I'd make a deal with God
Nov. 18th, 2010 03:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mistletoeToday I'm looking at a specific episode, which is Judas on a Pole. On the face of it, a further piece of Brennan's life is fitted into the puzzle, but it is revealing of something else too.
A BOOTH FOR ALL SEASONS
Your husband’s a good man, and he tried to do the right thing and he ended up dead. I can’t let that stand.
SEASON 2 - True Blue Booth
We've already seen that Booth thinks there is nothing better than the FBI. But what does he do when the FBI is the guilty party responsible for the murder and incarceration of innocents? He does his best to put it right of course. Booth has already shown what he thinks of corruption, or at least shady practices in the way the guilty party was dealt with in The Girl in Suite 2103. When it looked like the murderer would claim diplomatic immunity to get away with murder, Cam proposes a massaging of the facts.
BRENNAN: You are fabricating a scenario by misrepresenting the evidence and omitting key facts.
CAM: It’s a bluff. Cops do it all the time.
BOOTH: So you think if we frame Antonio, Judge Ramos will confess to save her own son.
CAM: What mother wouldn’t?
BOOTH: Bones?
BRENNAN: No, no.
CAM: It’s no different than lying to a criminal to get a confession.
BOOTH: Or having Hodgins call the FAA with a fake terrorism tip.
CAM: He did what?
BOOTH: Oh, what? Now suddenly there’s a line here?
BRENNAN: You can’t allow this.
BOOTH: I’m a hundred percent against it.
CAM: Seeley, you hate diplomatic immunity.
BOOTH: Well, I’m against it when it’s interfering with my murder investigation but the world’s bigger than that.
CAM: What are you talking about?
BOOTH: We cheat diplomatic immunity here in DC, we catch a murderer. That’s great. They do it in “Upper Kamikazestan” and our boys end up on a red-hot spit over a slow fire.
BRENNAN: There’s no such place as “Kamikazestan.”
BOOTH: Ok, bottom line is, we ignore diplomatic immunity and the rest of the world finds out, it’s open season on Americans. So you know what? Thanks for the effort and the fake file. (takes file and rips it) But let’s just remember, all right? We’re the good guys. Oh, I’m gonna need that real evidence file too.
So being the good guys does not mean taking the law into your own hands to suit what you need in the short term. Now we have a situation where a long term need is suddenly coming out in the open and a cover up that has been going on for 30 years will have very personal and dramatic implications, way beyond a single murder investigation. The case begins with the discovery of a burnt body on a hotel roof. Booth immeditely identifies the victim as a snitch left out as a warning to others. However, The body is identified as a former FBI agent Garrett Delaney, now working as a private contractor. When they investigate his home Booth and Brennan find a room filled with surveillance pictures of Russ. As a former sniper, Booth recognises that the pictures are ranges used to shoot a target. A message Russ has brought from their father that they are in danger suddenly gathers more resonance.
Further investigation of clues left at the scene leads Booth to a conspiracy that will need Caroline's intervention to uncover. Booth maintains a cool exterior, but he must feel betrayed by what he discovers.
BARBARA: The FBI murdered Gus. Then they had a state funeral for him, complete with the grieving widow as the centerpiece.
BRENNAN: (shows Barbara a page from the notebook) Is this your husbands handwriting?
BARBARA: Yes. He was compiling evidence.
BOOTH: And there’s more?
BARBARA: There was a diary, a dozen audio tapes, field notes…
BOOTH: Where did Gus keep it?
BARBARA: Safety deposit box.
BOOTH: Can you tell us where that uh, safety deposit box was?
BARBARA: Ohio First Savings and Loan in Dayton.
(Brennan and Booth exchange glances – they both have a realization and Brennan leaves the room – Booth goes to follow her)
BOOTH: (to Barbara) Excuse me one moment.
(he follows Brennan outside the conference room)
BRENNAN: My parents robbed that exact bank just days after Gus Harper was killed. They were looking for that evidence. That has to be why Delaney was stalking Russ.
BOOTH: Go home. I have a few more questions for Barbara Harper, Okay. You go home and you be with your brother, all right?
BRENNAN: Okay. (to self) Okay.
