Bosch: Legacy 2.5-2.6: Maddie Steps Up

Bosch: Legacy episodes 2.5-2.6 are now up on Amazon Prime Video, continuing this powerful season of this stellar series.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

First, Madison Lintz continues to really impress with her performance as Harry's daughter, Maddie Bosch.  Her stepping up and confronting her attacker in the courtroom as she testifies to the deleterious impact the attack had on her life, was an outstanding piece of acting.  And she's equally good in her scenes with her partner as well as her boyfriend, delivering emotional subtlety and even humor in the breakneck world she inhabits.

It's good to see Max Martini back on the screen -- I first saw him years ago in The Unit -- this time as the brutal, villainous Detective Don Ellis.  Bosch in the original series was always confronting crooked cops, but this time, Ellis is highly intelligent, with a strong partner Detective Long who's willing to do Ellis's bidding, and together they make a formidable adversary to Harry, Maddie, and Honey Chandler.

Mo also continues at the top of his game in these episodes, as well as finding some romance with a sexy podcaster.  Good for him.   He deserves more from life than just chips and hacks.  And Harry will need all the help he can get against Ellis and Long, as he slowly gets to the bottom of the murder that brought Honey and Maddie and him into the sights of these murderous detectives and what bigger marauders they may be working for in the first place.

And I'll see you back here after Prime Video dishes out some more episodes.

See also Bosch: Legacy 2.1-2.4: Better and Better

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 ... Bosch Season 6: The Best Police on Television ... Bosch Season 7: Can't Let Go ... Bosch: Legacy: Even Better than Bosch

                   another kind of police story 

Criminal Minds 7.3 Meets House and The Unit

Good to see Mack back from The Unit (Max Martini) on Criminal Minds 7.3 last night, in episode that almost smacked of House.

Martini plays Luke, a Navy Seal, who massacres an Internet-service office, and then kills his parents.  He soon is threatening his beloved wife and daughter.  Spencer figures out that Luke has a rare condition which makes him think people he knows are impostors - due to having in car accident recently - and though Luke isn't cured, Spencer is able to use his diagnosis to get Luke to put down his weapon.

I like this kind of Criminal Minds, where the solution to a medical mystery - why the unsub is a serial killer - provides a non-lethal resolution to the problem.  It's a good change of pace from killers so depraved that even understanding their twisted motive provides no option other than taking them out.

Meanwhile, Prentiss continues to need to patch up good relations with the team, understandably non-plussed about having been lied to about Prentiss's death, and therefore having grieved in effect for nothing for months and months.   This time it's Morgan who makes his peace with Prentiss.  But I still have a feeling we haven't seen the last of this, especially regarding Hotch and his part in the deception.

See also Criminal Minds 7.1: "The Is Calm and It's Doctor"

And see also Criminal Minds in Sixth Season Premiere ... Criminal Minds 6.2: The Meaning of J. J. Leaving ... Criminal Minds 6.3: Proust, Twain, Travanti ... Tyra on Criminal Minds 6.13 ... Criminal Minds 6. 17: Prentiss Farewell Part I ... Criminal Minds 6.18: Farewell Emily ... Criminal Minds 6.19: Fight Club Redux Plus ... Criminal Minds 6.20: Emily's Ghost ... Criminal Minds 6.21: The Tweeting Killer ... Criminal Minds 6.22: Psycho and a Half ... Criminal Minds 6.23: The Good Lie ... Criminal Minds Season 6 Finale

And Criminal Minds 5.22 and the Dark Side of New New Media

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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

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Lie to Me 2.20: Dr. Burns

Well, we finally learn the fate of Dr. Dave Burns and Dr. Gillian Foster in Lie to Me 2.20, in another strong episode that pits Dr. Cal Lightman and his talents against Gillian's lover, and thus to some extent against Gillian and her talents, too.  A tale of three doctors.

Dave Burns works for the DEA - which we learned at the end of an episode a few weeks ago, when Gillian discovered that Burns wasn't telling the truth about himself.  Now Burns get taken hostage by the son of a drug boss who has been killed, apparently by a DEA agent.

