‘Bosch’: Investigating Episode 4.05 ‘The Coping’
Bosch season 4 episode 5 brings us to Tuesday and the aftermath of the tragic event of episode 4.
It’s Tuesday morning with only the noise of an empty running shower at the Bosch house. Maddie is huddled on the floor next to the shower in despair over the loss of her mother, Eleanor. Harry lies awake in his bed recalling the day he learned of his own mother’s death. There is deep reflection on the part of both father and daughter.
Dealing by not dealing
I am not referring to dealing in a casino, but rather the attempt of Maddie Bosch to go about her usual day in the shadow of her mother’s murder. Maddie chooses to deal with the pain by not really dealing with it at all.
She tells Harry she is going to school much to his surprise. He is not in favor of her decision but let’s her go. He tells her emphatically that he will be picking her up from school in the afternoon.
Maddie’s attempt to avoid thinking about her mother’s death is unsuccessful when she is immediately met with well-meaning but awkward words from a classmate talking about her own mother’s death from cancer. Maddie decides to leave school and hang out with a male companion, Ky Hartman, at his home.
Harry arrives at Maddie’s school to find out she is not there. She does send him a text to let him know she’s okay but not her whereabouts. Harry makes a stop at Phil Gentry’s house. You may recall that Phil is not only father to Maddie’s friend Becca, but also the banker whose nametag Harry stole at the fundraiser in episode 1. Phil shares his condolences about Eleanor and Becca gives Harry the address of Ky Hartman.
Harry picks up Maddie from Ky’s house with little fanfare. He tells her he has made arrangements for them to see Eleanor’s body at the morgue.
Later that evening Maddie comments on how her mom did not look “real” to which Harry agrees. Having lost his own mother at a young age, Maddie asks her dad if it ever stops hurting. She inquires about why Eleanor was murdered. She asks if Reggie and Eleanor were breaking up. She wants to know everything Eleanor told Harry at their final visit.
Harry starts by describing Eleanor’s love for Maddie. It appears that Maddie is ready to let the flood gates open and talk.
Moving suspects
Both Frankie Sheehan and Terry Drake are currently listed on the task force board as suspects.
Sheehan is still on the run but makes a pay phone call to Harry. Attempts to surveil the pay phone location bring no new information on Frankie.
Lincoln and Snyder are tasked with following Terry Drake to see if contacts Sheehan. The two IA detectives follow Drake on a run of errands that goes on for some time. They mistake his stop at a pawn shop as legitimate.
Upon returning to the station empty-handed, Robertson shares that Drake was in the Dark Ages when it comes to technology. Jimmy says the pawn shop stop was a drop for Sheehan.
Later, Drake turns up at Jimmy’s bar, the Smog Cutter, which Jimmy frequents in Bosch season 3. The old partners talk for a while and Drake does not deny that he gave money to Sheehan. They discuss Black Guardian and Terry stands by his statement that he was not in the room when Sheehan tortured Michael Harris.
Drake is not convinced that Sheehan killed Elias. Jimmy believes he did. The two men talk about confessions, “unwritten rules”, and their personal history before Drake gets up to leave and Robertson tells him to stay away from “his” bar.
Protest preparations
Grace makes a conscious decision to formally act as Captain when her fellow Lieutenants are not taking her role seriously. She dons the blue uniform, pulls her back, and hands out assignments for security for Sunday’s planned protest. She makes it clear that anyone not meeting their assignments will be flagged with insubordination.
Chief Irving is also preparing for Sunday’s event. He acquires intelligence from Captain McCurdy on the leader of Sunday’s planned protest, Desiree Zealy. McCurdy has gathered a significant amount of information on Ms. Zealy from her social media sites alone.
When Irving expresses his concern about how quickly protests can grow, McCurdy describes the differences in the development of protests today and those of the past. She talks about how easily and quickly it is to get a message of protest going across social media sites nowadays. But she also points out that they can fizzle just as quickly.
Also of note:
- Harry flashes back to holding himself under water when the officer comes to tell him his mother has died. This is very similar to Maddie describing staying under water holding her breath to watch her mom swim laps in their Vegas pool.
- We have a Jun Park siting when she and Chief Irving talk over coffee.
- Bradley Walker’s driver has reported that the gun in his car went missing Friday night during the fundraiser. The Commissioner wants Harry to come over and talk to his driver. Walker also reminds Harry that he needs to be regularly reporting to him about the Elias case, even amidst the loss of Eleanor. This is where my friend Jay would exclaim “Jerk!”
- The bullet that went through the Angels Flight driver has still not been recovered, but Lincoln picks up the slug recovered from Elias’ body and transports it to ballistics.
- After getting a data dump from Eleanor’s phone, J. Edgar returns it to Special Agent Jay Griffin saying that Harry forgot he had it. Clearly, Griffin does not buy the excuse. Griffin tells J. Edgar to “keep [Harry] close” because he does not want to work on the case and watch out for Harry investigating as well. J. Edgar agrees, noting that then Griffin will “have to worry about both of [them]”. Yes! Now that’s what we call #Bosching! Edgar and Bosch have each other’s backs.
- Harry looks at surveillance footage from the bank across the street from where Eleanor was shot. He zones in on the motorcycle with the two passengers. Notably, one of them has long hair extending from the helmet.
- When Latonya finds Jerry studying the footage on Eleanor’s phone, she tells him he cannot work on cases at her house.
Episode 5 of Bosch season 4 was long on both emotion and intrigue. That is part of what makes the series so compelling.
Keep watching and come back for my investigation of episode 6.
Writer, interviewer in metro Atlanta. Always ready to talk TV and movies. Wife, mom, special needs advocate.
