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

The X-Men movie ‘Logan’ entertained this reviewer

Logan (2017) is the latest foray into the X-Men movie universe, having been released in March of 2017. The movie is as emotionally mature as any movie in the franchise, in this reviewer’s humble opinion, surpassing the original X-Men (2000) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) in this regard. Rating well among critics and audiences alike, if you enjoy action movies coupled with a compelling story that tells a compelling conclusion to compelling characters, you could do much worse than the story offered by Logan.

(Hugh Jackman)

Hugh Jackman reprises his role as Wolverine, or Logan, as the namesake of the movie Logan. We encounter an aged Logan in Mexico as a limousine driver and caretaker to the mentally and physically deteriorating Charles Xavier, played by Patrick Stewart. Logan and Charles are clearly suffering from health issues. Charles has Alzheimer’s Disease, though we never learn of the illness of Logan. Both took medicine to keep their symptoms under what semblance of control can be had.

(Patrick Stewart)

Feeling morally corrupted for hunting mutants before the beginning of Logan, the character Caliban has taken to supporting and hiding out with the very mutants he once pursued. Portrayed by Stephen Merchant, Caliban tries to confront Logan on the source of his disease. He (Caliban) had aimed to help Logan, if only Logan would trust in the friendship that Caliban attempts to offer.

(Stephen Merchant)

Boyd Holbrook plays the antagonist pursuing the three mutants we’ve met already in this review, namely Logan, Charles Xavier, and Caliban. As Pierce, Holbrook forwards the agenda of ridding the world of mutants while a cabal of his friends assist him in this work and other dastardly plans. Part of those plans include the continued experimentation on the child Logan never knew he had, namely Laura.

(Boyd Holbrook)

Laura is played by Dafne Keen, a child less than 13-years-old in the movie who appears to Logan in Mexico seeking safe travel with Logan to North Dakota and then on to Canada. It was Keen’s fluency in Spanish and English that helped land her a role as Laura. Charles Xavier knows of Laura being Logan’s child. Charles finds a way to communicate with the apparently mute Laura. It isn’t until after much traveling, and some unfortunate circumstances befalling Caliban and Charles that we learn Keen can talk.

(Dafne Keen)

The film Logan is filled with action and the kind of fighting scenes that would attract many action film fans. Much of the action bears away from the traditional X-Men fighting into territories of intense hand-to-hand combat. That there is the expected X-Men flare of Wolverine-style action from Laura, Logan, and younger variants of Logan do not disappoint.

There were thoughts of Terminator 2 that came to mind with the Spanish language dialogue, the Mexican border action, and the prolonged indestructibility of Logan. This part struck true to much of the Logan / Wolverine character  that we came to know throughout the series of X-Men movies. This is also true of much of the self-loathing and ambivalent dysfunction between Logan, Charles, and Laura.

The terminal outcome for characters who were critical to the X-Men series in Logan provided a degree of satisfying finality and closure; mostly the outcomes for the characters of Professor Charles Xavier and Logan are the ones I mean.

The movie Logan felt like a parting chapter in a way that was true to their larger narrative while not compromising the story that preceded it. In a sense, a fitting tribute for carrying on their legacy with another generation of characters was a seed we’re also planted.

I came away satisfied with the story told by Logan. If you had some doubt about watching a movie series based on comic book characters, let me say that there are plenty of choices of lesser caliber than X-Men. Consider the X-Men series, with Logan last, if ever you would be so inclined.

My appreciation here for the direction and writing for James Mangold. I further appreciated the added writing efforts of Scott Frank.

Matt – Friday, February 9, 2018