Michael Connelly’s Bosch and Bosch Legacy have been mainstays on Amazon Prime Video for over a decade. Back in April, Harry Bosch said goodbye to us all in the Season 3 finale of Legacy as he finally closed his white whale case: the Flower Girls. But he wasn’t alone…
That episode also introduced RHD (Robbery-Homicide Division) detective Renee Ballard (Maggie Q). Although they butted heads - because, let’s face it, who doesn’t have conflict with Harry? - Ballard ultimately proved to be a strong and capable ally. They closed the case, and she stopped Bosch from crossing the line once more.
That led to Ballard being the next show in the Connelly universe, centering on our eponymous hero as she leads RHD’s Cold Case unit after a sudden fall from grace. But, does this series fit in this world, and can it hold a candle to the original series? Let’s find out.
Some time has passed between the end of Bosch Legacy and the start of Ballard. Renee has suffered a fall from grace after an incident with another officer. She accused a brother in blue of an attempted assault, and, surprise, surprise, nobody backed her up. So, she finds herself in the basement with a bunch of volunteers, reserve officers and a WORK EXPERIENCE INTERN trying to solve the coldest cases in LA.
She’s lucky she has a place in any team, to be honest. The Cold Case Unit only exists because they have a powerful backer in Councilman Jake Pearlman (Noah Bean), a driven political figure who is still plagued by his sister’s unsolved murder back when he was a teenager. That’s the case that he wants the team to work on, and if they don’t get results, then maybe they’ll be defunded come re-election time…
But Ballard beats to the sound of her own drum, and other unsolved murders catch her eye, leading to some personal discoveries, cover-ups and potential police corruption! If her colleagues didn’t like her before, then things are about to become even more contentious.
Maggie Q.
I feel embarrassed to say that I was a little worried about a Maggie Q-led series, especially one that was set in the same universe as Bosch. I don’t know what it is, but I’ve always found the characters she plays to be kinda wooden and unemotional. Like, even if there was an emotional moment, I didn’t really believe it. Watching her past projects like Nikita, Designated Survivor, and most recently, the awful Fear the Night, didn’t give me much hope.
Alas, as the series began, I found myself feeling ambivalent towards Renee. Maggie Q’s acting was solid enough, but Ballard was the least interesting character on screen, and it wasn’t even close. I continued past my two-episode “give-it-a-try” breaking point because the story hooked me, the extended cast was good and, of course, my loyalty to Harry Bosch, but I was teetering on dipping out when something unexpected happened.
Maggie Q started putting in the performance of her life. When she finally had an emotional foil in Parker (Courtney Taylor), Ballard became a f*cking compelling character. Banger after banger scenes made me care about her and what she’d been through. And then there was the glorious scene when she was confronted by her ex-partner Chastain (Brian Letscher). Chef’s kiss.
This show made me believe in Maggie Q.
The mark of a good cop show is having a varied and interesting squad aside from your main character, and Ballard delivers in spades. You’ve got Ballard’s retired ex-partner Laffont (John Carroll Lynch), a crucial emotional support for her after her ordeal, volunteer true-crime aficionado Colleen (Rebecca Field), intern Martina (Victoria Moroles), asshat bro’s bro Rawls (Michael Mosley), and Samira Parker, an ex-cop who joins the team when Ballard begins investigating one of her old cases. They’re all awesome in their own ways.
Now, when I tell you that Rawls has one of the best and believable character progressions I’ve ever seen in a TV show, you better sit up and listen. Reserve officer Rawls joins the team, promising his friend Councilman Jake that he will keep the team on track. Basically, he’s a spy, but his personality is absolutely abrasive; pretty blunt and mean at times. Nobody likes him. As time goes on, he starts showing more and more humanity, and although he doesn’t lose that asshole edge, I found myself really caring for this guy.
They all have their high points in the story, but a special shout-out has to go to Courtney Taylor as Samira Parker. Hot damn, does she put in a heartbreaking performance. There is one scene when she’s alone in her bedroom, where she has a self-realisation about something dark in her past, where I almost shed a tear. It was riveting.
Ballard is a Bosch spinoff, and the previous series’ events can be felt throughout. However, it’s not used as a crutch. Yeah, there’s a cameo here and there, and I don’t think I’d be spoiling anything to suggest that Harry rears his gruff and grizzled head a time or two, but there wasn’t a time when I thought “urgh. Cheap.” Characters appear when the time is right for the situation they’re in, and then they trot off again. They’re just a gentle reminder of the universe because, hell, we’re in the same city, in the same LAPD. It’d be weird NOT to see them here.
Ballard, although it deals with some heavy subject matter, manages to find a lighter tone than its predecessors. That’s mostly down to the Cold Case Unit as a whole, Colleen and Laffont especially. As a comparison, Harry was a cop who played by his own rules, stepping right up to the line but rarely stepping across, and that usually meant there weren’t that many hahas or guffaws. Ballard embraces a bit more light-heartedness.
Now the cases. I really enjoyed having the Pearlman case as a focus, but also a few other murders to solve through its 10-episode run. It allowed for big revelations to have time to breathe while another puzzle could be worked on. There were times when something truly shocking was discovered, and then the inevitable wait for forensics allowed another plotline to progress. It’s a sin to reveal something, then reveal another thing, then another, without time to fully absorb it. And it wouldn’t be that believable, either. This is a cold case unit! There is a reason they ended up here!
I was umming and ahhing about whether to watch Ballard, but I’m so glad I did. The Bosch spinoff is so much more than that. It’s a great police procedural with engaging and interesting characters that I grew to love. It’s a cold case show that sets itself apart from its source material and stands on its own two feet. And, it’s maybe the greatest performance that Maggie Q has ever put in. Seriously, she’s freaking good.
Ballard is a must-watch for any fans of cop shows, Bosch, or mysteries. You can watch all ten episodes right now on Amazon Prime Video. SO GO DO IT!!!
What did you think of Ballard? What is your favorite spinoff show? And, did you also notice that Maggie Q and Noah Bean were reunited for the first time since Nikita?
