Mickey puts his client to the test in The Lincoln Lawyer episode 3.
The Lincoln Lawyer season 1 episode 3 ‘Momentum’
Written by Ted Humphrey
Directed by Erin Feeley
The Lincoln Lawyer, Mickey Haller, continues to struggle with understanding how Jerry Vincent could possibly be ready to go to trial next week in the Trevor Elliott case. What is he missing? While the sense of urgency in the Elliott case weighs upon him, Mickey must juggle the rest of his caseload, too.
More details emerge about Jerry Vincent, some helpful, some concerning. Hayley gets an opportunity to see her father shine.
Let us investigate further our case file for The Lincoln Lawyer S1E3.
Refresh your memory:
- Defense attorney Mickey Haller is just returning to work after a surfing accident and subsequent addiction to pain killers. He is now in recovery.
- Maggie “McFierce” McPherson is Mickey’s first wife with whom he shares daughter Hayley. Maggie is a prosecutor in the DA’s office.
- Jeff Golantz is the prosecutor in the Trevor Elliott case. He is Maggie’s co-worker, and they went out on a couple of dates.
- Detective Raymond Griggs is investigating Jerry Vincent’s murder. There has been a little push and pull between Griggs and Mickey about information on the case.
- Wren Williams was Jerry Vincent’s assistant. The two had also become romantically involved. She is a little eccentric and not very well-versed in the legal world.
- Jan Rilz is the yoga instructor who was sleeping with Trevor Elliott’s wife Lara. Both were murdered at the Elliott beach house.
Thoughts on momentum
Mickey is riding in the Lincoln talking to Izzy. There is a slight haze over the screen as if it’s not real or is from a different time. They are traveling down a barren desert road and Mickey talks about momentum.
Mickey talks about how an attorney should show confidence and present themselves as a winner. But if you do not feel like a winner, he says, “Then you better fake it till you make it.”
All of sudden, Mickey and the Lincoln are in downtown Los Angeles. Mickey exits the Lincoln and heads into the courthouse.
Heading inside
Mickey is a popular guy. A lot of people seem happy to see him back in the game. A security guard gives a friendly greeting as Mickey walks towards the courthouse.
Inside, a fellow defense attorney named Tony calls to Mickey, happy to see him as well. Tony is celebrating a recent win on a case and offers his assistance should Mickey need a second chair on the Elliott case. I guess everyone wants a piece of the pie.
Tony tells Mickey there are fellow attorneys meeting at Casey’s Grille that night to honor Jerry Vincent’s memory.
Meet Kym Wagstaff
Mickey walks into the courtroom completely unprepared to defend his client. Fortunately, it is someone that he knows, a young woman named Kym Wagstaff. It sounds like Kym has called upon Mickey for help before.
Mickey requests a copy of the police report. The charge against Kym is lewd conduct for sunbathing topless at the beach. This is a time sensitive issue for Kym who apparently is a very bright college student who must defend her thesis this week. She cannot afford bail and cannot miss her thesis defense.
Mickey uses his best clever defense and points out that the police officer who arrested Kym actually created the offense by calling her out of the ocean. If there is no complaint on file that occurred before she returned from the ocean, is there really much of a case?
Mickey knows the judge is terribly busy and not likely to pursue the case without a valid charge. Sure enough, Judge Teresa Medina dismisses the charges and reminds Kym to keep her clothes on.
The judge also tells Mickey she will see him later for the Eli Wyms case. Wait, what? Mickey plays it cool, but he has no idea who Eli Wyms is. He calls Lorna for help, but she cannot find anything on Wyms either.
Maggie at the grand jury
In a different room, Mickey’s ex-wife Maggie McPherson interviews a witness on the stand. She is working on a human trafficking case. Her witness is Mr. Loresca and he works at the nursing home where the human trafficking is suspected.
It is a heartbreaking exchange as Maggie ask Mr. Loresca about the Filipino immigrants working in the nursing home without pay or meals of the own. He reports that the immigrants are not allowed to speak with the paid workers. He has seen immigrants arrive in groups of approximately 25 every few months.
Maggie receives an emergency call from Detective Lee Lanford and excuses herself to the hallway outside.
Detective Lee Lankford taken by surprise
Detective Lankford is pairing with Maggie to hopefully make the arrest of Angelo Soto, the man accused of human trafficking. Lankford reports that Soto has plans to leave the country for a business trip the next day.
