Confrontation is the name of the game in Bosch season 6 episode 6.
Bosch season 6 episode 6: ‘The Ace Hotel’
Written by: Alex Meenehan
Directed by: Zetna Fuentes
Bosch Season 6 Is Streaming Now On Prime Video!#BoschAmazon pic.twitter.com/jB9UeD9uQB
— Michael Connelly (@Connellybooks) April 17, 2020
Things move fast in Bosch season 6 episode 6. Alicia is talking. The widow meets with her attorney Honey Chandler, Deputy District Attorney Kennedy and detectives Bosch and Edgar. Agent Reece gets shocking news and ends up making an excruciating decision in the line of duty.
Elizabeth Clayton confronts an old flame in search of answers about Daisy. Bosch meets again with Alex Sands looking for more information about Daisy’s activities around the time of her murder.
Chief Irving hatches a new initiative related to crime and the homeless community. He puts Billets in charge. Vega is disappointed in Pierce’s reaction to her sharing her concerns about Billets. And one of the sovereigns is taking a stand online.
Read on for my full investigation of Bosch season 6 episode 6 ‘The Ace Hotel’.
Attorney client privilege
Alicia tells Chandler what the LAPD has found out about her. She admits to the affair and believes Stan was suspicious, thus the hidden camera. A wire tap gave them a text to her lover and a video of her moving around her house after she was supposedly tied and gagged for the demand photo and before Bosch untied her.
When asked, Alicia confirms that her lover was involved in the events the night of Stan’s murder. But Alicia says Stan was never supposed to be killed. She only wanted a divorce.
Opposing sides
The LAPD wants the name of Alicia’s lover. Chandler insists that there is no evidence of Alicia killing Stan. The detectives point to her being part of a conspiracy that eventually moved to Stan being murdered. Harry says “She didn’t need to pull the trigger herself.”
The LAPD wants to flip Alicia and get the name of the person who killed Stan. Chandler informs them that she will meet with the DA’s office about a plea deal.
The Books Behind "Bosch"https://t.co/PO2rGGKlzA pic.twitter.com/ikKnyyfyK0
— Michael Connelly (@Connellybooks) April 15, 2020
Reece on site
Reece soon arrives to Hollywood Division asking for Bosch. We learn that he called her to the station. Mank escorts her to the break room and offers her some of the station’s terrible coffee. Bosch arrives to the break room and thanks Mank.
Bosch updates Reece on the interview with Alicia. He says the sovereigns were not the murderers but that it was Alicia and her lover. Reece wants to know if Bosch still believes Brennar is involved. He says they are going to attempt to get the name of the lover from Alicia with a plea deal.
Best offer, really?
DDA Kennedy tells Bosch and J. Edgar that Alicia denies any knowledge of the murder until after it occurred. The best they can offer is a two-year sentence for “conspiracy to commit extortion”, but Alicia will give up her lover’s name. Edgar and Bosch are mad about only a 2 year sentence.
Kennedy says she gets a better deal for giving up a federal agent. We know that Harry lives by the creed, “Everybody counts, or nobody counts.” So this does not sit well with Harry. Harry doesn’t care about the prominence of the killer, saying, “somebody died”.
Inside tip: Take note in the next seen that Alicia is no longer wearing her jewelry. I had the privilege of watching this scene being filmed. I overheard someone saying they had checked with Mitzi (Roberts) who is an RHD detective that consults on the show. Mitzi had advised that in real life, Alicia’s jewelry would have been taken away at this point of interrogation. Interesting, right? This is a great example of how thorough Bosch is about authenticity.
Bosch will need to treat this investigation like a homicide to see where it really goes. #BoschAmazon pic.twitter.com/b4cqxgomsX
— Bosch (@BoschAmazon) April 14, 2020
On the record
Jerry, Harry, DDA Kennedy, Chandler and Alicia are all in an interrogation room together.
