Title:"The Thing About Secrets"
Directed by: Alex Zakrzewski
Written by: Eric Overmeyer and Tom Bernardo
Air Date: March 11, 2016
Previous: Trunk Music
Next: Victim of the Night
Guest Starring: James Ransone, Robbie Jones, Steven Culp, John Marshall Jones
"The Thing About Secrets" is the 2nd episode of the first season of Bosch.
Harry tells Lt. Billets that he has a lead from Tony Allen's office. A car was caught on video leaving the lot; it was tracked to a big parking lot with a lot of SUVs. Bosch and Edgar go to the parking lot and realize just from the look of the men in suits that it was an FBI car and they're in an FBI parking lot. Inside the building, Agent-in-Charge Jay Griffin admits that Tony Allen was the target of an FBI investigation, something about "national security", but refuses to give any more assistance.
Back at Hollywood station, a tech reveals that glitter was found in the cuffs of Tony's jacket, as well as fingerprints on the lapel. Meanwhile, out of nowhere, Bosch gets a call from Keisha Russell at the Los Angeles Times, telling him that she has been getting calls from a woman who has information about the unsolved murder of Harry's mother in 1979. (This is the beginning of an arc that won't be fully resolved until the end of Season 4.)
Eddie Arcenaux and George Irving are up to their usual shenanigans. Eddie pulls up to a dry cleaner and has George pick up a shirt, which he tells George to keep; inside the box is $2000. Later, they rough up a heroin dealer and demand a cut of his take. The whole time, Arcenaux is unaware that George is actually working for Internal Affairs, as seen when George calls his handler, Lau, and reports everything. Meanwhile, George's father Irvin Irving meets with Mayor Hector Ramos, who wants to win his support away from Rick O'Shea (Steven Culp).
Bosch learns that Tony Allen used to go by the name Armin Avakian, and ran with an Armenian street gang. Further investigation indicates that Allen's porn business was really a money-laundering scheme. Bosch interviews Veronica Allen who indicates that she couldn't stand her husband, and that she was in the dark about his business affairs. The episode ends with Bosch headed to Vegas, both to see his ex-wife and daughter and to investigate Tony Allen, who left Vegas for LA right before he was murdered.
Tropes:
- As Herself: Saxophonist Grace Park appears as herself at a nightclub where Harry and Billets have drinks. (The song she's playing is called "Blues for Harry Bosch").
- Dirty Cop: George Irving's new partner Eddie Arceneaux is a very dirty cop indeed, who is hitting drug dealers up for protection money and smuggling cash around.
- Internal Affairs: A rare heroic example. George is working with IAD to expose whatever Arcenaux is up to.
- I Was Young and Needed the Money: After revealing that she got arrested a couple of times for prostitution back in the day, Veronica says "I was young and stupid."
- Jurisdiction Friction: As always with the LAPD and the FBI. Agent Griffin admits that the FBI was wiretapping Allen's office, but won't say why and won't share any intel. Later Deputy Chief Irving gets the feds to turn over their data but is suspicious with how readily they do it.
- Perfumigation: A random gag has Arcenaux grossed out by the cologne that George sprays on himself in the locker room.Eddie: The bad guys are going to smell you coming.
- Sarcasm Mode: The cranky IT guy who has to stay late, searching through the hard drive to Tony Allen's computer.IT Guy: I'd much rather be here than at home with my juicy and enthusiastic girlfriend.
- Title Drop: Mayor Ramos, revealing that he knows about how O'Shea has been courting Irving, says "The thing about secrets in this town is, they have a short shelf life."
- TV Telephone Etiquette: Lampshaded. Bosch gets some necessary info from reporter Keisha Russell and ends his call, leaving a bemused Russell holding her phone and saying "Detective?"