This new twist, that an agent was murdered to cover up some corruption and a black civil rights leader was framed for it, suddenly makes the situation very dangerous and Booth is all about keeping others safe. So he sends Brennan out of harm's way and goes about getting a judge to order the exhumation of Agent Harper's body to prove he was indeed murdered by the FBI.
The link in all of this is Brennan's father:
BOOTH: Delaney’s murder, the threats on Russ’s life - this is all happening now because of a little metal dolphin we found on your Mother’s grave. FBI field unit in Denver, traced it to a local artist in Mead, Colorado.
BRENNAN: …who identified Dad as the buyer. But Delaney left the FBI, 15 years ago.
BOOTH: And somebody told him about your Dad..
BRENNAN: And didn’t tell you?
BOOTH: They’re part of the conspiracy.
BRENNAN: You must be annoyed.
BOOTH: Yeah. Ya know what? I am. And I don’t like finding out there’s a dirty FBI Agent in this building. (he closes the door to his office)
Here’s what I think happened. Delaney goes to your Father, he asks him to hand over the evidence. He doesn’t do it, he kills you or Russ.
BRENNAN: Dad calls Russ to warn him…and then..kills Delaney.
BOOTH: Guts him, burns him. Leaves a calling card. “Don’t mess with Max Keenan’s kids”
BRENNAN: Am I supposed to like that?
BOOTH: Ya know, Bones. I’ll take a stand up crook over a crooked cop any day of the week.
That interesting observation tells us something about Booth that may come as a surprise, but I think he gets where Max is coming from. What Max, the standup crook, is doing is protecting his family, not acting for personal gain or greed. He will not try to put the blame on anyone else, he will remove the guilty party and end the danger. 'Father Coulter' adds further evidence of this:
FATHER COULTER: Well, Max, always uh, did things his way.
BOOTH: Guess you being a priest didn’t have much of an effect on him.
FATHER COULTER: Son, I spent my whole life trying to turn Max’s life to Jesus. He knows exactly one bible verse. Numbers 35:19.
BOOTH: “The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer. When he meeteth him, he shall slay him”.
BRENNAN: What’s that mean?
BOOTH: That’s the Law of the Jungle.
Anyway, the autopsy proves Harper was killed by a military sniper; Marvin Beckett is innocent and released. Bad guys revealed, good guys win, right? Wrong. Booth is summoned by his boss's boss's boss. Deputy Director Kirby.
KIRBY: You’re what’s known as a real pain in the ass, Agent Booth.
BOOTH: Yes, sir.
KIRBY: I just had my testicles handed to me by the Attorney General of the United States of America. He wanted to know why this Marvin Beckett issue wasn’t done slowly and carefully with greater forethought and tact. You know what I told him?
BOOTH: No, sir.
KIRBY: I told him, I did not know.
BOOTH: Sir, I had to do it the way I did it because the FBI is -
KIRBY: Not. Your. Decision, Booth. You’re suspended without pay. Gun, ID, Security card, please.
BOOTH: Sir, I’m entitled to the reading of the charges against me.
KIRBY: The charges - against you - is that I was pissed upon from a very great height. You’re outta here in ten minutes.
(Booth takes his gun and badge and lays it on Kirby’s desk)
So Booth is fired for doing his job and not following protocols. Kirby, basically has been made to look like an idiot in the eyes of his bosses and so he takes the easy way out and gets rid of Booth. In all of this, Booth was serving what he perceives as justice and the truth. However, instead of arresting the guilty he is now powerless and under a cloud. Fortunately he has friends to help him solve the case, which is that Kirby was the military sniper who killed Harper.
Before he can do anything about that Max Keenan makes himself known to Brennan and she tries to detain him. Booth arrives but does not pursue Max as he escapes with Russ. Why?
Well technically, he has no authority, but I don't think that would usually stop him. I think he does it because he knows that in those circumstances he would have done the same thing. He doesn't blame Max for using the law of the jungle when he has no other recourse. What can a career criminal do to expose injustice other than to mete out the justice himself? Besides, beyond circumstantial evidence there is no concrete link between Max, Delaney and Kirby. Max has killed the two men who were threatening his children and has disappeared again.