Reece watches and listens in another room with Billets. Reece is shocked when Alicia gives the name of Reece’s partner Clifford Maxwell as the one who killed Stan!
Alicia describes the path to the affair. She says that Maxwell came to the Kent’s home to discuss new security procedures associated with Stanley handling radioactive material. Later, Alicia met with Maxwell regarding some additional questions and things continued to escalate to the affair. The couple went from having trysts at hotels to the point of Alicia leasing an apartment downtown.
Harry asks Alicia point blank at what point she got the idea to murder her husband. Alicia lashes out saying that was never a thought. Chandler diffuses the situation and says Alicia has never alluded to that being the case. Mrs. Kent insists that it was in self-defense that Maxwell shot Stanley.
The plan
Alicia describes the whole encounter as a ploy to get Stan to sign divorce papers and release his portion of the rights to Alicia’s surgical sponge patent. She had openly requested a divorce and was willing to give Stanley $500,000 to give up his portion, but he would not comply.
By stealing the cesium he would break the morals clause in their pre-nuptial agreement. Jerry points out that the courts would not see it as a break in the pre-nuptial agreement if Stanley stole the radioactive material “under duress to protect his wife”. Alicia and Cliff planned for that as well. Cliff had video footage of Stan that associated him with the Sovereign movement.
The video could make it seem plausible that Stan was a “sovereign sympathizer” who would steal toxic material for nefarious reasons. In turn, Maxwell’s FBI “hero” version of the story may be more believable in court.
Alicia confirmed that all options went out the window when Stanley tried to act heroically and attacked Maxwell. She says that is when they tried to pin it on the 308s.
Next moves
In the other room, shocked and exasperated, Reece and Billets say they need to call Brennar and Irving, respectively. They exit the room.
Barrel makes sure they are watching Maxwell’s FBI phone line and his burner. Harry tells Alicia to call Maxwell and insists that they meet.
Alicia makes the call and says she needs to see him at the apartment. Mrs. Kent tells the detectives that the rental is at Broadway Palace Apartments, 1017.
Jerry and Harry do not believe Alicia. They want to bring Maxwell in to get his story. When stories do not align, the plea deal will be nullified and they can charge them both.
Reece wants to be on site when they approach Cliff. She cites the fact that he is her partner and trusts her.
Cliff is in the shadows downtown on guard of everyone around him.
A cop must know the difference between right and wrong. A chief is no different. #BoschAmazon pic.twitter.com/FGFbVwYVla
— Bosch (@BoschAmazon) April 23, 2020
Moving pieces
SIS is already at the apartments and SWAT is on standby.
Reece gets call from Cliff. He says he is late because he had to talk to a CI.
Chief Irving argues that the case still falls under his jurisdiction. Brenner cites that Maxwell is his agent. The chief retorts that talking to Brenner about it all is merely a courtesy to the FBI at this point.
Barrel gets notice of movement for Cliff Maxwell’s burner phone. The phone is heading south. Could it be Mexico? Billets plans to order an airship and tells Vega to get border patrol ready just in case. Reece thinks the phone’s movement is a strategic diversion on Cliff’s part. Harry, Jerry and Reece suspect that Cliff will not go to the apartment but rather somewhere with a view of the building. Bosch notes the Ace Hotel which is right across the street from the apartment building.
The writers insert a running joke about something in L.A. never really being “twenty minutes away” when Reece says if she is mistaken about Cliff’s real whereabouts, it will just be a “20 minute detour”.
The Ace Hotel
Bosch, J. Edgar and Reece go to front desk at the Ace Hotel. They learn that Maxwell did check in and the clerk has not seen him leave. Reece sneaks away while Harry is on the phone. She goes up the elevator and to the door of Maxwell’s room. Harry catches up and enters the room after Reece breaks open the door. J. Edgar stays downstairs. As Harry and Reece search the room, they see Cliff outside the window. A lethal chase begins!
