I'm all about mixed messages and sub-text
Oct. 1st, 2010 02:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mistletoeIt is 9.33a.m. and still dark because of the dreech weather. Ryder Cup is ploughing through the puddles. Europe are 3 up but it's very early days.
However, that is not the purpose of this post. No, no, no, no, no.
It's about this:
I like Stephen Nathan as a writer. He doesn't do metaphor, he does sub-text and this episode was all about the sub in the text.
From the couple in the cave to the Park Ranger in the case, nothing was what it seemed - except maybe Hannah. She was exactly what she seemed. This is good because Booth deserves some happiness (and sex) after 5 years of frustration and 6 months of sadness before he shipped out. So yay Hannah. I liked her feisty, no nonsense approach, which Booth would admire. She is fearless, going into dangerous situations when told not to and not panicking when there. She acts on impulse and isn't satisfied with half truths or the official line. She is rightly proud of her achievements and is top in her field. Hmmmm, sound familiar?
She is upfront with Brennan from their first meeting to their last. Bren asks her how she and Booth met and the story is suitably heroic from Booth's point of view. She says he saved Hannah's life and Booth is much more modest. Never shine a light on yourself Seeley. No shiny baubles and Brennan is not jealous. She's not and we know because she says so. She and Booth were never a couple; she had imagined them together while she was away, but it was a fantasy and therefore had no resonance in the real world where they are now. Still, she cannot let the subject of Hannah lie and nor can anyone else. Cam, Angela, Hodgins and even Clarke show an interest. Brennan denies them all. That wistful little smile though is telltale. That sad self assessment that she is the only one to actually be getting what she expected out of life is telling. She is so jealous.
A deal of sub-text lay in the case: the motives, the victims, the suspects, the culprit. That couple were seen to be something they weren't: murder victims who had been bludgeoned to death. Angela could only come up with a partial identification of the man who everybody saw as George Clooney. That coloured their responses to the case. When he was finally identified as a migrant worker, then things changed. Brennan and even Sweets assumed they couldn't be in love because they were incompatible. Another familiar moment. Booth was on the side of love, while Brennan was all anthropological boundaries not being crossed and how impossible for these two to be in a relationship it therefore was.
Booth was in defensive mode. It was interesting how with both suspects he assumed sexual jealousy was the motive. So the girl's boss, who had reported her missing was under suspicion in his book straight away because the girl was attractive and had turned his advances down. There was none of the usual sympathy or building of bridges. Booth was confrontational throughout. Similarly, Lupe (who didn't help herself) was presumed by Booth to be jealous of the relationship Felix had established with his AA sponsor and killed them both in a fit of jealous rage. Projecting Booth?
The culprit had been identified throughout with Booth. He had served in Afghanistan and was eager to do more than be a Park Ranger. Booth told him straight away that he was a Ranger, something thet Dennis admired and no doubt wished to emulate. Bit of a difference between Park and Army ranger there though. He made sure to bring evidence to Booth personally and Booth went so far as to advise him to apply to the FBI where his service record would stand him in good stead. Unfortunately, unlike Booth, he couldn't apply the correct reactions in appropriate places. Using the techniques of a war zone on home ground was wrong. Is this a lesson for Booth? He knows the difference with regard to his job, but what about his emotional life? Will Hannah fit in at home like she did overseas?
Already there is a hint that maybe not. Booth has a nooner (yay Booth chest!) and Hannah has already noticed that he and Bones are 'solid'. She knows there is nothing sexual, but there is something between them that she doesn't share. Furthermore, she is finding her job On Capitol Hill less than fulfilling and while she says she will make a go of it Booth uses the phrase 'while you are here'. He's not expecting her to stay.
Also, he is very keen to emphasise how happy he is. Out in the field with Sweets, Hannah calls. Really good how his voice is totally different talking to her on the phone and how defensive he is about his feelings when Sweets queries this. In Booth's office he was equally defensive, not wanting to share with Sweets when his own house is not in order i.e. what's going on with Daisy. So Sweets, like a younger Booth is all about going with the flow and riding the wave, Booth, like a Dad, reminds him to remember the SPF.