Booth as a hunter himself is in a difficult position. How are Kirby's actions any different? The difference is what he did as a sniper was done at the behest of the United States Government in war zones and to satisfy patriotic needs. There is nothing patriotic about Kirby's actions which resulted in the deaths of innocents such as Harper and Ruth Keenan. While Booth suffers the guilt for his actions in taking a human life, Kirby had no such compunction and used his power to gain privilege and rank, something Booth has never done.
This episode dealt with the shades of grey which often cloud the halls of justice. Max sees things in black and white; Booth wants to, but has bureaucracy to deal with too. When he cuts through the red tape the corruption is at such a high level that he loses his job, for no other reason than the deputy director is angry and threatened. If losing his job is the price to keep the FBI clean, and if Max Keenan's way is the justice that it takes, then so be it. Booth could never have exposed Kirby and got the punishment he deserved under the auspices of the law. So law of the jungle it is. A soldier such as Booth can swallow the moral ambiguities. As an FBI Agent, he can't.
The other dilemma Booth faces is the fact that Max is Brennan's father. How can he arrest his partner's dad? He finds it difficult to deal emotionally:
BOOTH: It is my job to find your dad and put him in prison.
BRENNAN: And you don’t think I’ll help?
BOOTH: What? He’s your father. I really don’t think I should have to ask you to help.
BRENNAN: He abandoned me, Booth. And that’s the best thing you can say about him.
BOOTH: Your father lives by a certain code, and part of that code is defending his family by whatever means necessary.
BRENNAN: You mean killing people and setting their corpses on fire.
BOOTH: Any means necessary sorta covers that.
BRENNAN: You respect him?
BOOTH: I’m just saying, in his world, he’s a very honorable man.
BRENNAN: That’s ridiculous. There’s only one world; it’s this one.
BOOTH: Would that be the one world where you’re mad at me for trying to catch your father or the other world where you actually want him caught?
Trying to do his job while not upsetting Bones is virtually impossible for Booth because he is thinking how he would react in those circumstances. He is forgetting the rational Brennan would be logical and expect him to do his job. This of course is finally resolved in Season 3, but family man Booth finds it difficult to reconcile and no doubt fears that Bones will hate him.
In conclusion, the music at the end of the episode is more than just a pretty tune. I think it encapsulates Booth, how this case has affected his personal moral code and what he would wish. So here's Placebo and the lyrics for Running Up That Hill.
It doesn't hurt me.
You wanna feel how it feels?
You wanna know, know that it doesn't hurt me?
You wanna hear about the deal I'm making?
You be running up that hill
You and me be running up that hill
And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building.
If I only could, oh...
You don't wanna hurt me,
But see how deep the bullet lies.
Unaware that I'm tearing you asunder.
There's a thunder in our hearts, baby.
So much hate for the ones we love?
Tell me, we both matter, don't we?
Cold grey damp day but I am feeling better after 12 hours in bed with a hot water bottle. That meant I missed the England game which is just as well as we were poor, downright shocking in fact. Poor Jordan had to be involved in that. Not his fault. In better news Benty is back training. Wonder if we can play two up against Everton on Monday? My fantasy team 206 Bones Utd. scored 55 points this week. 2nd in the league now.
A BOOTH FOR ALL SEASONS
SEASON 2 - True Blue Booth
We've already seen that Booth thinks there is nothing better than the FBI. But what does he do when the FBI is the guilty party responsible for the murder and incarceration of innocents? He does his best to put it right of course. Booth has already shown what he thinks of corruption, or at least shady practices in the way the guilty party was dealt with in The Girl in Suite 2103. When it looked like the murderer would claim diplomatic immunity to get away with murder, Cam proposes a massaging of the facts.
BRENNAN: You are fabricating a scenario by misrepresenting the evidence and omitting key facts.
CAM: It’s a bluff. Cops do it all the time.
BOOTH: So you think if we frame Antonio, Judge Ramos will confess to save her own son.
CAM: What mother wouldn’t?
BOOTH: Bones?
BRENNAN: No, no.
CAM: It’s no different than lying to a criminal to get a confession.
BOOTH: Or having Hodgins call the FAA with a fake terrorism tip.
CAM: He did what?
