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Was Ballard a Solid Bosch Successor? Grade the Twisty Finale and Season 1
The following contains spoilers from Season 1 of , now streaming on Prime Video.
Not three months after Titus Welliver wrapped his 10-season run as LAPD detective turned P.I. Harry Bosch, Maggie Q made her full-on debut as Renée Ballard, in her own eponymous Prime Video procedural. Did Ballard fill the Bosch-shaped hole in your TV schedule?
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Ordered to series last November, the new entry in the Bosch TV universe finds Detective Renée Ballard running the LAPD's new cold case division — a poorly funded, all-volunteer unit that operates out of an inglorious basement and is saddled with the largest case load in the city.
The Ballard cast also boasts Courtney Taylor (Insecure) as Samira Parker, a wary ex-cop who returns to the force at Ballard's behest; John Carroll Lynch (Big Sky) as Thomas Laffont, Renée's former partner who un-retires to help her out; Michael Mosley (always Castle) as Ted Rawls, a reserve officer who is assigned to the unit to keep an eye on Ballard; Rebecca Field (All Rise) as Colleen, an enthusiastic (and eccentric) volunteer; Victoria Moroles (Teen Wolf) as Martina, the team's savvy legal intern; and Amy Hill (Magnum P.I.) as Ballard's spunky grandma, Tutu.
Ballard's 10-episode freshman run came to a close with a twist-filled finale. For one, we learned that it was Rawls who got shot in a highly unexpected showdown with city councilman Jake Pearlman's (Nikita's Noah Bean) father, Gary (Veep's Kevin Dunn), whom Ballard had just learned was the serial strangler they'd been hunting all season — at Jake's behest, in order to find out who killed his sister years prior. Heartbreakingly, Rawls would not survive that shooting.
On top of that, Gary stole Rawls' car and used it to set in motion a getaway. Ballard argued to Captain Berchem (Hector Hugo) that Gary would not in fact flee town without making another run a this sole surviving victim, the former hairdresser whom Ballard and Parker tracked down to procure vital intel. Yet the LAPD soon got word that Gary had crossed the border into Mexico, using another stolen car.
Gary, though, did have one last piece of business to settle — with Ballard herself, stalking her in the dark of the cold case unit's basement HQ. A brawl ensued and Renée eventually emerged with the upper hand, sparing Gary's life (if not one of his hands) as Jake had requested earlier.
The other major storyline to take a left turn involved the gang of corrupt cops, led by Olivas (Desperate Housewives' Ricardo Chavira), that Ballard & Co. got the goods on and had hauled in, after Martina led her sus beau Manny into a trap. Ballard's latest surfing session was cut short when Bosch appeared on shore and waved her in, to deliver the bad news that all of dirty cops will face a grand jury… except Olivas, whom DA Honey Chandler kicked free in trade for intel on the cartel for whom he and the others snitched. Ballard was not happy to hear this, and after making clear her opinion to Honey, she paid Olivas himself a (very unwise) visit at his home, even drawing her gun at one point.
Ballard commiserated with Parker that night, at her home over some beers, until a couple black-and-whites pulled up, lights strobing, to arrest her for Olivas' murder! (Is it just us, or is it too obvious that Olivas' scorned wife will turn out to be the triggerman?)
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