Then there are Brennan's final flourishes. She berates Clark for jumping to conclusions about the case and lacking the backbone to think for himself. She tells him she cannot admire someone who does no more than follow her lead. Cam assumes that this has been caused by Hannah coming into her relationship with Booth. She denies it of course and is helped out by Clarke actually noticing something that suggests the couple were not hit at all but died as a result of injuries caused by a fall, She feels vindicated and Cam apologises. She goes off laughing at the idea that Hannah could affect her work. Well she may deny it but it's true. She is taking out her frustrations on Clarke and falling back on science as the safe place to be, where facts cannot be hidden.
Similarly, in the scene at the Founding Fathers with Booth she rejects the idea that the couple died together as a romantic gesture of love. Booth disagrees believing that to go like that, with someone you love is the way to go. Bones calls such behaviour foolish and illogical when the man could have saved himself: survival is the biological imperative, not love. But Booth sticks to his guns. Love he says is putting someone else before yourself. Of course Brennan sees it as irresponsible and suggests that the man could have gone on and found another relationship. Nope: he still did what he did for love. Brennan cites the chemical stimulants that produce the feeling Booth has and she has felt it herself. She still refuses to base her life on transient feelings. And then Hannah shows up in a great dress and rushes Seeley off to dinner, leaving Brennan alone.
All of that was about Booth and Brennan. not Felix and Alison. Are they still at loggerheads, or, as seems likely, is Brennan beginning to regret her actions? I don't think it's too late
Hodgins was great in this episode, putting his foot in it with Angela and then having to placate her; about the pregnancy turning her into the Hindenburg. 'More to love' Then totally falling for Hannah before having to retreat into calling Angela a goddess. His timing was excellent throughout.
I enjoyed it and don't mind Hannah at all.
Absolutely tanking it down everywhere. Ryder Cup is off due to waterlogged course. Wet and windy here at the other end of the country.
However, that is not the purpose of this post. No, no, no, no, no.
It's about this:
I like Stephen Nathan as a writer. He doesn't do metaphor, he does sub-text and this episode was all about the sub in the text.
From the couple in the cave to the Park Ranger in the case, nothing was what it seemed - except maybe Hannah. She was exactly what she seemed. This is good because Booth deserves some happiness (and sex) after 5 years of frustration and 6 months of sadness before he shipped out. So yay Hannah. I liked her feisty, no nonsense approach, which Booth would admire. She is fearless, going into dangerous situations when told not to and not panicking when there. She acts on impulse and isn't satisfied with half truths or the official line. She is rightly proud of her achievements and is top in her field. Hmmmm, sound familiar?
She is upfront with Brennan from their first meeting to their last. Bren asks her how she and Booth met and the story is suitably heroic from Booth's point of view. She says he saved Hannah's life and Booth is much more modest. Never shine a light on yourself Seeley. No shiny baubles and Brennan is not jealous. She's not and we know because she says so. She and Booth were never a couple; she had imagined them together while she was away, but it was a fantasy and therefore had no resonance in the real world where they are now. Still, she cannot let the subject of Hannah lie and nor can anyone else. Cam, Angela, Hodgins and even Clarke show an interest. Brennan denies them all. That wistful little smile though is telltale. That sad self assessment that she is the only one to actually be getting what she expected out of life is telling. She is so jealous.
A deal of sub-text lay in the case: the motives, the victims, the suspects, the culprit. That couple were seen to be something they weren't: murder victims who had been bludgeoned to death. Angela could only come up with a partial identification of the man who everybody saw as George Clooney. That coloured their responses to the case. When he was finally identified as a migrant worker, then things changed. Brennan and even Sweets assumed they couldn't be in love because they were incompatible. Another familiar moment. Booth was on the side of love, while Brennan was all anthropological boundaries not being crossed and how impossible for these two to be in a relationship it therefore was.