Maggie panics because if Soto learns of the indictment while out of the country, he most certainly will not return to the U.S. They will have to move up the filing to today.
Mickey walks up and Lankford assumes Maggie and Mickey are working on a case together. Lankford is surprised to learn instead that they were once married. Lankford leaves.
Maggie confirms to Mickey that she never said anything to Jeff Golantz about Mickey’s time in recovery from Oxy addiction. Mickey and Maggie talk about Hayley’s soccer game coming up. Mickey reminisces about going out to eat after the game and hopes they can do that again as a family.
Detective Griggs has a photo
Mickey sees Detective Griggs when he leaves the courthouse. Griggs complains that the potential suspect list Mickey gave him was of no use.
Griggs shows Mickey a photo of a man wearing a cap that was recorded on camera in the parking garage the night of Jerry’s murder. Mickey wants to take the photo back to the office to how Wren Williams. Maybe she would recognize him.
Griggs says he will get a copy to the law office. When Mickey brings up the Trevor Elliott case, Griggs reminds him that Elliott’s last attorney was murdered.
Wyms docket entry
Lorna tells Mickey that she found the docket entry for Eli Wyms. He has been charged with multiple counts of attempted murder on several police officers. Lorna reports that Wyms has been at the county mental hospital. Mickey guesses that Jerry sent him there for a psychological evaluation.
Lorna recalls that the prosecutor on the case is Hayley’s soccer coach. Her name is Joanna Giorgetti. Mickey cringes as he is not on the best terms with the Joanna. Lorna and Mickey wonder why there is no file on Wyms and suspect it may be in Jerry’s briefcase that was taken the night of his murder.
Winston sits in Lorna’s lap as she works.
Where is Bruce Carlin?
Cisco takes a drive by Bruce Carlin’s house on his motorcycle. Police are there. He is not sure what is going on and rides away.
Later, Cisco tells Mickey that Carlin has gone missing. LAPD has a BOLO (be on the lookout) for him. They are curious because Carlin had an alibi for the night of Jerry’s murder. Cisco thinks Bruce may be in hiding because he knows more about Jerry’s murder than he said he did.
More updates for Mickey
Cisco also has video footage to show Mickey. They were worried about Jerry’s multiple trips to the casino. Camera footage shows Jerry in his car outside the casino taking papers from a man through the window.
They are happy to see that Jerry was not inside the casino with a gambling problem but wonder what is going on in the video. Cisco’s LAPD source has nothing for him about it.
Lorna has some updates for Mickey as well. Trevor Elliott has cleared his calendar to spend the next day with Mickey as requested. Lorna has gathered bank records for Jan Rilz to research at the office.
Mickey shares that he still has not uncovered the magic bullet. He also tells Cisco about the photo Griggs showed him.
Safety first
Cisco tells Mickey that he is worried about him and Lorna staying late at the office if Jerry’s murderer could still be around. Mickey dismisses the concern, but Cisco is not convinced.
Cisco pulls a gun from a paper bag, startling Mickey. He tells Mickey that the gun is legally registered and that he is going to put it in Mickey’s desk drawer in case he needs it.
As Cisco leaves the room, Mickey stares at the fish plaque on the wall. The inscription reads, “If I’d kept my mouth shut, I wouldn’t be here.”
Cannot connect with Wyms
Mickey heads back to the courthouse and tries to talk to Eli Wyms in holding. Eli is completely unresponsive as Mickey calls his name.
Mickey enters the courtroom and cheerily greets prosecutor Joanna (also Hayley’s soccer coach). She gives Mickey the side eye and we learn he made a scene yelling at the ref at one of the games a while back. But there is no serious bad blood between the two attorneys.
Joanna asks about Jerry Vincent and Mickey asks Jo about the Wyms case since he has no file. Jo lets Mickey look at her copy and helps him get up to speed.
Eli Wyms was kicked out of his house by his wife, got drunk at the park and starting shooting guns. When sheriff’s deputies arrived, Wyms began shooting at them. He kept shooting for 3 hours and 90 rounds before he was eventually contained. We also learn that Wyms was sniper in the war in Iraq.
Jerry took over the case from a public defender. Mickey wonders why.
Medication concerns
Jo tells Mickey that she wanted to pursue a plea bargain, but Jerry sent Wyms to the mental health facility for competency evaluation. Wyms was given a lot of drugs and is now unresponsive to inquiry. Jo tells Mickey that before the drugs, police officers said he was competent.
