Diksha Sundriyal
Every episode of Netflix’s ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ Season 3 packs a punch that completely rewrites the investigation into the murder of Glory Days. With every chapter, a new discovery comes into the picture, which helps Mickey Haller build a defense for his client, Julian La Cosse, who is accused of murdering Glory Days. However, it is the finale that leads to some very unexpected things, so unexpected indeed that despite all his careful planning to steer the trial the way he wants to, even Mickey Haller cannot predict what happens next. The said twist involves the investigator named Neil Bishop, and what he does is something that no one could have seen coming.
Neil Bishop’s Connection to James DeMarco Becomes His Downfall
Years before Mickey Haller took on Julian La Cosse as his client, he represented a man who was guilty of the crime he was accused of. Still, as his lawyer, Mickey had to find a way to get him free, and he did so on a technicality that completely wrote off the defense’s case. The detective on that case was Neil Bishop, who held a grudge against Mickey. Bishop seemed so dedicated to getting the culprit their due in court that he was ready to do anything for it, which shows that he had a strong sense of justice. However, one mistake led to his entire career and desire to bring about justice unraveling.
The case in question happened ten years prior to the death of Glory Days’ murder. Bishop had been working on a case surrounding the death of a cartel member. The case was a dead end, but Bishop had to do his duty and chase all possible leads. Around that time, he had been going through a divorce, and money was tight. This was when DEA agent James DeMarco found him. DeMarco offered Bishop money in exchange for making sure that the dead-end of the case remains so. He convinces Bishop that he is not doing anything wrong because no matter what, the case was meant to be unsolvable due to the forces behind it. It didn’t seem like such a bad deal at the time, so Bishop took it. But with that one instance of bribery, DeMarco had him under his hold, and ten years later, Bishop found himself doing things his conscience would’ve never allowed him.
Glory Days was reeled in by DeMarco to plant a gun on Hector Moya, the cartel boss, and have him sent to prison for good. However, Moya’s defense figured this out, and they subpoenaed Glory Days. When she told DeMarco about it, he knew that she needed to go. If she testified in the case, the truth would come out one way or another, and it could completely derail DeMarco’s life. So, he told Bishop to locate her. His years of experience in the police force allowed Bishop to track down Glory Days, and he pointed DeMarco in her direction.
Now, even as Bishop was following her, he had a bad feeling about the whole thing. DeMarco assured him that he was simply going to talk to her. But when DeMarco took the back entrance to avoid the CCTV cameras at the front door of the building, Bishop knew exactly what was going to happen. While he didn’t see the murder happen in front of his eyes, he had no doubt about the fact that it was DeMarco who killed Glory Days. Still, he couldn’t utter a word of it to anyone, so not only did he let Julian La Cosse take the fall for it, but he even helped DeMarco in making things difficult for Mickey Haller to prove Julian’s innocence.
Neil Bishop Didn’t Want to End Up in Prison
Part of the reason that Bishop stayed quiet was because he didn’t think anyone would be able to make a connection between him and DeMarco. This also meant that his corruption would never come to light, but he turned out to be wrong. Due to his dedication to bringing justice for Glory Days and saving Julian, Mickey Haller, despite all the threats, doggedly pursues the case and eventually ends up with footage that invariably links DeMarco to Bishop. Mickey is prepared to use the footage in the courtroom, but he isn’t able to find a good way to go about it. In the end, he shows the footage to Bishop, beseeching him to come clean about what happened the night of Glory Days’ murder.
Having seen the footage, Bishop knows that he is done for. There is no use hiding anymore, so when he is called to the stand, he decides to hold on to the last piece of his dignity and comes clean about everything. He tells the whole story, from how he was lured into a trap by DeMarco and what happened with Glory Days. Mickey doesn’t even have to push him to tell the truth and the things Bishop reveals shock even him. Still, with his testimony, it becomes clear that the real murderer is DeMarco, not Julian. While this is great news for Haller and his client, it also means that Bishop would be tried for his crimes and would most likely go to prison.
The moment Bishop starts talking about his crimes in court, the judge realizes that something is fishy. She takes precautions by telling Bishop to give up his firearm lest he tries something untoward. Her suspicion proves to be right when he pulls out a gun that he hadn’t turned over and shoots himself mere moments after his testimony. The judge had sensed that his confession and his refusal to have an attorney, despite knowing that he would be charged based on his testimony, meant that he had already made up his mind about his fate. She’d hoped to avoid the tragedy, but Bishop had anticipated her move and kept another gun on his person.
The guilt Bishop felt didn’t arise after the revelation of the footage. He had been dealing with it for a very long time, but he couldn’t do anything about it. As long as he wasn’t around when the bad stuff happened, he could convince himself that he didn’t do anything wrong. But with the footage, it becomes clear that all of his crimes are going to come out. He knew that it would stain his reputation and his career, and he couldn’t see himself in prison. He knew what it would do to his son, for whom he had taken that bribe from DeMarco in the first place. Above all, he had become the very people he tried to keep behind bars and lie as he did to himself all these years; he couldn’t do it anymore. His faith in the justice system had already crumbled, and he couldn’t live with it anymore, not in prison, at least. This is why, as he takes the stand to tell the entire truth and save Julian La Cosse, he also decides that this would be his last act, and he kills himself.
Read More: The Lincoln Lawyer: Who is Deborah Glass? How did She Die?