Booth was in defensive mode. It was interesting how with both suspects he assumed sexual jealousy was the motive. So the girl's boss, who had reported her missing was under suspicion in his book straight away because the girl was attractive and had turned his advances down. There was none of the usual sympathy or building of bridges. Booth was confrontational throughout. Similarly, Lupe (who didn't help herself) was presumed by Booth to be jealous of the relationship Felix had established with his AA sponsor and killed them both in a fit of jealous rage. Projecting Booth?
The culprit had been identified throughout with Booth. He had served in Afghanistan and was eager to do more than be a Park Ranger. Booth told him straight away that he was a Ranger, something thet Dennis admired and no doubt wished to emulate. Bit of a difference between Park and Army ranger there though. He made sure to bring evidence to Booth personally and Booth went so far as to advise him to apply to the FBI where his service record would stand him in good stead. Unfortunately, unlike Booth, he couldn't apply the correct reactions in appropriate places. Using the techniques of a war zone on home ground was wrong. Is this a lesson for Booth? He knows the difference with regard to his job, but what about his emotional life? Will Hannah fit in at home like she did overseas?
Already there is a hint that maybe not. Booth has a nooner (yay Booth chest!) and Hannah has already noticed that he and Bones are 'solid'. She knows there is nothing sexual, but there is something between them that she doesn't share. Furthermore, she is finding her job On Capitol Hill less than fulfilling and while she says she will make a go of it Booth uses the phrase 'while you are here'. He's not expecting her to stay.
Also, he is very keen to emphasise how happy he is. Out in the field with Sweets, Hannah calls. Really good how his voice is totally different talking to her on the phone and how defensive he is about his feelings when Sweets queries this. In Booth's office he was equally defensive, not wanting to share with Sweets when his own house is not in order i.e. what's going on with Daisy. So Sweets, like a younger Booth is all about going with the flow and riding the wave, Booth, like a Dad, reminds him to remember the SPF.
Then there are Brennan's final flourishes. She berates Clark for jumping to conclusions about the case and lacking the backbone to think for himself. She tells him she cannot admire someone who does no more than follow her lead. Cam assumes that this has been caused by Hannah coming into her relationship with Booth. She denies it of course and is helped out by Clarke actually noticing something that suggests the couple were not hit at all but died as a result of injuries caused by a fall, She feels vindicated and Cam apologises. She goes off laughing at the idea that Hannah could affect her work. Well she may deny it but it's true. She is taking out her frustrations on Clarke and falling back on science as the safe place to be, where facts cannot be hidden.
Similarly, in the scene at the Founding Fathers with Booth she rejects the idea that the couple died together as a romantic gesture of love. Booth disagrees believing that to go like that, with someone you love is the way to go. Bones calls such behaviour foolish and illogical when the man could have saved himself: survival is the biological imperative, not love. But Booth sticks to his guns. Love he says is putting someone else before yourself. Of course Brennan sees it as irresponsible and suggests that the man could have gone on and found another relationship. Nope: he still did what he did for love. Brennan cites the chemical stimulants that produce the feeling Booth has and she has felt it herself. She still refuses to base her life on transient feelings. And then Hannah shows up in a great dress and rushes Seeley off to dinner, leaving Brennan alone.
All of that was about Booth and Brennan. not Felix and Alison. Are they still at loggerheads, or, as seems likely, is Brennan beginning to regret her actions? I don't think it's too late
Hodgins was great in this episode, putting his foot in it with Angela and then having to placate her; about the pregnancy turning her into the Hindenburg. 'More to love' Then totally falling for Hannah before having to retreat into calling Angela a goddess. His timing was excellent throughout.
I enjoyed it and don't mind Hannah at all.
Absolutely tanking it down everywhere. Ryder Cup is off due to waterlogged course. Wet and windy here at the other end of the country.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-01 02:03 pm (UTC)I felt so badly for Brennan at the end there, all alone, just like she expected to be.
