In 2022, Bosch: Legacy (Freevee) picked up right where Bosch left off a year before, with Titus Welliver’s title character switching out his LAPD badge for the license of a private investigator. But while he retired from the force, Bosch was never very far from it, especially with his daughter Madeline (Madison Lintz) joining up as a rookie beat cop. Co-developed by author Michael Connelly and based on his successful novels – season two is adapted from the 18th book in the series, 2015’s The Crossing – Bosch: Legacy also represents a snag in licensing: even though Hieronymous “Harry” Bosch is Mickey “The Lincoln Lawyer” Haller’s half-brother in Connelly’s books, that the two series come from different studios and stream on different platforms means no crossover in the author’s universe of characters as they exist on the small screen.
Opening Shot: In a flashback to the events surrounding Season 1’s cliffhanger ending, Maddie Bosch arrives home to her bungalow, where she isn’t alone. There’s a struggle, Maggie is eventually subdued, and her assailant is revealed to be Kurt Dockweiler (David Denman, taking over the role from Will Chase). That’s the building inspector with a thing for luchador masks who the rookie officer encountered last season during the ongoing investigation into a string of West Hollywood sexual assaults.
The Gist: With his daughter abducted and evidence at the scene pointing to “The Screen Cutter Killer,” Bosch isn’t going to sit idly by just because he’s no longer police. While Jerry Edgar (Jamie Hector), his partner from the old days, is running the official search for Maddie, Bosch harangues every higher-up in his little black book for updates and taps his tech expert Maurice “Mo” Bassi (Stephen Chang) to access his daughter’s bank accounts, card purchases, and socials. “We don’t know why he took her,” Bosch tells Honey “Money” Chandler (Mimi Rogers), a high-powered defense attorney and his occasional ally. “But this guy had eyes on her. There’s a reason he broke his M.O.”
The search for Maddie Bosch and Kurt Dockweiler’s connection to her isn’t the only storyline season two of Bosch: Legacy will cover. While Bosch and Chandler have had their share of disagreements – a cop who always played by his own rules and a lawyer who often wins cases while making cops look bad – they’ll find themselves working closely together on a major murder case with lots of unanswered questions. They’ll also draw the attention of the FBI – Anthony Michael Hall joins the cast as Special Agent Will Barron – and a cop in the LAPD’s vice division, played by Max Martini, who represents a significant blurring of the thin blue line.
In lots of ways, Bosch: Legacy is still just Bosch, tweaked. Even though its main character is no longer part of the LAPD, Legacy is a still police procedural through and through, and doesn’t plan to turn away from those basic cable-style bona fides anytime soon, especially with existing Bosch characters like Detective Jerry Edgar and desk sergeant John Mankiewicz (Scott Klace) continuing to appear in the new series. There is one nod to the main character’s legacy, however: the early going of season two spends a lot of time staring into Bosch’s soul as he considers the life he’s led and the journey his daughter is just beginning. With her abduction, he slides down the door frame of his early 90s Jeep Cherokee in tears, unable to control his heaving sobs.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The original Bosch was a seven season hit for Amazon Studios, and Bosch: Legacy has already been renewed for a third go-round. But there are also more spinoffs in the works, including Jamie Hector starring as Jerry Edgar in his own Boschland series and a show focusing on LAPD cold cases featuring Rene Ballard, a character from the Connelly books. And even if the TV versions of Connelly’s characters aren’t allowed to meet up, that doesn’t preclude you from enjoying The Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix. The legal drama recently concluded its second season, and last August the streamer announced plans for a third.
Our Take: Surveying the scene outside his recently abducted daughter’s bungalow, Titus Welliver’s Harry Bosch scoffs silently at the tangled throng of LAPD black-and-whites and the tractor trailer-based “command center” parked in the street. Maddie’s been missing for like 40 minutes, and they’re already doing it wrong, not canvassing correctly, not moving fast enough. That bitten-down tenacity of Bosch, his run through a wall mentality to get the job done – and Welliver’s ability to keep the quaking emotions of his character consistently interesting – has always been a highlight of Bosch: Legacy and the series it emerged from. And with Bosch as PI existing untethered by department rules and regs, it’s enticing to consider what walls he’ll run through next. In a later scene in the premiere, Bosch goes against the urging of his former partner and totally craps on police methodology in his dogged pursuit of Maddie’s assailant. Which, on one hand, of course he does. (And we love to see it!) But on the other, he also channels a different kind of veteran know-how. Sure, he’ll toss a residence without care for protocol. But he’ll also leave whatever evidence he uncovers for the actual cops to catalog. In Legacy, Bosch is a savvy, extremely watchable mix of a bulldog enjoying being off his leash and a top-flight investigator who still knows every trick in the book. If you’re one of the bad guys, he’ll police procedure his boot right in your ass.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: It’s reassuring to know that Maddie is alive. But that doesn’t mean she’s in the clear, and she’s very definitely not out of danger. Bosch and the cops on the case are working against an hourglass already turned over.
Sleeper Star: Mimi Rogers provides a veteran presence in the middle of the Bosch: Legacy batting order, playing Honey “Money” Chandler with an emphasis on her shrewd legal mind, a flair for making an entrance, and a talent for pushing Bosch’s buttons.
Most Pilot-y Line: “We need to find the intersect!” “Fuck policy!” As you might imagine, Maddie’s abduction has set off a rash of declarative statements from Bosch, with little patience for things like official warrants authorized by a judge.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Weekly shows that used to populate the middle tiers of cable are proving to be popular once again, and Bosch: Legacy is built directly off that model, with a solid cast and the usual murders and suspicions of a procedural to really drive up Titus Welliver’s level of intensity.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.