BOOTH: Oh, what? Now suddenly there’s a line here?
BRENNAN: You can’t allow this.
BOOTH: I’m a hundred percent against it.
CAM: Seeley, you hate diplomatic immunity.
BOOTH: Well, I’m against it when it’s interfering with my murder investigation but the world’s bigger than that.
CAM: What are you talking about?
BOOTH: We cheat diplomatic immunity here in DC, we catch a murderer. That’s great. They do it in “Upper Kamikazestan” and our boys end up on a red-hot spit over a slow fire.
BRENNAN: There’s no such place as “Kamikazestan.”
BOOTH: Ok, bottom line is, we ignore diplomatic immunity and the rest of the world finds out, it’s open season on Americans. So you know what? Thanks for the effort and the fake file. (takes file and rips it) But let’s just remember, all right? We’re the good guys. Oh, I’m gonna need that real evidence file too.
So being the good guys does not mean taking the law into your own hands to suit what you need in the short term. Now we have a situation where a long term need is suddenly coming out in the open and a cover up that has been going on for 30 years will have very personal and dramatic implications, way beyond a single murder investigation. The case begins with the discovery of a burnt body on a hotel roof. Booth immeditely identifies the victim as a snitch left out as a warning to others. However, The body is identified as a former FBI agent Garrett Delaney, now working as a private contractor. When they investigate his home Booth and Brennan find a room filled with surveillance pictures of Russ. As a former sniper, Booth recognises that the pictures are ranges used to shoot a target. A message Russ has brought from their father that they are in danger suddenly gathers more resonance.
Further investigation of clues left at the scene leads Booth to a conspiracy that will need Caroline's intervention to uncover. Booth maintains a cool exterior, but he must feel betrayed by what he discovers.
BARBARA: The FBI murdered Gus. Then they had a state funeral for him, complete with the grieving widow as the centerpiece.
BRENNAN: (shows Barbara a page from the notebook) Is this your husbands handwriting?
BARBARA: Yes. He was compiling evidence.
BOOTH: And there’s more?
BARBARA: There was a diary, a dozen audio tapes, field notes…
BOOTH: Where did Gus keep it?
BARBARA: Safety deposit box.
BOOTH: Can you tell us where that uh, safety deposit box was?
BARBARA: Ohio First Savings and Loan in Dayton.
(Brennan and Booth exchange glances – they both have a realization and Brennan leaves the room – Booth goes to follow her)
BOOTH: (to Barbara) Excuse me one moment.
(he follows Brennan outside the conference room)
BRENNAN: My parents robbed that exact bank just days after Gus Harper was killed. They were looking for that evidence. That has to be why Delaney was stalking Russ.
BOOTH: Go home. I have a few more questions for Barbara Harper, Okay. You go home and you be with your brother, all right?
BRENNAN: Okay. (to self) Okay.
This new twist, that an agent was murdered to cover up some corruption and a black civil rights leader was framed for it, suddenly makes the situation very dangerous and Booth is all about keeping others safe. So he sends Brennan out of harm's way and goes about getting a judge to order the exhumation of Agent Harper's body to prove he was indeed murdered by the FBI.
The link in all of this is Brennan's father:
BOOTH: Delaney’s murder, the threats on Russ’s life - this is all happening now because of a little metal dolphin we found on your Mother’s grave. FBI field unit in Denver, traced it to a local artist in Mead, Colorado.
BRENNAN: …who identified Dad as the buyer. But Delaney left the FBI, 15 years ago.
BOOTH: And somebody told him about your Dad..
BRENNAN: And didn’t tell you?
BOOTH: They’re part of the conspiracy.
BRENNAN: You must be annoyed.
BOOTH: Yeah. Ya know what? I am. And I don’t like finding out there’s a dirty FBI Agent in this building. (he closes the door to his office)
BRENNAN: Dad calls Russ to warn him…and then..kills Delaney.
BOOTH: Guts him, burns him. Leaves a calling card. “Don’t mess with Max Keenan’s kids”
BRENNAN: Am I supposed to like that?
BOOTH: Ya know, Bones. I’ll take a stand up crook over a crooked cop any day of the week.