I don't mind Hannah. She does seem to share an awful lot of similarities with one Dr. Temperance Brennan and both she and Booth seem to be "making do" or "settling", but I'm sure all that will be sorted out in the wash.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-01 02:19 pm (UTC)Bloody Rain!
Date: 2010-10-01 02:18 pm (UTC)One thing I did click though was the couple who found the bodies were very B/B -like; bickering away and I'm sure the woman came up with a couple of Bones' catch phrases.Great way to get the series going after last week that much as I enjoyed left me feeling a bit empty.
You are dead right about the weather too. Been off work today so told hubby I'd walk the dogs. Still not managed to get out. They are both old (12 & 13) and a walk in the rain is absolutely the last thing they want to do!! It's gotta stop soon right? Tomorrow is supposed to be very good weather *fingers crossed*
Re: Bloody Rain!
Date: 2010-10-01 02:23 pm (UTC)Agreed about the couple at the start right down to her doubting his ability to get them home and that they were wandering around lost. They only got on the same page when they found the bodies. *snicker*
Rain is obscene. Old dogs and me are staying at home.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-01 02:40 pm (UTC)Not just in a jealous way (although, okay, that's most of it.), but something about the actress just bugs me. It might fade though if she stays around enough to get comfortable in the role.
STILL DON'T LIKE HER. *grrrr* ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-01 02:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-01 08:39 pm (UTC)But poor Booth just wants to be happy, and he can't seem to get it. The whole scene last year when B/B discussed it just broke my heart. Because you know Bones loves him just as much as he loves her, but they just can't meet in the middle... YET.
But hey, I'll take Hannah, as long as she keeps Baby naked a lot. And at least she's easy on the eyes! I did love the story about the fig tree. Hee.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-01 02:56 pm (UTC)It was interesting how with both suspects he assumed sexual jealousy was the motive.
The B/B dynamic is definitely kind of wobbly at this point, and I'm finding it hard to understand Booth's behaviour vis-a-vis Brennan (Brennan's a lot easier to understand, I think). Anyways, your point that maybe somewhere deep down part of him expects Brennan to be jealous (which is why he sees jealously everywhere in relation to the case) helped me a lot. Just sayin'.
She goes off laughing at the idea that Hannah could affect her work.
Well, we all know Brennan's strangely literal, and Hannah's not really important to her, Booth is. Strictly speaking, it's not Hannah that bothers her, it's Booth and the idea, which is slowly maing her way through Brennan's emotional filter, that he's moved on. So if you look at it like this, then no, Hannah's not interfering with her work and the whole idea that Brennan would get easily swayed by someone who's essentially a stranger is a little laughable, although not with the undercurrent of hysteria that Brennan laughs.
Will Hannah fit in at home like she did overseas? Already there is a hint that maybe not.
is it just me or is it waaay to early for the writers to be foreshadowing anything like this? or maybe it's part of establishing Hannah's character as adventurous, fun-loving and maybe a little restless (remember Sully, anyone?).
Similarly, in the scene at the Founding Fathers with Booth she rejects the idea that the couple died together as a romantic gesture of love. Booth disagrees believing that to go like that, with someone you love is the way to go. Bones calls such behaviour foolish and illogical when the man could have saved himself: survival is the biological imperative, not love. But Booth sticks to his guns. Love he says is putting someone else before yourself. Of course Brennan sees it as irresponsible and suggests that the man could have gone on and found another relationship. Nope: he still did what he did for love. Brennan cites the chemical stimulants that produce the feeling Booth has and she has felt it herself. She still refuses to base her life on transient feelings. And then Hannah shows up in a great dress and rushes Seeley off to dinner, leaving Brennan alone.
