“Did Lisa kill Mitchell in The Lincoln Lawyer?” is the burning question that’s been on fans’ minds ever since season 2 part 1 landed and now we finally have the all-important answer.
After the spectacular finale of the first season of The Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix many fans will have had big expectations going into the follow-up series and we certainly weren’t left disappointed. Attorney Mickey Haller was back in action in season 2 part 1 taking on the case of chef Lisa Trammell who was accused of murdering her property developer nemesis Mitchell Bondurant. As the trial started it was clear that things weren’t adding up entirely and Mickey was feeling the pressure to prove his case. Now anyone who’s been agonising over Lisa’s guilt or innocence finally knows the full truth as The Lincoln Lawyer season 2 part 2 unravelled all the chilling twists and turns of this gripping mystery.
But did Lisa kill Mitchell in The Lincoln Lawyer show, did she do it in the book the Netflix hit is based on? We reveal what you need to know…
*Warning: Spoilers ahead*
Did Lisa kill Mitchell Bondurant in The Lincoln Lawyer?
Played by the brilliant Lana Parrilla in The Lincoln Lawyer season 2, Lisa Trammell and Mickey Haller hit it off instantly after meeting early on in the season. But what started as a night of passion soon turned into a very different kind of relationship as the chef turned to Mickey to represent her when she was accused of killing property developer Mitchell Bondurant.
He had been gentrifying her neighbourhood and had tried to pressure her into selling up and moving on too. Only Lisa wasn’t about to be pushed around by Mitchell and after making her opposition known, she was suspected, arrested and tried for his murder. Thanks to Mickey, Lisa was found not guilty of killing Mitchell in The Lincoln Lawyer but she did kill someone else.
The trial saw the prosecution deliver plenty of evidence that placed Lisa’s innocence in doubt - not least her gardening gloves with Mitchell’s blood on them. However, Mickey managed to focus the jury on Alex Grant, who had ties to the Armenian mafia. He had been painted by the defence as a possible alternative killer, helping Lisa to go free when he refused to incriminate himself on the witness stand and pleaded the Fifth Amendment.
He had also bribed someone else, Walter Kim, and ultimately, amidst the swirling twists and turns, Lisa was found not guilty. However, Lisa was very much guilty of killing her ex-husband Jeff, whom she said had been abusive towards her during their marriage before walking out, never to be seen again.
During a walk with his daughter Mickey had a shocking realisation about the phone call he’d supposedly received from Jeff. Despite claiming to be calling from elsewhere, Jeff's call featured background noise from right there in Venice Beach and Mickey went off to conduct some research after making the connection.
It was then that he came across a picture of Lisa with her team (including the man who’d claimed to be Jeff) and received an email from Cisco with the Trammels’ divorce details in it. The next day, Mickey arrived at Lisa’s place and found her in the garden where he told her, “Jeff never wanted you to have this place, did he?”
He speculated that Jeff had wanted to take half of everything when he filed for divorce, adding, “There was always something off with your story, Lisa.”
Mickey explained that he’d found out Jeff had filed for divorce from Lisa 11 years earlier, but had withdrawn this a few weeks later - coincidentally, right around the time that Lisa said he’d left her. The attorney then revealed that he’d never really met Jeff, putting it to Lisa that the person he’d met was an actor who'd briefly worked at Lisa's restaurant who'd been paid to pretend to be her ex-husband.
Despite Lisa's protests, Mickey then laid out three things that never made sense for him. These were: why Lisa didn’t sell to Mitchell and move, why she didn’t consider putting her place up for her bail and why she loses her temper whenever Jeff is mentioned.
Mickey worked out that Lisa had killed Jeff and buried him in the garden next to the coriander (his least favourite herb) at her property. She simply couldn’t risk losing or leaving it, concerned someone would find what was buried there.
After Mickey left, it emerged that his second ex-wife Lorna had called the cops to go and dig up Lisa’s property, stating she could because she isn’t a defence attorney like Mickey. Later on at the wedding party for Lorna and Cisco in The Lincoln Lawyer, Lorna confessed her belief to Izzy that Lisa was the one who hired the men to assault Mickey in the parking lot in the Lincoln Lawyer season 2 part 1 finale. As Lorna put it, Alex Grant had no reason to act so recklessly as he had been trying to look like a legitimate businessman.
Whereas Lisa had been “obsessed” with making Mickey believe she was innocent. Having no proof, Lorna didn’t tell Mickey that she thought Lisa had Mickey attacked, but she affirmed that Lisa was “bad news”.
Exactly how “bad” remains to be seen and it’s possible that any future The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 could bring in a little bit more of Lisa Trammel’s storyline. Especially since The Lincoln Lawyer book series by Michael Connelly took the chef’s story - and guilt - in a totally different direction.
Did Lisa kill Mitchell in The Lincoln Lawyer book?
As we’ve seen with the Vera The Darkest Evening ending and other shows adapted from book plots, things rarely stay exactly the same and The Lincoln Lawyer is no exception. In the book, Lisa did kill Mitchell, even though she was found Not Guilty by the jury in a departure from what we saw in the TV show where Lisa seemed to be genuinely innocent. Or at least, it never openly contradicted the verdict delivered by the jury, even if Lorna thought of her as “bad news”.
As per ScreenRant in The Lincoln Lawyer book series, Lisa is exonerated in pretty much the same way as we saw in the show, with Alex Grant pleading the Fifth Amendment. Mickey then discovered that Lisa really did kill Mitchell and that he’d defended a guilty person.
Horrified, Mickey decided to tip off the police that her husband Jeff was “missing” and they searched her house and garden - a move that Lorna made in The Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix. In a panic, Lisa rang Mickey for help but he refused, hoping that although he’d helped her escape justice for Mitchell’s murder she would be arrested for Jeff’s. It was also revealed that Lisa hired the men who attacked Mickey in the parking garage as Lorna suspects in the drama.
It’s not clear why The Lincoln Lawyer Netflix show switched things up and didn’t deliver the book twist that Lisa did kill Mitchell after all. Perhaps it’s because the novel that was adapted for season 1 had the same situation with a “Not Guilty” verdict and the killer being set free.
If there is ever a The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 it’s possible Lisa could feature and perhaps her innocence could be questioned here. Either way, both the book and show delivered a gripping journey to their slightly different endings and we can’t help hoping the show will return to Netflix for another series. With seven books in Michael Connelly’s series, there are certainly more cases to adapt for TV…
The Lincoln Lawyer seasons 1 and 2 are available to watch now on Netflix.
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