Bosch Season 6 Review: Amazon’s Secret Weapon Returns as Great as Ever

Harry Bosch may be a thorn in the side of anyone he comes across, but damn it, he gets results. As Bosch returns for its sixth season on Amazon Prime Video, the show has a lot on its mind about the effects of the job, the city and the people the job must protect and serve, and how not everything is as it seems.

Over the five episodes (out of ten) reviewed, Bosch proves yet again to be one of the best cop dramas on television by tying its widening scope to its characters, and how their search for the truth can vanquish anything thrown at them.

The main thread follows the death of a medical physicist and missing toxic materials that could potentially be used by domestic terrorists, while pulling in continuing narratives of Bosch investigating the Clayton cold case and Edgar investigating the Haitian gang building its territory.

It’s a wide canvas, more than even these threads, but nothing gets lost in the shuffle, each carrying its weight with satisfying leads. No one piece stays the same for long, the fluid nature of the narrative giving air to each piece right when it needs it.

The season uses elements from both The Overlook and Dark Sacred Night of Michael Connelly’s series, putting those elements to great use.

Something that makes Bosch so special is the dedication to the procedure of working a case, how each lead works to fill the puzzle in piece by piece. Crime dramas do this plenty, but there’s a meticulousness and an art to showing the highs and the lows, and how it affects each detective differently.

This season is no different, where each piece helps to fill in the bigger picture, but also finds a way to tie back to its detectives. The long hours show the dedication, but there’s also this sense that some at the precinct may be reaching the end of their rope, as office politics and dying friendships threaten to tear apart the fabric of the Hollywood division.

It’s part of a larger story of paranoia that’s creeping into this season, that danger could break out at any moment. The search helicopters haunting the skies help add to that uncertainty, as a constant reminder that the city may not be safe with those materials out there.

The show is great at building tension and creating a ticking clock, and the best way to solve that is to allow Harry Bosch to dig under people’s skin, something he’s worryingly gifted at. When all hope seems lost, set Bosch off.

There is light in all of that darkness, though, and it comes in the relationship between Bosch and his daughter Maddie. Their no-nonsense, no-secrets closeness helps create a fantastic bond where they can bounce thoughts off each other and have each other’s backs through thick and thin. It’s the kind of relationship that helps balance out the work aspects and humanizes Bosch in a very deep way.

Titus Welliver continues to be a wealth of complexity as Hieronymous Bosch, a hardened detective who still finds time to help the disenfranchised find justice for those they have lost. He can feel like a lockbox at times, but it’s a testament to Welliver’s performance that he can maintain a level of closeness as the lead of the show while his character is so inward and withdrawn.

But when Bosch is at work, he’s able to squeeze every last drop out of the information he has. This is where Welliver gets to shine, Harry Bosch feeling like a tinderbox that’s waiting for any reason to ignite.

But there’s also a subtleness there, as well, in the quieter moments. The sixth season, over these first five episodes, manages to peel back those layers a little more, and Titus Welliver perfects it.

Jamie Hector becomes far more prominent, even more so than the fifth season, and rises to the occasion. Jerry Edgar is split between two cases, just as Bosch is, and it becomes a revealing look at street level expansion and the endless hours of getting things right.

Hector is a gifted actor, and becomes just as much the co-lead of the show as Edgar rises from behind Bosch’s shadow and starts to cast his own.

Madison Lintz also deserves recognition, as Maddie finds a lane she excels at while continuing to be the moral and emotional center for Bosch, both the show and the character. Lintz is able to effortlessly make Maddie the boost of normalcy and light on the show as Maddie tries to find herself while also adding to the compelling tapestry of justice being sought in its many forms.

Bosch, with its sixth season, is a known quantity by this point. If you’re into Bosch, you’ll still be into Bosch. Its focus may be larger, but that doesn’t hurt any individual pieces in the slightest. It’s building on what’s come before and using that to continue to show the living, breathing life of a city that these characters are trying to protect.

With excellent performances and smart writing and directing, Bosch returns with a solid, dependable voice, and remains one of Amazon’s shining examples of excellence on its platform.

 

What did you think of this season of Bosch? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Bosch streams on April 17th on Amazon Prime Video.

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