For what it's worth, I'm totally and 200% behind Brennan on this one. When you look at it from her perspective, it makes total sense: you don't - you just don't - lie down and die when the people whom you love leave you or abandon you or even die. She's been through this twice: once with her parents, a second time with Booth's fake death. She fought back the only way she knew how: by working and trying to be herself and by being the best that she can be. It's not easy what she did and it's part of why I like her character so much, because she's a fighter, because she refuses to become depressed, because she insists on seeking something fulfilling in a life that's been pretty lonely and not exactly filled with love and sunshine. I think Booth is naive here. But I did like his saying that no, you don't ever regret doing things for someone you love, no matter how 'irresponsibly dangerous' they are.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-01 03:18 pm (UTC)you just don't - lie down and die when the people whom you love leave you or abandon you or even die.
I think the point Booth was making was that Felix didn't leave, he chose to stay and spend the rest of his life with the one he loved. That was the offer Booth made: 30, 40, 50 years down the road, all he saw was being with her. She had no experience of such an existence. To be honest neither does Booth but he wanted to try. I don't think Hannah is there for the long haul. Booth just wants to be happy, see if he can achieve that in his personal life if work is just about partners.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-01 03:26 pm (UTC)OK, now I see where you're coming from. I was doing a Brennan and taking it a little literally, perhaps, in the sense that I thought they were discussing the way in which the two people died, and didn't think beyond that. Still, I thought that he was a little unfair on Brennan when he implied that she doesn't know how to put other people first. She tries to - throughout this episode, she's been trying to put Booth and the fact that he's happy first.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-01 03:36 pm (UTC)Well I did say it was all about the sub-text in my opinion!
she's been trying to put Booth and the fact that he's happy first.
Do you think she succeeded?
Sometimes she offered with one hand, but took it back with the other or at least denied that she was affected, which I think she was. I felt for her when she said to Angela that she was the only one that was living the life she expected. When she grasps that she can succeed without feeling that she has to be in control, then I think she will find who she really is.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-01 03:48 pm (UTC)No. I think this episode was about Brennan coming to grips with what's going on, and it's very tough to do that. In the premiere, she found out about Hannah's existence, but it was all abstract because Hannah wasn't there, so basically it all stayed just an idea. In this episode, they took it one level up: she's confronted with Hannah herself and she has to adjust to that. It would be a shock to anyone, not to speak of someone with Brennan's somewhat limited skills with what's going on around her. It's a little as if Brennan's left behind: she comes back from Maluku intent on telling Booth all the things that she wanted to tell him (that she's missed him, that she's happy to be back) but she does it in a totally different context than the one she thought she'd be in when she got back, because lo and behold, there's the Hannah issue and then living-and-breathing Hannah herself. Hence the back and forth that you mention: Brennan has simply not caught up to reality. So I'm guessing the next few episodes will be dedicated to Brennan figuring out the many ways in which her life has been changed by Booth's relationship with Hannah.
When she grasps that she can succeed without feeling that she has to be in control, then I think she will find who she really is.
And these two episodes must have sent her well on the way (fingers crossed, butyou never know with Bones ).
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-01 03:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-02 01:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-01 04:33 pm (UTC)First, I was so happy to see S. Nathan's name show up as writer of this episode. He has written some of my favourite Bones episodes, although I refuse to listen to any interview he gives because he's a douche-bag re: spoilers. This episode did not disappoint, writing wise.
I liked your insight on the park ranger and his relationship with/to Booth. Had not thought of him that way.
Brennan is walking such a fine line now. She is retreating to science, yet she's also admitting things (I imagined a life with you; I dreamed about you) that pre-Maluku Brennan would have never said. No wonder she lost it on Clarke. I love seeing the cracks and ED does that so well.
Maybe they were hitting us over the head with it, but I did like that this couple was not even parted in death. See Brennan, that kind of love does exist, and you say it is foolish, but you want it anyway.
Yay Booth nooners, even if they are with the wrong person. On that note, it was quite distracting writing this as my attention was constantly drawn to Booth's chesticles.
Oh and the couple at the beginning? I'm going to have to start looking behind me because I'm pretty sure Stephen Nathan has been following my husband and me on the hiking trail.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-01 06:16 pm (UTC)And yes the pair at the start did sound like personal experience was feeding in there!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-01 04:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-01 06:12 pm (UTC)