The Lincoln Lawyer season 2 episode 1 recap: Mickey faces a career-ending dilemma

NOTE: this post contains spoilers for The Lincoln Lawyer season 2 episode 1, "The Rules of Professional Conduct."

Mickey (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) is riding the waves of success after winning the Trevor Elliot case. Unfortunately, when Mickey takes on new client, Russell Lawson (David Clayton Rogers), his career and even his family, are put in grave danger. Additionally, the other people in Mickey's life are about to embark on some life-changing journeys. Here's what happened.

Mickey has a new love interest

Ironically, after a dinner with Maggie (Neve Campbell) didn't go well at the hottest new restaurant in town, Mickey is left alone to eat. That's when Lisa (Lana Parrilla) walks up to his table and introduces herself as the chef. Right away, the sparks between the two fly, which ends in them spending a night of passion together.

The next morning, while eating breakfast that Lisa prepared, the two discuss the gentrification of the neighborhood. She's passionate about fighting back against a major developer, and Mickey offers to refer her to an attorney that does real estate law before he leaves.

Lisa later shows up at Mickey's office showing off a restraining order she received from the developer for alleged harassment via social media to have people protest in front of their offices. Mickey agrees to represent her in regard to the order.

Lorna may be over her head

While happy for Mickey's success, Lorna (Becki Newton) is drowning with all the new clients and additional work. Plus, she is still trying to complete her law degree and plan her upcoming nuptials with Cisco (Angus Sampson). It all seems a bit much. When she asks Mickey for help, he offers up Izzy's (Jazz Raycole) assistance. The latter now pulls double duty, as she's still working for Mickey as his driver.

By the way, it’s worth noting that Izzy informs Mickey that she’s been dancing with her ex-girlfriend Ray who is back in the picture after being sober for six months.

Maggie needs a new job

Maggie's work life these days is not great. After Mickey was able to get Jésus Menendez’s (Saul Huezo) sentence vacated, the prosecutor's office has practically demoted and shunned Maggie. On the off chance she gets a high-profile case, it's reassigned. In light of this lull in her career, by the time she meets up with Mickey for dinner, she unloads on him before leaving. However, she later apologizes during a chance encounter with him at the courthouse.

Needing career advice, Maggie meets up with her bigshot attorney friend Andrea (Yaya DaCosta). Andrea (who is a lawyer that has never lost to Mickey) advises Maggie to either relocate to another city or go into private practice as a solution to her job-related woes.

The upside for Maggie is she is now dating a man named Jim, who is a forensic auditor for the Department of Justice.

Is Cisco back in a biker gang?

Cisco is quite mysterious these days. At the very beginning of the episode, he tells Lorna he's not in the office because he is working on a case. However, when Lorna relays to Mickey that Cisco isn't in the office for that reason, Mickey is dumbfounded as he doesn't remember having the investigator working on anything.

Later, Cisco shows up outside of a prison and picks up someone from his past. Cisco takes this same person to a bar where this mystery individual is welcomed back into the fold of a biker gang as Cisco looks on from a relative distance.

Mickey's new client proves to be very dangerous

Even though Mickey was able to Jésus Menendez’s murder conviction of Martha Renteria vacated, the district attorney's office and the police department are looking to reopen the case and prove that Jésus did actually commit the crime — which is not technically double jeopardy. Reinvestigating the case is none other than Detective Griggs (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine).

At first, Mickey is rather confident that his client is innocent and Griggs will be swift in collecting proof to prove that. Unfortunately, while Griggs is interviewing Jésus with Mickey present, Griggs catches the murder suspect in a lie.

Griggs asks Jésus if he's ever owned a folding knife, which was believed to be the murder weapon. Jésus says no, but Griggs brings up the fact that Jésus’ old roommate Luis Castillo recalls Jésus owning such a knife and tossing one into the river shortly after the crime. Things don't look so good for Jésus.

Enter Russell, Mickey's new client.

Toward the beginning of the episode, Mickey meets Russell in jail to discuss his case. Russell apparently got drunk, broke into a neighboring home not far from his own and the homeowner found him laying on the couch exposed. Russell claims he works in debt restructuring for companies and comes off rather meek. During Russell's hearing, Mickey works his magic and gets the prosecutor to agree to no jail time and a fine.

Later, Lorna states Russell put Mickey on retainer, which rings odd for the attorney. As the lawyer walks onto the balcony of a home, he's startled to find Russell sitting there.

As it turns out, Russell getting drunk and subsequently hiring Mickey as an attorney was all a ruse to secure Mickey as a lawyer to attain attorney-client privilege. Russell is the real murderer of Martha Renteria, and he's banking on the fact that Mickey technically represents him to keep the attorney quiet and let Jésus go to prison again for a crime he didn't commit. Russell gloats that if Mickey reveals this murder confession Mickey's career is done and his family is in danger.

The Lincoln Lawyer season 2 part 1 is now streaming on Netflix.