Title: Triple Play
Directed by: Patrick Cady
Written by: Lolis Eric Elie
Air Date: June 25, 2021
Previous: Sabes Demasiado
Next: The Jury's Still Out
Guest Starring: Linda Park, Natalia Castellanos, Adrian Bustamante, Moronai Kanekoa
"Triple Play" is the fourth episode in the seventh and final season of Bosch.
Late at night, Honey tries to check in with Franzen while jogging on the treadmill. She wants to make sure he is ready to share his testimony with the SEC. Unfortunately, he isn't answering...because he and his mistress have just been gunned down by a masked gunman. The killer steals the laptop, paperwork and the thumb drive that Maddie just delivered. The next morning, Honey tries to call Franzen again as she gets dressed and prepares to leave for the office. As she does so, the masked gunman breaks into her house and shoots her twice in the foyer.
The murders of Franzen and his mistress are caught by Billets' task force of Bosch, Edgar, Pierce, and Vega. All of them suspect that the shootings were the work of a professional hitman, a suspicion reinforced once the victims are identified by their driver's licenses. Bosch calls Barrel back at the station, and asks that he and Crate search the address to find the owner is, and identify the property owner. Crate and Barrel are disappointed that they're not directly on the front lines, with Crate lamenting being reduced in his final years on the force to being just a “secretary with a badge”.
In spite of said disappointment, Crate and Barrel pull through, and uncover that Chandler owns the cottage. Naturally, Harry makes a call to Chandler’s office in an attempt to inform her about her client's murder and collect some more information. He learns that she is not at the office. He then attempts to call Chandler's cell, only for the call to go to voicemail. Desperate, he calls Maddie to find out where Chandler is. When Maddie mentions that she is pulling up to Chandler's house and about to pick her up, Bosch suddenly realizes that Chandler may be a target as well and implores Maddie to not go to Chandler’s door.
Suddenly concerned, Maddie tries to call Chandler's cell. When her call also goes to voicemail, Maddie decides to ignore her father’s warning. She uses her own key to let herself in, and discovers Chandler lying on the floor bleeding and unconscious. She calls 911, just as the Hollywood detectives arrive. Honey is rushed to the hospital, in critical condition. It turns out the coffee pot she was holding stopped one of the bullets that would've entered her heart.
With Chandler now among the victims, this case is now in the hands of a familiar face from RHD, specifically in the hands of Santiago Robertson (who has transferred from Newton Division since we last saw him in season 5) and Joan Bennett. Robertson interviews Maddie on what happened as Bosch sits nearby. She is uncertain about talking to them, given the attorney-client privilege matter. Robertson understands her dilemma, and advises her that they are working on getting a Special Master to smooth things over.
The next day Maddie has another interview with Robertson. She checks off the times she saw Franzen – at court for his bail hearing, at the office when he was discussing strategy with Chandler, at the office again to run the testimony video, and lastly at the cottage where she dropped off the thumbdrive of the video and the laptop the same night as the shooting. She names a hedge fund manager, Carl Rogers, as the individual that Franzen was implicating.
Harry, Edgar, and Bennett watch the interview through the camera. As soon as Maddie mentions the thumbdrive and laptop, Robertson stops the interview and asks the Bosch and Edgar if they recovered either of those items at the Franzen crime scene. At the detectives' admission that neither was at the Beachwood Canyon cottage or at Chandler's house, it becomes clear the shooter stole them. Harry becomes increasingly nervous for Maddie, and tells her she absolutely cannot reveal to anyone that she was there videotaping the testimony until the shooter and whoever hired him have been arrested.
The harassment campaign against Billets escalates at Hollywood Division. Now someone's circulating a picture of her department ID photoshopped onto a busty woman’s figure. The photo has also been digitally altered with some type of muzzle over her mouth. Mank discovers the photo when he catches Officers Morgan and Rodriguez joking about it in the locker room. He has a stern “talk” with the officers, who assure him that they did not create it, rather they received it.
