Netflix’s ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ Season 4 Fixed Season 3’s Biggest Problem

Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers from The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4.The Lincoln Lawyer has been a fantastic TV show, and Season 4 continues that trend with a riveting story that flips the script. Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) is now in the hot seat as the defendant, not just the person defending them. With his freedom and reputation at risk, the stakes are higher than ever.

A welcome byproduct of this clever story angle is that the latest season of the legal drama was able to fix the biggest issue with Season 3: there wasn’t enough of Maggie (Neve Campbell). And, when she did show up, many fans didn’t like it. In Season 4, the character shines in a way that will change how you see her.

Maggie’s Character Arc Takes a Positive Turn in ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ Season 4

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In the first three seasons of The Lincoln Lawyer, we know Maggie is a formidable prosecutor with a killer reputation. However, we mostly see her journey as Mickey’s ex-wife. She still loves Mickey, especially since he’s the father of their teenage daughter. Their marriage was tumultuous, to say the least, and they experienced conflict because of Mickey’s job.

Although Mickey is also a lawyer, defense attorneys are of a different breed. She didn’t always agree with the types of cases he took, nor the methods he used to help his clients. She was convinced that many of them were guilty, and felt Mickey thought so too, and she was angry that he defended them anyway.

Mickey’s attitude has always been that he will do his job to the best of his ability for his clients. If this means getting a con man off easy after he swindles innocent people, or even getting a murderer a lesser charge, he’ll do it. Maggie has a more noble view of her career as a prosecutor. She takes down bad people and uses her skills to prove without reasonable doubt that someone is guilty instead of finding loopholes to sway a judge or jury. However, that all changes in The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4 when Maggie is put in an impossible position. She rises to the occasion and can now see things from Mickey’s perspective.

Maggie realizes what’s unfairly happening to Mickey following the harrowing events at the end of The Lincoln Lawyer Season 3 and the effect it has on their daughter. She steadfastly believes that he’s innocent and being framed. So, she does something that no one saw coming. Lorna (Becki Newton) is overwhelmed and out of her depth. Dana Berg (Constance Zimmer), an incredible lawyer Maggie knows well, is prosecuting the case. Mickey’s life is on the line. So, in one of the best storylines of the season, Maggie rolls up her sleeves and gets behind the stand to defend him.

When fans see Maggie step up, they’ll pump their fists with excitement as they love this character. It’s also a game-changing moment for viewers who haven’t loved her so much. The moment she steps up is a fist-pumping one for fans who love the character and a game-changing one for those who haven’t up to this point. It’s nice that, after hearing about how great Maggie is at her job, we finally get to see her in action.

How Maggie’s Arc Improves ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ Season 4

Maggie drinking wine on the couch talking to Lorna in The Lincoln Lawyer.

Maggie’s arc during this season of the popular legal drama brings a new perspective to the character. Viewers will see her differently, and she also views Mickey differently. It’s eye-opening for her to understand what it’s like to defend an innocent man from Mickey’s point of view instead of sitting on the other side of the courtroom.

Maggie doesn’t say it, but she may have gained a newfound respect for Mickey. She might even question if she was wrong and some of the people he has defended were actually innocent, despite the mounting evidence against them. She was always quick to judge not only Mickey but also his clients. In this case, Maggie understands that there are two sides to every story. Also, when someone’s life is on the line, guilty or not, of course, they would want someone to do everything within their power to help.

This trajectory for the character is a welcome one because, as Maggie makes these quiet revelations, she also showcases just what a fantastic lawyer she is, even when she has to shift perspective to defense versus prosecution. Even though she isn’t a defense lawyer, Maggie can rally with the best of them. She might operate from a different moral compass than Mickey. However, she knows how to work the system in ways that don’t bend the law but still help her case.

Her rivalry with Dana is wonderful, too, as is the fear in Dana’s eyes when she sees who she is going up against for the latter part of the trial. It’s brilliant from a storytelling perspective to put Maggie on the opposite side of the courtroom. This advantage plays beautifully into Mickey’s case, although Dana proves she’s adaptable, too.

Watching the court scenes between these two strong women, with Mickey in the background instead of the spotlight, is a nice change for the show. It wouldn’t have worked to see Lorna going toe-to-toe with Dana. Mickey still gets the final play, of course. But Maggie is credited with the tee-up, sub-in, and assist. He couldn’t have done it without her.

‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ Fans Will Change Their Opinions of Maggie

Mickey and Maggie together smiling on The Lincoln Lawyer — Manuel Garcia-Rulfo & Neve Campbell in The Lincoln Lawyer

This arc has a good chance of changing viewers’ opinions of Maggie. Many fans disliked her because of her holier-than-thou attitude towards Mickey, his job, and his tactics. The overall prior criticisms of the character on one of the best Netflix original series are largely tied to her position as a public crusader and her judgmental nature. However, many point out that this is true to the character in Michael Connelly’s book series.

“Maggie is a total drag of a character,” Redditor lemininit wrote before Season 4 was released, referencing her “sour lemon frowny face” and “continual criticism of Mickey.” Witty-Bus07 added, “I think she’s there because her character was in the books and the character of her in the movie was quite good. But in the series, she adds hardly anything at all.”

This season, however, completely changes that mindset. Redditor gm_lily wrote that while Campbell is a fantastic actor, she wasn’t given much to work with in Seasons 1 through 3. She wrote, “All the writing is focused on making Mickey the hero.” Mickey is definitely still the hero in Season 4, the one who comes up with the final master plan that leads to him being released. But Maggie is far from a thoughtless background character now.

Maggie and Mickey Need To Get Back Together, Already

Maggie looking at Mickey who has his hand on her cheek in The Lincoln Lawyer.

This different side of Maggie almost lets us forgive her insistence that she and Mickey can’t be together romantically. In fact, it also suggests that she’s letting her guard down, understanding him better, and seeing him in a different light. It also proves that when the chips are down, romantic relationship or not, Maggie will do anything to be there for Mickey. Yes, even if it’s a risk to her romantic relationship with someone else.

Maggie’s The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4 character arc is so compelling because it focuses on her dynamic with Mickey. Since he relies on her and trusts her, that says a lot about how Mickey feels about her. Maggie realizes that, if Mickey went to prison, losing him would impact her. As the more guarded one when it comes to lingering feelings, in this season, we get hints that Maggie isn’t as over Mickey as she wants others (and herself) to think.

In the back of their minds, fans have always thought about these characters on The Lincoln Lawyer getting back together. Hayley (Krista Warner) even tells her mother that she sees a spark between her parents that she doesn’t see with Maggie and her new boyfriend, Jack (Jason O’Mara). Maggie is still uncertain, but it’s evident that she knows it’s true.

Overall, the added screen time for Maggie, the shifting dynamic between her and Mickey, and the demonstration of her legal prowess, fixes a big issue with the show up until now. Maggie didn’t have enough screen time, and the show painted her as a subtle villain rather than a hero who is on Mickey’s side. Thankfully, that’s been corrected now.

If nothing else, what Maggie’s Season 4 arc proved is that while Mickey is the show’s protagonist, she can hold our attention in the courtroom, too. Her role was not as significant in Season 3, and Season 4 proved that this was a big mistake. Not only does Mickey need more of Maggie in his life, but so do viewers.