The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2 Ending Explained: What Happened?

The Lincoln Lawyer is known for two things: doing business out of a Lincoln Navigator and working as a lawyer. He often succeeds at both! But he doesn't do either with much good sense. Throughout the Netflix legal drama's second season, Mickey Haller (that's his real name) goes through the entire case not really knowing if his own client is innocent or not. Oh, and he's also sleeping with her. Maybe if Haller spent less time enjoying freedom in his car office, he wouldn't play it so loose. Turns out, this woman committed a completely different crime. (We'll get back to that later.)

Now that the second half of Season Two has dropped on Netflix, we finally get out answers to the show's biggest questions. Did Lisa Trammell kill Mitchell Bondurant? What was Mickey's favorite meal this season? Plus, will he upgrade to the 2024 Lincoln Navigator? Well, the evidence has stacked up and it's time for the verdict. Hopefully, it also leads us to a Season Three renewal.

Mickey, blink twice if you think she’s guilty.

Of course! I'm not following around a bad lawyer for two seasons. Though Haller isn't certain himself if his client is innocent, he uses that lack of knowledge in his defense. He questions why the prosecution didn't seek out more witnesses, especially since that Alex Grant guy seemed incredibly shady. He also asks why there was so much blood evidence pointed directly at Lisa. Could it have been planted? How does a person spread around that much blood? Reasonable doubt is a mindfuck. What is a crime? Is an idea a crime if I just think it? And now that I think about it, wouldn't it be great if we just wrapped this up and all went out and got some lunch? Yes! So, the jury finds Lisa Trammell not guilty, then she fires him so that they can start sleeping with each other again. A win-win!

Whoops! Ol' Mickey forgot that a jury's verdict isn't pure science. Just because she wasn't found guilty of murder doesn't mean that she didn't do it. It just means that the jury also wasn't sure! "Just because you’re not guilty of something doesn’t mean you’re innocent of everything," Mickey tells her. Luckily, we learn that Walter Kim, the health inspector, was the actual murderer. He was accepting bribes from Grant, the Armenian gangster, who also may or may not be involved here as well. But Kim's dead, too. Oh well! However, Lisa is guilty of a completely separate murder. After sleeping together and getting distracted by Lisa's Korean spare ribs, Mickey has a post-coitus epiphany and does some digging into Lisa's ex-husband Jeff. She killed Jeff and buried him in her herb garden—the same one she uses to gather ingredients for her restaurant. Gross! Off to prison with her!

If my dream of Mickey driving around with his half-brother Bosch is off the table, it seems the Lincoln lawyer has not angered the Armenian mob. Grant was involved in two murders this season, and Mickey seems to be the third if he can't avoid it. Plus, he already has a whole new case lined up. A man named Julian La Cosse is in jail for murdering his friend Giselle Dallinger, who turns out to be the sex worker Gloria Dayton from the first season. I guess Hawaii didn't go as planned! If we return for Season Three, it looks like it's time to get an old friend justice.

Assistant Editor

Josh Rosenberg is an Assistant Editor at Esquire, keeping a steady diet of one movie a day. His past work can be found at Spin, CBR, and on his personal blog at Roseandblog.com.