The emotions ramp up in Bosch Legacy season 3 episode 5.
Bosch: Legacy Debrief for Season 3, Episode 5 “F***ing Politics”
Written By: Kyle Long
Directed By: Ernest Dickerson
Refresh your memory:
- Finbar is busting out the Gallagher’s business, and he overhears Sheila leaving a message for Harry to call her back. Sheila is found dead at the end of the last episode.
- The robbery crew has been selling the stolen merchandise to recording studios around Hollywood.
- Emmitt Archer was in the loop on Robertson and RHD’s investigation into Harry Bosch.
- Maddie doesn’t know if she can trust her father or not with his potential involvement in Kurt Dockweiler’s murder.
- Rita Tadesco and a couple of men try to help Preston Borders escape prison. The plan goes sideways, and everyone involved is killed by Robertson and Lopez, except for Rita.
Chandler’s Campaign
Honey discovers a potential new case:
Michelle points out Dennis Williams, the diner’s owner, after Honey talks to customers about her promises if elected as the new DA of Los Angeles. Dennis mentions that there has been a crime wave going through the area, and someone murdered his son, Shawn. Dennis claims it happened outside their house, and it was an armed robbery. Chandler asks Michelle to look into the case. A bit later, Michelle informs Chandler that Dennis’s son died of an overdose.
Chandler digs in:
Honey blows off a brunch meeting with Lisa Broad at Musso and Frank’s to meet with Dennis Williams instead to discuss what happened to his son. Dennis says that the police stated his son had injected himself with a designer drug. Mr. Williams believes the police and tells Honey that his son was gay and dating an older man—a man whose kink was to inject his boyfriends with drugs. Dennis shows Honey Shawn’s phone with a picture of Shawn and his older boyfriend. Honey says that the boyfriend is Patrick Currey, a city councilman. What has Chandler stepped into?
Election Day:
At long last, election day is upon us to determine who will win between Emmett Archer and Honey Chandler. Scott Anderson’s story drops, and the news is out that Bosch should have been cleared of any wrongdoing by Archer. Archer is ambushed after voting and asked why he has not cleared Bosch. He pushes back by saying that investigations take time. Archer adds a line usually directed at Harry Bosch as he walks away. He says under his breath, “F***ing Robertson.”
Food for thought: Did you think if Archer wins that he will punish Robertson?
Election Night:
The results are in, and the news has announced a projected winner. Honey defeats Archer in a close race. The projected winner, Chandler, is winning by a 50.9% to 48.5% margin.
The Missing Gallagher Family
Sheila is dead:
At the start of the episode, Sheila is dead on the floor of Finbar’s office. Crime scene technicians are taking pictures of the scene. Bosch is outside smoking when an LAPD Officer tells him he is free to go since they have his report. Bosch feels RHD should be handling the case because Finbar not only killed Sheila, but he also disappeared the whole Gallagher family. The officer informs Harry that there is a BOLO out for McShane and the police will find him soon enough, but Bosch knows that Finbar is gone.
Finbar McShane goes on the run:
Finbar waits at the side of a road, and a box truck pulls up next to him. The driver gets out, opens the back of the vehicle, and opens a compartment for Finbar to lie in. It looks like a tight fit, but it is his only chance to leave LA without being seen.
Food for thought: Do you think Bosch will find Finbar? Will Mo be the one who helps track down his whereabouts?
Piecing together the puzzle:
Bosch and Mo talk in Mo’s apartment about what they know up to this point. Bosch mentions that it was most likely Sheila who found the financial discrepancies and told Stephen. Stephen must have confronted McShane about it, and Finbar said he would make it right, but he was just buying time to pin the discrepancies on Stephen Gallagher instead. However, he could not disappear only Stephen, because what if his wife may have heard something about Finbar. Why the kids, though? Mo says, “In for a penny”, which fully translates to, “In for a penny, in for a pound.”
