Episode Nine

Episode nine of BOSCH’s six season has something most episodes of BOSCH don’t have time for: a theme. Not only that, but it focuses almost exclusively on two story threads and gets a lot done with them. You can tell things are getting wrapped up for the big season-ender.

Let’s start with J. Edgar. I know I keep saying it, but I have never fully understood this case. What started as a bit of J. Edgar’s haunted past has turned into a pretty complicated investigation into a Haitian villain that involves a lot of moving pieces, and while I’m entertained, I’m never quite sure who's hoping to do what.

It got a lot more confusing this episode as the villain himself wears a wire for the cops to help them get arrests for those two murdered cops at the beginning of the season. The burned undercover cop is never in any danger like we might expect. Instead, the whole thing is about injustice. By helping the cops, this guy gets to remain free, while also ensuring his an alibi while he has his thug murder J. Edgar’s buddy (that guy with the murdered son). I don’t know how it all works, but I don’t need to. The point is my man J. Edgar got played, the bad guy will get away with it.

Meanwhile Bosch is all about that Daisy Clayton case. He knows who murdered the girl ten years ago and gets a warrant to check the dude out. The investigation gives him more than he bargained for, revealing the guy to be what looks like a still-active serial killer. They find his rape van, mementos from his victims, even a fresh fingernail.

They arrest the man, but he claims some of these girls are still alive. He doesn’t murder them but instead has his fun and then sells them to a human trafficker. So he’s going to help the cops with that in exchange for a reduced sentence. Bosch tells this to Daisy Clayton’s now off-the-wagon mother and the shame just crushes him.

So two cops get fucked over by the justice system’s frequent inability to deliver true justice. If only cops could follow their gut and kill whoever they want, this world would make a lot more sense! (Throws hands up and accidentally knocks off MAGA hat in anger.)

As for side stories, IA investigates the whole Billets sexual harassment thing. When they come up empty, Cooper eggs them on with invented bullshit. This dude really hates Billets. Meanwhile, Irving is still getting grief over this audio tape of his cronyism in the ‘90s, now directly from his mayoral opponent. I don’t care, and I don’t think Irving cares much either.

Bosch is perfect: Well, Bosch wouldn’t let a ten-year-old murdered prostitute case go, and look where that got him!

No food. Goddammit, no food, no jazz, no Fat Tire. I guess the trade-off is BOSCH getting busier with its plot.

Episode Ten

The big finale! Let’s talk first about what doesn’t happen. Nothing seems to get fully resolved with Billets’ sexual harassment thing. I feel like that bastard Cooper is going to get some consequences for this, but not until season seven apparently. That’s bad news, not because I am dying to see how it goes, but because it will keep growing into something more complicated next year.

The Irving mayoral run stops dead in its tracks. Irving bows out of the race and endorses someone else. It feels a little bit like wasted time. All the scenes with Barrel’s dying cop buddy and that audiotape were tied up in this plot, and now it’s just a done thing. Oh well. I’m glad Irving is still chief of police, helping Bosch and hating Bosch at the same time.

The episode’s real meat comes from Bosch and J. Edgar. Knowing his big bad guy Avril is going to get away with things, J. Edgar parks outside his house, trying to decide whether or not to just kill him. While mulling that over, Avril’s right hand man Toussaint sneaks up to the house (I finally got these names sorted out!) to start some shit. J. Edgar follows him in, hears gunshots, finds Toussaint dead and shoots Avril in self defense. Or maybe not self defense. Maybe just straight up cop murder, egged on by his dead buddy’s final correspondence “when the system fails, righteous men rise up.”

J. Edgar gets all this cleared with the department, but Bosch knows the score. We’ll just have to see how this affects their relationship next season.

Bosch’s perp sings a song, which leads cops to a human trafficking house and the rescue of three girls. So that’s a win. But Bosch is still not happy about Daisy’s killer only getting eleven years for his crime. So he turns off the interrogation room camera and… threatens him. It’s not very satisfying for us and it’s not very satisfying for Bosch. This is doubly true when he visits Daisy’s mom and finds her dead of suicide. Lady justice takes another victim, damn.

Oh, remember the Sovereign? Their big plot finally goes down. Kent’s widow drops a bomb off in a courtroom featuring pretty much every main character in the show. I’m amazed they didn’t find a way to fit Irving in there as well. After taking an old man dump, Barrel sees the widow leave suspiciously, allowing him to check her abandoned bag and give everyone plenty of warning about the bomb. Bosch throws it into a nearby cell where it explodes without much consequence. The lady drives a second bomb to some FBI folks, but they know she’s coming and arrest her, though she comes very close to blowing herself up.

And that’s pretty much it. Bosch goes home and cooks steak while listening to jazz. He and Maddie make up and decide to go on vacation. J. Edgar has a nightmare about his murder of Avril. This was not a very good season of BOSCH.

Bosch is perfect: Bosch holds himself back from beating the shit out of Daisy’s killer. He’s the only person at her mother’s funeral. Also, Maddie decides she wants to be a prosecutor rather than a scumbag defense attorney. Good job, Bosch.

No takeout, just steak. Like I said, this wasn’t a great season.