“Everything Changes Now” — The Lincoln Lawyer Pulls Off Its Smartest Twist in Four Seasons With One Crucial Character’s Return, Reigniting Old Tensions and Quietly Resetting the Power Balance

Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4.

From The Practice to Suits, legal dramas have become a signature genre on television, bringing viewers straight into the courtroom by pairing a specific formula with recurring characters. While the realism of these shows is debatable, fans continue to devour them. Almost two decades after The Practice went off the air, David E. Kelley developed another legal drama, this time on Netflix, called The Lincoln Lawyer. Before returning with its fourth season this month, The Lincoln Lawyer was renewed for a fifth. Clearly, Netflix believes in the series, which, thankfully, doesn’t seem to be losing steam, and Season 4 makes The Lincoln Lawyer‘s strongest decision yet by promoting a recurring cast member to series regular.

What Is ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ About?

Michael “Mickey” Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) is the lead character in multiple novels from Michael Connelly (the creative mind behind Bosch). A Los Angeles-based defense attorney who often works out of a Lincoln Navigator, Mickey has a reputation for doing whatever it takes to win his clients’ cases. He has a team behind him, including his new chauffeur, Izzy (Jazz Raycole), his second ex-wife and legal aid, Lorna (Becki Newton), and his private investigator, Cisco (Angus Sampson). Thanks to its relationships, complicated baggage, and new cases pushing characters to test the boundaries of what’s ethically right, The Lincoln Lawyer has no shortage of dramatic stories to explore.

Unlike other legal dramas, The Lincoln Lawyer isn’t a procedural, where each new episode revolves around a new case for the characters to solve. Instead, one overarching case drives the story forward. Typically, each season, which adapts a different Connelly novel, ends with a cliffhanger that leads to the following season’s big case.

Maggie McPherson, played by Neve Campbell, is one of two ex-wives in Mickey’s life, each of whom has a different relationship with the protagonist. While Lorna continues to care for him, they both understand their dynamic is better off as close friends and professional partners. On the other hand, Maggie shares a child with Mickey, making their situation much more complicated. Since they serve on opposite sides of the justice system, with Maggie working as a prosecutor, they have fundamentally different perspectives. Maggie isn’t a fan of how often Mickey colors outside the lines of what’s legal or ethical, feeling that his work actually helps the dangerous people he defends in court.

This tension is evident throughout Season 1, when Maggie is first introduced to the show; however, her role is drastically reduced in the second and third seasons after the character decides to move to San Diego for a job with the city’s DA’s office. As a result, The Lincoln Lawyer was missing a strong emotional anchor for Mickey — someone who called him out and met him at his level.

Thankfully, Season 4 rectifies this decision and brings Campbell back for the entirety of the story. When Mickey is framed for murder, Maggie brings Hayley (Krista Warner) to visit him at the beginning of the season. After trying to be a support system for both Mickey and Lorna, who’s struggling to defend Mickey in such a big case, eventually, Maggie takes the helm and switches to the defense side for her ex. Season 4 wouldn’t have been the same without Maggie as Mickey’s foil, grounding and reassuring him throughout all the ups and downs. There are many emotionally intimate moments between them throughout the season that offer a better understanding of their relationship, Mickey’s inner world, and how beautifully they rely on one another.

While, in previous seasons, we saw Maggie frequently chide Mickey for pushing legal boundaries, she is also forced to face the unethical behavior of her own side with Season 4’s addition of Dana Berg (Constance Zimmer). Not only does Maggie have a distaste for Berg, but she is also shocked to witness the lengths the prosecution is willing to go to in order to push legal boundaries. After three seasons of will-they-won’t-they tension hampered by distance and ethical disagreements, Season 4 finally gives Mickey and Maggie the space to rediscover why they worked in the first place, and watching Maggie confront the corruption on her own side may be exactly what it takes to bridge the divide between them for good — but it wouldn’t have been possible without The Lincoln Lawyer making the show’s best decision to date by bringing Campbell back into the fold.