We’re nearing the finale of one of TV’s best police procedurals, Bosch: Legacy. The Bosch series follow-up continues the journey of detective Hieronymous “Harry” Bosch (Titus Welliver) as he pursues justice in the sunny but ethically shady streets of contemporary Los Angeles. Like the original series, Bosch: Legacy is based on Michael Connelly’s Bosch novels, following the titular character after his retirement from the LAPD and forays as a private investigator, while also chronicling the journey of his daughter Maddie (Madison Lintz) as a new LAPD officer.
Maddie hasn’t had the easiest time at the LAPD, however, having gotten too close in her investigation into Kurt Dockweiler (David Denman), the serial rapist known as the Screen Cutter, who buried her alive… and was mysteriously later found dead in prison. Season 3 showcases a series at the peak of its power, anchored by a never-better Welliver, as it once again digs into the darker corners of modern Los Angeles.
What Is ‘Bosch: Legacy’ Season 3 About?

Based on the Connelly novels Desert Star and The Black Ice, Season 3 follows a series of new cases alongside new major plot threads from Legacy’s Season 2 finale. At the end of the Season 2 finale, Maddie receives a call from Preston Borders (Chris Browning), a returning antagonist from Bosch Season 5 who claims to have killed Dockweiler at Bosch’s request. This sets in motion an IA investigation into Bosch’s possible role therein, while he also has to deal with threats to Honey Chandler (Mimi Rogers), an attorney who announces a controversial DA run at the end of Season 2.
These issues cause persistent issues for Bosch and Maddie alike while they both circle other cases throughout Los Angeles, and Maddie comes to realize she may not know her father as well as she thought, given that he isn’t always strictly by the book. But could he really have conspired with an old nemesis to kill his daughter’s tormentor?
‘Bosch: Legacy’ Remains One of TV’s Most Thrilling Police Procedurals

Image via Prime Video

As both star and one of the series’ producers, Welliver is nearly synonymous with the title character, and he’s once again great in Bosch: Legacy Season 3, balancing doing the right thing and being a good father to Maddie while the investigation into Dockweiler’s death circles. Belligerently no-nonsense and obsessive about getting to the truth, Bosch is one of the best police characters on TV, in part thanks to the layers of Welliver’s work.
While Lintz was always good as Maddie, she really propelled the character into fascinating directions in Bosch: Legacy. Lintz excels in Season 3, as Maddie contends with her hesitations over Bosch’s potential role in the prison murder. As Det. Jimmy Robertson, whose history with the titular character doesn’t prevent him from being a formidable investigator into Bosch potentially stepping over the line, Paul Calderon provides a great foil with a strong screen presence. Rogers also gives a strong performance as the charismatic and unyielding Honey Chandler, and the rest of the main cast build a believable look into the darker part of Los Angeles.
It was a shock to many when Bosch: Legacy was canceled, but Season 3 showcases how much life the series has left in its adaptations of Connelly’s oeuvre. In the first four episodes available to review, there’s a complex but skillful interweaving of plots that keep the series interesting and moving nicely, introducing ever-shifting complications for the series’ investigators. Between the investigation into Bosch, events around Chandler’s DA run, robberies, and a missing family, Season 3 continually manages to find new challenges and threats to propel new drama and character revelations. The characters are well-rounded, and the investigations are regularly full of surprises and fresh sources of drama that are adeptly translated to the screen.

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Will Season 3 have a satisfying conclusion?

‘Bosch: Legacy’ Is Going Out on a High Note With Season 3

While Bosch: Legacy’s lead cast is regularly excellent, some of Season 3’s guest performances don’t always match the standard they’ve set. Additionally, certain plot threads (albeit not the major ones) could be milked for greater drama and import. Still, Season 3 is full of more than enough successful moving parts and shifting narratives to ensure that nothing’s ever boring, easy for the characters, or devoid of drama. Despite contending with nine prior years of investigating Bosch’s background, the script also continues to find new layers for its titular character, revealing that its cancelation following this season was, somehow, untimely despite the extent of what’s come before.
Police procedurals are a dime a dozen these days, but Bosch and its sequel series, Bosch: Legacy, have always managed to stand out among the pack thanks to their updated noir-adjacent trappings. The series’ contemporary Los Angeles setting, its regular interrogation of police corruption and the elite, and Welliver’s memorably exceptional portrayal of a grizzled but dedicated detective (all common noir tropes) have long-cemented Bosch as skillfully leaning towards noir without the genre’s typical stylistic flourishes.
These facets are on full display as Bosch: Legacy wraps its third and final season, a strong testament overall to the talent of the cast and the life left in this story’s world. Bosch is still no-nonsense, the city is full of a rich and complex criminal underbelly, and there’s always a new antagonist rearing their threatening head. If Bosch: Legacy has to wrap with Season 3, it’s going out on the highest of notes.
Bosch: Legacy Season 3 premieres March 27 on Prime Video.

Bosch: Legacy

Bosch: Legacy’s reportedly final season is a skillfully complex yarn marked by great character work from stars Titus Welliver and Madison Lintz.

Release Date

2022 – 2025

Network

Prime Video, Amazon Freevee

Showrunner

Eric Overmyer

Directors

Patrick Cady, Alex Zakrzewski, Sharat Raju, Ernest R. Dickerson, Adam Davidson, Kate Woods, Leslie Libman, Tawnia McKiernan, Hagar Ben-Asher, Haifaa al-Mansour

Pros & Cons

Titus Welliver once again breathes gruff, charismatic life into Bosch, and Legacy’s final season continues finding new layers.
A strong cast of regulars create a believable and continually engaging network of characters.
Season 3 has a number of moving parts, but they’re interwoven for a narrative that always has something engaging going on.

Some of the visiting cast fails to exhibit the same level of performative realism as the cast’s core players, which dampens the impact of some scenes.