Fuckin’ Bosch: Season Six, Episodes One & Two
Episode One
BOSCH is back for season six. I don’t quite recall what happened during seasons one through five, but that’s okay. The joy of this show is letting it wash over you like a light summer blanket of murder, cop cliches, and quick character bits from a dozen or so people whose names you don’t really know.
Thankfully, season six kicks off with a lengthy “last season on BOSCH” recap, indicating that my inability to recall show details from one season to the next is not an isolated issue. Bosch went undercover and threw a guy out of an airplane. He also got a dog named Coltrane. What else do you need to know?
Every season of BOSCH starts out with a murder. The inciting incident this time involves a guy bringing 32 units of weaponizable radioactive stuff called cesium to a remote location, where he is met with an armed dude in a ski mask. We don’t see him get shot twice in the noggin, but believe me, he gets shot twice in the noggin. The next morning, Bosch finds himself on the case.
These season-opening murders are a big part of how BOSCH avers its seriousness, so skipping the actual murder feels a little off. I assume there is a mystery surrounding this crime that the audience needs to discover with Bosch rather than just watch him put together. And it ends up not really being an issue as J. Edgar’s investigation into dirty cops ends the episode with two point-blank executions, honoring BOSCH’s promise of gritty, season-opening violence.
As for the A-story, we get some promising developments for the season as a whole. Whoever killed this lab rat now has a shitload of lethal power and basically holds LA hostage, though we don’t know their plans yet. That’s a good premise, if only because it brings Bosch and J. Edgar back together, and complicates Chief Irving’s run for mayor. It’s not public yet - Irving: “Let’s try to keep a lid on this bubbling cauldron of shit as long as we can” - but it’s already affecting everyone we care about on this show in ways that’ll probably make for good cop drama. All the LA cops and their various side stories can serve to support Bosch in a united front while probably also ducking invading FBI agents who Bosch claims are already shrooming them. I didn’t know what shrooming was until my man explained it - “Keeping us in the dark, feeding us shit.” Goddamn, I love you Bosch.
Bosch is perfect: Two good instances. When Bosch meets two fellow cops at the murder scene, he’s the only one who thinks to check on the safety of the victim’s wife. It turns out she’s been tied up in bed all night with a minor knife wound to her neck.
The other comes randomly as Detective Pierce recounts a story in which Bosch once arrived at a homicide scene and moved the body when that is very much against the rules. Fuckin’ Bosch solved it right on the spot. There’s also a really good bit where Bosch laments locked cell phone regulations regarding the murder victim’s phone: “Good luck with that, unless his wife knows the passcode.” If only the law would let Bosch serve the law!
I also knew I was back in BOSCH country when Bosch arrives at the crime scene and identifies himself to a uniformed cop simply by deadpanning “Bosch”, as if that’s all the guy should need to know. It’s not much, but the way Bosch says Bosch is just so damn Bosch.
I can’t give this episode five out of five Bosches because he doesn’t get any takeout food. I really really want to, however, if only for the great scene where Barrel goes undercover at a BBQ and Bosch asks him “How was the Q?” This show is great.
Episode Two
We’re settling in now. Episode two focuses mostly on Bosch’s developing relationship with the FBI agents this cesium case has him saddled with. There are three: a main guy played by the robot politician from PARKS & REC (I think), a lady who kind of flirts with Bosch and appears to already know he’s smarter than any FBI agent could ever hope to be, and a jerk who tells Bosch to stay in his lane and throws a “fuck you” in for good measure. This stops Bosch in his tracks. He gets in the FBI guy’s face, winning his respect and love by telling him “My lane… has no lines.”
But while Bosch now has the FBI working with him instead of against him, they still manage to fuck shit up. The main suspects in the cesium killing are a group of libertarian weirdos who have succeeded from the union in ways I do not understand. They aren’t governed by as many laws as most folks and they also have paper license plates. I’ll just take your word for it on this one, BOSCH.
Anyway, they figure one of them can be taken in on a bullshit tiny charge and then flipped. Bosch takes lead on the arrest in a kind of literal good cop/bad cop approach, but the dickhead FBI guy comes in hot when he dude’s brother shows up. A gunfight ensues. A uniform cop gets shot but lives. The hothead brother gets shot and dies. In the dude’s attic, Bosch finds an IED and a shitload of guns, one of them the murder weapon (I think).
The rest of the episode has to do with Maddie investigating something at her intern lawyer job and brainstorming it over the phone with Bosch, the smartest man alive. The details don't matter yet; Bosch is just a really good dad. Meanwhile, J. Edgar’s side hustle investigating the two executed cops from episode one scoots forward a bit. We’re entering into a very strange side story in which Lt. Billets is probably going to get hit with a sexual harassment case from a female cop. Meanwhile, Crate and Barrel interview a naked homeless man. Real thrilling stuff.
Everything seems to point to these sovereign citizen folks for the cesium murder, but it’s way too early in the season for that to be the answer. Bosch and J. Edgar know this and already question what’s REALLY going on. They just have to convince their FBI pals that something isn’t adding up. To that end, they all go visit the FBI’s informant only to find him dead with a cut throat. And credits!
Bosch is perfect: It’s all about the FBI agents. Bosch and J. Edgar watch the dickhead agent interview their main suspect and make bets on how quickly the guy lawyers up. He lawyers up in like the next line. Shoulda had Bosch in there. On top of that, I’m pretty sure the female FBI agent has the hots for Bosch.
Once again, Bosch does not eat any takeout food. This show is bullshit.
I’ll be back again tomorrow with a look at episodes three and four, where I’m pretty sure we’ll find out the victim’s wife is not telling Bosch the whole story.
