Recap of Season 3 Episode 5 of ‘Bosch: Legacy’: Uncovering Half Truths

After Finbar McShane murders Sheila Walsh in Bosch: Legacy Season 3 Episode 5, Harry Bosch becomes even more convinced of his suspicions, though he dearly wishes he is wrong. At Gallagher Equipment, a scene swarms with cops and crime scene investigators. The officer taking Bosch’s statement mentions a BOLO put out on McShane. However, Harry views this as a mere formality by the LAPD, reminiscent of their past apathy towards investigating the Gallaghers’ disappearance. Despite his salty demeanor, Bosch still indulges in smoking, a habit that offers him a moment of release as he vents his frustration. To him, a simple Be On the Lookout alert won’t suffice, given the gravity of the situation. Harry is certain that the perpetrator who wiped out an entire family has vanished without a trace. Meanwhile, Finbar flees the scene, boarding a hidden compartment inside a box truck, leaving behind a trailing sense of defiance aimed at Bosch.

Bosch endeavors to comfort Siobhan with assurances about the safety of her kin. While his intentions are genuine, his instinctual gut feeling starts chipping away at what he deeply fears is the grim reality. The revelation that Finbar had restrained the Gallaghers in a previous episode, coupled with his hasty sale of a backhoe to Bing Crider to cover his tracks, solidifies Harry’s suspicions. Tracking the GPS data on the equipment directs Bosch and Mo to a wooded area near the Ojai cabin, prompting them to embark on a search. Despite his reluctance to uncover the inevitable, buried beneath the soil are the lifeless bodies of two parents and their children. Harry’s somber expression speaks volumes as he breaks the devastating news to Siobhan.

Horrified by the heinous crime, Honey Chandler champions her district attorney campaign against such atrocities. Nevertheless, her rival, Emett Archer, prioritizes political gains over justice, even after the chaos surrounding Preston Borders. Archer pressures Detective Jimmy Robertson to delay clearing Bosch’s name until after the election. Disregarding Archer’s directive, Robertson leaks details of the covert investigation, including Archer’s complicity, to the press. Published on Election Day, the exposure leads to Archer’s downfall, propelling Chandler’s chances to victory. Bolstered by grassroots support and her daughter’s unwavering confidence, Honey Chandler emerges as the clear favorite for the esteemed position she is destined to fill.

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.