Unpacking ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ Season 3 finale: Who framed Mickey Haller?

Spoiler alert: The following contains details from Season 3 of “The Lincoln Lawyer,” streaming now on Netflix. Beware if you haven’t seen it and don’t want to know.

The last time we saw Mickey Haller, he was en route in his Lincoln convertible to the morgue. This time, the dead body was closer than he imagined.

Season 3 of “The Lincoln Lawyer” picks up after Mickey (Manuel García-Rulfo) receives a call from a new client who is being held on a murder charge for the death of Gloria Dayton, aka Gloria Days (Fiona Rene), a former client turned close friend of Mickey. Now, we’re seeing Mickey’s quest to defend an innocent man and avenge the death of Days while exposing a corrupt justice system.

“The stakes are much greater this season because Mickey is trying to get to the bottom of the death of somebody he really cared about which is a significant difference from past seasons,” showrunner Ted Humphrey (“The Triangle,” “Thick As Thieves”) tells USA TODAY. “You start to realize and Mickey starts to realize, did he have something to do with this? He feels on the hook, potentially, for having led Gloria Days down this path. So it’s very personal for him.”

The stakes don’t get much higher than in Episode 10 as Mickey’s future as a lawyer is tested when police find an unlikely companion riding in his Lincoln. “It’s certainly designed to be the biggest one that we’ve done so far because what could be bigger than somebody you care about being murdered and you feel you’re responsible in some way and that you need to get to the bottom of that? How do you top that?” Humphrey says. “Well, it’s a dead body in your trunk.”

But first, who killed Gloria Days?

Julian La Cosse, who worked with Gloria Days and other sex workers, maintained throughout Season 3 that he had nothing to do with her death. After a lot of digging, and a few dangerous and life-threatening encounters with a new big bad introduced this season − the Mexican cartel − Mickey and his team prove her actual murderer was a corrupt Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent named James De Marco (Michael Irby).

In cahoots with his private investigator, Neil Bishop (Holt McCallany), De Marco discovers Glorida’s address and sets her home on fire shortly after Julian leaves.

But what was De Marco’s motive? He was working with the Juárez cartel to cover up their mess and after getting Gloria for prostitution and drug possession, he held that over her head. When one of Gloria’s clients happens to be rival Tijuana cartel boss Hector Moya (Arturo Del Puerto), De Marco uses the dirt he has on Gloria to coerce her into planning a gun on Moya − who gets sent to prison for life after the weapon is revealed to be associated with a triple homicide.

Which book is ‘Lincoln Lawyer’ Season 3 based on?

Season 3 is based on Michael Connelly’s “The Gods of Guilt,” the fifth book in the “Lincoln Lawyer” series.

“In Mickey’s world, the ‘Gods of guilt’ is a phrase we’ve used before that generally refers to the jury,” Humphrey explains. “But very specifically in this story, Mickey starts to realize his own personal Gods of guilt extend beyond any particular case aren’t a jury, it’s all the people in your life that matter and for whom you do things.”

Mickey Haller can’t help himself − a new love interest is introduced

Instead of sleeping with clients, Mickey is now sleeping with colleagues.

“When it comes to romance and love, he’s the worst. Instead of going for a waitress or a doctor, he goes after a lawyer,” says García-Rulfo about Mickey’s love interest this season, his courtroom opponent Andrea Freeman (Yaya DaCosta). “Not to mention, she’s best friends with his ex-wife Maggie.”

Still, García-Rulfo finds the pairing in Season 3 interesting “especially because they’re opposites. She’s very strong, gorgeous, and by the book while Mickey is driven by his instincts.”

Like Mickey, Andrea is also guilt-ridden after she fails to inform a client named Deborah Glass that her abusive ex-husband will be temporarily let out of jail, which results in her murder. “As we were increasing the stakes on Mickey, we had to simultaneously increase the stakes on Andrea, so that they found themselves in this corresponding place with each other,” Humphrey says.

Who dies in ‘Lincoln Lawyer’ Season 3? Mickey grapples with two major deaths

Season 3 of “The Lincoln Lawyer” has the highest body count of any season thus far.

In Episode 3, “Rearview Blind Spots,” Andrea receives news that her client was murdered by her ex-husband. In Episode 5, “What Happens in Victorville,” Mickey and his new driver Eddie Rojas (Allyn Moriyon) get in a tragic accident set up by De Marco (who also ends up dead by the end of the season), and Eddie doesn’t make it out alive. This one especially hurts as Eddie is a family friend who used to babysit Mickey’s daughter Hayley. “So what happens to him creates ripples that extend beyond just the case,” Humphrey says.

García-Rulfo says Eddie’s death “just breaks him,” adding that it’s a turning point for Mickey, too.

“He’s like, ‘No matter what, I’m going to go find the truth and justice.’ He knows that everything is at stake, his family is in danger but that’s why I think the ghosts are there,” García-Rulfo says, referring to Mickey’s character imagining the ghosts of Gloria, Eddie and his father in the final scenes of Episode 10. “It’s his conscience not letting him go until he goes all the way. But it’s sad, poor Eddie, he’s so sweet.”

Then early in the final episode, “The Gods of Guilt,” Neil Bishop (Holt McCallany) who has been working with De Marco, dies by suicide shooting himself after testifying. “The climax of Season 3, which is really Bishop’s testimony, is one of the most indelible moments of any of Michael Connelly’s ‘Lincoln Lawyer’ books,” Humphrey says. “To some extent, the whole show has been building to that moment.”

If you or someone you know needs mental health resources and support, please call, text or chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit 988lifeline.org for 24/7 access to free and confidential services.

‘Lincoln Lawyer’ finale: Who framed Mickey Haller for the death of Sam Scales?

You might need to rewatch that final scene of Episode 10 a few times to really take in what’s happening.

After Mickey proves Julian’s innocence − at the cost of Bishop shooting himself and Julian almost not surviving prison following a stabbing − the gang goes out for a celebratory dinner where he announces he’ll be taking a much-needed vacation.

But before turning on his out of office message, he might need to prove his own innocence. After Mickey leaves the restaurant, he takes a drive through the streets of LA in his sleek Lincoln Continental and is later suspiciously pulled over by an officer. The two go back and forth when the officer informs him his license plate missing − but as the two look to the bumper of the car, blood drips out of the trunk.

Once the officer pops open the trunk, Mickey is confronted with the body of Sam Scales (Christopher Thornton), a former client of Mickey and Lorna’s first after she passes the bar exam. The “hope is that people freeze frame and look closely because you can actually see his wheelchair, and that gives you a little clue,” Humphrey says.

“The end is just another big hook,” García-Rulfo says. “Mickey is always struggling with something and it’s very pleasing, as a viewer and as an actor, to see the hero going through all these obstacles when you still want to see him succeed.”

The struggle might be real for the Los Angeles-based lawyer, “But I can assure you, Mickey Haller is not going down without a fight,” Humphrey says, “and neither is Lorna or anybody else.”