The season finale of Bosch season 6 offers decisions but not necessarily closure.
Bosch season 6 episode 10 ‘Some Measure of Justice’
Written by: Michael Connelly
Directed by Ernest Dickerson
J. Edgar will unravel the truth, no matter how twisted. #BoschAmazon pic.twitter.com/shYA7J3hsf
— Bosch (@BoschAmazon) April 10, 2020
The season 6 finale of Bosch is penned by author and executive producer Michael Connelly. Directing this episode is long time Bosch collaborator Ernest Dickerson.
Harry wraps up Daisy’s murder case on paper, but it will stay with him forever. Liz Clayton makes a tragic choice. Maddie finds some peace about her post graduate plans. Heather Strout makes her move and Jerry fires shots that will haunt him.
Read on for my full investigative recap of the Bosch season 6 finale ‘Some Measure of Justice’.
Left Behind
Jerry meets with Dwight’s widow, Naomi. He does his best to comfort her as she struggles with the death of her husband. Meanwhile, he also needs to ask her some questions related to Dwight’s murder. Naomi gives Jerry a note that Dwight left behind for him.
“When the system fails, righteous men rise up.”
Jerry asks Harry what he thinks the note means. Harry replies, “It means you got to do what you go to do.”
Jerry visits with Joan Bennett and talks about how the situation with Avril is eating him up. Joan says she understands, but that he needs to let it go. She grabs his hand.
Dillon’s deal
Bosch brings the signed deal from the DA to Dillon in the interrogation room. Dillon wants to be certain that there is no chance he could get more than 11 years.
Roger gives up the name and location of Hector Cruz as the one who runs the trafficking operation. Billets immediately sends Edgewood, Pierce and Vega to that location to rescue anyone they can. The team rescues three girls.
Harry asks Dillon what happened with Daisy. The biocleaner claims Daisy had a knife on her and attacked him. He said cutting her was self-defense. Harry expresses his puzzlement over a sliced throat being a defensive cut.
Jerry enters the room and raises three fingers to let Bosch know that three girls had been rescued. Harry ends the interview. Jerry walks out with Harry walking behind him. Harry does not exit the room, however. The detective shuts off the camera and turns back around to Dillon.
Bosch grits his teeth and tells Dillon in no uncertain terms that he hopes he is imprisoned for the full 11 years and that whenever he is released, Harry will be coming for him. When Billets asks Harry what he said off camera, he simply says he wished Dillon well in prison.
USA & Canada:
eBook deal this week on THE OVERLOOK (2007) https://t.co/MXy9UbsgxK and DARK SACRED NIGHT (2018) https://t.co/kclmCCkbSj .
The new season of @BoschAmazon uses plot elements from these two books.
— Michael Connelly (@Connellybooks) April 17, 2020
A sad tale gets even sadder
Harry goes to Liz’s apartment to return the photo of Daisy that he kept at his desk. She does not answer the door. Harry lets himself in and looks for her. He finds her unresponsive on the bed with alcohol and an overturned bottle of pills on the nightstand. Liz has taken her life.
Later, Harry talks to Jerry about Liz’s tragic ending. He talks about the failures of the system and how Daisy did not get the same respect and attention as victims of higher social standing.
Harry visits DDA Kennedy in hopes of challenging Dillon’s defense. He wants to see if they can prove that Daisy did not have a knife. Kennedy says they cannot do anything further and reminds him of the girls he was able to save.
Bosch respectfully attends Liz’s funeral. He most likely made all the arrangements himself as we see him paying the minister. Harry accepts the folded flag honoring Liz. Then he places what I believe to be a veterans challenge coin on the top of her casket as a show of respect for her military service.
Finally, Harry leaves Daisy’s photo on the young girl’s grave, which is next to her mother’s.
Patricia
Harry is grilling steaks for dinner. He and Maddie talk about her plan to go to the Kent murder trial and watch Honey defend Alicia Kent. Her dad is not pleased about the idea. The two bicker about whether Maddie should admire the work of someone like Honey who is defending a guilty person.
Later, Harry is in the living room with the song Patricia by Art Pepper playing on the turntable. Maddie tells her dad she knows this is his way of apologizing and that she accepts. They share a hug. Harry soon gets a serious phone call.
