NaBloPoMo Hot Blooded

[mistletoe]

Pouring down outside, yet surprisingly mild.

Here's today's post to finish off Season 1. There will be a small hiatus on Friday while I catch this week's episode and then I should be back on the horse on Saturday night or, more likely, Sunday.

 

A BOOTH FOR ALL SEASONS

I will find you and I will kill you. I won’t think twice. Come here look at my eyes. (he cocks his gun and puts it in Ortez’s mouth) Look at my face, if anything happens to her, I will kill you. This is between you and me. What nobody sees, nobody knows. You’ve got nothing to prove. You understand? You understand?
e.t.a. Sorry the pictures seem to have disappeared. I will try to retrieve.

SEASON 1 PART 4

 

 

So far we have barely seen Booth the action man hero, but we now get one or two episodes that suggest he is not all talk. Before that, a couple of tidbits that add a little bit of depth to him. Firstly, he bowls and naturally, he is good at it. He has all the equipment and the shirt. We never actually get to see his prowess but at least it is referred to again when he and Brennan offer to take Sweets bowling after his fish loving girlfriend dumps him. Also, during his back issues in The Princess and the Pear he has a bowling pin for a pillow while he watches cartoons. Bowling always struck me as a fairly proletarian sport, so a guy from the less affluent side of town would probably find it a cheap option for entertainment.

The other claim he makes in The Woman in the Garden is that he restores vintage cars. We have no evidence of this other than renting a 66 Mustang while in LA and recognising a classic car in New Orleans from its hood insignia. That doesn't mean he builds his own. Certainly, this is not a cheap pastime as parts would be expensive. Also, where does he keep them? We don't even know where he lives.

Anyway, more interesting in an otherwise routine episode is Booth's reaction to gang members and illegal immigrants. Having established his patriotism, it is perhaps unsurprising that he has little time for aliens in his country without the right to be there. What is surprising is the harsh way that he treats Jose's wife.

 

Booth: Do you want to be deported? Do you want to see your baby again? Because if he was born here, he doesn’t have to go back with you. We can keep him.
Bones: Booth! Stop! She’s frightened enough.
Booth: Bones, we have a double murder on our hands.
Bones: She didn’t do it.
Booth: Just tell her what I said. Okay? Tell her we’re calling immigration. Tell her we’ll get to Jose.
Bones: No! She’s lived with terror and intimidation her whole life. I’m not going to add to it.
Booth: All right, you know what? You’re acting like I’m going to hurt her or something. I’m just trying to get a little information.
Bones: I am asking you as a favour not to make me do this, to scare her. Please.

This side of Booth seems all well and good when he is intimidating gang leaders, but more out of order when it's an innocent woman. He's right and has done similar things before when he took the two foster boys away from their carer in The Boy in the Bush. Of course, it doesn't come down to that here, but the family still go back to El Salvador, full of gratitude for the chance to try and live a better life there. For Booth, the end justifies the means.

The actual threat he issues to Ortez at the end of the episode, leaves us in no doubt that he means what he says when he is pointing his gun at you, or has it in your mouth. That is the first time where I believed that Booth was a dangerous man if you cross him, or threaten his partner.

No, wouldn't want to meet him on a dark night. True to form, he doesn't tell Brennan what he has done and so he gets into trouble for missing the funeral.

It's not long before he is leaping to Brennan's defence again. First from Jesse Kane, who I think he and I both found kind of creepy; and then from a fellow FBI Agent gone rogue in Jamie Kenton. Along the way, we get a close up of one of Booth's tattoos.

The assumption here is that this is a legacy of Booth's army days. After all, we don't have any other clues about any other parts of his life. It's not until Season 4 that we get the brief explanation. (Incidentally, look how big his hand is! It covers Emily's face)

The more interesting escapade however is in Two Bodies in the Lab which is awash with detail by comparison with the 14 episodes that have gone before.

Booth does not approve of online dating
Booth shows jealousy towards the online date and has him brought in for questioning
Booth is super protective
Booth feels responsible for the serial killer still being at large
Booth likes 70s rock
Booth can't sing and play air guitar at the same time
Booth likes hospital pudding
Booth has been tortured
Wait. Run that last one again. Booth has been tortured?

