Title: The Greater Good
Directed by: Patrick Cady
Written by: Jessica Kivnik and Alex Meenehan
Air Date: June 25, 2021
Previous: Jury's Still Out
Next: Workaround
Guest Starring: Annie Wersching, Natalia Castellanos, Adrian Bustamante, Moronai Kanekoa, Bess Armstrong, Julie Ann Emery, Linda Park
"The Greater Good" is the sixth episode in the seventh and final season of Bosch.
A mystery man exits a plane. Actually, it is not such a mystery at all to the audience, for when he gets to his hotel room, he's shown checking his guns and the telltale mask of the Franzen and Chandler hitman. After organizing his weapons, the hitman goes down to the bar at the Biltmore Hotel, and sits right next to J. Reason Fowkkes, who's there getting a few drinks after a long day at work. It feels like this cannot be a coincidence that Fowkkes is in the presence of the hitman who's been hired to take out Franzen, Chandler, and Maddie. The two men briefly discuss their jobs, and then the hitman exits the bar without touching his beer.
As Fowkkes is getting ready for bed, he notices a light on in his study. He finds the hitman sitting at his desk. Fowkkes assures the man that he has provided him all the pertinent information for him to complete the next hit and asks if there is a problem. The hit man responds by fatally shooting Fowkkes and answering, “not anymore”.
The next morning, Judge Donna Sobel exits her house ready to drive to work, and is taken hostage by the hitman, who is hiding in the backseat.
Bosch and Robertson wait outside Harry’s house for Maddie so they can leave for the courthouse. They have been given permission through the DA to use the judge’s entrance to the parking garage. Maddie removes the gun from her bag after confirming that judges, too, must pass through a metal detector, so she would have to as well. Harry is not angry, but suggests that she get a license if she wants to carry a gun going forward.
En route to the courthouse, Harry and Maddie make a couple jokes at Robertson’s expense about his driving and agree that Harry should drive. Edgar trails behind them in the distance in his own car.
Harry pulls up to the parking garage gate. They flash badges to the guard on duty and Maddie shows her identification. Harry parks the car and the trio heads for the judge's entrance, as Edgar parks outside the garage on the street. He flashes his badge to the guard to access the garage as well.
As they're walking, Harry notices trouble when he sees Judge Sobel's car parked askew in a handicapped space, rather than in her private space. Walking up to the driver's side door, he finds Sobel has been shot in the back of the head by the hitman, who is almost certainly lying in wait. At this point, the hitman emerges and opens fire on Harry. Several bullets come close to hitting Maddie and Robertson as they try to crawl back to the car. After a short firefight, Edgar catches the gunman from the opposite end of the garage and fires a few rounds, causing the hitman to turn in his direction. This gives Robertson an opening to fatally shoot the gunman in the back of the head. After backup arrives to secure the scene, the detectives converge upon the body and see that he was carrying a burner phone. The latest message reads, “Is it done?” Harry tells Robertson to tell the employer, "It’s over," on the chance it leads them somewhere (and also to ensure Maddie doesn't have to deal with further attacks).
Maddie is okay but obviously shaken, and has temporary hearing loss after that exposure to gunfire. As Vega drives Maddie home, Maddie ponders the fact that she probably would be dead if she did not have three detectives acting as her guardian angels.
Irving is also summoned to the scene, as his office is within walking distance of the courthouse. He is debriefed by Harry on the scene. Irving is puzzled, wondering why the hitman would suddenly become sloppy and commit his deed in public (rather than in private like with the earlier hits), and why Judge Sobel was involved. Harry explains that Maddie was the target, and that the shooter was on a tight schedule. Whoever hired the hitman was trying to get to Maddie before she could give her testimony. As for why he killed Judge Sobel, Harry posits that the hitman needed a judge to access the parking garage, and then promptly disposed of her as she had served his purpose.
Harry sends Pierce and Edgar to question Fowkkes, only for them to find his body. Smelling a rat, Robertson asks Harry how many people were aware of Maddie’s pending testimony. Harry replies that only a few knew. And only one other person was privy to them using the judge’s entrance: ADA Tegan Boyle. Boyle is hauled down to the station for interrogation. She acts as if she is there to be of help, until Harry calls her out and asks her how long she has been passing inside information to Fowkkes. It turns out she's been doing this for two years, for five figure payments. While enraged that Boyle was willing to sell Maddie out for money, he reminds her that things will go better for her if she cooperates. He also wants to know why Donna was the judge sacrificed in the plan. To this, Boyle claims that Fowkkes was not fond of Sobel. But Harry suspects that actually, Fowkkes just had Sobel targeted to get back at Harry given that Harry's relationship with Sobel was out in the open.
