Season seven of Amazon’s longest-running original series, Bosch, is now available for streaming and is the final installment of the fan-favorite series. This binge-worthy eight-episode season isn’t afraid to get gritty, emotional, and throw in some office humor courtesy of Detectives Johnson (Troy Evans) and Robert Moore (Gregory Scott Cummins) aka “Crate and Barrel.”
In episode one, “Brazen,” there are a lot of moving parts: LAPD Detective Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver, Lost), the disgruntled and critical heart of the show, chases down a murderous arson case. Meanwhile, Defense Attorney Honey Chandler (Mimi Rogers, Austin Powers) takes on a client arrested for a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme. Chief Irving (Lance Reddick, The Wire) continues butting heads with Mayor Lopez (Natalia Castellanos), and on top of that, there’s Bosch’s partner Jerry Edgar (Jamie Hector, The Wire), who is mentally spiraling while he deals with the aftermath of unethically killing Jacques Avril, the gang kingpin that murdered his Uncle in season six.
Harry Bosch and Jerry Edgar both have inner demons that they are struggling to cope with. For Bosch, his curmudgeonly hardened exterior has a moment of humanity when he is emotionally moved and loses heart over Sonia Hernandez, the ten-year-old girl killed during an apartment fire on New Year’s Eve, reminding him of the haunting unsolved murder cases of three unidentified women.
“Everybody counts or nobody counts,” Bosch tells his daughter, Maddie (Madison Lintz), when he explains to her why he keeps photos of the women on his desk.
This is Bosch’s personal motto, and the reason he continues to bitterly pursue these cases despite the drudgery and politics of police work. However, his patience is severely tested as he deals with Jerry Edgar’s decaying emotional well-being, reeling from the guilt of shooting a surrendered Jacques Avril. He confronts Jerry: “ever since what went down went down, off your game big time.”
While Harry Bosch may have an airtight mantra for doing good, Bosch has never glazed over the corruption that exists within the police force. Instead, the show holds it under a microscope for scrutiny and continually asks itself the question, how far is too far in the pursuit of justice? This season is set in early 2020, so it doesn’t address COVID-19 or recent acts of police brutality, but it doesn’t sugarcoat police exploitation either. Bosch has a track record for showing what happens when a Detective becomes too emotionally involved in a case, leaving them to take matters into their own hands even if those methods are crooked (eyes on you, Jerry Edgar).
Season seven introduces several new series regulars, including Carlos Miranda portraying Detective Chris Collins, a member of the LAPD gang unit assisting with the investigation, and Gladys Rodriguez (Vanessa Born) aka ‘La Mayorista’ and Mickey Peña (Gino Venta, Sons of Anarchy), leader of the Las Palmas gang, Bosch’s main lead for the criminals behind the arson.
The great thing about Bosch is that it never needed star power to survive. Its dedicated fan base clings to every character, no matter how new or old they may be. The series lasting seven seasons and having an untitled spin-off series in the works only further proves what incredible writing, dedicated fans, and unending love for Harry Bosch can do.
While the first episode may have been a bit of a slow burn as it established its new setting and cast of characters, it left the door wide open for action to build. Based on Michael Connelly’s book The Burning Room, this season will explore two thrilling criminal cases, one murderous, and one white collar. Will Bosch reach a breaking point as he continually grows more frustrated with the LAPD? Will Jerry Edgar lose total control as he continues to be plagued with guilt? The chaos is just getting started.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
All eight episodes of season seven of Bosch are now streaming on Amazon.