LA noir is back, this time sans police badge, in ‘Bosch: Legacy’
“Bosch: Legacy” isn’t so much a spinoff as a continuation of Amazon’s long-running Los Angles noir, which came to an end last year and was simply called “Bosch” for its seven-season run.
This time out, with legacy on the mind, our squinty hero Hieronymus Bosch — Harry to all who know him — has handed in his LAPD detective badge and is working for himself, out of a nondescript office, as a private investigator.
Played with a quietly intense charisma by Titus Welliver, the show has moved from Amazon Prime to Freevee (formerly known as IMDb TV) and remains something of an outlier — neither prestige nor the kind of overheated, ham-fisted cop show that still predominates on the broadcast networks.
It is a consistently good spin on the detective genre and has already been renewed for a second season. Wisely, showrunners Allison Berkley and Briana Vowels aren’t trying to reinvent the formula first established in the source material, aka Michael Connelly’s novels.
Harry may employ some brutish tactics when necessary, but he does it sparingly, and he’s more cerebral than most guys doing this sort of work. He’s the thinking man’s untangler of criminal knots.
And so: An aging billionaire hires Harry to track down the whereabouts of an old college girlfriend; she was pregnant when they split, which means this childless captain of industry may have an heir. Harry’s on the case.
Two other threads dominate the season.
There’s Harry’s old frenemy, the defense attorney Honey Chandler, fully recovered from the gunshot wound that nearly killed her in the final season of “Bosch.” Now she and Harry work together on occasion, leaning on their mutual expertise.
And then there’s Harry’s daughter Maddie Bosch following in her father’s footsteps by joining the LAPD, where she is a rookie police officer.
The Maddie portions are just silly, not the least because Madison Lintz is giving a very tenacious but unvaried performance as a young woman looking to prove herself and emulate her father’s motto in some of the least interesting ways imaginable.
When Welliver and Mimi Rogers (as Honey) are on screen, though, what they’re doing is nothing short of low-key brilliance. Here are two seasoned actors showing how to get across plenty of subtext and introspection without laying it on thick.
Welliver’s contemplative talents have long been on display in this role, and the show is at its best when it’s just Harry quietly talking with people. But Rogers had me intrigued in these
newest episodes.
Honey is good at her job. She’s measured and curious and not interested in showboating as she methodically sizes up, then takes down her opponent. She’s just extremely competent, which is fun to watch.
There’s a new character, Stephen A. Chang’s tech ace, who helps Harry with all matters of surveillance, plus cameos from the old show, including Jamie Hector’s Jerry, as Harry’s old partner, and the retired LAPD old-timers humorously referred to as Crate & Barrel (played by Troy Evans and Gregory Scott Cummins).
Like its predecessor, “Bosch: Legacy” is aiming for moderately engaging but never mentally taxing. There’s something comforting about that — and something comforting about the title character himself. Harry will always figure things out because he’s smart, diligent and nobody’s fool. He is whom you go to when there’s a problem.
We all need a Harry. Somewhere, executives at Amazon are betting enough viewers feel the same.