The Lincoln Lawyer is a new legal drama released today on Netflix based on the The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly. Starring Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Mickey Haller, the new series is a compelling and gripping story that will keep viewers hooked from start to finish. The entire first season is now streaming on Netflix.

Sidelined after an accident, hotshot lawyer Mickey Haller finds himself thrown back into the deep end with a high-profile murder case after one of his colleagues is murdered and leaves his entire practice to Mickey.

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The following article contains heavy SPOILERS, so keep that in mind while you’re looking through it. We’re breaking down each episode of the show’s first season, so if you have questions or want to learn more about the show, start reading!

Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) is a former hotshot defense attorney known for working on the move in the back of his Lincoln Town Car, hence his nickname, “The Lincoln Lawyer.” Haller has been out of the game for at least a year after a traumatic surfing accident that led to several surgeries and a painkiller addiction, resulting in a rehab stint.

But Mickey is set to get back in the game when his colleague, Jerry Vincent (Paul Urcioli), is murdered and wills his entire practice (and all his clients and current cases) to Mickey. The only hitch is that he needs to impress the presiding Judge Mary Holder (LisaGay Hamilton), as she’s the one who will sign-off on Mickey fully accepting Jerry’s cases and practice if he proves himself.

The Lincoln Lawyer episode 1 opens with Jerry’s death. An unseen assailant shoots him dead in a parking garage. Shortly after, Mickey gets a call from his ex-wife Lorna (Becki Newton) that a judge wants to see him. It turns out Jerry edited his will not long ago to give everything to Mickey in the event of his death. That’s not suspicious at all!

Besides Lorna, Mickey is also still close to his other ex-wife, Maggie McPherson (affectionately known as “McFierce”) (Neve Campbell) with whom he shares a daughter, Hayley (Krista Warner).

The bulk of the first episode revolves around two distinct threads: Mickey figuring out where he stands with Trevor Elliott (Christopher Gorham) and the murder trial and handling a low-stakes bench trial with a young woman named Izzy Letts (Jazz Raycole). Izzy’s trial turns out to be a simple matter that Mickey resolves after getting a continuance.

Charged with grand theft for stealing a necklace, Mickey discovers the necklace is a fake and not worth enough money to warrant a grand theft charge. He gets the charges dropped. We learn that Izzy, like Mickey, is a recovering addict who stole the necklace while she was using. She’s a different person now, which Mickey understands.

Izzy is eternally grateful to Mickey and promises to return the favor someday. He realizes she can do that right now, by becoming his new driver, allowing him to stay on the move as he goes from meeting to meeting.

Of course, the big fish Mickey needs to land is Trevor, a tech mogul and video game creator accused of murdering his wife, Lara (Katy Erin), and the yoga instructor she was cheating on him with. Trevor came home to find them both dead in his bedroom, or so he claims. The murder weapon was never found. Mickey hires Lorna’s fiancé Cisco (Angus Sampson) to be his new investigator and help him dig into Trevor’s case in preparation for trial.

Lorna doesn’t actually tell Mickey that she and Cisco are engaged, leaving Cisco to inform him later as he doesn’t think Lorna will ever find the “right time.” Mickey is happy for them, although he assures Cisco that they’ll have problems if he hurts Lorna since Mickey still cares for her deeply.

When Mickey actually meets Trevor for the first time at his company headquarters, Parallax. He finds a cynical, aloof and jaded man that refuses to push his trial back any further. He wants Mickey to keep the court date and help him win back his name. By episode’s end, Mickey and Trevor have come to terms on the case and Trevor agrees to hire him.

As for Trevor’s defense, Trevor says that if he had found Lara and the instructor having sex, he wouldn’t have even left Lara. He would have begged her to stay. He blames himself for her cheating because he was working long hours and never home. Trevor’s fame came from crossing the uncanny valley during the creation of his blockbuster video game Nocturna, the main character of which he based on Lara’s likeness. The code Trevor created was so hyperrealistic, it became an instant success and ushered forth a new era in gaming.

Mickey assures Trevor that he can win this case and get him a “not guilty,” but he says he cannot promise to sway the court of public opinion or get an “innocent” ruling. That’s not how the criminal courts rule. Still, a “not guilty” is no small feat. Cisco and Lorna are both concerned with how Mickey can accomplish this, especially with the trial only a week away.

Besides the Trevor Elliott case, there’s another huge threat coalescing in the background: Jerry’s murder. The lead detective on Jerry’s homicide, Raymond Griggs (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine), informs Mickey that whoever killed Jerry did so with a clean kill shot to the head. Someone targeted Jerry and they didn’t take his wallet or cash, they took his bag with his laptop.

What was on there? What did Jerry know that got him killed? The answer is probably in his files and Griggs wants access to them. He warns Mickey that now that he’s taken over, he could be in danger just like Jerry was. Mickey is still against handing over his client’s cases to the cops and breaking attorney-client privilege, but he does tell Cisco to start combing through Jerry’s files for potential suspects.

In the final moments of the episode, Izzy picks Mickey up after his meeting with Trevor and informs him that they’re being followed.