Judge Medina begins the court session and wants to talk about a plea bargain. Mickey declines saying his client is comprised by the drugs and unable to negotiate for himself at this time.
Despite Jo’s objections, the judge allows time for Wyms to get the psychiatric drugs out of his system.
Big check for Jan
Wren Williams is at the law office still collecting her things and memories of Jerry. One of the things she plans to take is the fish plaque from the wall in Jerry’s (now Mickey’s office).
Wren sits in the conference room with Lorna while Lorna looks through bank records for Jan Rilz. Wren has been working on her eulogy for Jerry. Suddenly, Lorna finds record of a $25,000 check written to Jan from a woman named Carol DuBois.
Unable to reach Cisco on the phone, Lorna rushes out to pay a visit to Carl DuBois herself.
Malibu Shores Insurance
Lorna arrives at Malibu Shores Insurance Company while Carol DuBois is on the phone. When Carol gets off the phone, Lorna tells her she is there because the law firm she works for is investigating some claims.
She asks about the large check written to Jan Rilz. Carol explains that it was to help with Jan’s plans for a yoga retreat in Joshua Tree.
Lorna mentions the idea of Jan having special relationships with other clients who gave him money. Carol gets rattled and suggests that Lorna is talking about someone named Neema Shavar. The conversation gets awkward and Lorna scoots out of the office quickly.
Later, Lorna tells Cisco she believes Carol could be capable of murder. Carol, however, is not married, but Neema Shavar is. Could a jealous husband be the murderer of Lara Elliott and Jan Rilz?
Life changing food
Mickey takes Izzy to a food truck that serves birria, goat stew tacos. He tells her how good they are, and she is indeed impressed with the tacos.
She asks Mickey about living in Los Angeles. He explains that he grew up in LA but lived with his mom in Mexico after his parents divorced. Mickey would join his father in Los Angeles during the summers and he decided to come back as an adult.
Remembering Jerry
Izzy drops Mickey at Casey’s Grille that night for the memorial gathering of Jerry Vincent’s attorney friends. Wren is there as well. Izzy warns Mickey of the lure of alcohol in a bar. He says he will be fine.
Mickey orders a club soda at the bar. Then Tony asks him to give a speech about Jerry. Mickey shares some kind words about Jerry and how he wanted to help his clients. Everyone toasts Jerry and Mickey sits down at a table.
Lee Lankford walks over from the bar. He tells Mickey how surprised he was to find out that Mickey and Maggie had been married. Lankford then asks Mickey about someone named Jesus Menendez in Calipatria. Mickey looks unnerved and Lankford leaves.
Hanging on to the wagon
Mickey sits down at the bar and orders beer and a shot. Some time passes and he has still not partaken of the alcohol.
Izzy walks in with two cups of coffee giving one to Mickey. Izzy talks about the danger of indulging in alcohol even though it was pills Mickey was addicted to. She shares some ideology that Mickey also heard in rehab.
Mickey says he wanted to see if he could keep himself from drinking the alcohol and he did just that. He wants to share custody of Hayley with Maggie again.
A peek into Izzy’s past
Mickey asks Izzy about her car he saw earlier in the parking garage. The car looked lived in. Izzy assures him that she is no longer living out of her car.
Mickey asks about the dance studio sticker on her bumper. She explains that she came to LA to study at that studio. She went on to tour as a backup dancer for popular artists. An injury led her to the pills, which she used to keep touring through the pain.
Interestingly, she had been exposed to plenty of drugs while touring but never consumed them. Not until she feared losing her job did, she begin abusing drugs. She talked about how recovery helped her look at what she was truly trying to numb by using the pills.
A car ride with Trevor
Mickey meets Trevor at his office the next day. He tells his client that they are going for a ride and that Trevor needs to drive. Trevor and Mickey climb into Trevor’s very expensive Fisker Emotion car. It really makes an impression and Mickey tells Trevor not to use that car when coming to trial.
They talk about the case. When Mickey asks why Trevor did not call the police right away, he tells him he was in shock. Trevor claims there was a testing problem with the gunshot residue found on him, insisting he has never fired a gun.
Trevor wants to testify in the trial. Mickey reminds Trevor that the jury will be judging him on credibility. Trevor talks about the jury of public opinion. If he does not win the case, it could devalue the acquisition of his company. He wants the public to hear him speak of his innocence.
