The 10-part Netflix original series “The Lincoln Lawyer” is set in the present day and the title character is indeed an attorney, but it has the comfort-viewing vibe of the classic hourlong cop and private-eye dramas of the 1970s and 1980s, e.g., “The Rockford Files,” “McCloud,” “Magnum, P.I.” and “Baretta.” It contains many of the familiar elements and characters from those shows, including a likable anti-hero, the traditional authority figures who are always throwing up obstacles, the rogue sidekick and a rotating gallery of colorful suspects.
It’s Netflix, but it feels like old-fashioned network TV—and that’s probably no coincidence, given the showrunner is the prolific David E. Kelley, whose credits include “Boston Public,” “Ally McBeal,” “Picket Fences,” “Chicago Hope,” “The Practice,” “Big Sky” and we’re just getting warmed up. Based on the second of Michael Connelly’s five “Lincoln Lawyer” novels (the first was made it into a 2011 feature film starring Matthew McConaughey), this is a slick, easily digested and well-acted legal thriller featuring an outstanding ensemble cast and a juicy, lurid murder mystery that keeps us guessing throughout—not that we can’t see some of the twists coming a mile down the road. That’s even part of the fun of shows such as this one; We feel smarter than most of the people in the room, except, of course, our hero, who’s always one step ahead of everyone else, even when it appears as if he’s stumbled down yet another rabbit hole.
