With Finbar McShane’s murder of Sheila Walsh, Harry Bosch has never been more certain of his convictions, though he desperately wishes he was mistaken. The scene opens at Gallagher Equipment with a group of officers and crime scene technicians as we begin Bosch: Legacy Season 3 Episode 5. An officer taking Harry’s statement notes that a BOLO has been issued for McShane. Yet, to Harry, this feels insufficient, a mere procedural gesture from the LAPD, echoing their earlier disinterest in investigating the Gallaghers’ original disappearance. We appreciate the touch of character in Bosch, the seasoned detective who still smokes. As Harry draws deeply on a cigarette, his frustration boils over. A Be On the Lookout won’t suffice. “Guy who did this disappeared an entire family. He’s gone. He’s fucking gone.” We cut to a shadowy alley, where Finbar steps out stealthily, climbing into a hidden compartment within a box truck. It speeds away, likely taking the elusive businessman-murderer beyond the reach of Harry Bosch’s fiery resolve.

Bosch aimed to reassure Siobhan of her loved ones’ safety, a sentiment sincere and fitting. Yet, his instincts are razor-sharp, and his intuition, combined with his investigative prowess, begins to expose a heartbreaking reality. It was Finbar we saw binding the Gallaghers in Bosch: Legacy Episode 3, and his swift sale of a backhoe to Bing Crider was just another move in his deceptive game. By tracking the GPS data on the equipment, Harry and Mo learn it was relocated a few miles from the Ojai cabin on the day the family disappeared. Venturing into the area, armed with Mo’s drone, they search the remote woodland. What Bosch dreaded to discover—despite understanding it as inevitable—is unearthed in freshly disturbed earth beneath willow trees. Two parents and their two young children, brutally murdered and buried in a shallow grave. Harry’s expression speaks volumes as he prepares to deliver the tragic news to Siobhan.

Such a horrific crime is precisely the type Honey Chandler has vowed to combat through her district attorney campaign. Yet, as the election approaches, her opponent remains more invested in political maneuvering. Post the Preston Borders escape attempt and ensuing shootout, Emett Archer urges Detective Jimmy Robertson to delay clearing Harry Bosch’s name until after the election. However, Robertson—coolly portrayed by Paul Calderón—is defiant, essentially saying, “Forget that.” He leaks the entire investigation, along with Archer’s delay tactics, to the Los Angeles Times, which runs the story on Election Day. With Archer’s political aspirations unraveling, Chandler and her team, who were confident before, find themselves buoyed by the realization that Honey is likely to win, aided by Archer’s downfall and a vigorous grassroots campaign that her daughter Michelle believes is a testament to her resilience.

The Chandler campaign’s grassroots outreach also uncovered something that seems significant in light of her victory. Speaking with Dennis Williams (Marlon Young), a diner owner put off of voting by lack of police response to his son’s murder, Chandler is startled to learn that the LAPD ignored evidence of his son’s sexual relationship with an influential city councilman. Williams says Patrick Currey (Jeremy Glazer) injected his son with a designer drug, which caused the overdose that killed him. Police inaction and high-profile malfeasance? Sounds like District Attorney of Los Angeles Honey “Money” Chandler just found her first big case.

But there’s even more going on in this hinge episode of Bosch: Legacy’s final season. Victoria, who Vasquez and Bosch have learned goes by the street name “Fortune,” is proving to be an elusive adversary. She sniffs out their sting at Find Your Grind studios before even setting foot in the place – Maddie: “I think we just got made” – and issues orders to her boyfriend Albert and their no-account accomplice Nestor that the follow-home robberies stop while they lay low. Too much heat, “and I ain’t going to jail for either of you fools.” Andrea Cortés continues to be a force in Legacy as Victoria/Fortune. Her high-criming intensity is a match for the name-brand conviction of Titus Welliver as Harry Bosch. And as Vasquez and Bosch’s follow-home investigation continues, it will be with one potentially game-changing bombshell: Albert, Victoria’s stickup man boyfriend, is also Officer Reyna Vasquez’s nephew. 

Which brings us to this episode’s final developing bombshell. After they meet for a quiet drink, where they ruminate over their shared history, the bizarre circumstances of the “Chief’s Special” investigation, and the bullets-flying reveal of the Wasco inmate escape/Bosch frame-up, Harry and Jimmy part on good terms. Good enough that Detective Robertson is in a pleasant mood as he repairs to a food truck for some barbacoa tacos. But a masked man appears, and waving a gun, he robs the truck of loose cash before turning on Robertson. The detective, wary, doesn’t even pull his piece. But the guy shoots him dead anyway. 

What will Harry Bosch’s steely instincts tell him about this one? Because the way Robertson’s murder went down, it seemed designed to only look random. Who could be gunning so hard for Jimmy that they would carry out his murder in a busy public place? And why? Besides trying to chase down Finbar McShane for what he did to the Gallaghers and Sheila, Bosch is gonna need to get with the new DA to sort out what larger conspiracies and truths are living just below LA’s surface. 

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.