Amazon Prime put up the fifth season of Bosch last Friday, and I've got to say, though I really enjoyed all the prior seasons, this one was the best (I've said this after every season). It has more of Bosch's customary panache, with the punch-in-the-face surprises, top-notch acting, and well-drawn nexus of plots we've come to expect from this drama. At this point, it's not only the best cop show on television - in Los Angeles terrain that surpasses the many excellent homicide-cop shows that take place in NYC and Chicago - but must be counted among the best cop shows ever on television (I think I said this after most of the seasons, too).
The repartee is sharp as ever, laugh-out-loud funny, profound when need be, and cutting-edge current, as always. A female detective says she's "polyamorous". Back in the office, an old-salt high-ranking officer complains about the lousy coffee, "you might as well drink straight stomach acid, cut out the middleman". Harry asks Maddie if she remembers the MLK quote from her senior high school year, "the arc of the moral universe ..." Earlier, she advises Harry to "watch your six with her".
Maddie has really come into her own this season. She was always Harry's daughter when it came to doing what she wanted, and now she's applying this to directly helping her father. In fact, I not only thought Maddie had her best season, so did Lt. Grace Billets. Plaudits to Madison Lintz as Maddie and Amy Aquino as Billets. Come to think of it, attorney Honey Chandler (well played by Mimi Rogers) had her best season, too, and delivered some of the best twists in the narrative, starting with taking on Harry as her client. Speaking of which, Titus Welliver, always outstanding as Bosch, was even more outstanding in this fifth season. Jamie Hector as Jerry Edgar and Lance Reddick as Irwin Irving are excellent as ever, too
Getting back to the locale, Bosch always captured the unique Los Angeles mix of stunning beauty and rotting degradation. Bosch's apartment is high up and indeed has a "killer view," as Maddie says. But his job takes him through the dregs of society. There are never any outright happy endings in Bosch - we have to be happy that at least he survived - but this one really goes to the dog(s). If that's not clear, give yourself a treat and see season 5, after you've seen the previous four.
See also Bosch: First Half: Highly Recommended ... Bosch: Second Half as Fine as the First ... Bosch Season 2: Dragnet with Uber ... Bosch 3: Best Season So Far ... Bosch 4: Delivering and Transcending the Genre
another kind of police story
1 comment:
I’ve read your blogposts on Bosch, and agree with you 99% on the fine writing, the plots drawn from the books, the acting from the godd cast, etc. Your take that this is at least a contender for the best cop show ever on TV is right on (I loved The Wire). Well over delivers a Bosch that’s believable and well acted. But I believe season 5 had one flaw: Bosch’s venture into that undercover role with the opioid gang. I found it not believable because of Bosch’s already high profile on the Hollywood force, that at least someone in the gang would’ve recognized him from the start.
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