Legal shows or courtroom dramas are my favorite type of television program. One of my all-time favorites to come along in the past 20 years is The Good Wife (2009). The writing of it was so superb and the way it exposed society and culture, as well as at times deconstructing the criminal justice system, was incredible. The characters were of course compelling and occasionally quirky. Since The Good Wife went off the air, I've been hoping for a show to come along to fill the void. The creators of that 2009 CBS series, Michelle and Robert King had a spin-off that satisfied somewhat. It wasn't quite the same. Legal shows aren't as abundant as police procedural and medical dramas. I was very pleased when one of the writers on The Good Wife, Ted Humphrey, decided to develop the book by Michael Connelly, which was already made into a 2011 film. David E. Kelley who created legal dramas, such as The Practice (1996) and Ally McBeal (1997), helped birth the series, but Humphrey is the show-runner.
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (Jurassic World Rebirth and The Magnificent Seven) stars as Mickey Haller, a Mexican-American defense attorney living in Los Angeles. He has his own firm, Haller and Associates. He's tall, dark and handsome. He's very charming. He can also be a bit arrogant. He's not above pulling tricks and doing some underhanded things in order to win his cases. He never breaks the rules or does anything illegal, but he can certainly find loopholes and wiggle through them, as best he can. This fourth season picks up right where the third left off with Mickey having been arrested. Turning the tables so the defense attorney needs a defense attorney was a compelling writing move.
Neve Campbell (Scream 7 and Wild Things) co-stars as Maggie McPhearson, the ex-wife of Mickey. She mainly works as a prosecutor in the District Attorney's office. She's tried to move on and build a separate life in San Diego with a new guy. However, when Mickey is arrested, she returns to Los Angeles to support him and support their daughter who is very worried that her dad is going to prison for life. The associates at Mickey's law firm try to represent him and mount a defense, but they aren't as experienced in the law as Maggie. Her advice in the case proves valuable.
Becki Newton (Love Bites and Ugly Betty) also co-stars as Lorna Crane, the second ex-wife of Mickey. Despite being Mickey's ex, she started working for him as a legal aide. Her goal was to go to law school on the side and eventually get her law license, which she did in Season 3. It's just in time because she's able to be the defense attorney representing Mickey in his murder case. She's still very much new at representing criminal defendants. She doesn't have a lot of experience, so she leans on Mickey and Maggie's advice. However, in Mickey's absence, she's the only lawyer at her film and she also has to be the business associate as well. As a result, she's swamped and is having trouble juggling everything that is in front of her.
Angus Sampson (Fargo and Insidious) plays Dennis Wojciechowski aka "Cisco," the private investigator who works for Mickey. He's also the newlywed husband to Lorna. He's a big, beefy guy with long hair who looks like a biker or someone who belongs to a motorcycle club. This is because he actually is a biker who belongs to a motorcycle club. He's a guy who doesn't really flinch even when he's put in serious danger, which often happens. Now that he's married, Lorna doesn't really appreciate the danger he faces. Balancing the risks he takes and wanting not to worry his wife becomes an issue for him this season.
Jazz Raycole (The Soul Man and My Wife and Kids) rounds out the cast as Izzy Letts, the legal aide and office manager at Mickey's law firm. She started out as Mickey's driver. The reason that Mickey has the titular name that he has is because his cars are all Lincoln brand. He personally drives a 1963 Lincoln Continental convertible in which a dead body was found that resulted in him being arrested. However, when he's going to work, he uses a present-year Lincoln Navigator, but he likes to do work in the back-seat and have someone else be his chauffeur. Izzy was that chauffeur in Season 1. She has since risen into a more managerial role at the firm. She gets a girlfriend this season, a forensic analyst named Grace, played by Gigi Zumbado (DMV and Bridge and Tunnel) who shows her that she can have a professional life and a personal one.
What's great about this season of the show is how it exposes a kind of corruption that happens in government that some people might not know about. We see a scheme involving green energy, specifically bio-fuel that shows how some greedy companies, those involved in organized crime, can scam the federal government out of millions. If you've never seen the show before, that specific case can still be one that you can follow. However, there are direct connections to things and people from Season 3 that come into play here that would benefit fans of the show who have been watching at least since the previous season. If you're interested in understanding the law and how it works, even when it comes to basic procedural things, this show is smart about how it educates the audience. Specifically, this season educates in the process of discovery during pretrial and even during trial that is brilliant in how it volleys the issue back-and-forth.
Constance Zimmer (UnReal and Boston Legal) guest stars this season as Dana Berg, the prosecuting attorney who is trying to put Mickey in prison for murder. She has several nicknames, including "iceberg," because she can be ice cold in terms of how she works and how she regards anyone who isn't on her side and even some who might be. She's incredibly tough. She's humorless and can be brutal or savage in how she goes after people. She's basically no-nonsense when it comes to the law and her job. She's known mostly to Maggie, which is why Maggie sticks around to give advice because she helps Mickey and Lorna navigate having to go against Dana in this case. Eventually, it turns into a bitter rivalry between Maggie and Dana that generates a lot of amazing drama in this season, which made this season probably the best season thus far.
Rated TV-MA-VL.
Running Time: 1 hr. / 10 eps.
Available on Netflix.