Afterwards, Maddie and Harry have a talk at home about what will happen to Boyle. He notes that she's facing conspiracy and corruption charges. In her position, she'll likely take a plea deal to minimize her jail time. He still plans to go after Carl Rogers, as he is the man who funded the hits. Maddie suggests that Harry should not feel guilty about Sobel's death.
Edgar's search of Fowkkes’ house eventually turns up some text correspondence between him and Rogers, and wire transfers to Fowkkes from a shell company owned by Rogers. This is evidence of Rogers funding the hits on Franzen, Chandler, and Maddie. The messages mention Franzen being a "problem" but "solvable". But it is still not clear how Rogers could have had Fowkkes killed since Fowkkes was the arranger.
Nonetheless, Harry and and Edgar meet with Judge Simon Newland to get an arrest warrant, allowing them to arrest Rogers as he's preparing to board a private plane to flee the country. They take him to Hollywood Division for interrogation. In the presence of Rogers’ lawyer, Harry accuses Rogers of funding the hits on Franzen, Chandler and Maddie. Rogers stares calmly ahead as his lawyer denies such actions. Then Harry changes the subject by accusing Rogers of also ordering the hit on Fowkkes. Even though he knows Fowkkes is dead, Rogers is surprised by this accusation. It's just enough to convince Harry that Rogers is innocent of the Fowkkes hit, and there's another party involved. Later, Bosch meets up with Robertson at the Smog Cutter, where Robertson is flirting with Shaz, the bartender. As they discuss this new information, Bosch admits he's got a good idea as to who actually employed the hitman: Willy Datz, the Vegas mobster that Crate and Barrel dug up. He likely had Fowkkes killed to eliminate a loose end. Likely, they'll be able to confirm whether or not Datz was the hitman's employer when they get results back on the burner phone the gunman was carrying on him.
In City Hall politics, Irving has other concerns on his mind as well. When he meets with FBI SAC Jack Brenner about the arson case, he's shocked to learn that Mickey Pena is an informant for the Feds as part of a huge RICO investigation. Brenner explains that they are very close to making arrests, and asks Irving to tell Harry to back down on Alvarez, Trejo, and Pena. Irving scoffs at the idea, since the LAPD are so certain that Pena gave the order for the fire. Brenner suggests that it is one person’s word against another's, and they need Pena for the RICO case. Not only that, but for his cooperation, Pena is being rewarded with witness protection, so the LAPD won't be able to pursue him after the RICO case is closed either. Irving reminds Brenner that a child and unborn baby were victims of Pena’s order. Brenner coldly dismisses the dilemma as serving "the greater good", and asks Irving to keep him informed of his decision.
In the detectives' investigation into Pena, Edgar sees that the tracking device he installed on Pena's car is showing movement. He tails Pena and sees him pull into a lot, where Pena is met by some men who usher him through a building and into an SUV on the other side. Edgar follows the SUV, only to be cut off by another SUV, enabling Pena to escape. Jerry sends Harry photos of Pena with the Feds. The next day Bosch reaches out to FBI agent Sylvia Reece, who has been relegated to desk work since the death of Clifford Maxwell back in season 6. He hopes that she can give him more information about what the Feds are doing with Pena. She does not think she can help much in her current position, but she will see what she can find out.
Bosch later gets a visit at Hollywood Division from Hector Hernandez, Sonia's father and Maria's husband. Harry gives Hector his condolences and shares an update on the case saying that they have arrested Trejo and Alvarez for starting the fire. Hector wants to know if those two are part of Palmas 13. Bosch confirms that they are. Hector also asks about La Mayorista and Mickey Pena. Bosch explains that they are working on building a case against Pena, but are not there yet. Hector talks about Pena being the boss of that neighborhood and surely it must be him who ordered the attack. Hector wants to know about the locked rooftop door. Harry admits that it is true that it was locked, but they will have a hard time proving who locked it. He does say that the owners will be cited and fined. Hector is disheartened that no one is really being punished for that.
Eventually, Irving decides to kill a few birds with one stone. He calls Brenner and agrees to back off Pena if Brenner turns over the FBI files on the closed Lopez investigation, something Brenner is quick to agree with. Irving asks longtime aide Sarah McCurdy to examine the files. Later, when Bosch calls Irving to ask if he has approached the FBI about access to Alvarez, Irving lies and basically says they are playing phone tag, making clear that he's now “slow walking” Bosch.
