Tag: crime fiction

Bosch Season 7: almost perfect

Yesterday I finished binge-watching Season 7 of Bosch on Amazon. The final season was nearly perfect. (And if you read some of my reviews on this site, you’ll know that I hardly ever declare anything “perfect”, or “nearly perfect”.)

I began reading the Harry Bosch novels more than 15 years ago, long before the Amazon series was even conceived. My original concept of Harry Bosch was a Baby Boomer and Vietnam vet, born around 1950.

The Harry Bosch of the Amazon series, meanwhile (portrayed by Titus Welliver), is a vaguely Gen X character. The Amazon version of Bosch would have been too young to have served in Vietnam; he served in the more recent wars of the Middle East instead.

Titus Welliver is now 59. I would imagine that Amazon’s Harry Bosch is supposed to be a few years younger than that…perhaps 54 or 55. But definitely not in his early 70s, like the Harry Bosch of the novels.

I understand why the producers of the Amazon series (which included Michael Connelly, the author of the novels) felt the need to “reimagine” Bosch as a younger character. When the first Harry Bosch novel, The Black Echo, came out in 1992, the fictional Harry Bosch was only 42 years old. Season 1 of the Amazon series debuted in 2015. By that time, the Harry Bosch of the novels was 65 years old, and working part-time in law enforcement on his DROP contract. It wouldn’t have made sense to have launched a new TV series with a main character who was winding up his career.

Nevertheless, I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to adjust my concept of the main character when I began binge-watching the accumulated seasons of Bosch in 2019. But adjust, I did. For me, Titus Welliver’s dramatic interpretation of the character has now replaced the Harry Bosch of the novels.

Fortunately, Welliver will be back for the spin-off series planned for Amazon’s IMDb TV. Also returning will be Madison Lintz, who nailed the Maddie Bosch depicted in the novels.

Hopefully Lance Reddick, Jamie Hector, and Amy Aquino will return, too. This series was not only perfectly executed, it was perfectly cast, as well. My only complaint with Season 7 of Bosch is that there were only eight episodes.