Who Killed Glory Days?
Mickey successfully establishes a chain of witnesses that lead him to De Marco, and while De Marco seems to skate by initially, Haller doubles-down and keeps digging at witnesses until he’s allowed to call Bishop, De Marco’s patsy, onto the stand. Bishop then lays out everything: De Marco’s connections to a rival cartel of Hector Moya, the way De Marco used people he arrested to do his dirty work, and the way De Marco used him to carry out even more of that dirty work, all in the name of keeping Hector Moya imprisoned on fraudulent gun charges. The truth comes out, in front of the judge and jury of the La Cossa murder trial. Agent De Marco is the person who killed Glory Days, burned her apartment to cover it up, used his power to set up a complicated conspiracy to arrest Hector Moya, and then worked overtime to frame other people for his misdeeds.
Of course, this information doesn’t come freely. After revealing his knowledge of the web of conspiracy crafted by De Marco at the behest of his cartel handlers, Bishop pulls a hidden gun from an ankle holster (his main service weapon was taken away by the bailiff to avoid any issues), and he dramatically kills himself on the witness stand shortly after baring his soul and making a host of powerful figures very mad at him. Mickey has won his case, but at what cost?
Mickey Haller Wins the Case (Sort Of)
Mickey lapses into a depression. The system really is rigged against certain people. The truth has been revealed, but De Marco escaped legal justice (even if he didn’t escape cartel justice) and there would be no punishment for the murder of Glory Days, the death of Eddie Rojas, and the mental and physical anguish suffered by Julian. However, while the cog might have escaped, the machine still exists for Mickey to rage against it, and after re-uniting with daughter Hayley, Mickey takes up Julian’s lawsuit with the district attorney’s office and various state and federal law enforcement officials until he gets what must be an eye-watering big settlement from all and sundry parties.
Cause for celebration! Julian got paid, Mickey got paid, and while the various crimes have officially gone unpunished, perhaps the law enforcement community of the greater Los Angeles area has learned a valuable lesson about doing things by the book, not cutting corners, and not framing innocent people for various crimes they did not commit. Or, maybe, in true Lincoln Lawyer fashion, Mickey just kicked over the most dangerous hornet’s nest he could find, then stomped on it for good measure.
A Body in a Trunk Sets Up Season 4
Leaving the celebratory dinner with the associates from Haller & Associates, Mickey gets into his car and drives off into the Los Angeles night, smiling to himself over a job well done. Then, he gets hit by blue lights and pulled over by a cop without any cause; Mickey drives slowly and doesn’t run any red lights. As it turns out, someone stole the license plate off of the back of his car, creating probable cause for a traffic stop that gets out of hand with the officer quasi-legally searching Mickey’s car.
Cue the horrified reaction shot from the Tarantino-style trunk cam.