Have I said before that Bosch is the best police drama on television? I can't recall. But I can tell you that whatever I thought after watching the previous five seasons of Bosch, which I very much enjoyed, I think Bosch is at the apex after just binging the sixth season on Amazon Prime Video.
[I'll try for no spoilers ahead.]
I found this sixth season a little tighter than the previous ones, which had an occasionally distracting profusion of up-front plots. This new season has a least three plots, and several subplots, but there's only one plot that first and foremost. The characterization is superb, as always, but I especially liked the growth of Jerry Edgar, in both his relationship with his partner Bosch, and what he does on his own. Father and daughters can easily be old hat in cop dramas. But Maddie's relationship with her father Harry is richer, more developed, than its been before, with a nice, well-motivated twist at the very end. Bosch's colleagues are also in fine form, and Detective Johnson was especially outstanding, with more than one crucial move.
The dialogue in Bosch has always been hipt. Harry talked about getting an Uber before half the world had heard of it. In Bosch 6, we get such nuggets as "you can’t play social media as you would a news story," spoken to Irving by his opponent in the LA mayoral race. Now there's a savvy take on media which many in traditional media, as well as politicians, have yet to grasp.
The acting is letter perfect, too. Titus Welliver acts like he was born to play this hardboiled detective with an unshakeable devotion to his code and an invincible devotion to his daughter. Jamie Hector, whom I have admired since The Wire, just gets better and better as J. Edgar. Madison Lintz is coming into her own as an actress playing Bosch's daughter with the same first name. And as long as I mentioned Det. Johnson, I should mention Troy Evan's portrayal of Johnson puts Evans on the map as an unforgettable character actor.
The essence of Bosch is really straightforward - it's passion, to do the right thing, as he sees it, to protect those he loves, to seek retribution for those unable to get it themselves. I haven't read the Michael Connelly novels, and I likely won't. The books won't have Caught a Ghost's "Can't Let Go" playing at the beginning of every chapter, and the faces, accents, and walks in every scene. For that you need the television series, and it needs to be streaming at that, so you can see as many episodes as possible at one time.
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 ... Bosch 5: Room with a Killer View
another kind of police story
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