There’s something quite different, special even, about the fourth season of Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer. And not just because Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) faces the biggest legal fight of his life to that point. It has everything to do with the dynamite Assistant District Attorney who took him on. Dana “Death Row” Berg, played by the talented Constance Zimmer, is quite unlike any prosecutor Mickey has faced. She didn’t need to yell, but her mere presence had you leaning towards your screen like, “Wait, what’s she going to do?” It’s a performance that was both beautiful and intense.
Now, if you’ve finished the season and think the same thing, we’ve got news for you: that was basically a tamed version of Constance Zimmer. If you really want to see what she’s capable of without the constraints that playing a lawyer imposed on her, you need to watch her as Quinn King in UnREAL. And you’d best believe it, that’s a whole different beast we’re not certain Mickey Haller would have survived.
Constance Zimmer’s Power Play as Dana Berg in ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ Season 4
The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4 starts with charismatic, hotshot defense attorney and everyone’s favorite, Mickey Haller, behind bars for murder. Talk about kicking things off with a loud bang. And it doesn’t stop there. You know the saying, “When it rains, it pours?” It was certainly pouring for Mickey because who does the DA’s office bring in to bury him? Dana Berg, a prosecutor nicknamed “Death Row Dana,” amongst other unsavory nicknames, for good reason. Zimmer’s genius here is in what she doesn’t do. For one, she doesn’t grandstand or sneer. There’s an eerie calm about her, like she knows the outcome of each interaction before it even happens.
So, here we have a prosecutor who must do everything “by the book,” meaning she presents the facts and follows due process. Dana is a “true believer” who thinks Mickey is guilty. So Zimmer adopts this matter-of-fact approach to playing her. The tension here comes from watching Mickey, who’s used to running the show, bumped up against a wall that just won’t budge. Ultimately, Zimmer’s performance convinced you that Dana was an old head who knew every clean, controlled, calculated step she needed to take. Others just needed to catch up.
However, what makes you lean towards your screen is when Zimmer shows you a glimpse of something more personal underneath all that professionalism. Once audiences see that slip in her composure, they feel her realness. Then she transforms from an iron lady prosecutor to someone processing a fallout in the moment. Needless to say, it’s at the point where you start watching her more closely.
RELATED: ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ Season 4 Finally Gives Mickey Haller a Worthy Courtroom Enemy
Inside Quinn King: Constance Zimmer’s Unforgettable Role on ‘UnREAL’
Imagine Dana Berg without a law degree, martini in hand, and taking over a reality TV show. That’s Quinn King in UnReal. She’s the executive producer of the fictional dating show, ‘Everlasting’ (think The Bachelor on steroids), and her life motto is basically, “ratings above everything, consequences be damned.” Right from her first scene, you know you’re in for a ride with a woman who doesn’t care one bit about rulebooks.
Quinn is a merchant of verbal firebombs, quite unlike Dana, who deals in quiet stares and nuanced conversations. For instance, she’s the kind of person who’ll berate her assistant for bringing her bad coffee. That tells you everything about her character: she has zero patience, demands the best, and enjoys putting people in their place. Her philosophy is even clearer in one of her most iconic conversations with her protégé, Rachel Goldberg (Shiri Appleby). In Season 3, episode 4, “Confront,” the latter complains about being sick of being a “manipulative bitch.” But Quinn shuts her down by telling her to “suck it up.” For Quinn, manipulation isn’t particularly a no-no word. Think of it as her job description, her art form, and survival skills, all rolled into one.
But here’s what makes Zimmer’s performance award-winning (she won a Critics’ Choice Award and got an Emmy nod for this, by the way). She shows you that Quinn’s life isn’t all power suits and killer one-liners. In Season 2, episode 8, “Fugitive,” she learns she can’t have kids, and saying she didn’t like the news would be putting it mildly. In fact, it broke her. On top of that, her career takes a hit, and she has to watch her ex, Chet (Craig Bierko), “get his groove on” with a much younger, “easier” girlfriend. All that tells you is that Quinn’s whole drive to control everyone else stems from a deep, panicky fear of being irrelevant, of being replaced.
That sort of dual personality is what Zimmer plays so well. This is a woman who’ll laugh when a contestant pukes on live TV (see Season 2, episode 9, “Espionage”), then turn around and show a flicker of real heart. All in all, she’s just a… monster, but she’s also the kind of monster you understand.
So if you were impressed by Dana Berg, Quinn King is sure to leave you obsessed. You’ve met the lawyer who follows the rules, now meet the executive producer who makes her own. You can watch all 4 seasons of UnREAL on Hulu.