Mank isn't able to find much. He's able to confirm that the photo has been distributed widely, but that's it since he isn't all that tech savvy. Billets advises him to report the matter upwards, refusing to back down from these attacks. In fact, when Lt. Thorne later tells Capt. Cooper that Billets has no evidence of it being officers here in Hollywood Division, she swiftly tells him that she is obtaining evidence. She asks Louella Reed in the Watch Commander’s office to look up the incident that Officers Lloyd and Hunter shared with her, and verify if indeed Leonard and Norris failed to respond to the possible 415 after saying they would. Louella later follows up with Billets and confirms that yes, Hunter and Lloyd's allegations hold merit. Billets also finds an unusual ally in Vega, who relates to being the subject of such harassment (she had to deal with a cop vandalizing her car with used condoms because she refused to date him).
In City Hall politics, Irving’s spy, Sgt. Cletus Brown, is taking a shift as the mayor’s driver. Brown overhears Lopez making a call to assistant Jen Kowski reporting that she feels relief over something that is now over. She shares that there will be “no grand jury” and “the FBI is closing the case”. Of course, Brown shares this information with Irving.
But just when Irving thinks he may have one up on Lopez, she appoints former Deputy Chief Nestor Delgado as the replacement for Alexander's spot on the Police Commission. With this news, Irving feels certain this change will shift the vote on his second term out of his favor given that Delgado's an opportunist who is almost certainly gunning for Irving's job, and Lopez might actively be grooming him to replace Irving as the Chief. He tells Jun he is a “lame duck” and not likely to get a second term.
Irving and Jun later prepare for their son’s homecoming from the hospital. Jun hangs the baby’s mobile over the crib as it plays “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”. Irv admits to Jun that he is feeling some anxiety about the baby “but in a good way”. The pair arrives at the hospital for their son. The doctor advises that they will have to wait a little bit longer while the baby gets treatment for jaundice.
Amidst all this, the arson investigation continues. Alvarez has become very anxious while in lockup, believing la Eme is watching his every move in light of the undercover who interrogated him in the last episode. Vega admits to having missed La Mayorista's calls to her right before her death, as she forgot to set her work phone to forward calls to her cell. It's clear that la Eme likely ordered La Mayorista's murder before she could rat out Pena and make a deal for herself. They believe Alvarez has heard this news. Sometime later, Bosch receives a call about Alvarez’s lawyer requesting “keep away status” for his client. Bosch and Edgar try to use this as leverage against Alvarez, offering to request the move if he talks. They tell Alvarez that he better go ahead and tell them everything he knows because la Eme will respond to him meeting with them. They also say they know Mickey Pena gave the order and to think about what Pena might do to him next. Alvarez agrees to talk, only after they secure his keep away status.
Tropes:
- The Bus Came Back: The murders of Franzen and his girlfriend, and the shooting of Honey Chandler, get assigned to Santiago Robertson. Since the end of season 5, he's been moved downtown to RHD and is now partners with Joan Bennett.
- Call-Back: Crate and Barrel's encyclopedic knowledge of old Hollywood gets a callback when Crate says he should have joined the Highway Patrol, and Barrel gives a Shout-Out to Broderick Crawford, star of '50s show Highway Patrol.
- The Faceless: A masked gunman murders Vincent Franzen and his mistress, and also critically wounds Honey Chandler.
- Flipping the Bird: Vega makes an acute observation at the Franzen crime scene, and Bosch snarks "You might make a homicide detective yet." She flips him the bird.
- Pocket Protector: The carafe of coffee that Honey is holding when she gets shot deflects the bullet just enough to keep it from going through her heart.
- There Are No Coincidences: Harry dismisses the possibility that the Chandler and Franzen shootings are unrelated by saying "We don't believe in coincidences, not like this."
- Vomiting Cop: A variant in that Maddie is shown vomiting out front after discovering Chandler bleeding out in her foyer.
- Wham Episode: Vincent Franzen and his girlfriend are killed, and Honey Chandler is shot in her own house.
