(S04E02) I have a, er, bone to pick with some of you. I understand that many of you are unhappy about Zack’s fate. I also understand more of you are upset that the season premiere of Bones was less than stellar. But, that’s no reason to totally rack up the fourth season as a total failure. It’s looking bleak, I know, but a finale and a premiere sometimes don’t make a season. All I ask is for you to hold off a bit until you judge this season as a total disaster.
The other thing I’d like you to do, and, again, I know it’s hard, try to get past Zack’s ultimate downfall. If it’s any comfort, the Zack we knew in last year was not the same person we knew in the first two seasons. He was a robot during the last show cycle - someone who was full of logic and devoid of any emotion until the very end of the season. Blame it on his time in Iraq, blame it on Gormogon, blame it on bad writing: Zack couldn’t have lasted past season three in the state that he was.
If there is any solace to the loss of Zack it can be that we get to see a cavalcade of new assistants for Bones and the rest of the Squints to tackle. Last week it was the boring but reliable Clark, this week it was the overly-peppy Daisy. Now, she was annoying! Oh, Daisy was smart enough and had gumption to take initiative, but she was definitely not the right fit for the team. She was just too damn eager to impress Temperance, and Bones does not impress easily at all. It was inevitable that she wasn’t going to make it past this episode — despite the fact that she sifted through six containers full of liquefied poo.
The final thing I’d like you to think about while watching this season
is that, like it or not, our favorite characters are going to grow and change. In a character-driven show like Bones it’s bound to happen. Take a look at the developments in Temperance’s life this episode. Who knew she was a two-man woman. It’s certainly not something we have seen before with her. As someone who has relied on logic and science to make her determinations this was somewhat reckless of her. Perhaps it’s her continued reactions to Zack’s situation that made her move in this direction. Or, it could be the underlying feelings that she will never find the right person to spend the rest of her life with that caused her to ‘play the field’. Of course, we all know who that particular person is. It’s just that we like to ignore it a bit for fear that it will really change the show.
Now, after asking for all of those things from you, there might not be a reason to worry. This week’s installment of Bones returned to the formula we fans are all familiar with and enjoy. The murder mystery, while pretty predictable, was decent, the back-and-forth between Bones and Booth returned to normal standards, Seeley didn’t act like some dumb American tourist, and there was a pretty good “eww’ factor in the form of the outhouse sludge. Even the soap opera that is the Squints was removed as they got down to the business of solving a crime. Though, with that, the writers pretty much dismissed the relationship between Hodgins and Angela. Unless this episode of Bones took place weeks after Bones and Booth returned from London you would think that there would have been some interaction between the two.
Even Sweets had something to do this week rather than just flitting around and bothering the Squints. Not only did he help profile the killer of the Cheaters-like host, but he was also instrumental in a conversation between Bones and Booth about one of her paramours. Needless to say, his mention of Coldplay several times brought a smile to my lips. That, and he ended up sneezing in his bio-suit, which is always good for a chuckle. We also learned that the young doctor is actually a bit lonely, which may be the reason he’s hanging out with Booth, Bones and the Squints so much.
This review can’t be complete without a mention of Booth and Bones’ brief therapy session. As we have seen for years now, the couple that isn’t really a couple had one of those “moments” where you wanted to jump into their brains to see what they were really thinking. That lingering look between Seeley and Temperance after he mentioned that she would eventually find the right person was that extra step to Bones and Booth’s eventual hook-up. Or, perhaps not.
And, that’s it for this week’s installment of Bones. Next week, the lovely Jen Creer will guide you along another exciting episode. I’ll see you in 14 days.
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