The Lincoln Lawyer comes to Netflix. It’s a series based on Michael Connelly’s famed lawyer series about Mickey Haller. And for the first time, somebody got the character right. No offense to the Matthew McConaughey movie that came out years ago, it was entertaining, but Matthew McConaughey didn’t exactly fit the profile of the character. After all, Mickey Haller is half American and half Mexican and as described in the books looks a little South of the border. The series focuses on the second Lincoln Lawyer book called The Brass Verdict whereas the movie with Matthew McConaughey was actually based on the first novel so in a way, the series is just continuing the character’s story from the movie and that’s one of the best parts about this series as it keeps a linear story. In addition, Netflix for the most part found the perfect actor to play Mickey Haller, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo.
He’s a Hispanic-American actor dad and embodies this character a lot better than Matthew McConaughey did in the movie. It’s a good series and one that you should get into especially if you’re already done with Ozark. While the movie was entertaining and gave a cliff notes version of the first novel, this 10-episode series really does get to explore who the character is and the big case that he will take on after being away from the law for 18 months. He’s still the confident defense attorney he always was, but this time he takes over the law practice of a fellow defense attorney that he had dealings with in the past and along with it a high-profile murder case of a producer who was accused of murdering his wife and her lover. As we’ve talked about before in reviews, sometimes an 8 to 10 episode series is better to fully flush out a story than a 2-hour movie. I think they did a lot better job with the character from Michael Connelly’s books than the previous movie did.
What makes this series worth watching is the whole of the story isn’t crammed into two hours, it slowly takes you into the investigation with this high profile also introducing you to the main character. Even if you’ve never read the books or seen the previous movie after 10 episodes you will feel like you know Micky Haller. Not only do you get to really see him try a case in a court of law over multiple episodes the story doesn’t feel rushed and it takes the time for the audience to really get to know all of the characters. That was one of my criticisms of the movie because as entertaining as Matthew McConaughey was in the film, there’s so much going on that you really don’t have time to stop and breathe or get to know the characters. One of the more interesting things about the main character is he has two ex-wives, one he shares a daughter with and one that actually works for him. This story is his foray back into the law. It’s a high-profile case and you immediately get the sense that he’s not up to the challenge, but step by step over 10 episodes you see him come back into his own and become the great defense attorney he was always known for. What makes this story strong and a great show to check out on Netflix is the performances from the cast. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo is definitely a better choice to play the character than Matthew McConaughey, it’s almost as if he was born to play this character. Neve Campbell does an incredible job playing his first ex-wife and mother of his child. I don’t know if she was any better than Marisa Tomei from the film, but she does an equally adequate job of portraying the character. The best scenes in the movie are him in court. Where has the movie had very few scenes where he got the shine, there’s a lot more in this series. But also, you get this really great investigation and how two of his cases were connected to each other. Everybody did a great job and I think The Lincoln Lawyer stories are definitely better suited as a series than trying to do a movie.
I don’t really have many complaints about the series, I very much enjoyed it. But, because it’s a story written by Michael Connelly who also does the Harry Bosch novels, it also very much feels like a Harry Bosch story. You almost expect Harry Bosch to pop in at some point. And here’s a little-known fact that you may not be aware of unless you’ve read the books, Harry Bosch is his older half-brother. It actually, kind of explains that in the new Bosch Legacy series on Amazon through a flashback, but my point is you feel like these two characters would be working together to solve a crime. It has the same feel as the show Bosch as all of the character’s lives intertwined with one another so while this might seem like a complaint, it really isn’t, I think fans will want a crossover of some sort is all I’m saying and there are crossovers within the novels. The other critique that I have is the show doesn’t fully explore his relationship with his daughter which is prevalent throughout the books. It seems like all the other relationships with the characters were fully fleshed out over 10 episodes, but that was the one that was neglected the most. Hopefully, that will be fixed if there is a season too. With this being the first season and reducing this character to the law after an 18-month absence the series does have a hard time balancing him getting back into the swing of things and the courtroom aspect of the story. I don’t know if it was balanced enough in the right way, especially with the narration of Mickey explaining his process to his new driver that he meets in the first episode. The first season has to make enough time for the audience to get to know the main character. I feel like we’re just getting started and this is why we will need at least a season two on Netflix. But overall, there isn’t much to complain about, it’s easy to get through these 10 episodes and feel like you have a complete story just like Bosch on Amazon. As I said it very much has the same feel.
This is a good series to check out on Netflix and they do the story right by having it played out over 10 episodes. This is another example of why you need multiple episodes to tell a proper story. The cast is great especially Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Micky Haller. Just like with Bosch, they found the perfect actor to play this character and if you’re a fan of the Bosch series, then you will definitely like this so it’s certainly worth checking out. The first season does a great job introducing us to this character and his world even if it’s based on the second novel of The Lincoln Lawyer series. You don’t have to read the books or watch the movie to be familiar with anything, this is a good starting point. With LA as the perfect backdrop for a location, it lends itself as its own character in the story so that you don’t feel like this story can take place anywhere and that’s certainly a good thing. I highly recommend The Lincoln Lawyer for your next series on Netflix, even if you’re not a fan of courtroom dramas, the investigation aspect of this story is great. Also, the characters are easy to connect with and are entertaining enough to make you keep watching until the end. Netflix has done a good job with this series and hopefully, we’ll get more seasons based on other books because Mickey Haller is one of the more interesting fictional lawyers who definitely needs to be explored through a series on a streaming channel. And this series will pretty much make you forget that there is a Matthew McConaughey movie about The Lincoln Lawyer.
