Our Biggest Unanswered Questions After ‘Bosch Legacy’ Season 2

Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Bosch: Legacy Season 2.

The Big Picture

• Maddie receives shocking news about the death of her abductor, but questions arise about the truth behind who is responsible. This revelation puts a strain on her relationship with her father, Harry Bosch.
• Maddie, as a police officer, faces an ethical dilemma about whether she should report what she has learned about the contract killing.
• Harry’s actions in orchestrating Dockweiler’s death in prison deeply betray Maddie’s trust and push her further away.

The second season of Bosch: Legacy may be over, but we can be thankful for one thing — we already know a third season is on the way. After the explosive opening to the season, when Titus Welliver‘s Harry Bosch raced against time to rescue his daughter Maddie (Madison Lintz), who had been buried alive out in the desert by David Denham‘s serial rapist Kurt Dockweiler, the following 8 episodes of the season propelled along in propulsive fashion as Bosch and Mimi Rogers’ Honey Chandler found themselves the dual targets of an FBI investigation and a pair of corrupt LAPD officers named Ellis (Max Martini) and Long (Guy Wilson).

The finale wraps up all of these storylines in their own ways, but leaves numerous threads dangling. Following Maddie’s bold confrontation with Dockweiler in court, it seems she is ready to forge ahead with her career and life. However, her plans take an unexpected turn when she receives a call delivering shocking news: Dockweiler has apparently overdosed in prison. Later, she answers a call on her dad’s phone, with recurring Bosch character Preston Borders (Chris Browning) on the other end. Borders, with a hint of satisfaction, discloses to Maddie that he is the one responsible for Dockweiler’s demise, acting at the request of Bosch.

Will Bosch Face Consequences for His Actions?

Well, firstly — are we sure Preston Borders is telling the truth? Most likely, given Harry’s reaction to Maddie questioning him on exactly what he’d done. It’s added quite a wrinkle to their relationship which is complex enough as it is. But removing that massively personal angle to the revelation, how will Maddie react in her professional capacity? After all, she’s a police officer, and she’s just learned that somebody has ordered a contract killing of someone. Regardless of her personal links to the killer and the killed, does she have a duty to report what she’s learned? Our guess is that she’ll go to Chandler for advice, but that certainly gives us food for thought. We know Harry has taken matters into his own hands before, but this is a new one for the pair. Viewers will already know that Harry fears Maddie taking a fall down the wrong road and embracing the darkness that so often comes with the work of law enforcement. As Welliver recently told Collider on Bosch’s actions:

“I think what he is trying to do as a parent and a former cop is to try to teach her to be careful, to not let the darkness of that work that’s done penetrate her character or her moral compass. She is her father’s daughter and her mother’s daughter. I think that is the beauty of the writing—she’s struggling with that, and he’s struggling in observing that.”

What Did Chandler Plan to Do with Irving?

One of the highlights of the Season 2 finale was the surprise appearance of the late Lance Reddick, reprising his role as former police chief Irvin Irving from the original Bosch series. Following her run-in with the corruption in the LAPD, as well as the harassment — even if, let’s be honest, they were correct — by the FBI, “Money” has had enough of that criminal defense life, and she’s declared for District Attorney. But she’ll need help, so she goes to Irving for his endorsement. The way the scene is left hints that Irving will be involved in the campaign in a story strand which, we know now, will never actually get to be fulfilled. What did they have planned? Well, we do know it’s been in the works for a while, as showrunner Tom Bernardo told us a few months back from his office, which was full of storyboards planning ahead even before the launch of Season 2.

“From a storytelling standpoint, knowing that you’re gonna have real estate to build these stories and that you can naturally build up to certain moments, like for example, at the end of Season 2 , when Chandler is announcing that she’s going to run for DA, we discussed it during the season, but it lent itself to where that character was going, and it gave us an opportunity to evolve the show and put her in a new world.”

Can Maddie Forgive her Father?

Maddie lost her agency when Dockweiler took her. She was put in a terrifying position, nearly lost her life, and worked hard to get back to some sense of normality after her ordeal. But just after she’s regained her agency, Bosch takes steps to remove it by ensuring Dockweiler’s death in prison. He’s overreached, and that’s one of Harry’s biggest flaws. But he’s never gone this far. Maddie has always known her father was capable of dark actions, but this is beyond the pale. Bosch’s legacy — get it? — has already gotten Maddie into some sticky situations within the department, and every time he tries to help, he seems to make it worse. This is a real betrayal of trust, and Maddie will need to distance herself to find a way back. How that’s portrayed on screen will be vital in helping viewers understand what Maddie is going through.

“It’s almost as if the roles at times are becoming blurred and reversed.” Welliver said. “He’s being very pragmatic, but he’s parenting an adult now who’s also in his former chosen profession. So it allows a lot of really, beautifully nuanced writing to come in there to move that forward and to stay clear of any kind of tropes.”

What’s Next for Mo?

Mo looked like he was in seriously hot water as the season was coming to an end. Jade Quinn, a hacker he had become close with, is revealed to be an undercover FBI agent and, having failed to get Bosch and Chandler, the Feds have targeted him as a means to an end. Unfortunately for them, Mo is sharper than that. He knew who she really was, and ensured that there was no evidence of any of his wrongdoing, leaving the Feds with their junk in their hands and nothing more to chase him, Bosch, or Chandler with anymore. But he’s got some leverage of his own. Jade — Janice Morrell — claims she really did love him, but Mo doesn’t believe her and gives her an ultimatum — quit the FBI, or he’ll blow her entire cover and career up by revealing her true identity to the hacking community. This story has a while to go yet.

What Will Maddie Do Next?

It’s been a tough two seasons for the younger Bosch since joining the LAPD as a rookie cop. Already the subject of an internal investigation as a result of bodycam footage from the first season, after her partner was involved in a fatal shooting, she was then abducted and almost died, before making her first killing as a law officer when killing the corrupt cop who was about to kill her father. Is she cut out for it? Or will her trauma affect her path going forward, even allowing for the fact that her father’s apparent involvement in the death of her abductor is hanging over her? As Bernardo told Collider:

“It’s definitely going to affect her. What was interesting to us is she’s her own character, but, of course, she carries a lot of who her father is with her, and her mother, and at the same time is her own person and is in the process of discovering who that person is now as a young adult in this world of LAPD, being a rookie patrol cop out on those streets. So it was interesting for us to look into what happens to your empathy as you’re in this world and seeing the realities of things on a daily basis.”

Bosch: Legacy will return in 2024. Seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Prime Video.

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