Trevor drives as instructed and they end up at his beach house. Mickey explains that the prosecution will check to see if Trevor had enough time to get to the house and commit the murders before the time of death that was established. Their excursion proves that he did.
Walking through the scene
Reluctantly, Trevor walks Mickey through the events the night before and the day of the murder. The couple fought the night before over Trevor’s career leaving her overshadowed. Trevor says he went to the house the next day to reconcile.
He unlocks the house with a high-tech finger pad. He insists he did not know about Lara cheating. Trevor emotionally describes the scene of finding Lara and Rilz dead in the bedroom.
Back outside he claims to not know about the cameras having been turned off at the house. Trevor grows frustrated with Mickey’s questions and finally admits that he did know of the affair and that he, too, had cheated before. He says he did not want to admit that because it would make him look guilty.
Mickey tells Trevor that he was testing him. Trevor responded believably when asked about the murder scene in the house. This was a test of direct examination.
When they went outside, however and Trevor became defensive, that was a test of cross examination and Trevor did not pass that test.
An arrest
Maggie and Lankford sit outside waiting for Angelo Soto to surface. The indictment has been filed, so Lankford can make the arrest.
Lankford tells Maggie he just cannot imagine her married to Mickey. She asks Lankford had opposed Mickey on a case. Lankford reports that he was the supervisor on the Jesus Menendez case. (There is that name again.) Lankford says that Jesus “carved up a prostitute” and that Mickey had “pled him out”.
Soto and a woman walk out of a building. Lankford arrests Angelo Soto and reads him his rights.
Back at the office
Cisco tells Mickey about Carol DuBois and Neema Shavar. Shavar is married, so that gives more motive to a jealous husband. Her husband is Anton Shavar, CEO of Falcon Solutions International, a company that provides investigative services. Hmm . . .
When asked about the photo from Griggs, Cisco says no one sent a copy to the office. Meanwhile, Mickey did receive a copy of the discovery file on the Wyms case. He tells Cisco that he does not need them to stay.
Getting in the zone
Mickey sharpens his pencils. He is going to work on finding that magic bullet that Jerry spoke of. Once again, we hear him talking about the process while riding in the Lincoln with Izzy again on the desert road through a hazy filter. Flashback? Imagination? Who knows?
He “talks” about what happens if you lose momentum. You look at the facts and dig through as if you are trying to crack a code. He recalls the video of Jerry accepting some papers outside the casino.
He “tells” Izzy you have to keep searching for connections and question when pieces either do not fit at all or if they fit too conveniently. Then sometimes you must stop looking period and take a timeout. Perhaps the key is right in front of you. Mickey circles the date of the murder of Lara and Jan, September 6th.
Mickey takes a break and picks up the Wyms discovery file instead. Immediately, he notices the day of the incident. It is the same date, September 6th. Wyms was arrested at 2:35 in the early hours of the morning. Trevor was taken into custody at 11:47 the same day very close to the park where Wyms shot at the deputies.
Mickey hurries to leave Cisco a message telling him he found the magic bullet. There must be a connection between the Wyms and Elliott cases.
Leaving the office
Mickey leaves the office and starts walking to his car. He spies a man wearing a cap who looks like the guy in the photo Griggs shows him. Mickey runs back to the office. He drops his keys as he tries to unlock the door. Could this be more stressful??
But Mickey manages to get into the office and lock the doors behind him before the mystery man catches up to him. He goes to the desk drawer and pulls out the gun. As the mystery man wrestles with the locked doors, Mickey fires shots at them. It sounds like the mystery man leaves.
Mickey calls Griggs to report what happened. Griggs says he will be there in 10 minutes. He cannot believe Mickey has a gun. The gun goes off while Griggs is still on the line and Grigg implores Mickey not to shoot him when he gets there.
Sidebar:
Which car would you rather have? Bruce Carlin’s vintage Corvette or Trevor Elliott’s Fisker EMotion?
Closing argument:
Trevor is really trying Mickey’s patience. Sometimes he is calm and collected. Other times he snaps at Mickey. Plus, he is making a lot of demands about the trial. Is that not supposed to be Mickey’s arena?
Mickey dropping his keys at the office door while being chased had me super stressed. Truth be told, that is totally something I would do if under pressure.
All 10 episodes of The Lincoln Lawyer are available on Netflix.
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Don’t miss our interview with Becki Newton who plays Lorna! (includes minor spoilers)
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