The Lincoln Lawyer parents' guide: What you should know before letting your teen watch the Netflix legal drama

The Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix is a legal drama adaptation from Michael Connelly’s bestselling series of novels.

The story follows the maverick defense lawyer Mickey Haller, who works out of the back seat of his Lincoln town car and not a traditional office.

The show is set in Los Angeles and combines courtroom drama with crime investigation, personal challenges, and moral ambiguities as Mickey investigates intricate cases of murder, corruption, and influence. The show comes with a compelling narrative and a pacing liked by both adults and teens.

However, despite this, The Lincoln Lawyer is not a breezy or family-friendly legal drama. It has mature themes and may be difficult for young viewers to follow at times. For that reason, parents need to know what’s in the show and if it’s fine for teens, especially those younger than 16, to watch the show.

Read on to know the complete parents' guide to The Lincoln Lawyer.

Here is what you should know before letting your teen watch The Lincoln Lawyer

The Lincoln Lawyer is rated TV-MA and therefore is meant for a mature audience. This rating is because the series frequently contains strong language and violence associated with criminal activities, and mature topics. Some mature teens may also be readers and viewers of the content, but the rating and flag indicate that parental caution is highly recommended. Parents must know about the degree of violence, substance abuse, and nudity etc that the show comes with to make a wise decision for their children below 16 years of age.

The series doesn’t shy away from dealing with violent crime. This includes murder investigations, shootings, stabbings, and threats, per reports. While the violence is not always graphic, it is frequently very intense and emotionally draining, often presented in the form of crime scene details or courtroom testimonies. Suicide, political corruption, and abuse of power are also alluded to and could be unsettling for more impressionable young viewers.

Secondly, the language this show features is another significant issue. The series features frequent profanity, including many instances of strong curse words used in both casual and high-stress legal conversations. Sexual content is limited to somewhat suggestive scenes, some nudity, and references to sexual relationships, but not sexual acts.

Furthermore, drug addiction and drinking are part of the main character's history, which provides emotional weight to the character, but these themes might be too harsh for young kids.

Here are some tips for parents if they are watching The Lincoln Lawyer in their teens' presence

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If parents are considering giving The Lincoln Lawyer to their teens, they must preview episodes first or watch them themselves, especially if the teen is under 17. Co-viewing is advisable to create a space for conversation about justice, ethics, addiction, and real-world consequences. Mature teens with a taste for legal dramas who are capable of thinking critically about serious subject matter may find the show lends itself to some good conversations.

When all is said and done, the show doesn't just touch on content but on the many moral grey areas in the justice system. Characters regularly cross lines they shouldn’t cross, defend the guilty, and grapple with their own personal compromises. For teens, particularly younger ones, these subtleties can be difficult to fully understand on their own and without discussion, which can sometimes blur ideas of right and wrong.

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