Nail-biting personal journeys of ‘Bosch’ characters navigating through uncharted waters

Category: Television and Streaming

 

The first original series on Freevee (formerly IMDb TV) — the Free Amazon Channel — is Bosch: Legacy, a continuing saga of Amazon Prime’s longest running and most popular series Bosch. Adapted from Michael Connelly’s best-selling novels with some tweaks, this character-based procedural series follow Hollywood Homicide Detective Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) as he grinds away in his job relentlessly pursuing bad guys and trying to bring a little justice to the world.

Bosch: Legacy picks up almost two years after the jaded and disgruntled Bosch left the force. The next chapter (Welliver finds it odd to call it a spinoff) of the continuing saga of Harry Bosch focuses on the three returning Bosch characters — all victims of the corrupt multimillionaire Carl Rogers (Michael Rose) who knows how to work the system — as they explore and navigate through uncharted waters in their personal pursuit of justice.

Although Harry Bosch has always been a lone wolf with a moral compass intact (remember his code? Everybody counts or nobody counts), Bosch: Legacy explores who is Bosch without the badge? He feels untethered like a ronin — a wandering samurai with no lord/master. With neither the authority nor the specialized resources for good old-fashioned police work at his disposal, the newly independent PI Bosch solicits help from new and old friends; a tech-forward gadget whizz Mo Bassi (Stephen A. Chang), Harry’s former partner J. Edgar (Jamie Hector), retired Detectives Moore (Gregory Scott Cummins) and Johnson (Troy Evans) — aka Crate and Barrel — and, not to mention, Harry’s loyal dog Coltrane.

Harry is summoned by ailing billionaire Whitney Vance (William Devane), exploring “the paths not taken” before he dies, and is retained to investigate whether he has an heir.

Still nursing her gunshot wounds and suffering from a myriad of PTSD symptoms, Honey “Money” Chandler (Mimi Rogers) is hell-bent on avenging the wrongs inflicted not only on herself but also on other victims in Carl Rogers’ wake, including Judge Donna Sobel (Bess Armstrong), collateral damage due to her liaison with Harry, and Harry’s daughter Maddie (Madison Lintz) who barely escaped the assassination attempt. Honey is all gung-ho about hunting him down or die trying; she has nothing to lose!

Once a high profile defense lawyer in “the big ivory tower office,” Honey turns over a new leaf as a civil rights attorney — yeah, you heard me right! With the guidance of her old mentor and law school professor Martin Rose (David Moses), she plugs away at righting injustices for those who could not fight for themselves. If life-changing traumatic experience does not change you radically, I don’t know what will.

The spanking new chapter for Maddie Bosch should read; who is Maddie with the badge? The legacy candidate with serious DNA from her parents is looking to find her footing as a ‘boot’ (a rookie patrol officer) with the LAPD. She thought she knew what being a cop was all about, but the reality hits her hard; she knows nothing, and she cares too much. As Maddie patrols the streets of Los Angeles, she grapples with the bigger question at the heart of the new series; is it a calling or just a job?

It’s a given that every parent worries about their kid’s safety, but now that daddy’s little girl is following in his footsteps, Harry’s anxiety is all-time high and palpable. Like two peas in a pod, Harry and Maddie are products of broken homes and suffer from great losses and abandonment issues, not to mention the glaring fact that both their mothers were murdered. The shared narratives contribute to a thoughtful and insightful parent-child dance; while Harry waits for his daughter’s cue to impart his professional wisdom, Maddie spares her father the anguish of losing her by judiciously containing her own concerns and anxious uncertainties. They aren’t doing too bad, considering.

The first four episodes of Bosch: Legacy are available on Freevee. Two new episodes will drop every Friday through May 27. There will be 10 episodes in total.

About the Author

Meg Mimura is a TV critic who actually watches shows zealously in search of thought-provoking and paradigm shifting human drama worth our precious time. She is a member of Television Critics Association. Follow her on Twitter.

COURTESY PHOTO