The Lincoln Lawyer, a Netflix TV series based on Michael Connelly’s second Mickey Haller book, The Brass Verdict, dropped its first 10-episode season on Friday. I’ve read the first four books in the series, and enjoyed them, so you know what I did this weekend.
Anybody else see this? Let’s talk about it.
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo plays Mickey Haller, aka The Lincoln Lawyer, who will do just about anything to get his clients off, but there are some lines he won’t cross. Neve Campbell is his ex-wife Maggie McPherson, aka Maggie McFierce, a prominent deputy district attorney. We’ve got Haller’s second ex-wife Lorna, who runs the office; his investigator Cisco, a former member of a biker gang; and Izzy, a former drug addict whom Haller helps get out of a bind, who becomes his driver. Izzy is race- and gender-lifted from the part of surfer Patrick in The Brass Verdict, and is played by a Black female, Jazz Raycole, as a very sympathetic character who’s the audience’s eyes into the whole situation.
Haller is defending Trevor Elliott, accused of murdering his wife Lara and the yoga instructor she’d been having an affair with. In the book, Elliott was the genius behind a motion-picture studio. In the film, he’s in charge of a video-game company that broke through the Uncanny Valley with a hundred lines of code written by Elliott, making its characters lifelike and changing the industry.
The B-plot involves Maggie trying to bust a man named Soto who’s accused of human-trafficking, slave labor, and murder.
This Mickey Haller exists in a different continuity than Matthew McConaughey’s Haller of the film, in that the innocent man from the film, Jesus Menendez, is in prison and there’s no Louis Roulet known yet as the guy who likely killed the hooker. Menendez going to prison, when Haller knew he was innocent, along with a surfing accident, triggered Haller into getting addicted to pills and having to go to rehab. He didn’t get shot, like he did at the end of the first Lincoln Lawyer film.
Just like in the book, a lawyer named Jerry Vincent dies, and Haller inherits his cases.
Anyway, rather than me just reciting the entire series for you, go check it out yourself; I enjoyed it very much. It’s just different enough from the book to keep you guessing.
I’ll watch it at some point - I’m a big fan of the author (also the Bosch books).
Just started it tonight. Having trouble getting over the lead’s actor accent - and how much I liked the movie.
Pretty much reading thru them all in order - up to 9 Dragons.
Watched the whole thing this weekend. Ultimately, I enjoyed it and would watch another season if they make one. The ending certainly indicated that they intend to make more if enough Netflix subscribers watch.
The portrayal of Cisco seemed kinda off to me. The actor was playing him so … intense. Cisco in the books comes across like a pretty normal guy, or at least as normal as someone who used to ride with an outlaw motorcycle club can be. They also depicted Cisco as being persona non grata with the Road Saints, whereas in the books he is still tight with them (that comes into play particularly in The Fifth Witness)
One thing @ekedolphin didn’t mention was that the character of Harry Bosch does not appear in this show, due to Amazon owning the character rights for him. For The Lincoln Lawyer, they created a new character, Raymond Griggs, who fills Bosch’s place.
Couldn’t do it, didn’t make it thru one episode. The acting is horrendous, the characters are caricatures.
I really enjoyed the movie. The series started off slow for me, but I ended up watching four episodes last night and had to force myself to stop.
I’ve seen the movie a couple of times and read the book. Is Mickey a surfer in those? I don’t recall that - or anything about a surfing accident.
Did anyone else notice the actor’s accent? I found it curious - and distracting. Many actors are able to perform using accents other than their own. And I don’t recall anything from the books/movie to suggest Mickey had an accent. He and Bosch had the same Anglo father. I don’t recall anything about Mickey’s mom.
I didn’t guess it to be Mexican. I was thinking Eastern European.
No, Mickey wasn’t a surfer in the books.
In the original novel, The Brass Verdict, that this season is based on, Mickey got into pills after being shot by Louis Roulet’s mother in the first book. He shot her back in self-defense and killed her.
Because most of the events of the first novel didn’t take place in this continuity, they had another reason why he got into the pills.
I think Mickey’s mother was always Hispanic, though.
Yes, Mickey’s mother in the books was mentioned as being Mexican. One other thing that was changed in this series was Mickey’s relationship with his dad; in the books, Mickey Sr. died when Mickey was at a very young age (six years old or something along those lines). Mickey notes that he has only broad memories of his dad as a result. In the show, Mickey Sr. is dead in the present but appears to have lived for more of his son’s life.
I an ep we watched last night (either 3 or 4) Mickey said he was born in LA, but grew up in Mexico City. I admit this is a very very minot thing, but I just did not recall anything from the book suggesting he would have even as mild of an accent as the actor in this series. Was it there? Because if not, I wonder why the decision was to include that in this series.
BTW - just finished the Bosch book 9 Dragons. Mickey makes an appearance in that book. Unfortunate that the licensing agreements made it such that Bosch cannot be mentioned in this series.
W/ the main cop and the investigator - was this casting an effort to give as much work as possible to actors with gravelly/raspy voices? 
I will admit that this is currently my pet peeve with the story. I’m assuming the actors don’t talk like that normally, so it just seems like they’re trying too hard to be intense.
Otherwise, we’re watching it in clumps of episodes at a time.
I’ve seen the Bosch TV series and I’ve read The Lincoln Lawyer. I did not realize there was a connection.
Can someone fill me in?
mmm
In the books they’re half brothers, though they didn’t grow up together. Haller often asks Bosch for help on his cases, and (less frequently) vice versa.
I am in episode 2, while not unlikeable, I do have a problem with Micky.
In the movie, Mickey is charming and confident. This Mickey cannot convey either of these.
I just finished it and I liked it a lot. I very much enjoyed this actor as Mickey. I barely noticed that he had an accent. I found him very easy to watch.
I like Izzy and Lorna. I didn’t care too much for McFierce, at least not as portrayed by Campbell. The voice of Cisco was the only thing I really struggled with. I know that I have always had a problem with that sort of voice though.
I would watch a lot more.
Connelly has written a great number of books. The greatest number of them feature LA detective Harry Bosch as the protagonist. A fewer number have LA Lawyer Mickey Haller as the protagonist, and even smaller number have a journalist (McEvoy?) as the protagonist. What I find cool and interesting is that all of these characters appear periodically in the other characters’ books. So when Bosch is using a newspaper source, there’s a good chance it is McEvoy. And when he needs a personal lawyer, he calls Haller. Same way, when McEvoy is writing about crimes, there’s a good chance Bosch will be the police detective.
Makes the 20+ books read like one extended novel, which IMO, is of greater interest than any individual book on ts own.
Connelly also has a female detective, Renee Ballard, Who has four books so far.
Haven’t encountered her yet. Does she interact w/ the Bosch/Haler/McEvoy-verse?
We just finished eps 5-6. As we’ve proceeded thru the series, I’ve found the acting across the board more and more wooden. Not sure if that is the result of the actors, director, writers, or other factors. But overall, this seems considerably lower quality than - say - Bosch.