We all have a picture of our parents. We think we know them. We think we understand them. But our parents have lives outside our view. They have a past, and they have their secrets. As adults, we sometimes uncover those truths, and it can make an impact on how we view them going forward. That’s the case for Maddie (Madison Linz) in Bosch: Legacy season 3 episode 2, "The Four Last Things," on Prime Video. SPOILERS BELOW.
The second episode begins with a funeral. It’s a military funeral and it doesn’t take long to spot Bosch (Titus Welliver) in his full-dress uniform. It’s a former colleague whose time has ended. Maddie shows up to pay her respects and show her support. There, Bosch connects with a former colleague, Gerbizs (Gonzalo Menendez). They take Maddie out for a drink after the service.
While her father is at the bar getting the next round, she hears a story from the Afghanistan war. It’s a dark tale that shows that Bosch is willing to bend the rules if needed in pursuit of his ultimate aim. Gerbizs sees it as a war story. Maddie internalizes it as something she suspected but couldn’t prove about her father. It causes discomfort. It causes doubt.
Later, Maddie shares her concerns with Honey Chandler (Mimi Rodgers). Chandler has long acted as a mentor. Chandler understands Bosch in a way Maddie perhaps never will. While her words provide comfort, it’s clear the doubts that cropped up when Maddie answered the call from Preston Borders remain. How will they shake out this season? That’s a question to be answered as we move forward.
Sheehan fallout
The premiere was explosive as we saw Frank Sheehan (Jamie McShane) make his move on Chandler. Bosch was able to stop him, and Chandler remains safe. But where was the Los Angeles Police Department? In the wake of the incident, Chandler asks Bosch to poke around about the department’s response.
Bosch turns to his old friend, Sgt. Mankiewicz (Scott Klane) for information. He confirms the bosses talked about Chandler’s request and decided to push it off on a different division. Lt. Thorne (Mark Rolston) was supposed to relay the request. Bosch suspects he didn’t, questioning him at the station. Thorne denies it but it’s clear there is more to it all.
Chandler has dealt with the fact that she’s not well liked by the department. She takes her concern, and the results of Bosch’s inquest, to the new Chief (Sophina Brown). Chandler is hopeful to use her knowledge and willingness to avoid a scandal to earn an endorsement. The meeting doesn’t go well. That leaves an open question as to Chandler’s potential working relationship with the police if she does win.
A new case
Meanwhile, Bosch is drawn into a new case. A concerned mother and grandmother, Siobahn Murphy (Orla Brady) turns to Bosch for help. Her daughter and her daughter’s family have disappeared. The police opened a case but so far turned up no leads. She asks Bosch to get involved, but he’s weary at first. Bosch promises to look into things.
Bosch meets with the police and looks into the evidence. It seems Murphy’s son-in-law had financial and business problems. When the police found the family vehicle with the key in the glove box and their bank accounts cleared out in Mexico, it appeared the family attempted to disappear. That’s the obvious explanation, but Bosch has never settled for the obvious.
After some more digging, Bosch begins to suspect the set-up is too neat and too convenient to be believed. As the episode closes, Bosch and Murphy head to the family vacation cabin to look for clues. When he finds the little girl’s blanket hidden in a closet, it’s clear the vehicle was planted as a set up. Now, the real search begins.
The case against Bosch
Meanwhile, Jimmy (Paul Calderon) and his partner Lopez (Miles Gaston Villanueva) continue their investigation into what role Bosch might have played in Kurt Dockweiler’s death. That leads them to Dockweiler’s attorney, Rafferty (Bruce Davidson), who suggests Bosch threatened Dockweiler in an investigation room. He claims a complaint was filed and dismissed. But Jimmy has a feeling.
Jimmy and Lopez drop in on Sgt. Mankiewicz, getting him to give up the tape. It confirms Rafferty’s story and shows that Bosch had some animosity toward Dockweiler. But did he have the man killed? Jimmy is still going quiet and slow, building a case. We end the episode with him and Lopez pressing Maddie about what she knows. She tells them her father denied everything but both Jimmy and Maddie have their doubts. Bosch is going to have to answer questions sooner rather than later.
Other odds and ends to know about
While all that occupies a lot of the episode, we get a few other threads that are in play. The first is Chandler trying to win her election. That requires a big donor, preferably one that used to support her opponent. She finds that target in Lisa Brode (Rya Kihlstedt), a savvy businesswoman who is hesitant to switch sides. Still, a productive first lunch has Chandler in the game. Given her lack of progress with the LAPD, this is the closest we get to a campaign win this week.
Meanwhile, Maddie might be battling personal doubts about her father, but her investigation into the robberies is heating up. After some good surveillance, Maddie and Vasquez (Denise G. Sanchez) pull over the vehicle they found on footage. They press the driver, but it doesn’t yield much. They aren’t able to get an ID, either. But their work is paying off. They’re on the right path and the thieves are getting a little jumpy.
What we thought about Bosch: Legacy season 3 episode 2
The premiere was a more action-packed episode compared to Bosch: Legacy season 3 episode 2. We were introduced to a threat and got the payoff within the first episode. It sucked up a lot of the oxygen to start the new season. But the beauty of Bosch: Legacy, and the series that preceded it, was in the slow building details. This episode gets back to those foundations. There are at least five different stories in motion. We get progress and details for all of them, but little moves toward an obvious conclusion.
That’s just the way I like it. It was a gripping and engaging hour, one that puts a lot of balls in motion and poses a lot of questions. The answers are coming as the walls are closing in. So far, I’m taken with the way this season is coming together as we prepare to say goodbye.
Bosch: Legacy releases new episodes Thursdays on Prime Video. Stay tuned to Show Snob as we provide reviews and recaps each week!