The question Lightman - and the kidnapper - must answer is: who killed the father (Moon).  Was it Burns or his female partner?   All that Lightman knows for sure is that Burns is once again lying about something big.

Turns out that Burns' partner was made pregnant by Moon, when she was obliged to go deeply undercover.  Does this make her more or less likely to have killed Moon, and what does it say about Burns and his motives?   Lightman also raises suspicion that the killer was actually one of Moon's men ...

I won't tell you the ending, but let's just say that it leads to Burns being sent into witness protection, which means he and Gillian are effectively over (good arc by Max Martini aka Mac from The Unit).   Since Lightman and beautiful Clara as a possible romantic interest also ended a few weeks ago, the field is now open for Lightman and Foster to finally get together.

I'm told by fans that this has about as much likelihood as House and Cuddy - but, wait, didn't they finally get together at the end of last season?

See also my reviews of Lie to Me and Bill O'Reilly, Saddam Hussein, and Ben Reynolds in Lie to Me 2.6 and Lie to Me 2.7: The Redeeming of Loker and Lie to Me 2.8 in Afghanistan and Viva Lightman and Las Vegas in Lie to Me 2.9 ... Lie to Me 2.11: Double Feature ... Lie to Me 2.12:  The One Prevarication ... Lie to Me 2.13: The Whole Truth and Rep Joe Wilson ... Lie to Me 2.14: Paranoids Can Have Real Enemies ... Lie to Me 2.15: Melissa George and Shawn Ryan ... Lie to Me 2.16: Ria's Sister ... Lie to Me 2.17: 'Poling on the Campaign Trail' ... Lie to Me 2.18: Lightman on the Darkside ... Lie to Me 2.19: The Shield Reunion

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

Lie to Me 2.16: Ria's Sister

Lie to Me 2.16 last night continued the good run of summer LTMs, with a show about Ria and her younger sister, Ava.  The two actresses (Monica Raymond as Ria, Alyssa Diaz as Ava) look so much alike (and fine on the screen) that they could be sisters in real life.  Before the episode is over, Ria is "drunk of her ass" and "sticks her tongue" in Lightman's mouth (quotes from Lightman) as she tries desperately to get some control over her out-of-control situation.

It's out of control because Ava may be involved in a murder - she's already in prison - or may be a potential victim of the killer.  She's punched out, under Gillian's protection, when some bad people break into Gillian's house.   Gillian winds up with a bruise on her cheek, and is clearly shaken.    Lightman holds her and tells her how much she means to him.   But it's already clear, I think, that he's falling under Clara's romantic sway, and the coming attractions for next week show more of that.   (Fine by me - though I'd like still like to see Gillian and Lightman together.)

Max Martini - Mac on The Unit - also puts in an appearance as Dave Burns the prison shrink, who may or may not be involved in the murder.   Dave reminded me so such much of Mac that it seemed to me that the prison shrink was just a mission for Mac (I half expected Dennis Haysbert to walk in) - a testament to his memorable role on The Unit.    In Lie to Me, he turns out to be innocent, and may have continuing role, since there's clearly a spark or two between him and Gillian (and other reason she and Lightman may going different erotic ways).

Loker continues to have almost no role, but I'm thinking we'll see him in something major on Lie to Me before the summer is over.


See also my reviews of Lie to Me and Bill O'Reilly, Saddam Hussein, and Ben Reynolds in Lie to Me 2.6 and Lie to Me 2.7: The Redeeming of Loker and Lie to Me 2.8 in Afghanistan and Viva Lightman and Las Vegas in Lie to Me 2.9 ... Lie to Me 2.11: Double Feature ... Lie to Me 2.12:  The One Prevarication ... Lie to Me 2.13: The Whole Truth and Rep Joe Wilson ... Lie to Me 2.14: Paranoids Can Have Real Enemies ... Lie to Me 2.15: Melissa George and Shawn Ryan

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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book