Blue Religion

"Blue Religion"
Season 1, Episode 3
Release date	February 13, 2015
Written by	Diane Frolov & Andrew Schneider
Directed by	Kevin Dowling
Episode chronology
← previous "Lost Light"	next → "Fugazi"

"Blue Religion" is the third episode of the first season of Bosch. It premiered on Amazon Instant Video and LOVEFiLM on 13 February 2015.

The episode shares its title with a 2008 crime anthology to which Michael Connelly contributed the short story "Father's Day."

Summary

Teaser

At the residence of Nicholas Trent, Detective Bosch oversees the forensic investigation of Trent's body; Detective Edgar discovers a suicide note in which Trent blamed the police and the media for ruining his life, and Trent's attorney claims that the police are responsible for Trent's death.

Outside, Nate Tyler approaches Bosch, who explains that Trent committed suicide because of Tyler's "irresponsible reporting." Tyler claims that Trent's suicide is evidence of a guilty conscience, and Bosch questions how Tyler will feel if Trent turns out to be innocent, though Tyler counters that Bosch led him to Trent in the first place.

Act One

In county jail, Raynard Waits reads an article concerning Bosch's civil trial before offering the newspaper to Baker, the inmate he previously saw borrowed the cellphone from the guard, and negotiates an arrangement for Baker to acquire the phone for Waits to make a call.

At the police station, Bosch and Edgar encounter Detectives Johnson, Moore, and Rider discussing one of Waits's tattoos.

At Julia Brasher's residence, Bosch arrives for dinner, and learns that Brasher received her second unsatisfactory notice for her actions the night of the shooting. Bosch criticizes her reckless behavior, while Brasher counters that Bosch has no room to talk about recklessness; Bosch warns her that a third unsatisfactory notice will get her thrown out of the Department, and accuses her of using "a gun and a badge" for the thrill. Brasher suggests that Bosch leave, and he agrees.

Outside, Bosch considers smoking a cigarette, but changes his mind.

The next morning, Bosch and Edgar return to the Trent residence as the forensics team removes evidence from the house, and the detectives meet with Mitzi Roberts, who informs them that the evidence collection team is nearly finished. Bosch heads to the bedroom to examine the location where Trent died, then heads to the office where he finds a box filled with pictures of children who Trent sponsored through donations. Edgar theorizes that Trent was seeking redemption for killing the Laurel Canyon victim, though Bosch is not entirely convinced.

At the Police Administration Building, Deputy Chief Irving, Lt. Pounds, Bosch, Edgar consider a press release concerning Trent's suicide. Pounds seems eager to "pin the murder on the dead perv," though Bosch argues against the theory that Trent is the killer, and Irving orders the press release to be issued without changes.

Act Two

At the United States District Courthouse, Chandler delivers her closing argument to the jury, insisting that Bosch "killed Roberto Flores in cold blood" "for deeply personal reasons" while Flores was unarmed. Belk then delivers his closing argument, countering that Bosch was forced to make a split-second decision when he encountered Flores, who was in fact armed, after Flores refused to comply with Bosch's instructions to freeze and keep his hands in plain sight.

At the police station, Bosch arrives, passing Brasher, who does not acknowledge him. Inside, he delivers a brioche to the watch commander in exchange for protecting Brasher, and learns that a tip came in from Sheila Delacroix, whose brother Arthur Delacroix went missing in 1994. Bosch then meets with Lt. Billets, and learns that an "unnamed LAPD source" has claimed that Trent was responsible for the Laurel Canyon murder. She asks about the closing arguments in Bosch's case, and he admits that Chandler is good, though Billets assures him that the jury will rule in his favor; she then encourages him to travel to Las Vegas to visit his daughter.

