Titus Welliver, Jamie Hector and Amy Aquino in Season Four of ‘Bosch’

The Michael Connelly character Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch first premiered in a series of books begun in 1992. As this is written, the character has led to 24 distinct books and two distinct television shows. We focus here on the fourth season of the series Bosch (2014-2021), starring Titus Welliver in the title role for the series.

(Titus Welliver as Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch in season four of Bosch).

Season four of Bosch picks up three months after season three with subject matter from the Connelly books Angels Flight of 1999 and Nine Dragons of 2009. Irvin Irving, as portrayed by Lance Reddick, has been named police chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. As with Irving’s ascension to police chief, threads from previous seasons visit upon the police department, the larger community of Los Angeles, California and the personal lives of the police, members of their families, and the stakes for the cases under investigation with this season.

(From left, Jamie McShane as Francis Sheehan, Tamberla Perry as Gabriella Lincoln and Winter Ave Zoli as Amy Snyder in season four of Bosch).

Important threads for this season tug on racial strife, with the murder of civil rights attorney Howard Elias, as portrayed by Clark Johnson, serving as a central catalyst. Elias was in the process of representing a black man accusing LAPD of police brutality. Irving appoints Bosch to lead a task force, which includes Jerry Edgar, Santiago ‘Jimmy’ Robertson, and sergeant Amy Snyder and Gabriella Lincoln. Jamie Hector, Paul Calderon, Winter Ave Zoli and Tamberla Perry portray Edgar, Robertson, Snyder and Lincoln, respectively. A significant storyline involving Francis Sheehan, as portrayed by Jamie McShane, emerges that captures the attention of this this task force.

(From left, Amy Aquino as Grace Billets and Jamie Hector as Jerome (Jerry) Edgar in season four of Bosch).

Grace Billets, as portrayed by Amy Aquino, continues to serve as lieutenant for the Hollywood division of the LAPD, where the Elias investigation is based. While trying to manage the personalities of the multiple threads of police officers already mentioned, Billets is juggling an assignment as captain without the job title, which presents difficulties that are felt in their own ways by threads of the past for Bosch with Edgar, Robertson and Snyder. Calderon’s own past plays a part in this investigation, while Jerry Edgar has familial struggles with his wife, Latonya Edgar. Ingrid Rogers portrayed Latonya Edgar.

(John Getz as Bradley Walker in season four of Bosch).

Bradley Walker, as portrayed by John Getz, played a relevant role in the fourth season. While having the ear of Irvin Irving as the president of the police commission for the LAPD, in addition to being a former officer, Walker had requested ongoing updates into the investigation into Elias. Harry Bosch had suspected Walker of complicity in the death of Marjorie Phillips Lowe, Bosch’s mother. Things worsened when Bosch‘s ex-wife and the mother of Madeline Bosch, Eleanor Wish, was murdered. The background between Wish and Reggie Woo became more transparent after the murder, with the relationship between Harry and Madeline becoming more visible. Madison Lintz, Sarah Clarke and Hoon Lee portrayed Madeline, Eleanor and Reggie, respectively.

(Sarah Clarke as Eleanor Wish in season four of Bosch).

The fourth season of Bosch offered a good deal of clarity for the larger story being told across the lives of the central characters of the Amazon original series Bosch. With that longer range storytelling, in combination with groundwork laid for additional seasons of the show, I recommend this series. I grant season four of Bosch 4.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, November 12, 2022

Julia Roberts and Season One of the series ‘Homecoming’

The Amazon Prime Original Series Homecoming (2018- ) premiered a 10-episode first season in November 2018. With Executive Producer and starring credits for Academy Award winning actress Julia Roberts and the intrigue of a series including the treatment of military members suffering from PTSD, I came to the first season with high hopes.

(Series creators Micah Bloomberg and Eli Horowitz).

The television show Homecoming streaming on Amazon Prime started as a Gimlet Media audio podcast streaming on Apple. Micah Bloomberg and Eli Horowitz receive creative credit for the podcast and show while Sam Esmail joined the television series in a directorial role after having gained a storytelling reputation with the television show Mr. Robot (2015- ). The first season’s visual feel and sense of eerie emotion and sometimes jarring juxtaposition of imagery feel largely a result of Esmail‘s presence.

(Season one director Sam Esmail).

The leading stars of Homecoming‘s first television season were Julia Roberts, Bobby Cannavale, and Stephan James. Roberts portrays Heidi Bergman, a former caseworker at the Homecoming Transitional Support Center. The support center ostensibly is a special purpose live-in facility run by the Geist Group for members of the military returning from war. From the beginning, we know that there is something fishy going on at the center. (To avoid a spoiler effect and see if I recommend you seeing the Homecoming show, skip to the last two paragraphs of this post).

