Fuckin’ Bosch: Season Six, Episodes 7 & 8

Episode Seven

This episode is so inconsequential that its big stinger ending comes when Bosch and his daughter Maddie have a disagreement that they acknowledge with maturity rather than build into an argument.

So let’s go through the list of side stories that get inches of movement. Our A story has diverged into two stories. The first involves the prosecution of Alicia Kent. Her plea deal is in danger now that Bosch has her conspiring to kill her husband on tape. The other A story, the one that’s been quietly sitting there for a few episodes now, has to do with Travis Strout’s widow and whatever revenge she is planning for the death of her husband.

We started this season with all of LA under terrorist threat, which turned out to be a rouse to cover up a murder. But in investigating it, the FBI created a monster likely to create a whole new threat that’s actually real. We’ll just have to keep waiting to see what that threat is.

Meanwhile, we get a lot of Irving this episode, though all Lance Reddick scenes remain under thirty seconds long. He gets Honey Chander’s endorsement, gets faced at a wake by the daughter of an old dead cop, and shows up doing something incriminating in the ‘90s on a long-hidden audio recording that falls into Barrel’s lap. What’ll happen with all that? Nothing. I feel pretty confident Irving’s going to be Mayor.

The whole sexual harassment thing with Billets is about to get bigger. Billets has a captain that hates her, and the cop complaining about unwanted touching has now crossed his path. I like Billets and hate this story.

I barely understand what’s going on with Bosch’s Daisy Clayton investigation. He’s suddenly investigating a copycat of an old serial killer or something. It’s like Bosch jumped a couple steps ahead of me, and I don’t know how he got there. To be fair, this isn’t really that kind of show anyway. It’s designed for passive watching, and I’m breaking that agreement with these reviews.

Bosch is perfect: Well, Maddie quits working for Honey Chandler over a very tertiary moral issue. He raised the perfect kid. Bosch himself doesn’t do much this episode.

And that includes eating takeout.

Episode Eight

Unfortunately, episode eight continues episode seven’s water treading. It’s not that this stuff isn’t entertaining, but we’re really going through the motions on a lot of side things, moving them all forward a bit at a time.

The only A story business happens right at the top. Alicia Kent and her attorney Honey Chandler go to court to that have incriminating audio recording stricken from her case. The shocker is Chandler wants the whole wiretap stricken, claiming the evidence used to get it was misrepresented by Bosch. Surprisingly, we don’t see him react to that much and the issue is forgotten for the rest of the episode.

The good news is a lot of these other stories appear to be wrapping up. That incriminating audio recording of Irving gets to a reporter who tries to blackmail Irving into a press secretary job. Irving invites him to do his worst, which is cool because it puts this whole issue on a fast track toward resolution. And it's also fairly badass. I do love Irving. Lance Reddick has chosen a funny walk for this character that looks exactly like a guy who super duper needs to find a toilet. Or you could be more generous and say he walks like the Terminator. It’s pretty funny, either way.

Billets’ sexual harassment thing finally comes across her desk. It’s all retribution from sneaky Captain Cooper, who hates her guts. It’s going to be a headache, but I don’t see any huge repercussions for anyone involved except maybe Cooper himself, which would be welcome.

Bosch’s ten-year-old Daisy Clayton case now has a strong suspect, who Bosch is about to nail. Meanwhile, Daisy’s mom starts drinking again. I think this whole thing is close to finished.

The big stuff these last two episodes involves J. Edgar’s side investigation into this Haitian drug guy. It’s wild and I just barely understand it. So far it involves J. Edgar, two side cops, and undercover cop, his informant, and a retired detective who is out for revenge. It’s one of those plots that’ll only make full sense once it’s resolved, but you don’t feel a strong need to understand it anyway. The main thing is the informant informs on the undercover cop, then disappears. The cops have a sting set up. You keep expecting the undercover cop to get murdered, but instead… nothing happens and everyone goes home.

Today’s episodes represent BOSCH on autopilot, cleaning things up so we’re all ready to go for the final two. I do have to say, however, this season has been a little weak overall. It’s not over yet, but the driving investigation hasn’t been all that interesting. The big hook, a terrorist threat, died out early and never truly evolved or got replaced with anything. I’m excited to see what the Sovereign have cooked up for revenge, but with two episodes to go, I can’t imagine it being much. Or what they hell, maybe they blow up LA completely and season seven takes place in an apocalyptic wasteland. Here’s hoping.

Bosch is perfect: He’s about to close a ten-year-old case, but other than that nothing.

And again, no takeout. My man no longer eats food.