Bones: (opens the file) You know on your x-rays, there’s a history of multiple fractures on your feet consistent with beating. It’s a common method of torture in the Middle East, beating the soles of the feet with pipes or hoses.
Booth: Yeah I know.
Bones: And there are indications of injuries sustained while you were shielding someone.
Booth: How the hell can you tell something like that?
Bones: The scarring shows that the rib cage spread in such a way that…
Booth: Yeah, okay. A buddy of mine, he lost his weapon and I uh, I tried. He didn’t make it. You know you shouldn’t be looking at my x-rays.
Bones: Sorry.

So, there we have some details at last. It's not just that Booth doesn't like to talk about himself. Like many men who have been in combat he doesn't talk about what he experienced and even now he doesn't exactly paint a vivid picture or even admit the circumstances of being tortured. He only speaks because Brennan has seen the evidence. In that, Booth is no different from other soldiers. But, it extends to all parts of his life. Most of what we know has been found out rather than revealed voluntarily. Does that mean he is not proud of what he did? Does he feel that things are his fault because his buddy didn't make it? Is this extreme survivor guilt? Or is he just naturally self effacing? No doubt the truth lies somewhere in there. I feel that Booth is the type of man who is most concerned in doing his duty to the best of his ability. Sometimes that is not enough to save a comrade's life or to convict a killer. So he keeps trying over and over again to redress the balance.

He does that in this episode. He could not save the murder victim because there wasn't enough evidence to arrest Hollings two years before. His partner has been the victim of a drive by, so he does everything in his power to keep her safe. When he can no longer do that himself after being blown up he puts her in the hands of an FBI colleague he trusts, who turns out to be the murderer in the Cugini case and the one trying to kill Brennan now. Naturally, Booth blames himself and gets out of his hospital bed to save her. He succeeds, but at much personal injury. He will keep on trying to balance his sheet.

 

 

One other place where Booth tells us something about his past is in Soldier in the Grave. This has a military background, allows Booth to meet an old army buddy and finally confess to Bones something that he had to do that is hurting him still.

Throughout the whole episode Booth is angry and defensive. He feels comfortable talking to the Veterans, less happy with how Brennan and especially Hodgins react to his beliefs and actions as a soldier and the military in general. When Captain Fuller is shown to have covered up a friendly fire incident he reveals all that he believes.
BOOTH: You son of a bitch! [Grabs CPT. FULLER and slams him against the cabinet] You covered up the whole thing!
CPT. FULLER: Stand down, Agent Booth!
BOOTH: They were innocent!
CPT. FULLER: I don't know what you've heard, but my report clearly states--
BOOTH: We've taken your report apart! We have the facts, Captain! Your squad blew away a family of innocents!
CPT. FULLER: Kent! Kent did! [Booth releases him] A kid so green he never should have been there in the first place. Do you know what that town was like? Our guys were being blown up by I.E.D.'s every day while we were trying to build hospitals and schools. A mistake was made. No one likes it. But you know what happens. If it got out what we did that neighbourhood, the whole damn city would've exploded.
What would you have done? Would you have let the city burn? This can't come out, Agent Booth. Don't make this any harder with an ugly story like this.
BOOTH: I don't know what you're fighting for, Fuller, but it sure as hell wasn't my country. [Pulls out handcuffs] We'll start with obstruction of justice.

We also find some other facts we didn't know before. Hank Luttrell served with Booth in Kosovo. He is now in a wheelchair but Booth saved his life.

