changed. He’s still the center of the show but not quite so much anymore, and that’s okay; four seasons in, it would be odd if the other characters couldn’t stand on their own.

The only serious problem with The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4 is that occasionally it leans too much into its sense of humor, particularly in the early going. Mickey is a lighter character than Connelly’s other heroes Harry Bosch and Renee Ballard, but sometimes a scene doesn’t need that pithy comeback, or an aside runs a little too long, like one phone call between Mickey and his mother. These disjointed beats wind up taking fans out of the story. Season 4 is also slower to gain its momentum than prior seasons; a lot of Episode 1 is spent illustrating the new normal, and it takes almost the whole hour before the plot really kicks off. But for the most part, Season 4 is the tipping point for Mickey Haller’s Netflix journey, and audiences will find it satisfying to see the tables turned on him—and watch everyone else step up to the plate.

The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4 is now streaming on Netflix. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Netflix.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.