NOTE: this post contains spoilers for The Lincoln Lawyer season 2 episode 2, "Obligations."
After crossing paths with Russell Lawson (David Clayton Rogers), Mickey (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) was desperate to find a way to neutralize this new threat while keeping his family safe and career intact. Fortunately, after paying a visit to family friend Legal Siegal (Elliott Gould), Mickey sets into motion perhaps his most brilliant scheme to date, impacting the lives of three clients. Elsewhere, Lorna (Becki Newton) confronts her past and Mickey gets a Lisa (Lana Parrilla) surprise.
Here's what happened.
There's a new threat in town
Lorna gives Mickey a call informing him the witness known as Glory Days (Fiona Rene), the woman who testified against dirty cop Detective Lankford (Jamie McShane) in season 1, had been arrested on a drug changes. Upon arriving at the jail where she is being detained, Glory Days tells Mickey she was arrested for cocaine possession after a new client gave it to her while partying at his home.
Mickey convinces Glory Days to shed light on this new client as there is a possibility the district attorney's office would cut her a deal if they can go after the bigger fish. She drops the name Hector Moya. When Cisco (Angus Sampson) does some background on this mystery guy, it turns out Hector Moya is Hector Moreno, a major player in the Tijuana Cartel.
Mickey lays a brilliant trap for Russell
Seeking help for his Russell problem, Mickey meets Legal Siegal at a tennis court. Mickey shares his ethical dilemma, presenting the information as a hypothetical situation. In no uncertain terms, Legal Siegal tells Mickey if he turns Russell into the police for murder to save innocent man Jésus Menendez (Saul Huezo), Mickey would be disbarred. Even if he weren't, no one would ever seek his legal counsel again. With that, Mickey does some thinking, making sure to tell no one his plans.
First, he goes to see Maggie (Neve Campbell) with a proposition. He shares with her that he needs Glory Days to receive immunity for her current crimes if she agrees to offer information on the Tijuana Cartel. Maggie agrees to see what she can do, ultimately making the deal. On top of that, Mickey convinces Maggie to get the police department to monitor Glory Days while she's at home to protect her from retaliation from the cartel.
Prior to Glory Days being released from lockup, Detective Griggs (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine) pays her a visit in regard to Jésus and the Martha Renteria case. Griggs believes Mickey will be joining the duo in their conversation, given she's a key witness in proving Jésus is innocent. Instead, Mickey blows him off.
During Griggs’ meeting with Glory Days, the latter works with a sketch artist that accompanies Griggs and a composite sketch is drafted that looks exactly like Russell.
Back at Mickey's law office, Lorna takes a call from her boss. He instructs her to notify Russell to come pick up an important document in regard to a recent parking ticket that is laying on Mickey's desk. As it turns out, Russell apparently went to the office offscreen and picked up the ticket, but also saw a document that pretty much identified Glory Days as someone that pointed to Russell as the real murderer of Martha.
Upon her release from jail, Glory Days goes home. After showering she receives a knock on the door from her food delivery guy. He leaves the food on her front step and walks away. Despite believing it was safe to pick up her food, she's attacked by Russell, who wields a knife. The two get into a heated battle until the police Maggie sent to montior Glory Day's house burst in and rescue her.
Russell is carried off in cuffs, meaning Mickey effectively got Glory Days out of prison, Jésus officially declared an innocent man and his Russell problem neutralized. The attorney did it all without compromising his job, which he is sure to brag to Russell about later.
Lorna confronts her past
In The Lincoln Lawyer season 2 episode 1, Lorna spoke to university officials about having Mickey officially serve as a legal mentor to satisfy an interning requirement for her law degree. She seemed rather bothered with that conversation when she learned she needed the signature of Dean Wheaton (Brian McGovern) to make that happen. Well, in episode 2, we find out why it's an issue.
Lorna walks into Dean Wheaton's office and wastes no time saying she needs him to approve her mentor/mentee arrangement with Mickey. At first, it appears he doesn't recognize Lorna. However, that's when she details a story of when she was a first-year law school student taking his torts class. She says he made her feel incredibly smart in the course, but then he came on to her, which she didn't appreciate.
In present day, Lorna claims she has no desire of reporting him and knows she's smart without his say-so. Upon him granting her Mickey related request, she walks out of his office.
Lisa calls Mickey with shocking news
Mickey and Lisa again meet up for dinner, where she asks further questions about the restraining order she received against her. As Lisa understands it, she's to stay 300 feet away from developer Mitchell Bondurant and his company. However, he's currently conducting construction in close proximity to her restaurant and home, so Lisa worries she has to vacate her own property. Mickey assures her that she should be fine to resume her life as usual.
Unfortunately, by the end of the episode, Lisa calls Mickey about another Mitchell Bondurant problem. This time, she calls because she's surprisingly been arrested for the developer's murder. A stunned Mickey makes a beeline to help her.
The Lincoln Lawyer season 2 part 1 is now streaming on Netflix.
