Best go watch the 2011 film adaptation as this series never finds a narrative rhythm.

In 2011, moviegoers were first introduced to the scrappy and suave legal mind that is Mickey Haller in the film The Lincoln Lawyer. Adapted from one of the many novels by the author Michael Connelly, he was played by a charismatic Matthew McConaughey in rare form who instilled the character with a wicked wit and shamelessness that was matched only by his prevailing cynicism. While it was no masterpiece, it was still a rather solid adaptation that made the most of the pulpy material and marked the beginning of the McConaissance.

Now, a new Netflix series is taking its own crack at the character with a fresh cast and a different case. The 10-episode series is based on Connelly’s 2008 novel The Brass Verdict and follows the broad narrative strokes of its source material with a few occasional wrinkles. The biggest is that Haller is now played with a more reserved and frequently uncertain sensibility by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, who does his best to keep this sinking ship afloat. It is a show that starts tepid and becomes increasingly tedious, getting tangled up in extraneous subplots without a clear sense of direction. Despite some admirable efforts by its committed cast, this version of The Lincoln Lawyer never makes a compelling case for its lengthy and laborious existence.

The story here is that Haller is looking to bounce back after his life and career were left on the ropes. His struggles stem from a bout with addiction, an element that is introduced as an establishing characteristic though never excavated much beyond that. The driving force of the series is that he now has been tasked with taking on the caseload of a former colleague who was murdered under mysterious circumstances. This all connects to his most high-profile case, where a famed video game CEO by the name of Trevor Elliott (Christopher Gorham) stands accused of killing his wife and her lover in a fit of rage.

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Tasked as the sole defender of his innocence, Haller reluctantly takes on the case, though soon discovers that all is not what it seems to be with the killing. Making matters more complicated, he is trying to repair the relationships in his personal life all while trying to piece together the truth in the biggest case of his life. An underutilized Neve Campbell plays Haller's wife Maggie, with whom he shares custody of his daughter. All of this and more makes for a show that collapses under the weight of the meandering storylines that keep piling on.

There are brief flashes of fun to be had when the show embraces its more cheesy potential. Seeing Haller navigate a broken legal system and weasel his way out of seemingly unwinnable cases by using his litany of street smarts is what makes the character an engaging one. He has no misconceptions about what is doing, showing a willingness to use underhanded tactics to win when the odds are stacked against him. This is where Garcia-Rulfo comes alive, giving a more sardonic performance that sets him apart from any past take on the character. Unfortunately, the rest of the show is never able to get out of the shadow of the 2011 film, which was a more sharp and focused experience overall. In this series, the narrative momentum gets completely lost in the weeds. It woefully loses steam at every new twist and turn.

Not helping matters is that The Lincoln Lawyer looks particularly ugly. It is all garishly lit and lazily framed in a manner that feels cheap, dragging down its story into the muck when it was already struggling to keep its head above the water. When evaluating television, it is not just about the story you tell but how you tell it. The Lincoln Lawyer fails in both regards, proving to be lacking in both its writing and visual presentation. Recurring flash-forward scenes where Haller monologues in a car are washed out with a gaudy filter that seeks to provide a cue that this is a different time period. This unattractive aesthetic is made worse as the story itself grows increasingly mundane when these largely disconnected scenes play out. Even outside this, the other driving sequences are heavily reliant on a poorly integrated use of green screen that distracts from anything Holler is saying. It is miles away from cinematic, leaving us to look at hideous visuals that bombard the eyes while the story bludgeons the brain.

There are moments that provide some unexpected laughs, which break up the monotony of the experience. The judge during the many trial sequences gets in some goofy lines, such as when he ignores an objection by saying “what’s good for the goose” with a straight face that only makes it all the funnier. This and other absurdities may likely be creating unintentional comedy; however, it is in these moments that The Lincoln Lawyer is the most joyful, at least when you no longer take anything playing out seriously. As for whether this is actually captivating in a dramatic sense, the central storyline leaves something to be desired. While it ventures step-by-step through every part of the case, from the jury selection to the closing statements, we can all see where this is going despite all the supposed curves the series throws our way. There is a conclusion to one of the episodes where everything almost grinds to a halt and seems to leave nothing else for the story to engage with. Of course, a contrivance arises to give the illusion of intrigue when really it is all grasping at straws and utterly without a genuine sense of stakes.

The main story wraps up with a whimper, feeling truncated to the point of being rushed. That just leaves a whole host of subplots to resolve, none of which are particularly interesting. Most of them are centered around Maggie’s character, who must navigate a political campaign as well as figure out how to take down a high-profile criminal known for going after witnesses. Campbell gives her all to these storylines, though it all just feels busy without being important. It keeps her trapped in a repetitive cycle of hollow complications, narrative window dressing for the main story that isn’t all that enthralling either. A show based on a novel that owns its pulpy origins has the potential to be good, as seen in the recent Reacher series. This is just something The Lincoln Lawyer seems uninterested or incapable of trying to achieve. It goes through the motions with the enthusiasm of a nap, occasionally jarring us into paying attention before falling back into a deep slumber of mundanity.

The Lincoln Lawyer will be available to stream starting Friday, May 13 on Netflix.

Chase Hutchinson is a Feature/Review Writer for Collider. His work has also appeared in a variety of publications including The Stranger, The Portland Mercury, The Inlander, and The Sunbreak. He lives in Tacoma, WA (it is near Seattle, though still very much its own thing) where he works as a writer and journalist. You can find him on Twitter at @EclecticHutch.

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