Bosch, Season 7

Amazon's long-running series came to an end with the latest installment.  Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) investigates an arson case that resulted in 5 deaths, most notably that of Sonia Hernandez, a 10 year-old girl who was found dead of smoke inhalation next to a locked emergency exit.  His daughter, Maddie (Madison Lintz), is still working for Honey "Money" Chandler (Mimi Rogers), a noted defense attorney.  Chandler's latest client floats a deal that puts him, Chandler, and Maddie in mortal danger.  Jerry Edgar (Jamie Hector) is haunted by his misdeeds from last season and is often more of a liability than an asset; can he make things right with the department and, more importantly, Bosch?  Lt. Grace Billets (Amy Aquino) is known to be lesbian and some of the officers have started to obliquely harass her.  Her captain proves less than sympathetic even as the harassment gets worse.  It's still an old boys club.  Lastly, there is Chief Irvin Irving (Lance Reddick).  He had dropped out of the mayoral race last season and put his support behind the new mayor, Susanna Lopez.  The agreement had been that she would support him for a second term as chief, but she is now balking.  Can Irving corral enough votes on the police commission to retain his job?

This felt more political than previous seasons.  The apartment building management company hired a new landlord to chase off drug dealers and unspecified others.  They were driving out illegals too with notions of gentrifying the area.  They deny any blame for the locked emergency door.  Apartment managers bad.  From hedge fund managers to small businessmen, we find they are crooked and evil; business is bad.  Obviously, this is a crime drama so we are going to encounter criminals, victims, and cops, but this too often felt like political messaging.  Again and again, police proved to be bad.  There were the cops who were harassing the lesbian cop and women cops in general: cops bad, especially the white and Asian ones.  Then there was the sellout of Sonia's murder case because there were bigger fish to fry.  The FBI torpedoes Bosch's efforts to clear the case by taking witnesses and suspects into federal custody: law enforcement bad.  Chief Irving, who is a far more likeable and forthright character than he is in the books, tosses principles aside to retain his job: political machinations, not freely-cast votes, determine the outcomes.  Considering the level of corruption shown among the police in this season, one wonders why Maddie is so eager to join them?

Welliver is still awesome as Bosch and carries this stinker of a season.  The villains were weak or mostly absent.  When they are taken down, it is mostly a yawner.  We didn't see enough of them to care when justice came.  As an interesting side note, the character of Money Chandler was both introduced and murdered in The Concrete Blonde (Book 3).  She has had a far more successful career in the TV series and has stood-in for Bosch's half-brother, Mickey Haller, AKA The Lincoln Lawyer.  The rights for Mickey must still reside with Lionsgate.

There are plans for a spinoff series which currently has Bosch, his daughter, and Honey Chandler slated to return.  I hope it turns things around.