 

HANK: Look at the two of us-- you with a badge, me in the courtroom. Both trying to find justice, eh?
BOOTH: That's why we fought, right?
HANK: That's what they told us.
BOOTH: What? You don't believe it?
HANK: Sure I do. You don't look like you do. [Groans] You're not gambling again, are ya?
BOOTH: No, man. No, I've been good. You know, I've been going to my meetings. I haven't even played a game of Monopoly.
[HANK leans in.] Listen, Hank. Um, I got this case. Uh, Charles Kent. [Swallows] It's friendly fire.
HANK: Oh, God.
BOOTH: Yeah. Covered up. Two of the members of the squad are dead. One murdered. You know, whatever went down must've been pretty ugly.
[HANK shakes his head.]
BOOTH: You know, Hank-- heh, you know what, uh-- You know what we did--
HANK: Don't go there, Booth.
BOOTH: Was it worth it? I mean, look at you.
HANK: You saved my life. I got a great family because of you.
BOOTH: Yeah. But I mean, why was it always a secret?
HANK: We were given a choice. They always gave us a choice.
BOOTH: Yeah, but that last time--
HANK: Well, you knew what was at stake.
BOOTH: Yeah. Yeah. [Nods]
HANK: [Leans in closer] You never talked to anybody about it? [Booth shakes his head] You've got to. How about your girlfriend? That doctor?
BOOTH: Nah. No, she's-- You know. She's just my partner. You know, look, I got work. I should go.
HANK: [Bemused] Sure. Uh, we're on for Sunday dinner, right?
BOOTH: Yeah.

Justice? Gambling? Secret? Choice? It is not surprising Booth has never talked about that last time. He never talks about anything. However, this case and its aftermath do allow him to confess to his partner in the end.

BOOTH: I've done some things.
BRENNAN: I know.
BOOTH: No, no, you don't.
BRENNAN: But it's okay.
BOOTH: Well, not-- not as a secret... [Booth sits] it's not. I have to be uh, honest about myself. [Brennan sits next to him] I-- I have to be able to tell someone.
BRENNAN: You will in time, Booth. You will.
BOOTH: [Haltingly] I was sent to Kosovo. There was this Serb, General Radik, who led a unit who would go into villages and, you know, destroy 'em. Women, children, all-- all killed because he wanted to ethnically purify his country. He'd done this twice before. I mean, we had facts, proof. 232 people just erased.
I was the sniper sent in to stop him. He was set to leave in a couple hours. It was his son's-- son's birthday. A little boy maybe about six or seven. I can still hear the music from the party, you know? That song just playing in my head. Nobody knew where the shot came from, but, you know, they knew why it came.
They said I saved over a hundred people. But, you know, that little boy who didn't know who his father was, who-- who just loved him... he saw him die, fall to the ground right in front of him. That little boy all covered in his daddy's blood was changed forever. It's never just-- It's never just the one person who dies, Bones. Never. Never.
[BRENNAN places a hand on his forearm, silent. BOOTH sniffles, and places his hand atop hers, grateful.]You know, we all die a little bit, Bones. With each shot, we all die a little bit.

So there we have it. Booth, the soldier; Booth the sniper; Booth the reformed gambler; Booth the defender of justice and the American way. Is it worth it?

The rest is about Brennan's traumas, except for one snippet in The Woman in Limbo. It's here we learn, in the past tense, that Booth's dad flew Thuds and Phantoms in Vietnam, then he was a barber in Philadelphia. His mother wrote jingles for a local advertising agency.

And so we have the sum of Booth's parts thus far. to the end of Season 1. He enjoys Chinese food, steak and eggs, pie, lots of sugar in his coffee, and beer, though not the Moroccan kind 'cos that tastes like earwax. I see him very much as a work in progress with no clear roots beyond the army and the Bureau. We do know a bit more about the code he lives by and the beliefs he holds. We have just started on our journey with him. He wears the American Eagle on his belt buckle, his dice on his tie and sometimes his heart on his sleeve.

 

Well the footy has started, it's dark and I'm about to make beef cannelloni for my tea. I'll see you when I've seen this week's episode. Sky have got The Body and the Bounty to show next week and then there will be no more. New Year it is on Living sometime, somewhere.

Comments

[incasink.livejournal.com]

"That is the first time where I believed that Booth was a dangerous man if you cross him, or threaten his partner."

Yes, I agree when I saw the end of this episode I was finally 'sold' on the fact that Booth is a badass. Really well played by David imo.

[mistletoe54.livejournal.com]

He does very convincing threat! Always has.