What makes Bosch different than, say, Backstrom, another recent television series about a particularly grouchy homicide detective, is its commitment to story and character. Whereas that (fairly awful) Fox series finds Rainn Wilson’s toxic lead solving a new case every week and occasionally peeling back a layer of his unhappy history, Amazon’s series leans more toward the serial, allowing Bosch’s realistically paced trial and case excavation to deepen the audience’s understanding of him in natural ways, from a prosecutor’s snooty button-pushing to his guttural response to a forensic anthropologist’s cold analysis of the abused victim. It’s an approach that, on the heels of Transparent‘s Golden Globe win, continues to push Amazon more toward the Netflix/HBO corner of the television quality spectrum.
And while the focus is mostly on Bosch, the series doesn’t drop the ball with its supporting characters either. Jamie Hector is convincing as his partner, Detective Jerry Edgar, and Wersching gets one great scene in the pilot that paints her as an intriguing romantic foil. In smaller roles, Lance Reddick pops up as dedicated Deputy Chief Irvin Irving, Amy Aquino makes for an admirably hard-nosed Lieutenant Grace Billets, and Mimi Rogers chews the scenery as Bosch’s nasty prosecutor. Others, like Detectives Crate and Barrell (Troy Evans and Gregory Scott Cummins), will have to make a stronger impression in future episodes.
Maybe television didn’t need another tormented detective, but Welliver’s work and the strength of Bosch‘s direction and scripts (which also supply an unexpected smattering of philosophy that will either fade or, hopefully, come more fully to the forefront as the season progresses) are unlikely to have many complaining about the show’s occasional familiarity. In spite of all its moving parts, Bosch is also refreshingly free from narrative clutter, and there’s an urgency to the storytelling that suggests Connelly and Overmyer have little interest in case-of-the-week fluff (that’s a good thing, to be sure – it wouldn’t fit with the hard-boiled, noirish setting or deliberate pace).
In short, the show is a resounding success for Amazon, a dramatic series that suggests the streaming service will soon be rubbing shoulders with Netflix, HBO and Showtime. Whatever dark places the detective’s investigation takes him to – and that the show is on Amazon, free from cable restraints, suggests that could be to some very unpleasant areas indeed – viewers will feel wholly compelled to follow him. Like the books it’s based on, Bosch may prove near-impossible to put down.