Later, Bosch and Edgar visit the residence of Sheila Delacroix, who explains that her brother disappeared on May 4th, 1994, and that she and her father assumed that Arthur had run away. She turns over several photographs of her brother, including one of him among a group of four other skateboarders, and explains that Arthur had undergone cranial surgery at a children's hospital. She also explains that her father, Samuel Delacroix, lives in Manchester Trailer Park, but that her mother, Christine Dorsett, abandoned the family when she was a child after leaving letters for Sheila and Arthur; she also gives Bosch a photograph of her father. Bosch then shows her the San Diego Aquarium badge, which she explains was given to Arthur by their mother; she also explains that she still lives in the house where she and Arthur grew up.

Bosch later visits Dr. Golliher at the La Brea Tar Pits, where Golliher reveals the recently discovered skull of a 9,000-year-old murder victim. Bosch shows Golliher an x-ray of Arthur Delacroix's cranial surgery, and Golliher confirms that the injury matches the one on the Laurel Canyon skull. Bosch then admits that he has his "own kind of faith: blue religion," explaining that he believes that Arthur's bones came out of the ground for him to find so that he could set the boy's death right.

Act Three

At the police station, Bosch arrives learns that Samuel Delacroix never filed a missing-persons report when Arthur disappeared. Edgar further explains that Christine Dorsett divorced Delacroix in 1984, remarried in 1989, and now lives in Palm Springs as Christine Waters. Bosch then learns from Billets that District Attorney Richard O'Shea is looking for him.

At the District Attorney's office, Bosch meets with O'Shea and Escobar, who inform the detective that Raynard Waits has confessed to killing Arthur Delacroix, though Bosch is skeptical of Waits's confession. O'Shea insists that Waits is willing to identify his victims if the district attorney agrees not to seek the death penalty, and O'Shea persuades Bosch to interview Waits regarding Delacroix.

At the police station, Bosch avoids Brasher before meeting up with Edgar, Johnson, and Moore to review the investigation into Waits. Bosch questions why Waits was arrested near Echo Park when he lived in Hollywood, since Griffin Park is a much closer location to dispose of a body, and Johnson and Moore admit that they were unable to find any information on Waits prior to 1994; the detective realize that "Raynard Waits" is a fake name.

At the coroner's office, Bosch and Edgar learn that Gutierrez was strangled and then raped post-mortem, but Bosch receives a phonecall and leaves the office.

At a restaurant, Bosch meets with Irving, who claims that O'Shea is planning to run for mayor using the Waits case as "pure political Viagra," which he insists would be "a fucking disaster" for the Police Department. Bosch confides that he believes that Waits is lying about killing Arthur Delacroix, and Irving encourages the detective to "blow some holes in [Waits's] confession" when he interrogates him.

That night, Bosch buys a bouquet of flowers from a street vendor before visiting Brasher's house to apologize for his criticisms, and they reconcile and kiss before heading to bed. Later that night, Bosch explains that the scars on his knuckles came from the removal of a tattoo which had read HOLD FAST, and that his gunshot wound was the result of chasing a pair of bank robbers into a drainage tunnel.

Act Four

The next morning, Bosch and Edgar discuss the political undercurrents of the Waits investigation while driving out to the county jail.

At the county jail, Bosch and Edgar interview Waits, who claims that he has previously met Bosch when the detective was a patrolman and Bosch gave Waits a ticket for rolling through a stop sign; he claims that he had a dead body in his van that day as well. Waits commends Bosch for rising above the circumstances of his childhood to become a police officer. He then claims that Arthur Delacroix was his first murder victim, explaining that he picked up Arthur on Hollywood Boulevard, and that he chose the boy because he was smaller than the rest of his friends. He further claims that he took Arthur to his "special place" in East L.A., near the Los Angeles River, where he claims that he strangled the boy before driving up to Laurel Canyon to bury the body. Bosch ends the interview and writes his own phone number on Waits's arm, inviting Waits to call him if he remembers anything that hasn't been printed in the newspaper. Before Bosch leaves, Waits claims that Arthur carried a plastic starfish in his backpack.

