Title:"Blue Religion"
Directed by: Kevin Dowling
Written by: Diane Frolov & Andrew Schneider
Air Date: February 13, 2015
Previous: Lost Light
Next: Fugazi
Guest Starring: Mimi Rogers, Adam O Byrne, Alan Rosenberg, Steven Culp
"Blue Religion" is the 3rd episode of the first season of Bosch.
Harry comes over to Julia's house with a bottle of wine, in the mood for romance. But Julia does not take his well-meant advice about her career and her mistakes well, and the encounter soon blows up into an argument, and Harry leaves in an angry mood. Later, however, he comes back with flowers and they make up.
The suicide of Nicholas Trent is bringing a lot of bad publicity on the department. Deputy Chief Irving sort of gently suggests they put it out there that Trent might have killed the boy, and Captain Pounds angrily demands that they pin the murder on Trent, but Bosch refuses to go along.
The LAPD tip line gets a call from one Sheila Delacroix, a middle-aged woman who reports that her 12-year-old brother Arthur disappeared without a trace on May 4, 1994. Arthur, like the victim, had surgery to his skull. When Sheila recognizes the starfish souvenir found in the backpack, she dissolves in tears at the idea that Arthur might finally be found. Eventually, Golliher in forensics confirms that, while he is waiting on the DNA to confirm, the bones from the woods match Arthur Delacroix.
Bosch is summoned to the office of DA Rick O'Shea (Steven Culp). O'Shea tells Harry that Raynard Waits, the guy caught with a corpse in his van, is confessing to several murders. The reason why he's telling Harry this is that Waits is claiming the bones-in-the-woods case as his first murder. Harry doesn't buy it. Waits does not appear anywhere on the grid until 1994 so his identity is almost certainly fake, and he doesn't remember how he killed Arthur. But when Bosch and Edgar interview him he does remember that starfish, which makes Edgar wonder if Bosch is wrong and Waits really did it.
Tropes:
- Courtroom Episode: The lawsuit Honey Chandler filed against Bosch for shooting Flores goes to closing arguments, causing Harry more stress.
- Demoted to Extra: This episode has one of only a couple of minor appearances by Detective Kizmin Rider. Kiz was an important character over several novels as Harry's partner and unofficial protege, but she is much less important in the show.
- Did You Just Have Sex?: Inverted, as Harry's crankiness when Edgar is talking about his romantic date has Edgar snark "I guess I know who didn't get any last night." He's right, as Harry is still seething over his argument with Julia.
- "Friends" Rent Control: Harry's glorious house in the hills is explained as being paid for by a movie deal, but Julia's lavish house in the Venice canals is not explained at all.(It's possible she saved up some money from her short-lived legal career and/or aid from her wealthy father).
- Every Scar Has a Story: Julia asks about Harry's scars. He tells her that the scar on his shoulder is a bullet wound suffered when he was chasing a suspect down a tunnel. (That's Harry Bosch novel The Black Echo.)
- Hypocrite: Julia snorts that it's rich for Harry to tell her to never leave her partner and be careful about firing a gun, seeing as how he's being sued for leaving his partner and shooting a suspect. Harry angrily says that it's different for him because he's a veteran cop.
- I Love the Dead: Waits is a sick puppy. He raped the victim found in the van, after Waits killed him.
- Missing Mom: Sheila Delacroix explains that not only did her mother Christine leave her husband, she abandoned Sheila and Arthur as well.
- Real-Person Cameo: Detective Mitzi Roberts, whom Bosch and Edgar meet at the Trent house, is played by...Detective Mitzi Roberts of the LAPD.note
- Title Drop: In a discussion about faith Bosch says "I have my own kind of faith: blue religion." He believes in his mission.
- Verbal Irony: Mank mentions Julia's two unsat reports and suggests Harry should have a talk with her. He doesn't know that Harry did have a talk with her already, she took it badly, and they had a nasty fight.
