Title: "Pill Shills"
Directed by: Alex Zakrzewski
Written by: Eric Overmyer
Air Date: April 19, 2019
Previous: Two Kinds of Truth
Next: The Last Scrip
Guest Starring: Paul Calderón, Yani Gellman, Mimi Rogers, Jonathan Camp, Linda Park
"Pill Shills" is the 2nd episode of the fifth season of Bosch.
The killers who shot Jose Esquivela Sr. to death in the last episode reach their car in the desert. Cleek, who took off rather than meet them at the rendezvous, asks Hart and Stones if they're mad. They assure him that they're not...and then they promptly shoot him to death and burn the car.
Bosch goes to the DA's office, where his daughter is interning, and meets Christina Henry from the Conviction Integrity Unit. She's the person who is investigating the Preston Borders case, and she exudes a huge amount of hostility to Harry Bosch. Later exposition between Bosch and Edgar reveals that Henry and Bosch were lovers at some point in the past.
Bosch and Edgar review records from the Esquivela pharmacy. They find a huge amount of opiate prescriptions from the Garcia Pain Clinic in Pacoima. Bosch and Edgar stake out the Garcia clinic and see a lot of strung-out addicts leaving the place. The addicts are loaded into a van, and are driven around the city, filling out prescriptions in pharmacy after pharmacy. Finally the addicts are driven to Whiteman Airport in San Fernando, where they hop on a propeller plane and fly away. Bosch and Edgar quickly realize that they are observing a scam in which a gang uses fake prescriptions, given to addicts, to amass a large amount of opiates, which the gang then resell at a higher price.
Jerry Edgar visits his wife's house. It seems that Sex with the Ex is over, as LaToya has a new boyfriend, a computer guy named Benny.
In trying to determine how the thieves slipped past the police perimeter, Pierce determines that they carjacked one Charles Fagin, whose wife reported him missing after he failed to come home from an appointment with a dog groomer less than two blocks away from the Farmacia Esquivel. Fagin's murder, as it turns out, happened in Newton Division and is being investigated by Robertson, Pierce's former partner, and he connects the two murders when the body is identified. Robertson also manages to find the robbers' abandoned getaway car, which has been stripped by a local chop shop for parts.
Billets interviews both Crate and Barrel. It eventually becomes clear that Barrel, who is pretty old, simply didn't hear Crate say there was a car. Billets begins to wonder if it isn't time for both of them to retire.
Bosch and Irving talk about the Borders case, which happened when Bosch was a brand-new homicide detective and Irving was his lieutenant. Bosch insists that he did nothing wrong and that he did find the seahorse pendant that proved crucial in convicting Preston Borders. Irving later follows up with the DA, who says that there is DNA evidence in the Borders case and that if it proves exculpatory, she will file to vacate the Borders conviction.
Edgar meets his confidential informant, Gary Wise, the one that Marcos and Arias wanted to talk to about the drive-by shooting. Gary has been on the straight and narrow for two years, but he agrees to help Edgar and the other cops, by asking around about Jonas, the person of interest in the drive-by.
Bosch engages the services of none other than Honey Chandler, his one-time nemesis. Chandler's investigator, a tough-looking biker dude named Hector Bonner, will be investigating the Bosch case.
Jose Esquivela Junior, still in hiding after the shooting, stops at his cousin's apartment. His cousin suggests that Jose hide out with some family out in Barstow.
Irving calls Bosch with some bad news. The DNA analysis from the Danielle Skyler murder does in fact match with Lucas John Olmer, the now-deceased criminal who confessed to the Skyler murder.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Heroism: In the novel Two Kinds of Truth it's younger Jose Esquivela Jr. who reports the pill scam to the authorities. In the show, it's expressly stated that the father made the report.
- Adapted Out: Since Amazon doesn't have the rights to any of the Mickey Haller characters, neither Haller nor Cisco are on the show; instead it's Honey Chandler who represents Harry and Cisco Expy Hector Bonner who works as her investigator.
- Amicably Divorced: Sex with the Ex is over, as Edgar's wife has a new boyfriend. Edgar and Benny exchange pleasantries but it's still awkward.
- As You Know: Done fairly cleanly. Edgar asks of Bosch, regarding Christina, "Shouldn't she recuse herself, seeing that you banged her?"
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Hector Bonner may dress and look the part of a hippie biker, but he's a very effective private investigator for Honey Chandler.
- The Cameo: Crossed with The Bus Came Back. As Bosch enters Honey Chandler's office he passes by Veronica Allen (Jeri Ryan), part of the Big Bad Duumvirate of Season 2, the Karma Houdini who conspired to one murder and committed a second with her own hands and got away with both.
- Continuity Nod:
- As Veronica Allen passes Harry in Honey Chandler's office she says "I still owe you that drink!" That's a reference to a scene way back in Season 2 where Veronica offered Harry a drink but he declines because he was on duty.
- Bosch says he didn't plant evidence in the Borders case. Honey Chandler says she never thought he did. He says "what about the Flores case?", which is a reference to Season 1 when Chandler, who was suing Harry, suggested that he planted a gun on Roberto Flores. An unashamed Chandler says she was just doing her job.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: Well, the killers do set the car on fire. But the fire ends with a satisfyingly loud explosion.
- Expy: Honey Chandler has a big, tough, bearded biker of a private investigator in the person of Hector Bonner. Bonner is a copy of Dennis "Cisco" Wojciechowski, the big, tough, biker of a private investigator who works for Mickey Haller. Amazon does not have the story rights to the Mickey Haller novels.
- Mythology Gag: When Bosch and Edgar are pursuing the pill shill lead at the airport, someone mentions that the Russian and Ukrainian Mafiya is heavily involved in opioid trafficking. Bosch observes that the names they have for their lead "don't sound Russian." In this show the pill mill is run by white Americans, but in the original novel Two Kinds of Truth, they were Ukrainian Mafiya.
- Oh, Crap!: The normally unflappable Irving has a quick but noticeable moment of shock when District Attorney Hines tells him that there's DNA evidence in the Borders case.
- Precision F-Strike: There's a lot of cursing on Bosch but it's still satisfying when Maddie says "Fuck you" to Tom Gaffigan, the newly-minted lawyer who suggests that her father might have planted evidence.
- Remember the New Guy?: Christina Henry, a character never seen or mentioned before, pops up in Season 5 as an old girlfriend of Harry's with an axe to grind.
- Shout-Out: When Edgar suggests that the sad people shambling out of the Garcia Pain Clinic are probably addicts, Bosch says "Night of the Living Dead".