Outside the jail, Bosch borrows a cigarette from a guard and smokes while he and Edgar discuss Waits's story. Bosch believes that Waits is lying, but cannot explain how he knew about the starfish in Arthur's backpack, and Edgar suggests that Waits may in fact be telling the truth.

Production

Credits

Cast

Starring

• Titus Welliver as Harry Bosch
• Jamie Hector as Jerry Edgar
• Amy Aquino as Grace Billets
• Lance Reddick as Irvin Irving
• Annie Wersching as Julia Brasher
• and Jason Gedrick as Raynard Waits

Guest-Starring

• Mimi Rogers as Sunny Chandler
• Adam O'Byrne as Nate Tyler
• Alan Rosenberg as Dr. William Golliher
• Abraham Benrubi as Rodney Belk
• Paul Vincent O'Connor as Judge Alvin N. Keyes
• Scott Klace as John Mankiewicz
• Mark Derwin as Captain Harvey Pounds
• Steven Culp as DA Richard O'Shea
• Troy Evans as Detective Johnson
• Gregory Scott Cummins as Detective Robert Moore
• Jenica Bergere as Sheila Delacroix
• Rob Brownstein as Nicholas Trent
• Rose Rollins as Detective Kizmin Rider
• Randy Vasquez as Deputy DA Lou Escobar
• Jaime Ray Newman as Laura Kell

Co-Starring

• Deji Laray as Officer Julius Edgewood
• Minerva Garcia as Rosa Flores
• Liz Burnette as Charmaine Villaflor
• Reece Rios as Officer Sergio Medina
• Mitzi Roberts as Detective Roberts
• J. Eddie Martinez as Deputy at Pitchess
• Christina Ferraro as Coroner Investigator Andrada
• Callie Thompson as Lisa Billets
• Craig Gellis as Baker
• Ricardo J. Chacon as Jail Deputy
• Chris Flanders as Morton

Crew

Opening Credits

• Laura Schiff, CSA - Casting
• and Carrie Audino, CSA - Casting
• Jesse Voccia - Music
• Rachel Rusch - Producer
• Patrick McKee - Producer
• Tom Smuts - Supervising Producer
• Kevin Dowling - Consulting Producer
• William N. Fordes - Consulting Producer
• Diane Frolov - Consulting Producer
• & Andrew Schneider - Consulting Producer
• Pieter Jan Brugge - Co-Executive Producer
• Mikkel Bondesen - Executive Producer
• Jan David Frouman - Executive Producer
• Henrik Bastin - Executive Producer
• Michael Connelly - Executive Producer
• Eric Overmyer - Executive Producer
• Michael Connelly - Based on the Novels by
• Eric Overmyer - Developed for television by
• Diane Frolov - Teleplay
• & Andrew Schneider - Teleplay
• Kevin Dowling - Director

Closing Credits

• Patrick McKee - Unit Production Manager
• Ken Collins - First Assistant Director
• Francesco Tignini - Second Assistant Director
• Patrick Cady, ASC - Director of Photography
• Chester Kaczenski - Production Designer
• Elba Sanchez Short - Editor
• Catherine Adair - Costume Designer
• Erin Scotto - Associate Producer
• Terrill Lee Lankford - Co-Producer
• Joe Gonzalez - Staff Writer
• Blake Leyh - Music Supervisor
• Tim Marcia - Technical Consultant
• Mitzi Roberts - Technical Consultant
• Rick Jackson - Technical Consultant

Notes

• The Los Angeles Times article concerning Bosch's civil trial is titled "Bosch: Mother's murder becomes part of trial."
• The license plate number of Bosch's unmarked detective car is 8Q49935.
• Bosch's phone number – 323-244-5631 – previously appeared in the 2007 novel The Overlook.

Reception

The episode has received 55 ten-out-of-ten ratings and 44 nine-out-of-ten ratings (out of 145 total ratings) on IMDb for an average rating of 8.7 out of 10.

Episode

• "Blue Religion"