Harry and Reece chase Maxwell down exterior ladders, across a rooftop building and through the adjacent theater. The darkness and intensity employed as they hunt Maxwell in the theater feels reminiscent of Harry hunting Bradley Walker in the tunnels during season 4.
The chase culminates with Reece fatally shooting her partner Maxwell as he begins to pull his gun.
Jerry and Harry run over to Cliff. Bosch turns to Reece who is looking emotionally drained. Jerry comments about the likelihood of Reece being cleared on the use of force against Maxwell. Bosch agrees but says it will squash her career path due to her having killed her own partner.
Chief and Brennar
Chief tells Brenner about Maxwell’s burner phone and how it was apparently used to orchestrate the murder of Stanley. The chief believes Maxwell was most likely behind the Craver murder, too.
The chief says they will need to access Maxwell’s house.
The tables have turned when the chief tells Brenner, “We’ll keep you in the loop.” The LAPD has the upper hand now.
More to the story
Harry and Jerry search Maxwell’s house despite the fact that the FBI has already removed some property (like Maxwell’s computer!) from the location. Jerry looks through the closest and then finds a camera in a drawer. There are no files on the camera and the SD card has been removed.
The search of the house does not yield much, but Harry does receive the download from Maxwell’s burner phone. Messages indicate that Cliff was really invested in this relationship with Alicia.
Harry and Edgar also see that Maxwell sent a photo of Craver talking to the FBI agent to tip off the sovereigns that Craver was snitching. The detectives believe either Cliff murdered Craver himself or got a sovereign to do it. They plan to follow up by checking DNA from Craver’s shirt.
Just one more week until the new season of @BoschAmazon is streaming on @PrimeVideo. pic.twitter.com/pgMrMnHqLz
— Michael Connelly (@Connellybooks) April 10, 2020
Reece wants to meet with Harry
Reece later meets with Harry for a drink. She is questioning herself and upset that while her partner is dead, Alicia is only at risk of receiving two years in jail. She says she has a “hunch” about something else, though.
Reece has knowledge of Maxwell recently reserving a sound car. She does not know for certain but says, “Maybe he wanted some insurance in case things went sideways.” Bosch notes that they surely did!
Bosch plans to look for the audio file and Reece insists that he did not learn about it from her.
Bosch and Edgar go back to Cliff’s house looking specifically for the audio file. Harry finds it hidden inside a container of ChapStick lip balm.
J. Edgar and Harry listen to a portion of the audio before Jerry takes it inside the station to book the evidence. There is a clip of Alicia suggesting they use Stan’s gun. Wow! She certainly left some important details out of her statement.
Jerry goes inside the station while Harry leaves to do some more work on the Daisy Clayton case.
Who is Roy?
Harry visits Elizabeth. He updates her on his visits with Alex Sands and John the Baptist. John the Baptist’s fingerprint does not match the partial print recovered from Daisy’s body. But Harry did tell her that John McMullen remembered Daisy making a phone call for a ride and saying that a guy was coming to pick her up from the Moonlight Mission.
Elizabeth thinks Daisy must have talked to her old boyfriend Roy, but why wouldn’t he have told Elizabeth about the call? She does not remember hearing anything about Daisy calling.
Daisy says she will track down Roy and Bosch insists that only he talk to him after Elizabeth finds him.
Elizabeth later approaches Roy at a bar about the call. Since she does not remember anything about a call, Roy accuses her of being incapacitated at the time. She then slugs him and leaves.
Bosch gets the call
Harry gets the call from the cops about Daisy’s encounter with Roy. He picks her up at the bar. Roy is not pressing charges. Now Elizabeth is really upset she may have been high when Daisy called. She is guilt-ridden.
Elizabeth talks to Harry about Daisy having been in foster care. She says he does not know what that’s like. (We know Harry is more than familiar with the system.) Elizabeth talks about all she did to try get Daisy back.