At Hollywood Division, Captain Cooper calls Billets to his office about reviving a long-defunct program called the Outreach to Small Businesses Initiative. It's a program where the police make visits to local businesses in the area in hopes of improving community relations. Coopers wants Billets to personally visit these businesses, and do so in uniform.
While this is going on, the harassment campaign against Billets continues to worsen. She no longer has Brasher's help, as Brasher backs down after someone leaves a dead fish with pantyhose stuffed in its mouth in her locker as a message. Billets encourages her to report the incident but Brasher refuses to get involved in any more of Billets' problems. Later on, Leonard and Norris pull Anne over as she's leaving a lunch with Billets. They accuse her of not making a full stop at a stop sign and claim they smell alcohol on her breath. As Julia retrieves her ID, she clandestinely initiates a call to Billets on her cell phone. Billets arrives as the two officers are humiliating Anne with a lengthy sobriety test, puts a stop to it, and returns to the station. She is visibly upset when Vega encounters her in the bathroom and asks her about what happened. Vega agrees that all the women in the department are fed up with these incidents but points out that Billets, as a lieutenant, is one of the few of them actually in a position to make a difference.
As the episode ends, Edgar arrives at Harry’s house after dark, telling Harry he has some things to share. He admits that he knows he has disappointed many important people in his life over the last few months, Harry being one of them. And Edgar knows he has been giving far less than a hundred percent to his work. Harry thanks him for protecting Maddie, but Edgar reminds him that he was the reason Maddie was in danger when he slipped up in front of Fowkkes. Bosch agrees. Edgar wants to know if the two of them are "square". Harry says, “We’ll get there.” So Edgar decides to come clean about what really happened on the night Jacques Avril died: he went to the drug lord's house with the intention of murdering him in cold blood. He's been spiraling ever since because he can't decide whether he did so to get justice for Gary Wise, or he was merely doing it for revenge.
Tropes:
- And Starring: Annie Wersching gets another "Special Appearance By" credit for her second guest appearance this season.
- Big Damn Heroes: Jerry Edgar gets his moment of redemption when he gets the drop on the hitman who has pinned Robertson and Bosch down.
- Bond One-Liner: Fowkkes, caught up short at finding the hitman in his room, says "Is there a problem?". The hitman shoots him to death and then says "Not anymore."
- The Bus Came Back: Among the many returnees for the final season of Bosch is Sylvia Reece from Season 6. Bosch goes to her for help about the FBI's obstruction of his Pena investigation.
- Continuity Nod: Robertson still drinks at his Local Hangout, the Smog Cutter bar, and still exchanges come-ons with Shaz the tattooed bartender.
- Danger Takes a Backseat: The hitman who shot Franzen and Chandler ambushes Judge Sobel and rides in back while making her drive at gunpoint to the courthouse. He then kills her and lies in wait to ambush Maddie when she arrives.
- Disposable Woman: The hitman takes Judge Sobel hostage so he can slip into the parking garage. He then kills her as she's no longer useful to him.
- Imminent Danger Clue: Bosch and Robertson realize they're about to be ambushed when they notice Judge Sobel's car isn't parked in her private space, moments before Harry sees her dead body in the driver's seat.
- The Informant: It turns out that Pena is an informant for the FBI in a RICO case. This threatens to derail Bosch's investigation as Brenner won't let Pena go down for the firebombing.
- The Mole: It turns out that ADA Boyle leaked information to Fowkkes as to how to target Maddie.
- The Needs of the Many: Brenner invokes "the greater good" as the reason why he won't give over Pena, his CI in the RICO case, for the firebombing. It obviously isn't sincere.
- Parking Garage: The hitman lies in wait for Maddie in the parking garage of the court building. Cue a shootout that ends in the hitman's death.
- Spotting the Thread: The hitman's sloppy work, trying to ambush Maddie in the open, leads Bosch to realize that this was a last-minute hit. Then when Robertson asks him who else knew Maddie was testifying and would be coming in through the judges' entrance, he realizes it's ADA Tegan Boyle because she was the one who suggested the grand jury approach.
- TV Telephone Etiquette: Irving blows Bosch off about Pena and the FBI, saying "When I know, you'll know" and then hanging up immediately. Unlike many examples of this trope, this is plot relevant, as Bosch is annoyed at being hung up on and is figuring out that Irving is slow-walking him.
- Vulnerable Convoy: Aware that Maddie may be a target on the way to the courthouse, Harry and Robertson escort her to the courthouse, with Jerry Edgar trailing in his own car. The convoy is ambushed not on the way, but after they've parked in the Parking Garage.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The hitman gets rid of Fowkkes as a loose end.
