‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ Season 4’s Shocking Finale Reveal, Explained

Spoiler Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4.The Lincoln Lawyer ends its fantastic fourth season with a resolution to Mickey’s (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) case. He could spent his life in prison, and the deck was certainly stacked against him. However, he and his team, with Maggie (Neve Campbell) in charge, managed to win. This was partly thanks to his usual crafty thinking. While this meant Mickey was back in the saddle, with the phone ringing off the hook at his firm from new clients wanting representation, the final moments of the episode presented a new person in his life who threw him for a loop.

Cobie Smulders Plays A Character Intimately Connected to Mickey In ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ Season 4 Finale

Netflix

After spending time in prison following that fateful traffic stop at the end of The Lincoln Lawyer Season 3, and seeing his life flash before his eyes, Mickey wanted to spend the day driving around, and evening alone enjoying a home-cooked meal. He was even ready to try a new recipe, he excitedly told Izzy (Jazz Raycole). However, when he was enjoying some late-night grocery shopping, a random woman seemed to be lingering. She kept staring at him and then looking away, as if trying not to be noticed but also wanting to say something. Mickey glanced back and smiled to be friendly, but also clearly recognized something was weird about her stalker-like tendencies. Nonetheless, he moved on.

When Mickey headed to his car, the woman came over. However, before she could share her name, she noticed someone behind Mickey and yelled at him to get down. Before he could register what she said, she grabbed him and pushed him to the ground with her as shots rang out, narrowly missing him. Agent Dawn Ruth (Sasha Alexander) appeared, and a shoot-out ensued. It turns out the Armenians saw Mickey as a loose end after the case was resolved, and, as the FBI suspected, they wanted to take him out.

“Your new friend just saved your life,” Ruth told Mickey before letting him know that, despite the fact that he played her in the end, she was always going to do her job, which is to protect people. After thanking this woman, marveling at how she had such great instincts, he questioned her identity. The reveal comes completely out of left field: this woman (whose name we still don’t know) is his sister. Wait, his sister? Since when does Mickey have a sister? From the look on his face, we can tell that Mickey is just as confused as we are.

The Implications of This Big Reveal for Mickey’s Story in ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’

Mickey wearing sunglasses in The Lincoln Lawyer.

Up until this point, we know limited details about Mickey’s childhood and life before he became a lawyer. We know his mother is an actress from Mexico and was much younger than his father. She appears several times in Season 4 as she supports her son, helps with her granddaughter by taking her to Mexico, and continues her work. She also dates and and falls in love quickly.

We also know that Mickey’s father died long ago, but Mickey followed in his footsteps to become a cutthroat criminal defense lawyer. Legal (Elliot Gould), his father’s former partner, became a mentor and father figure to Mickey, and the pair remained close throughout his life. Mickey often sought Legal’s counsel when he needed a third-party opinion, legal or moral advice, or just someone to reassure him that he was doing the right thing. Sadly, Legal died in The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4, which leaves a hole in Mickey’s life that he hasn’t yet properly grieved since he was incarcerated when it happened and didn’t attend the funeral.

It seems Mickey may have followed too closely in his father’s footsteps, having trouble maintaining healthy relationships with a women alongside his demanding job. Twice-married and divorced, he remains close with both his exes, including Maggie and Lorna (Becki Newton). With Mickey now sober and in a better emotional place in his life, it’s no secret that he yearns to be back with Maggie and his daughter Hayley (Krista Warner) and have that perfect family life that he let slip through his fingers. They also represent a sense of family that is lacking in his life.

Interestingly, in the Michael Connelly books on which the show (and the movie) is based, Mickey has a sibling, and it’s someone who appears on-screen in another book adaptation. Harry Bosch of the Amazon Prime Video series Bosch, portrayed by Titus Welliver, is supposed to be Mickey’s paternal half-brother. But there are no plans for a show crossover or a confirmation of canon between these two on-screen characters, as exists in the books. The Lincoln Lawyer appears to follow this storyline differently, since the novel that Season 4 is based on heavily features Bosch. This time, Mickey has a sister, not a brother.

Timing Is Everything in ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ Season 4

Mickey sitting in his car with sunglasses and smiling in The Lincoln Lawyer. — Mickey

This mysterious woman’s presence poses interesting questions for Mickey, solidifying The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4 as the most emotional one yet. It could be a good thing, especially now that Mickey has lost Legal. He also feels as though Maggie’s new life in San Diego, with her new boyfriend Jack (Jason O’Mara), means that there’s no hope for getting his family back together. His mother is in his life, but she tends to travel often and is always caught up with her latest beau. He’ll certainly have questions for her about this woman who claims to be his sister, so we suspect Elena will feature heavily in Season 5, if there is one.

It’s difficult to determine if the sister is younger, older, or the same age as Mickey. Garcia-Rulfo is 44 years old in real life, and Smulders is 43. It’s unclear how old Mickey was when his father died in the series, but in the books, Mickey was just five years old. This means the woman would have to be no more than five years younger, but possibly around the same age.

Either way, it’s unlikely that she’s much older, which means his father almost certainly had an affair. It’s entirely possible she’s a twin, though this is a far-fetched angle the show likely won’t take, or Mickey’s biological mother gave her up for adoption, another unlikely angle. Chances are she may have only recently discovered her parentage and the fact that her biological half-brother is a high-powered defense attorney in Los Angeles who just so happened to be recently going through a very public murder case.

If anyone can give Mickey answers about who this woman is, it’s Elena, especially with Legal out of the picture now. It’s possible neither of them knew this woman even existed either. This story will undoubtedly affect Mickey in many ways and will mean that The Lincoln Lawyer will continue to explore Mickey’s thoughts about his father and his desire for family. Since he defines himself as an only child, this changes everything. How this woman will play into the story remains to be seen. All we know is that we can’t wait to find out more.