New threats and new evidence raise the stakes in Bosch season 7 episode 5.
Bosch Season 7 Episode 5 ‘Jury’s Still Out’
Written by Eric Overmyer and Benjamin Pitts
Directed by Alex Zakrzewski
Bosch and J. Edgar get some disappointing news when they try to lock up Alvarez’s story. Interagency conflict sets in on the case and Harry asks Irving for help.
Harry’s hackles go up when there is a threat to Maddie’s safety. Jerry is trying to get back on track but makes a huge misstep with Bosch. Honey Chandler is still alive but has been placed in a medically induced coma. Harry and Jerry get some face time with Carl Rogers and his slimy attorney J. Reason Fowwkes.
Billets digs deeper on her suspicions about Officers Norris and Leonard. She uncovers some damning details and gets more scoop from an old colleague. Chief Irving makes a new play against Mayor Lopez as he fights for a second term.
Look for several blasts from this past in episode 5. There are many familiar faces.
Copyright: Amazon Studios
Description: Pictured (right): Cynthia Kaye McWilliams (Detective Joan Bennett), Paul Calderón (Jimmy Robertson)
Harry drops in on Dr. Golliher
It is old home week when Harry pays a visit to Dr. Golliher from season 1. You may recall that Golliher helped identify the bones of tortured young Arthur Delacroix. The doctor and Harry shared a conversation in season 1 about Harry’s belief in justice and Dr. Golliher’s faith in a better place for victims.
Harry comes upon Dr. Golliher’s office after leaving the morgue. Golliher is boxing up things as he is retiring. Golliher asks about Sonia Hernandez and points out that she was close in age to Arthur Delacroix. Harry makes the distinction that Sonia was a child who was happy and well-cared for.
Harry asks Dr. Golliher if he still believes there is a better place waiting for these victims. Golliher admits that he does not feel so certain anymore. He says he is experiencing a “full-blown crisis of faith” like a “cancer of the soul”.
The doctor turns the tables on Harry and asks if he still believes justice is possible. Harry replies that the “jury’s still out” on that. There we have our episode title reference.
Keeping Alvarez a little too far away
Jerry and Harry are ready for Alvarez to spill the name of the person who ordered the fire. They need to hear him say “Mickey Pena”. After all, they kept their part of the bargain. Keep away status was granted to Pedro “Zorro” Alvarez.
The detectives arrive at the jail only to learn that Alvarez has been moved to federal custody. A visit to the Department of Justice gets Harry no closer to Alvarez. DOJ is not talking. Bosch leans on Irving to run interference with the feds. They are so close to getting the testimony they need to hold Pena accountable.
Later, Harry drops Jerry off in Pena’s neighborhood. Harry will distract Pena while Jerry places a tracker on Pena’s car. Harry pulls up to Mickey Pena’s gate where he is outside with fellow members of Las Palmas.
Bosch tells Mickey that Alvarez named him as the one who ordered the fire. Pena scoffs at that notion. Mickey denies making such an order and suggests that Alvarez would say anything out of fear. Harry says la Eme cannot touch Alvarez because he was put on keep away status.
Harry says Trejo will talk as well, but Pena says his guys will not make deals. Mickey says they will be released soon. Harry tells Pena that Alvarez is in federal custody now. Mickey dismisses Harry and tells him to go away.
Bosch picks up Jerry down the road and ponders the feeling that Mickey Pena was already aware that Alvarez was with the feds.
Chief concerns
Chief Irving gets a visit from newly appointed Police Commissioner Nestor Delgado. Delgado presses Irving on gang labeling reform. The chief notes that those things cannot be fixed overnight, but Delgado suggests that this issue could affect Irv’s second term.
Irv tells Jun about the meeting with Delgado and insists that Delgado’s concerns about the gang labeling issue are not sincere. Jun says Delgado is gunning for her husband’s position.
Irving arrives on the scene of Jen Kowski getting a ticket for using her phone while driving and almost slamming into the back of another car. Irv’s SUV pulls up right next to Jen’s car and he lets the window down. He gives Jen that classic Irving stare. She suggests that Irv set up the traffic incident. Irv gives Jen a message for Mayor Lopez. He wants Lopez to know that he will continue with the FBI’s investigation of her even though the FBI put it to rest.
Pounds pays Hollywood a visit
It is none other than Harry “transferred to Art Theft” Pounds at the station reporting to Capt. Cooper on the findings related to the photoshopped image of Billets floating around. Cooper and Pounds meet with Grace. Pounds explains that the source of the image was an “anonymous message board”. Cooper chimes in saying they have no evidence that Norris and Leonard are involved.
Grace shares some documents showing that Leonard and Norris are incels, “involuntary celibates, sexually repressed male supremacists”. She goes on to say that it is not just those two officers. She says there is an “infestation” of such males throughout the department.
Before Pounds leaves the station, he comes face to face with nemesis Harry Bosch right outside the same window that Harry threw Pounds into six seasons ago. Harry rattles Pounds by stepping in front of the captain like he is not going to let him through. Harry laughs it off as Pounds moves past him.
Copyright: Amazon Studios
Description: Pictured (L-R): Annie Wersching (Officer Julia Brasher) and Amy Aquino (Lt. Grace Billets)
Billets does her research
Grace wants to talk to someone in Pacific division to get some scoop on Leonard and Norris who transferred from there. Old pal Mank reminds Grace that Julia Brasher transferred to Pacific after Harry would not corroborate her lies in season 1.
Billets meets with Brasher over lunch at Pink’s. Sure enough, Julia has had a bad experience with Leonard and Norris. Billets learns that Brasher and her partner were at a dangerous scene in Oakwood between Black and Hispanic gangs. They called for help, and everyone came to the scene except Norris and Leonard. Go figure.