Clayton asks Harry to drive her to a sobriety meeting. He obliges, of course, and pulls up to the meeting place and Elizabeth gets out. Harry assures her that he is not giving up on Daisy.
Harry visits Roy
Bosch makes a visit to Roy Lewis’s house. Roy tells Harry that he tried to pick up Daisy at the Moonlight Mission but that she was not there. Elizabeth’s ex-boyfriend brings up the name of Alex Sands and speaks poorly of him.
Roy tells Harry that Daisy was involved in running a scam operation with Alex. He indicated that the pair had a scam to steal money from men. Bosch has a feeling Roy was involved in the scheme as well and that is why he did not say anything about receiving Daisy’s call. Roy admits to taking a cut from their operation claiming he was their security.
Harry asks Roy where he was the night of Daisy’s disappearance. Roy does not respond. Harry presumes that Roy was drunk and points out that Roy certainly did not protect her that evening.
Hollywood Homicide has a new K-9 on the job. @Connellybooks shares all in a sneak peek of his "new series," Detective Coltrane. pic.twitter.com/SBMB2CWydE
— Bosch (@BoschAmazon) April 1, 2020
Bosch visits Alex
Bosch makes another visit to Alex Sands, this time at his home, to question him about the operation he and Daisy were running.
Alex says he and Daisy advertised meet-ups with underage girls using an anonymous email. When the men arrived to the Harvard House hotel, Alex would be hiding in the closet with a camera while Daisy shared a drink with the men.
When the guy was in a state of undress, Alex would come out of the closet and snag photos of his license to get his name and address. Daisy and Alex would then take any cash the man had and steal his ATM card to get more cash. Alex said Daisy never actually had sex with any of the men.
Bosch asks Alex if he kept the camera footage. Alex says he deleted it all after Daisy’s murder, but he still has the laptop for the music on the hard drive.
Bosch then takes the laptop from him and Alex asks if he will get it back. Harry just gives him a look and walks away.
Waylon revenge
Charlie Dax meets Waylon Strout at the prison upon his release. They make a video where Waylon details his experience with law enforcement.
Later that night, Harry and Maddie visit on the balcony. Maddie asks Harry about Daisy’s case and tells him she thinks Daisy reminds him of his mother. They also talk about Alicia Kent and Harry says he does not want Maddie assigned in any way to that particular case that Honey has.
A call from Jerry to alert Harry to his email interrupts the father daughter conversation. Harry sees the video of Waylon and Maddie notes that the number of views is increasing.
Then the viewers see a scene of an undisclosed person building what looks like an IED.
In other news:
- Billets leaves work to visit Powers at the hospital. She runs into Vega, touches her on the shoulder and tells her to head home. Vega agrees, but she is still there when Billets returns from the hospital. Vega says she is there late working on paperwork for the Terrion case. Billets compliments her work ethic, touches her shoulder again and also says Vega should “tell Rondell to start pulling his weight.” Vega mutters, “Isn’t that your job?” Billets asked her what she said and she simply responds, “I will.”
- Vega talks to Pierce again about her discomfort with Billets. Pierce says her sharing puts him in an “awkward position” where he should actually report the issue. Vega is not happy with his response.
- The chief talks to Jen Kowski about a new initiative he has named “Operation Safe Sidewalks”. He plans to announce it publicly after the initiative achieves some results.
- Jen approaches the subject of Irving’s likeability in the campaign and suggest that he obtain an endorsement from a female such as Honey Chandler.
- The chief puts Billets in charge of the initiative to lower crime around the homeless community despite Cooper’s suggestion that Lt. Thorne be the lead. “Operation Safe Sidewalks” will be shared between downtown and Hollywood. Irving wants them to pull resources from narcotics, burglary and CAPS. He also demands that Cooper and Billets fix whatever the problem is between the two of them.
Back soon for the investigation of Bosch season 6 episode 7!
Don’t forget to tune in for the Everybody Counts Podcast !