I binged watched all 10 episodes of Season 3 of Bosch and do NOT regret it. It made for a fantastic weekend. I enjoyed this season, as much as Season 1. (**In my opinion, Season 2 was good but not as good as the 1 & 3). For years, I have been a fan of Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer Series. Connelly is a very talented author that brings an authenticity to the series that some crime authors miss. He understands the real-life issues that face law enforcement and provides accurate portrayals of their professional and personal lives. I just wasn’t sure how the plot would translate into an Amazon series. There are some differences, but the overall general feel of the series is the same. But as the series has progressed, I have grown to know and appreciate the nuances of the writers of the series. And nothing has been more amazing than Titus Welliver’s portrayal of Harry Bosch. He has brought Harry to life as no other actor could. I have NOT been disappointed.

Season 3 finds Bosch dealing with a ton of professional and personal challenges. (1) He is dealing with a teenaged daughter and an absent ex-wife. (2) Still reeling from the truth surrounding his mother’s death and the investigation. (3) Being framed for murder. (4) Feeling betrayed by his partner who seems to be questioning his character. (5) Feeling the heat from others on the department who question his tactics. And (6) investigating the death of a veteran, whose death appears to be related to stolen money from Afghanistan, not to mention, reassure a reluctant witness.

Meanwhile the other characters that comprise the Los Angeles Police Department are chugging along. My favorite, Interm Chief Irving (played by Lance Reddick) is still coming to grips with the death of his beloved son and impending divorce. He’s trying to get back in the dating game and feeling a little pressure by the Mayor to stay on the job. Maddie, Bosch’s daughter is still trying to figure out her father and spread her wings. Bosch’s partner Detective Edgar is learning to parent in an age of technology (meaning his kids are more interested in video games than anything else) and accept Bosch’s flaws. Eleanor, Bosch’s ex-wife, flitters in and out of the story, much as she does their lives. Lt. Billets is trying to parent and get a promotion, but finds herself butting heads with the Captain, who is now married to her ex-husband. And as usual, Detective Johnson and Sergeant Mankiewicz are still hilarious sidekicks.

Overall, this was a pretty satisfying season that ended with some pretty startling revelations. I look forward to season 4.

I have read the Harry Bosch Novels all the way thorough several times excepting a few of the weaker ones like Nine Dragons and The Overlook.
The only mystery Series I like better is Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series. I feel qualified to weigh in on Bosch as both a Cop show and more importantly in relation to the source material.
The thing that jumps out to me the most is that Titus Welliver's depiction of Bosch is similar to the older Bosch of Echo Park and Burning Room, and works with the book story-lines of the older Bosch in those, but is jarring when used in the Concrete Blonde, Trunk Music and Darkness More than Night story lines that are intertwined with those of the later books...Connlley successfully moves Bosch from action cop to more investigative cop as the books progress, but the show does not do this as well, so for instance the gradual comfort Bosch grows to attain with technology is weird because he flips back and forth from luddite to tech savvy incongruously; also ,missing is are the practical jokes from the books like the radio Hi Jinks from Concrete Blonde... "over and out dream leader!" and Bosch's pranks on Jerry Edgar, etc...

As a TV show Bosch seems more like a more modern version of The Shield than anything else, except Harry is not as morally bankrupt and despicable as Vic Mackey...and of course like all prestige TV since breaking Bad and The Wire, the pacing is excellent, and it looks like a film not TV
Casting Opinions:
Bosch; I always pictured Harry Bosch as looking a little like Anthony Bourdain, only with a mustache and curly hair, or maybe James Woods with more physicality. Welliver is a great facial and vocal actor, but he just seems out of shape and rotund for "wiry" Harry Bosch
Jerry Edgar; big miss, and PC concerns about a minority character in modern Hollywood are probably why the occasional laziness and self serving aspects of Jerry Edgar in the books are omitted. Actually Lance Riddick may have been better for Jerry Edgar
Irvin Irving: This is one place where the show is better than the book, the character of Irvin is less cartoonish and really explored well. He is no longer the villain of many stories, the shows lets the killers be the villains, but the way that the writing shows both Irving's decency AND ambition is excellent!
Maddie: annoying in both the books and the show, but hey 13 year old girls act this way a lot in real life sooo...ok
Eleanor Wish. Another miss, she doesn't seem like she could have ever been a FBI agent. and is just missing that edge...the show never explores her obsession with poker... replacing the juice she got from police work, and also, she spent time in prison, and the angst of her ruining her law enforcement career. The show really misses the Rachel Walling Character/ they are hopefully saving her for upcoming seasons.
Kizmin Rider: really missed, a very important character in the books, marginal here.