Brasher confronted the two incels about not responding to the call, and they gave a derogatory excuse. Brasher reported them, but ultimately the pair was transferred to Hollywood instead of being charged with a 128 complaint.
Back at Hollywood Division, Grace walks into the breakroom where Norris and Leonard are ranting about a woman at a traffic stop. Grace brings up the Oakwood incident saying that it must have been a crazy situation. She asks why they did not go to the scene to help. Leonard gives the excuse that they were at a traffic stop. Billets inquires as to way there is no record of the response. Leonard says they did not call because they wanted to keep the frequency open. Always an excuse, eh?
Meeting with Carl Rogers
Jerry and Harry interview Carl Rogers and learn that his attorney is the infamous J. Reason Fowwkes. Rogers denies any relationship with Franzen. He and his attorney suggest that Franzen was grasping at straws as he was being faced with punishment for his crimes. They say the accusation is completely unfounded.
Fowwkes points out that there is nothing else to discuss because there are no witnesses to corroborate the accusation. Chandler is in critical condition at the hospital and Franzen is dead. Jerry fires back that they do have another witness. Fowwkes is surprised to hear that.
Harry becomes livid after the meeting. He slams Jerry against the wall and yells at him for putting Maddie in danger by saying there was another witness. Even without naming her, Bosch knows it is only a matter of time before someone figures it out.
Harry immediately calls Maddie and tells her to have Antonio meet her at the house. She should check in with him regularly until he gets home. Maddie is unnerved but follows her father’s instructions.
Jerry asks for time away
Jerry meets with Billets to request some time off to work through some things. Grace obliges. He later visits with Mama Roux. He admits that he wanted Avril dead. Mama Roux wants to help relieve Jerry of the evil spirit haunting him.
Maddie confides in Antonio
Maddie waits for Antonio at the house. Before he arrives, she pulls a gun from the record cabinet and puts it in her backpack.
Antonio comes to the house to be with Maddie. They sit down with a couple of Fat Tire beers. She tells him that she was at Du-Par’s earlier watching the parking lot where her mom was killed. She tells him that Chandler reminds her of Eleanor. Maddie describes both women as very formidable and brave. Antonio listens intently as Maddie begins to cry and say how much she misses her mother.
Harry arrives home and receives a call from Donna Sobel. Donna is calling to check on him and Maddie. Bosch appreciates her concern.
Harry walks inside and wants to speak with Maddie privately. Antonio takes Coltrane for a walk. Harry explains that Maddie is a potential target like Chandler and Franzen were. He tells her that she will need testify in front of the grand jury the day after next. Harry says she will be safe once she gives her testimony.
Harry met previously with ADA Tegan Doyle who reminded him of a clause that should help keep Maddie safe and allow her to make her testimony. If a grand jury witness is killed to keep them from testifying at trial, that witness’s grand jury testimony is considered admissible. It is an exception that serves as a deterrent to eliminating a witness.
As the camera pans away from the Bosch house, we see Jerry keeping a watchful eye on Maddie from his car. He turns off the headlights, grabs his coffee and settles into guardian mode.
Are Fowwkes and the gunman connected?
Joan and Jimmy work throughout the episode trying to identify the gunman. They make some headway with the help of Pierce and Vega. Vega is familiar with the strange mask the shooter is wearing. She calls it a distortion mask and explains that it prevents facial recognition software from being as effective.
Ballistics expert Lester Poole identifies the gun type for Jimmy and Joan. They do a search for shootings with similar circumstances. They find some in Miami and Vegas where the victims had mob associations. Crate and Barrel help by looking for any of Fowwkes’ former clients and cases that may have a connection to organized crime in Miami or Vegas. They find a case where Fowwkes worked on a case for someone named Datz where a key witness “disappeared”.
Pierce and Vega learn that the gunman was driving a Nissan Altima that was rented to someone name George McClellan at Long Beach Airport. Later they track the vehicle to a parking lot at Burbank Airport. When Jimmy and Joan arrive to the car, it is being towed and they see a plane fly overhead. They realize the gunman flew in and flew out.
Someone else thinks Fowwkes could be someone who would hire a hitman. It is none other than special master on the case, Rodney Belk. Belk was Harry’s attorney on the Flores case in season 1.
A dangerous discovery
Fowwkes reviews the videotape that the gunman stole from Franzen. This confirms that Fowwkes is linked to the shooting. As Fowwkes nears the end of the tape, he hears Chandler call Maddie’s name and sees Maddie lean over in front of the camera. Fowwkes dials someone on the phone and says, “He needs to come back.”
In other news:
- Harry surprises Edgar when he does not express certainty about going to West Bureau.
- L.A. Times reporter Scott Anderson calls Harry for intel and Harry hangs up on him calling him a “vulture.”
- Crate and Barrel are eager to put CAPs cases aside to help their fellow detectives.
Cameos and Callbacks:
- It is nice to see Dr. Golliher again.
- Harvey Pounds pays a visit to the Hollywood station.
- Julia Brasher makes an appearance when she has lunch with Lt. Billets.
- Maddie and Antonio drink Fat Tire beers. When Antonio first met Harry, he orders Harry’s favorite beer, Fat Tire, to impress him.
- Jimmy calls Pierce “Youngblood”, a welcome callback to these two being partners in seasons 3 and 4.
- When Harry asks Asst. DA Boyle how she knew he was friends with Donna, she uses the phrase “place leaks like a sieve”. Harry used this same phrase to describe the DA’s office when talking to investigator Hector Bonner in season 5.
- Attorney Rodney Belk returns as the special master for Honey’s cases.
You can follow ongoing coverage of Bosch television at So Many Shows and on the Everybody Counts Podcast.