Bosch season 6 behind the scenes. Coming out April 17 on @PrimeVideo. Catch up now. #boschamazon @BoschAmazon pic.twitter.com/D9RdowSQKh
— Michael Connelly (@Connellybooks) April 7, 2020
Jerry confronts Avril (Part One)
Billets alerts Harry that there has been an OIS (officer involved shooting) involving Jerry. Jerry wants Harry to represent him in the FID (Force Investigation Division). Bosch drives to South Bureau for the meeting.
Earlier in the night, Jerry was sitting outside Jacques Avril’s house with Dwight’s note in hand. All of a sudden Jerry sees Remi Toussaint go behind the house. Jerry believes Remi is planning to kill Avril before Avril kills him.
We pick up with Jerry retelling the story to Detective Andrew Lang in the FID meeting. He continues with the replay of events as we see them on screen.
Jerry follows Remi to the back of the house. He sees boxes everywhere and believes Avril must be leaving town. Jerry hears a gunshot, pulls out his gun and enters the house. J. Edgar follows the scent of gunpowder until he comes upon Remi who has been shot in the head.
Suddenly Jerry is fired upon. He sees the camera above and realizes Avril is watching him. Jerry knocks out the camera with a gunshot. He calls for Avril to surrender and tells him to drop his weapon.
Avril yells to Jerry that Remi came for him. Jerry replies that Avril does not need to worry if that is the case. Jerry continues walking toward Avril’s voice and comes face to face with him.
Avril holds both hands above his head with his gun in his right hand. He says he will cooperate. Then Avril starts bringing his arm down with gun in hand. Jerry fires two fatal shots to Avril’s chest.
Detective Lang asks Jerry about calling for backup. Jerry said he could not call for backup. He was in his personal car without his rover and left his phone at home. Lang has no further questions at this time.
Partner talk
Harry drives Jerry to his car. When they stop, Bosch tells Jerry he is aware of what happened. Harry believes Jerry purposely left his phone at home to eliminate a trail. Harry thinks J. Edgar went to Avril’s house to do “the wrong thing”. He says he hopes Jerry changed his mind before following Remi.
Changing his mind and not doing the wrong thing would honor Dwight’s wishes in the note. (Sidebar: This does not sound quite the same as what Harry said earlier about the note meaning “do what you got to do”. Do you agree? Or did I misinterpret Harry’s comment?)
Jerry dismisses the idea and says he simply forget his phone. Harry says, “Okay, partner.” Jerry gets in his car and pays a visit to his sons. They are leaving for science camp. Jerry talks to Latonya about the idea of a robot that can solve homicides and not draw a detective into the “abyss”. Latonya is confused about Jerry’s comment, but he says they can talk more later.
Bosch may be relentless, but there are some lines he won't cross. Can J. Edgar say the same? #BoschAmazon pic.twitter.com/aymzDRUwJA
— Bosch (@BoschAmazon) May 15, 2020
Heather and Ian
Heather Strout meets with Ian Hughes about the “plan”. We confirm that it has been Ian building the IED. He puts the explosive device in the blue backpack with the flag patch. Ian tells her how to activate the bomb on the cell phone and to be sure she is far enough away.
At the Courthouse
Heather arrives to the courthouse with her backpack in tow and walks through security. Bosch watches as she enters and checks her bag. Once again, there seem to only be flyers inside. Ian Hughes pulls up to the courthouse for work. Who knew? He is a Sheriff’s deputy there and does not go through security. He is carrying the same style backpack as Heather.
Ian and Heather meet on the bench outside the courtroom and casually exchange backpacks. Maddie, Jerry, Harry, Crate and Barrel gather in the courtroom. Barrel watches as Heather enters the courtroom to sit in the back row.
Bosch wonders where Reece is. He steps out of the courtroom to call Agent Reece. She cannot come to the trial. The FBI is working on a terrorist threat they learned of through the Sheriff’s department. Bosch returns to the courtroom and is called to the stand about the warrant.
Barrel is twitching in his seat and tells Crate he needs to go to the bathroom. The two detectives joke about the size of Barrel’s prostate.
