Binge watching sent me armchair traveling to Los Angeles for one of my favorite mystery series on both screen and book, Bosch. Amazon’s longest running original programing recently started its sixth season and continues as an effective book to screen translation. This includes maintaining Hollywood and Los Angeles as home base for all the stories.
As someone who loves locations, I especially appreciate the series’ look at places I know from growing up in the region and working there on occasion. Crisp aerial footage showcases the area’s immensity. Meanwhile, ground footage features tourism icons like the Hollywood sign, or the nearby Hollywood Reservoir where I used to run my morning laps.
Some episodes feature the old Angels Flight funicular railway I enjoyed riding during numerous stays in downtown Los Angeles near the old police station with its white tower that millions recognize from Dragnet and other shows. Nevadans get an extra bonus in earlier seasons when Bosch goes to Las Vegas. Sure, the iconic Strip appears, but action takes place at lesser-known locations such as the downtown Container Park.
Locations reflect the books, and most characters come from the page, though with a few alterations. One transforms main character Bosch from a Viet Nam vet to one from the Gulf War. This allows a younger man to play Bosch in today’s contemporary world, and actor Titus Welliver insinuates himself perfectly into the part of a dogged and confrontational homicide detective who looks somewhat average but displays a core of steel.
Besides having a younger screen Bosch run around contemporary Los Angeles, the series mixes up characters. For instance, the books feature a slick attorney movie fans might remember as Matthew McConaughey in The Lincoln Lawyer. But with the way business works, author Connelly sold rights to that character and can’t use him in the Amazon series. So, he retools the shark lawyer into one played by Mimi Rogers, who adds elegance, charm, and a bit of threat to the stories.
Rogers started in the series a few seasons ago and proved so effective that she stays on as an essential addition. She reflects the show’s success at building strong, memorable supporting players, many with names readers recognize from the books. Again, changes occur, but all fit into the story telling premise, which usually connects three novels into a single season.
Coincidentally, Season 6 begins with a story bearing a surprisingly relevant situation when a health crisis threatens the city. But most relevant? The season’s title which takes the first two words of the mantra Bosch lives by, quote “everybody matters or nobody matters.”Says Bosch the man and series,“Everybody Matters.”