(Julia Roberts as Heidi Bergman).

Stephan James portrays Walter Cruz, the newest soldier receiving care at the facility. Cruz is assigned to the care of Heidi Bergman. The initial interview with Cruz and Bergman seems innocuous, though it is Cruz who calls attention to the fish who are also under the care of Bergman. Cruz foreshadows his own situation when he alerts Bergman to the fact that the fish in Heidi’s care are being fed too much.

(Stephan James portrayed Walter Cruz).

Erratic and ambitious boss Colin Belfast, as portrayed by Bobby Cannavale, supervises Heidi Bergman at the Homecoming Transitional Support Center. From the beginning, the precise nature of Colin’s ambition is unclear, as is that of Geist Corporation or the leadership of it. Much suspicion is witnessed from the beginning of the tale as we in the audience or introduced to the events at Homecoming Transitional only years later through an investigation being conducted by Thomas Carrasco.

(Bobby Cannavale portrayed Colin Belfast).

Thomas Carrasco, as portrayed by Shea Whigham, is an investigator for the Department of Defense of the United States. Carrasco visits Heidi Bergman for what feels like a handful of years after the events at the Homecoming facility only to find Bergman to be evasive and unwilling to cooperate. That Bergman has little to no memory of the events or people at the Homecoming Transitional Support Center only becomes apparent through continued episodes of the series.

(Jeremy Allen White as Joseph Shrier, left, and Shea Whigham as Thomas Carrasco).

As mentioned above, Walter Cruz is a central character and a returning military member who has been selected for the services of the support center. The one member from Cruz’ unit in Afghanistan who joined Cruz at the support center was Joseph Shrier, who was portrayed by Jeremy Allen White. Shrier had entered the program of therapy that we would learn Walter Cruz will have been experiencing through the course of this season, though Shrier is experiencing much more acute expressions of suspicion, paranoia, and lack of adjustment. Unlike Cruz, we learn that Shrier suspects lies about the program and wants answers.

(Sissy Spacek as Ellen Bergman).

Motherly instincts of protection and obfuscation are in full effect in the defense of children when it comes to the investigation of Thomas Carrasco. Ellen Bergman, as portrayed by Sissy Spacek, looks to defend the reputation and feelings of her daughter, Heidi Bergman when Carrasco comes calling. That defense comes after Ellen has been duped into some initial support when Carrasco manages to fix a record player, yet ends quickly when actual questioning of significance begins.

(Shea Whigham as Thomas Carrasco, left, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Gloria Morisseau).

Gloria Morisseau, as portrayed by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, takes a universally contrarian approach to all people when it comes to the innocence and trusting nature of her son. Morrisseau’s son is none other than Walter Cruz, who brings an innocence to his interactions with Heidi Bergman. As the storytelling in Homecoming is not strictly linear, it is in seeing the younger Heidi Bergman at the Homecoming Transitional Support Center that we see Heidi first seek the ambition that she sees in her supervisor that becomes a questioning of outcome then advocacy for Cruz. Moral ambiguity, manipulation, and degrees of knowledge are revealed as the season advances.

(Alex Karpovsky as Homecoming Transitional Support Center technician Craig).

The ambitious boss through the series is Colin Belfast. We learn that Belfast is pushing for power and access at Geist, with drug trials at the Homecoming Transitional Support Center underpinning much of his effort. Belfast is revealed to be morally corrupt through much of the first season of Homecoming. Technician Craig, as portrayed by Alex Karpovsky, takes action to report the happenings at Homecoming to Belfast while simultaneously covering the tracks of any morally questionable activities.

Much drama from the first season of Homecoming has been identified within what, thus far, has been a summary of the opening season of the television show. A second season is in production at the time of this writing. A large number of questions about the characters and events in season one were addressed while many others have been left unresolved or unexplored.

The look and feel of first season was visually unique and appealing in many ways. That the show aimed to offer this was appreciated, though there were at least two cases where the scenes were seriously too dark. An episode with scripted practical jokes in the episode was visually well executed. The story itself, while full of suspense, intrigue, and surprises throughout, did not raise itself to a level where I wanted to say very well done. That there is an opportunity for more story is appreciated. Overall, my grade for the first season of Homecoming is 3.25-stars on a scale of 1-to-5 stars.

Matt – Wednesday, January 23, 2019