Barrel takes care of business and gets frustrated when there are no paper towels to dry his hands after washing them. He shakes his hands and opens the door to exit the bathroom. He spies the sovereign (Ian Hughes) who approached him at the barbecue in episode 1. Of course, he notices that Ian is dressed as a Sheriff’s deputy.
An explosive discovery
Barrel returns to the courtroom and notices Heather is no longer there but her backpack remains. Harry can tell Barrel is concerned. Barrel announces that he just saw the sovereign from the park and now Heather is gone. Harry puts two and two together and rushes to the backpack. He announces that there is a bomb and for everyone to leave immediately.
Maddie is terrified that her dad remains behind. Honey pulls her to the door. Bosch asks the bailiff if anyone is in the holding cell. The bailiff says no, so Harry rushes toward the holding cell, tosses the backpack as far as he can and runs back down the hall.
Heather is outside the building and detonates the explosive. Maddie rushes in to look for her dad. She is crying and calling for her dad. Finally, Harry emerges from the hallway with a cut on his head.
Immediate interrogation
The detectives have grabbed Ian and Harry asks him where Heather is. Ian mentions a “revolution” and Harry realizes that Ian is the deputy that called in the threat to the FBI to get many agents all in one location. Harry says there are 2 bombs and the FBI is the next target.
Harry calls Reece just in time and let’s her know what’s happening. As Heather drives downtown, she is suddenly surrounded by FBI vehicles. She considers detonating the second bomb, but Reece implores her to give herself up. Reece tells Heather that no one died at the courthouse. Heather gets out of her car and surrenders.
Back at home
Maddie is so relieved that her dad is okay. They talk on the balcony about her latest decision.
Harry lets Maddie know that Judge Sobel is not dismissing the wire tap evidence in the Kent murder trial.
Maddie still wants to go to law school, but she wants to be a prosecutor. She has a plan to work with Honey Chandler again next summer to get a good education on how a defense attorney works. That way she can be better prepared for what to expect when she becomes a prosecutor. Coltrane looks on from one of the deck chairs.
Maddie and Bosch make a plan to go back to Borrego Springs where they left Eleanor’s ashes.
Maddie Bosch works for justice, not a rigged system. #BoschAmazon pic.twitter.com/ZNHFT3QvHb
— Bosch (@BoschAmazon) May 6, 2020
Chief Concerns
Jen Kowski pours her morning coffee as she listens to an update on the news about the mayoral race. She hears the newscaster announce that Irving has dropped out of the race and is endorsing Susanna Lopez.
Stunned by the announcement, Jen drops her cup. Out walks fundraiser Ray Thacker in a bathrobe. Wait, were they an item all along?
The Chief receives a call from Jack Killoran who reminds Irv that he still has the audio tape. Irv does not care and reminds Killoran that he could still reveal his extortion attempt.
Jun and Irv agree that they are happy and have made a good choice. Irv puts his arm around his wife.
Jerry confronts Avril (Part Two)
We revisit the night at Avril’s home. This time Avril never lowers his arm with the gun. Both arms remain raised over his head, but Jerry still shoots him point blank in the chest. Suddenly, Jerry awakens from sleep in his bed.
Was this dream the reality of what actually happened? Or is Jerry questioning himself? I tend to think the former and that Jerry is being haunted by his actions.
Food for thought:
You may recall that Jerry and Harry’s partnership was threatened by Harry’s failure to intervene and stop the murder of Ed Gunn in season 3. Gunn had escaped conviction for the rape and murder of prostitutes. Jerry did not know if he could remain partners with someone who could stand by and allow someone to be killed.
The death of Eleanor Wish put an end to the strain on the working relationship between Harry and J. Edgar. Jerry was suddenly ready to be there for his partner and they began working together again. Was this merely a distraction or an actual reconciliation between the two?
Now we have almost the reverse with Jerry probably using his own rogue form of justice to kill Avril when the system allowed Avril to escape retribution. Harry expresses his doubts about what happened, but when Jerry says he did not kill Avril in cold blood, Harry moves on from it. Does Harry believe Jerry? Or does he simply let it go?
Will Jerry continue to be haunted by Avril’s death?
Do you believe Jerry took justice into his own hands?
What is your interpretation?
How does any of this compare with the threats that Harry made to Roger Dillon?
Please share your thoughts in the comment section. This finale certainly makes for some deep conversation.
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