McShane knew the Gallaghers were going to the cabin for the weekend, so Finbar must have made his way there to wipe out the family. But where did he hide the bodies? From the home video of the family, Harry knows that Finbar buried the family with the backhoe.
Bosch visits Bing Crider to see if the backhoe is available to check for evidence. We get a classic line from Crider when he first sees Bosch, “F****ing Bosch.” Bing is not happy to see Bosch but informs him that GPS trackers are on the heavy equipment in case anyone tries to steal them. Bosch gives Mo the tracker to see where Finbar moved the backhoe the weekend the Gallaghers were last at the cabin.
The burial site:
With Mo’s assistance, they discover that Finbar moved the backhoe a few miles from the cabin. They go to the location, and Mo uses a drone to fly above the area to see if they can spot the Gallaghers’ burial site. Mo spots a freshly dug area on the video screen, and he and Harry walk over to it.
Back-to-back emotional scenes:
Later on Mo and Bosch watch as the coroners are removing the bodies. Bosch walks over to the bodies and Beto raises the plastic to show Bosch one of the bodies. The following day Bosch drives to the Gallagher house to deliver the news to Siobhan. Nobody says anything in either of these scenes, but the emotional moments are heartbreaking.
Heartbreaking news:
After seeing the news report on TV about the Gallagher family being found dead, Maddie rushes out of Hollywood Station to see her dad. Inside his office, Bosch sits looking as sullen as we have ever seen him before. He mentions that he knew all along the family was dead but was hoping he was wrong. Maddie sits next to him and takes his hand in hers to try to comfort him.
The Robbery Crew
Social media helps Vasquez:
Vasquez searches social media accounts connected to Find Your Grind. She spots a post of the owner’s wife with a high-end purse. Maddie and Vasquez pay Reed Lewis, the owner of Find Your Grind, a visit to ask about the purse. They get a name from Reed. “Fortune” is the only name he knows her by. Maddie gives Reed her card and tells him to call her the next time Fortune calls him.
Cold plating:
Fortune is not taking any chances since the two knuckleheads working with her went rogue. She wants the license plates swapped on the vehicle before she and Albert go to Find Your Grind. Fortune calls up Reed, and Reed slips up. He asks Fortune if it is just her who will be showing up. The alerts go off in her head, and she uses extra precautions when approaching Find Your Grind. CRU has surveillance set up all around the location of the recording studio.
Smart knuckleheads:
With Fortune’s paranoia level at DEFCON 1, she tells Albert to drive past the studio. Fortune sees a man walking along the sidewalk and calls 911 in a phony report describing the man walking on the sidewalk. CRU has to break the surveillance to see what is happening. CRU finds the man has no handgun. Maddie says to Vasquez that she believes the robbers knew of their efforts to stop them. Fortune tells Albert that from now on they have to lie low until things cool off. Vasquez later tells Maddie that somebody traced the Toyota Corolla’s license plate to a different vehicle. They realize that Fortune got spooked and called in the false report to “smoke out” CRU.
Be careful what you wish for:
During a season 2 episode of the Everybody Counts Podcast, I stated that I would love to see more of Vasquez’s family. If the writers were listening, they made my wish come true, but it came at a cost. Reina Vasquez and her family are setting up a family dinner. Reina’s sister asks Reina to help her nephew with the rest of the food from the car. Vasquez goes out to help her nephew, and it turns out to be Albert. Her nephew Albert is one of the people involved with the follow-home robberies.
Clearing Bosch’s Name
New evidence:
Bosch checks around his house and finds the burner phone that Robertson had connected between Harry and Borders. It was attached to the underside of his “crib”. He takes a picture of the burner phone and texts the picture to Robertson. Harry calls Robertson to let him know about the picture so that someone can come by and collect it. Robertson says they are on the sidelines until he and Lopez finish their psychological evaluations.
