The Uncanny Valley
Episode 9 of The Lincoln Lawyer begins with Mickey trying to get Trevor Elliott ready for cross-examination from Golantz. Given he’s already on the ropes, Trevor’s idea is essentially giving him a free punch to get back in the fight. Mickey’s whole case is hanging precariously in the balance. Meanwhile, Maggie and Lankford bring Alvin Aquino in for questioning. Specifically, his involvement in killing David Loresca, the star witness against Soto. He starts laughing manically as he realizes his phone has been bugged. However, Aquino’s story seems to check out as Father Cruz signed for the delivery. This gives Lankford and Maggie 10 hours to try and nail him. Back in court, Golantz comes up with an offer to settle things but Trevor is having none of it. Instead, they go with the initial plan which includes Trevor taking the stand himself. He speaks about his love for Lara and his marriage, including the problems they had. He admits to the court that he knew about the affair and he too was cheating on Lara. During cross-examination, Golantz hammers into Trevor’s shaky testimony, including how he had 7 meetings and didn’t clear his calendar before driving out to the house to surprise his wife with this trip. Not only that, but the gun used in his game, Nocturna, is actually the same one used to kill Lara and Jan. It doesn’t look good, and eventually we come to the closing statements. Golantz’s statement is done based on “common sense and logic”, with Trevor framed as a jealous husband and wanting to control Lara. For Mickey? Well, he uses math to point out there are 7 minutes to kill and cover up the crime scene. Naturally, Mickey frames Anton as the real killer here. While the jury deliberate over their verdict, Mickey meets with Cisco who has some revealing details for him. Kosevich’s son, Pavel, wasn’t Trevor’s only roommate. There’s also Ben Hoffman, who’s the CTO of Pavel’s company. Apparently Pavel hated Trevor’s guts and because of that, there’s no way his father is going to fund him. This throws the story of a Russian gangster out. So if not the Russians then… who’s been following Mickey? Either way, when the jury return then Trevor Elliott is found not guilty by the jury. Meanwhile, Mickey heads off to see Eli Wyms, admitting that he was used as collateral damage. He’s signed an Affidavit, which is a written statement from an individual sworn to be true. Mickey suggests he use that to sue Jerry’s practice. The money from that could help Eli get back on his feet. When Eli mentions how Mickey has taken the glory for Jerry’s dirty work, a lightbulb moment ensues. Elsewhere, Maggie gets her operation underway. With Tanya wearing a wire, she heads off to visit Soto. There, he admits outright that he killed David, intending to protect their family and “their baby.” Unfortunately straight after this, Soto realizes that she’s wearing a wire and rips her shirt off, seeing it for himself. As she’s choked out, LAPD come rushing up to the rooftop to save her life. Mickey heads off to see Trevor, where he realizes Lara was the one who wrote those brilliant lines of code to make Nocturna an amazing game, not Trevor. At the time, Lara was working for Chaos Games, a rival company. For 10 years she watched Trevor make it to the top. The tell? Sonia’s statement. Apparently, this argument was actually about Lara outing him to the investors so he “dealt with her.” Remember that footage of Trevor sitting on his phone? Well, it turns out he was actually controlling his drone, which was used to move the bloody clothes out to the ocean, covering his own back. However, Trevor does confirm he has no idea who killed Jerry – and he doesn’t care. When Mickey heads home, he receives a call from Anthony Reyes, part of the LAPD Valley traffic division. It’s Izzy. She’s been busted for a DUI. When Mickey shows up at the meeting spot, there’s no one there. McSweeney appears and knocks him out, sending Mickey crashing down to the ground with a hard thud.
The Episode Review
So after all that, it would appear that Trevor Elliot actually was the killer after all. I’m sure all the pieces are going to slot into place during this final episode but these past few chapters have been really engaging and certainly tense. The courtroom drama has been where this show excels, and it feels like a different animal than the early few chapters which felt ripped right from a network TV show. Now though, things are gearing up for a very dramatic finale to come, one that should, hopefully, see all the puzzle pieces come together in a satisfying manner.