In summary, good show, missed the mark in some key areas, but a must see if you are a fan of the Books

Can’t believe I’m giving Bosch’s latest installment only 3 stars after the preceding two seasons earned 5 star ratings. I’ve read all of the Michael Connelly’s novels in the Bosch series and my wife just completed them as well last month. We found this year’s episodes so incoherent that it was virtually impossible to tell what was going on and keep the several subplots sorted out. Choppy editing doesn’t help; in Episode 8 without context we find Harry searching a mostly vacant home by himself and he finds a small disc-shaped electronic device hidden in an electrical outlet box. There’s no spoken dialog, no further explanation given for where he was and the significance of his find, then the scene cuts to something else entirely and never mentioned again.

Where the first two seasons very capably blended two or three books plotlines this season falls short. Selecting “The Black Echo” (along with “A Darkness More Than Night”) as the foundation source material for this outing may have been a strategic error. “The Black Echo” is the first book in the series and perhaps one of the most complex of all 18 and counting stories. There’s enough going on to script a feature length film and a couple sequels just from this book alone so sampling bits and pieces doesn’t seem to work. Also, while “Bosh” isn’t an action show, compared to the prior seasons this time around things move very, very slowly until the last three episodes.

Despite having such a wealth of material to draw from the writers felt the need to make up things that did not appear in any of the books and then poorly integrate them into the mix. The rogue ex-spec ops guys and their stolen money; the Chief’s involvement and subsequent ‘personal’ relationship following the Korean Town shootings; adding the bureaucratic female police captain to RHD staff ostensibly just to bust Harry’s chops as examples all served as unneeded distractions.

Bosch on paper always has some beautiful love interest and the shows have followed suit but this season there was no chemistry between Harry and ADA Benitez (Paolo Turbay) who to my recall was never in the novels. Some 1 & 2 star reviewers on Amazon had problems with the acting and specifically Titus Welliver in the starring role and Lance Reddick as Chief Irvin Irving. From their comments though it appears they never read the books, complaining about their “stiff” or “wooden” demeanor. Connelly paints Chief Irving as one rung below Darth Vader and I think Reddick captures his menacing authority quite well. Bosch is an irreverent, no-nonsense cop and isn’t out to win any popularity contests. Welliver really nails this character and portrays him much as you’d expect if you’re a fan of the novels. Another person found his “my way or the highway” attitude annoying; well that’s Harry; you don’t like him, he doesn’t care. Many folks despise poor Madison Lintz and her portrayal of Harry’s daughter Maddie. She’s always been the cliché sullen teen in print and on screen but for whatever reason they made her more obnoxious in this season- I could live without seeing her as much but she’s a prime player in the Bosch universe so we’re stuck with her. To be fair, the actors are giving us true portrayals of their parts but they just didn’t have much to work with this time out.

Season 4 has already gotten the green light and is supposedly in production and will be based on “Angels Flight” and ‘elements’ from “9 Dragons”. Given that the latter is one of my least favorite of Connelly’s works I can only hope they get the writing staff whipped into shape and craft a more disciplined script. In the meantime we’ve got the next print installment hitting the shelves in October, “Two Kinds of Truth” to look forward to.

LA is full of tough guys, some good, some not so good, and I would want to be on the side of the Good tough guys. The one tough, good guy in LA is Harry Bosch. Harry played by Titus Welliver is the quintessential LA detective. Harry loves his family and his job, it is probably an equal tie about what he loves the most. However, his daughter Maddie played by Madison Lintz is the adult in the family. She is living with dad in his glass house in the hills, while Mom is in Europe with her new husband. She keeps Harry on the straight and narrow, most of the time.

In this third season, Harry is feeling relieved that he solved his mom's murder. He is now free enough to help solve all the other murders thrown his way, and they keep coming. However, there seems to be something someone does not want him to find out, and Harry is compromised. We see it coming, and this is just the start. Harry's partner, Jamie Hector, played by Jamie Edgar, has an important role as always. But, in my mind, Irwin Irving, the Acting Chief of Police, played by Lance Reddick, is the most interesting character. His son died in the previous season, and his marriage has fallen apart. He finds himself in between the law and Harry. He knows Harry is the most intelligent detective, who can put little clues together to solve crimes. Harry has an intricate sense of what has gone down. But, in this season, keeping Harry above the law is a challenge.

There are ten episodes, and each one has it's own issues. This Bosch season may be the best one yet. I see Titus Welliver as Harry Bosch, and it must be that Michael Connelly feels the same.

