#’Bosch’ Is Police Drama at Its Best

LAPD’s legendary and decidedly no-nonsense detective Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver in his career-defining role) has a mantra: “Everybody counts or nobody counts.”

That philosophy guides the veteran homicide cop through the seventh and final season of the exemplary police drama Bosch (soon to be spun off in a new direction for IMDb TV). The longest-running of any Amazon Prime Video original series is based on the terrific novels by Michael Connelly, whose 2014 The Burning Room inspired the season’s primary storyline. Bosch is an unhurried, unglamorized slice of L.A. crime noir, as real as this genre gets, echoing the glory days of Steven Bochco (NYPD Blue) and Joseph Wambaugh (Police Story).

“Crime never sleeps,” Bosch says when called out on New Year’s Eve 2019 to a terrible crime scene: the firebombing of an apartment building that claims several lives as collateral damage, including a 10-year-old girl dubbed by the media as “the little tamale girl.” Harry Bosch won’t forget her real name, and this steely pro is prepared to go to war with his own department to see that she gets justice.

The complication: Feds are protecting the prime suspect who he believes ordered the bombing, and Harry puts his badge on the line to cut through the maddening politicized red tape. This puts him in direct conflict with the embattled Chief of Police Irvin Irving (the formidable Lance Reddick), who’s trying to hold on to his job after the election of an antagonistic new mayor.

Bosch isn’t the only one embroiled in office politics. His straight-shooting and perennially underappreciated boss, lesbian lieutenant Grace Billets (Amy Aquino, a character actor for all seasons), becomes the victim of a campaign of workplace sexual harassment. She’s not going to endure these homophobic and sexist slurs without taking and naming names, which unsettles the bureaucracy almost as much as Harry’s rogue actions.

In another subplot that appears to be setting up the spinoff, ruthless legal eagle Honey “Money” Chandler (Mimi Rogers) takes the case of a notorious Ponzi-schemer (Reed Diamond) whose inside knowledge could prove deadly to anyone involved in his defense. And that includes Harry’s beloved daughter Maddie (Madison Lintz), a prized intern and protégée of Honey’s who’s still figuring out her career path in the law.

Harry Bosch doesn’t suffer fools gladly, which his partner Jerry Edgar (Jamie Hector) learns to his chagrin after he goes off the rails for a time, affecting his work. But where Maddie is concerned, anyone who poses a threat had better watch out.

Come for the action and intrigue, but you’ll want to stay for Bosch‘s cool vibe, from the classic jazz he spins on vinyl (naturally) to the iconic joints the characters frequent: The Musso & Frank Grill, Pink’s, Du-par’s (site of an earlier tragedy). Crime may never sleep, but at least the crusaders for justice eat well.

Bosch, Final Season Premiere, Friday, June 25, Amazon Prime Video