Recently the TV show Bones showed it’s 100th episode. Usually these episodes are about fun, looking back and celebrating making it for 5 years, an accomplishment that a lot of shows don’t get. The episode “The Parts in the Sum of the Whole” got only one of these right. This episode retconned a whole case from before the first episode, where Booth and Brennan met and worked together. It was nice to see Zac Addy again (yeah Zac! How I’ve missed you!), and Brennan was her old “straight-forward, resort to violence” self, but the whole dynamic of the lab was off. Zac and Hodges were at each others throat. Angela was dragged in to do the reconstructions, and Booth and Brennan were trying to jump into each other pants. So over the course of one year, Angela creates and becomes a compute graphics whiz, Zac and Hodges are the best of buddies (most likely, but still doesn’t feel right), and Booth and Brennan then take on 4+ years of cases without a hint of what happened in the first case? I don’t think so. It stretches my suspension of disbelief just a little too far.
What was the real deal breaker for me was the whole Booth confessing to Brennan thing at the end. That whole scene just felt wrong. Neither Booth nor Brennan seemed to be acting like themselves. Not even the words felt right, and the episode ended with a down feeling instead of a feeling for hope for many more seasons to come. I think want irked me the most was an article written on TV.com. The writer wasn’t happy with the episode either, but for the wrong reasons.
Bones has never really been about the forensics (and neither was Brennan’s book in last week’s episode, “The Bones on the Blue Line”). In fact, this show could be a sitcom and it would still be watchable. As much as I hate Hart Hanson for keeping this ridiculously indulgent fantasy alive…
Bones has ALWAYS been about the forensics. It got through it ‘s first season no doubt because of David Boreanaz’s fangirl base. The SDCC panel for it after it’s first year was filled with fangirls who just wanted to profess their love for David and kept other fans from asking any real questions. One girl was nearly in tears asking David to accept a letter from her. It was really pathetic. And this writer just reflects that same attitude. The show is not about the actors or the characters love lives. It’s a police procedural show. It’s the cases that come up and how Brennan and the team work together to find the clues and answers to the solve them. Relationships are just part of the character building, but if they ever become the focus, than this show will have lost it’s magic and be done. The episode before this, “Bones on the Blue Line” showed just how the producers felt about people’s emphasis on the relationships. Brennan spends the whole episode protesting that her books are about the science and no one listens to her. Mr. Hanson must feel the same way with so many fans demanding that Booth and Brennan get together, and the 100th episode was ruined by telling those fans it’s not going to happen.
I for one don’t want it to happen. Booth and Brennan have a great relationship without being romantically involved. It reminds me a lot of the 10th Doctor and Donna Noble’s relationship. Donna was a better companion because she wasn’t always making googly-eyes at the Doctor and was an equal of sorts with him. Booth and Brennan are the same way. They are equals in their own fields. Brennan is the scientist and find the answers while Booth is the intuition and sees the interpersonal relationships that fills in the blanks that science alone can’t. That’s what makes this show great. They can bicker and disagree all they want, but at the end of the day, they are equals in their own fields and sometimes even learn something from each other. Quite frankly, Booth has been a disappointment to watch, with his mooning over Brennan. I want them to get back to their old buddy, bickering selves and leave all this romance behind. It’s all about the forensic and cases, and not about the ‘shipping.
