Title: "Tunnel Vision"
Directed by: Patrick Candy
Written by: Jeffrey Fiskin
Air Date: April 19, 2019
Previous: Raise the Dead
Next: The Space Between the Stars
Guest Starring: Paul Calderón, Juliet Landau, Mimi Rogers, C. Thomas Howell, Linda Park
"Tunnel Vision" is the fifth episode of the fifth season of Bosch.
Bosch is getting fitted out to go undercover as "Dominic Reilly". He's given, among other things, some addict urine so that his won't come up clean, a gun with the firing pin filed down, some laxatives (opiates cause constipation so addicts carry them), and a Sword Cane in case things go bad.
Bosch enters the Garcia Pain Clinic, which is even shadier on the inside. The creepy guy behind the counter punches Harry in the gut when Harry balks on surrendering his backpack. Eventually Harry is brought into the back, where he sees Dr. Garcia signing stacks of prescriptions like a machine. He's then escorted to see the real mastermind of the operation...Dr. Hansen of the VA. Hansen scornfully notes how in the previous episode he tried to help "Dominic" kick opioids, but here he is still looking for a fix, so he's obviously a junkie. Hansen gives Harry a couple of pills and tells him they'll be in touch.
Edgar is still investigating the Gary Wise murder. Ten years ago there were four men convicted in a home invasion: Wise, Darius Natrell, Rob Crosley, and Bo Jonas. Bo Jonas is the hoodlum suspected in the drive-by, that Wise was supposed to help the two vice cops find. Natrell and Crosley both deny involvement, and Bo Jonas's whereabouts are still unknown.
One of Chief Irving's aides shows him some polling numbers, and encourages him to run for mayor. Jun Park also encourages Irvin, but he demurs. Later, DA Hines tells Irving that she is still considering filing charges in the Vasquez shooting.
Robertson, still down in Newton, confirms that the gun used in his carjacking murder matches one of the Esquivela murder weapons. A distribution of the police sketches of the shooters provided by Peanut also turns up a lucky break, as someone recalls seeing the men in question going into and out of a warehouse fairly regularly. Robertson's team raids the place and finds the Nissan Sentra that the shooters used to drive to the pharmacy. As they've entered without a warrant, they don't touch anything and withdraw until the warrant can arrive, with Robertson bribing two cops to stay posted outside in case anyone comes back.
Harry and Honey Chandler study video of the evidence transfer in the Borders case. Harry notes that the box isn't 22 years old and guesses that the DNA must have been planted when the boxes were switched.
The episode ends with Chief Irving looking at the photos of Preston Borders' apartment from both before and after the search. The photo after the search shows the seahorse pendant...but the one from before doesn't it. Irving shreds that one.
Tropes:
- Call-Back: Bosch surprises Chandler by telling her there's a camera in the property office, the camera he'd used last season to determine that Gabrielle Lincoln was undermining the Elias investigation.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Dr. Hansen of the VA was introduced in the previous episode as a concerned and conscientious doctor who refuses to give Bosch opioids, instead giving him ibuprofen and putting him in an addict support group to help him kick the drugs. In this episode he's revealed to be the real boss behind the Garcia Pain Clinic, and he takes Harry's re-appearance as proof that Harry's desperate enough to join their scheme.
- Dr. Feelgood: Dr. Garcia of the Garcia Pain Clinic is this on an industrial scale, signing stacks of prescriptions so the addicts in the clinic can get pills to be re-sold.
- Institutional Allegiance Concealment: Harry goes undercover for the first time, pretending to be a drug addict in order to infiltrate the opiate gang.
- Reformed Criminal: Rob Crosley found religion in prison and now is a church pastor.
- Sword Cane: The vice cop who's getting Harry prepared for his undercover mission gives him a cane with a knife concealed inside it, for self defense.
- Title Drop: Christina Henry says that Bosch had "tunnel vision" and focused only on Preston Borders.