Recommended. prisrob 04-25-17

Season 3 certainly captivated me the most so far because several realistic qualities kicked in, not unlike how stew tastes better as leftovers or aged wine acquires more subtle flavors.
1--Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) has slowed the pace of his lines making him more realistic as he struggles with right and wrong or as he juggles being both a nurturing father and aggressive detective. Earlier he was acting out the maverick cop to a fault but now scenes of Harry's longer dialogues or pensive moments make me more empathetic.
2--The same mellowness can been seen for the rest of the major cast:
--Maddie (Madison Lintz) is speaking so like her teenage Generation Z without being stereotypical and her preference for Dad over Mom (Sarah Clarke) presents very realistic dynamics of divorced parents.
--Detective Jerry Edgar (Jaime Hector) shows much more nuanced emotions as he copes with his renegade partner's spying or his own guilt-ridden doubts about fatally shooting his suspect. His entire ambush scene had me on pins and needles as he faded away trying to grasp his son's science fair medal that had fallen during the dramatic assault.
--both Chief Irwin Irving (Lance Reddick) and Lt. Grace Billets (Amy Aquino) have their human vulnerabilities surface making them much more interesting as I care about them as people behind their ranks.
3--Most everyone else followed suit in portraying their roles realistically like the 3 corrupted veterans as they ultimately betray each other.
Kudos to the entire cast for delivering many memorable characters too numerous for me to praise well as I should.
4--Finally, I liked how clever the screenwriting included current police-community-press issues while inserting the irony of the Man on a Bike lambasting Chief Irving at the public hearing for not capturing the KIK killer who would be himself.
I very much look forward to another season with Mike Connelly's story line and excellent acting/production crew.

FYI No spoilers.
Another stellar season, Titus Welliver was perfectly cast in this role but he isn't the only one who is good Lance Reddick and Jamie Hector put on equally good performances. I basically binge watched this season, the downside of which is that you have to wait so long for next offering, for what amounts to another year. The writing is very good and I encourage anyone toying with the idea of watching to do so from the beginning. My memory of the previous seasons are a touch hazy but I there isn't a noticeable drop in quality as compared to the previous seasons. If I had anything negative to say it might be some of the familiar tropes of the PC crowd tend to be forced (as usually they are) and it has become cliché. That said. it isn't as overt as many other shows and isn't an over arching message or too influential, when it comes to the substance of the series. Other than Bosch investigating his mothers murder this isn't really a whodunit series, as much as him trying to piece together the facts of why and how it was done, along with making the viewer empathetic to characters themselves. I think that is the reason it tends to be better than your typical detective/police drama because most viewers have seen so many of those whodunits, which means an astute observer can usually guess who the perpetrator is (more than one girlfriend has complained to me about doing this) which causes a loss of interest. The way they present the show is what allows the viewer to maintain his interest and avoid the anticipatory guessing of what is about to happen next while at the same time holding their interest, making them want to continue to follow along.

I came to this series, not knowing of the existence of the novel series from which it comes.

As such, I had never read any of the books, and have only read one of them since I discovered the series but did not finish it because the story, and character of Bosch based on the time frame of when the series started--is a very different animal than what this series is.

I have no interest in reading the books--at least not till this show comes to an end--but for those who read this and do not know---they picked this show up for a fourth season at the time they had started this season's production, so we have at least one more year of Harry Bosch on film.

I wrote in my review I did last year, of Season's One and Two, that I rate this show as one of the best "television shows" EVER and I still hold to that belief.

Not too many TV shows would compel me to basically watch nearly straight through, roughly ten hours of programming, but with Bosch, I just had too, breaking it up in watching the first five episodes back to back, then watching three more hours last night and finishing up the last two episodes this morning just before writing this review.

Taking this show as a totally separate entity it is from the series of novels--something that I am glad I had no knowledge of and had not read any of them----it is some great story telling and incredible, compelling, well worth watching TV.

I am bummed that it was only ten hours, but at least we do have to look forward to next year when Season Four of Bosch drops and it is time to do some more binge watching again.....

You know, I'm not sure why I like it, but I sort of do. I find that the show is better when it shows more restraint and Bosch manages to do that pretty well at times. I liked that someone other than Harry had to shoot a villain, I like that Harry's fellow detectives are not idiots placed there to make Harry look like a genius, and I liked the extra attention given to J. Edgar. However, I'm not sure I like the way they're bringing back his mother's death investigation. Some book fans were disappointed in how they dealt with that subject at the end of season 2 because they would rather there be a huge manhunt, chase, and shootout at the end. Instead, Harry simply finds that his mother's killer had died years ago of natural causes. To me, that's a very fitting way for things to end up for Harry Bosch. He's a bitter malcontent who happens to be good at what he does, but what he doesn't do well is making himself happy. It just seems to make sense to see his relationships constantly fail and for him to come up short on getting satisfaction with regards to his mother's murder. Because of that, I think it also fits to have his ex-wife be happy with another man and having his ex-wife come back to live with him makes me worry that they're going to try to re-kindle their relationship. I guess we'll see how it goes, but I truly believe what Rudy Tafero said when he predicted that Bosch would "eat his own gun" when he could no longer do police work. Anything else sort of betrays the character.