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

Timothy Olyphant, Walton Goggins and Season One of ‘Justified’

The FX television series Justified (2010-2015) recently entered our viewing rotation at Matt Lynn Digital. If you haven’t yet done so, we strongly encourage you check into this series. Season one gets into the first 13-episode season, which is the focus of this review. The season itself credits the Elmore Leonard short story Fire in the Hole as an influence. Elmore James novels Pronto and Riding the Rap are additionally credited for the series, which was developed for television by Graham Yost.

(Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, left, and Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder in the FX series Justified).

The central character of this series is U.S. Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens, the central law enforcement officer forced back to his childhood home in the hill country of eastern Kentucky, specifically in Harlan. The opening scenes of the series, set in Miami, Florida, offer the audience a glimpse into a seemingly cavalier attitude that sets a tone for the series. We are introduced fairly quickly into the checkered history of the Givens and Crowder families as well as the many varieties of interpersonal relationships with lawfulness, lawlessness, and guns this involves.

(Joelle Carter as Ava Crowder, left, and Natalie Zea as Winona Hawkins in the FX series Justified).

Timothy Olyphant plays the fast and loose lawman Raylan Givens while Walton Goggins plays the masquerading as white supremacist criminal seeking spirituality Boyd Crowder. Raylan and Boyd dug coal together in the past. Joelle Carter plays Ava Crowder, the physically abused wife of Boyd Crowder’s brother. Ava’s husband ends up dead, breeding tension between Ava and the Crowders as her romantic inclination towards Raylan gains expression as Raylan aims to protect her. Boundaries are blurred. Meanwhile, blurry boundaries between Raylan Givens and his remarried ex-wife, Winona Hawkins as played by Natalie Zea, come into play often through the first season.

(Nick Searcy as Art Mullen, left, and Erica Tazel as Rachel Brooks in the FX series Justified).

Nick Searcy as Art Mullen and Erica Tazel as Rachel Brooks serve the Deputy Marshals service in roles that are played fairly straight when it comes to the dramatic flair of other characters in this season. Mullen plays Raylan Givens’ boss while Brooks plays the occasional partner to Raylan. Boyd’s father Bo Crowder, as played by M.C. Gainey, and Raylan’s father Arlo, as played by Raymond J. Barry, are equal parts cantankerous, corrupt, and confounding in their own ways to their respective sons. The nature of their self-interest was priceless, entertaining for being incorrigible, and worth the effort to see.

(M.C. Gainey as Bo Crowder, left, and Raymond J. Barry as Arlo Givens in the FX series Justified).

My aim here has been to offer you a sense for what the opening season of the series Justified has to give you in terms of criminal, hillbilly behavior. The story builds from episode to episode in a way that is engaging. It is easy to see relationships between characters that are interesting for being a train wreck of entertaining in that it kept me wanting to watch. My feeling is that many of you will feel the same. My overall grade for season one of Justified is 4.5-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, July 10, 2019