Maddie’s statement to IA:
Maddie meets with Internal Affairs to offer her statement on the events of the day she intercepted Borders call to Bosch. Detective Andrew Lang makes another appearance as one of the IA detectives looking into Maddie. He has appeared in multiple episodes of the two series. After giving the statement, Maddie answers questions asked by Lang and stated, “I should have followed departmental rules and reported it. And I will accept the consequences for not doing so without protest.”
Food for thought: What do you think Maddie’s punishment will be?
Bosch comes clean:
Outside LAPD Headquarters Maddie spots Bosch there. He is there to support her but has to get something off his chest. Bosch tells her that when Dockweiler went to prison he asked Curtis Dignan to make sure Dockweiler’s time in prison was painful. This sentiment spread through the prison, and Borders took advantage of the information to kill Dockweiler and then frame of Bosch. Maddie looks upset with the news because Harry has repeatedly stated that he had nothing to do with Dockweiler’s murder.
F***ing Politics:
Robertson wants to clear Bosch’s name, but Emmett Archer asks Jimmy to slow roll the investigation. Archer wants them to wait until they complete their sessions with behavioral. Archer does not specifically say that he does not wish Bosch cleared until after the election for DA, but we get the gist. Robertson lets Lopez know about the conversation between him and Archer. The partners agree that will decide what to do with their wait time.
Lopez learns from a master:
Robertson and Lopez stop by a mailbox rental store and ask questions about a mailbox rented to Bosch Investigations. They see a copy of the application for the box rental, but the ID is fake. To see what else is inside the box, Lopez points out that the employee has accepted counterfeit IDs and should not make matters worse. Robertson likes this touch, and Lopez says, “Learned from the master.” Inside the box is a utility bill is not addressed to Bosch’s home but rather a property in Shadow Hills.
Shadow Hills encounter:
There are a few tense moments at Rita Tadesco’s trailer home. She opens the trailer door shortly after Robertson and Lopez pull up to the trailer. She is holding a gun in her hand, and Lopez and Robertson both pull their weapons ordering her to stand down. Rita surrenders and puts the gun down.
Food for thought: Did you think she would shoot them or herself?
Another plays from Bosch’s playbook:
Lopez and Robertson inform Captain Rick Seals of what they have been doing. The captain is not happy about them working the case during their paid time off. However, he says he will try to smooth things over with Archer. Rita Tadesco tells both Robertson and Lopez that Harry Bosch had nothing to do with the murder of Kurt Dockweiler.
Robertson meets Scott Anderson and gives him the summary of the investigation Lopez and he have been working on.
A line that Scott Anderson says caught my ear. When he first gets to Robertson, he says, “It’s been a month of Sundays.” I did some digging and found this definition.
Boardner’s bar:
Jimmy and Bosch are burying the hatchet and Bosch is impressed that Robertson took some plays out of his playbook. Robertson tells Harry that he should utilize the alarm at his office. “We ‘Bosched’ you,” Jimmy states to Harry. Bosch confesses to Robertson that he messed up, but assures him that Preston killing Dockweiler was all Borders’ idea. As Harry leaves, he says to Robertson, “You went above and beyond, Jimmy,” thanking him for his work.
The biggest cliffhanger:
After having drinks with Bosch at Boardner’s Bar, Robertson approaches a taco truck and orders two of the recommended Barbacoa tacos. He steps aside after ordering, and a man steps up to the taco truck, robs it, and then points a gun at Jimmy. The robber demands Jimmy’s wallet. Robertson cooperates telling the robber to “be cool.” Instead, the robber shoots Jimmy through the forehead.
This episode has an incredibly shocking ending. As a show fan from the beginning, I had to step away from the TV before fully watching the next episode. Since first appearing in season 3 of the original series, Robertson has been a fan-favorite character for both Bosch and Bosch: Legacy.
What were your thoughts, questions, or concerns about this episode of Bosch: Legacy? Let us know at bosch@somanyshows.com
Keep checking So Many Shows for ongoing coverage of Bosch: Legacy with news, interviews, and the Everybody Counts Podcast.
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