That interesting observation tells us something about Booth that may come as a surprise, but I think he gets where Max is coming from. What Max, the standup crook, is doing is protecting his family, not acting for personal gain or greed. He will not try to put the blame on anyone else, he will remove the guilty party and end the danger. 'Father Coulter' adds further evidence of this:
FATHER COULTER: Well, Max, always uh, did things his way.
BOOTH: Guess you being a priest didn’t have much of an effect on him.
FATHER COULTER: Son, I spent my whole life trying to turn Max’s life to Jesus. He knows exactly one bible verse. Numbers 35:19.
BOOTH: “The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer. When he meeteth him, he shall slay him”.
BRENNAN: What’s that mean?
BOOTH: That’s the Law of the Jungle.
Anyway, the autopsy proves Harper was killed by a military sniper; Marvin Beckett is innocent and released. Bad guys revealed, good guys win, right? Wrong. Booth is summoned by his boss's boss's boss. Deputy Director Kirby.
KIRBY: You’re what’s known as a real pain in the ass, Agent Booth.
BOOTH: Yes, sir.
KIRBY: I just had my testicles handed to me by the Attorney General of the United States of America. He wanted to know why this Marvin Beckett issue wasn’t done slowly and carefully with greater forethought and tact. You know what I told him?
KIRBY: I told him, I did not know.
BOOTH: Sir, I had to do it the way I did it because the FBI is -
KIRBY: Not. Your. Decision, Booth. You’re suspended without pay. Gun, ID, Security card, please.
BOOTH: Sir, I’m entitled to the reading of the charges against me.
KIRBY: The charges - against you - is that I was pissed upon from a very great height. You’re outta here in ten minutes.
(Booth takes his gun and badge and lays it on Kirby’s desk)
So Booth is fired for doing his job and not following protocols. Kirby, basically has been made to look like an idiot in the eyes of his bosses and so he takes the easy way out and gets rid of Booth. In all of this, Booth was serving what he perceives as justice and the truth. However, instead of arresting the guilty he is now powerless and under a cloud. Fortunately he has friends to help him solve the case, which is that Kirby was the military sniper who killed Harper.
Before he can do anything about that Max Keenan makes himself known to Brennan and she tries to detain him. Booth arrives but does not pursue Max as he escapes with Russ. Why?
Booth as a hunter himself is in a difficult position. How are Kirby's actions any different? The difference is what he did as a sniper was done at the behest of the United States Government in war zones and to satisfy patriotic needs. There is nothing patriotic about Kirby's actions which resulted in the deaths of innocents such as Harper and Ruth Keenan. While Booth suffers the guilt for his actions in taking a human life, Kirby had no such compunction and used his power to gain privilege and rank, something Booth has never done.
This episode dealt with the shades of grey which often cloud the halls of justice. Max sees things in black and white; Booth wants to, but has bureaucracy to deal with too. When he cuts through the red tape the corruption is at such a high level that he loses his job, for no other reason than the deputy director is angry and threatened. If losing his job is the price to keep the FBI clean, and if Max Keenan's way is the justice that it takes, then so be it. Booth could never have exposed Kirby and got the punishment he deserved under the auspices of the law. So law of the jungle it is. A soldier such as Booth can swallow the moral ambiguities. As an FBI Agent, he can't.
The other dilemma Booth faces is the fact that Max is Brennan's father. How can he arrest his partner's dad? He finds it difficult to deal emotionally:
BOOTH: It is my job to find your dad and put him in prison.
BRENNAN: And you don’t think I’ll help?
BOOTH: What? He’s your father. I really don’t think I should have to ask you to help.
BRENNAN: He abandoned me, Booth. And that’s the best thing you can say about him.
BOOTH: Your father lives by a certain code, and part of that code is defending his family by whatever means necessary.
BRENNAN: You mean killing people and setting their corpses on fire.
BOOTH: Any means necessary sorta covers that.
BRENNAN: You respect him?
BOOTH: I’m just saying, in his world, he’s a very honorable man.
BRENNAN: That’s ridiculous. There’s only one world; it’s this one.
BOOTH: Would that be the one world where you’re mad at me for trying to catch your father or the other world where you actually want him caught?
Trying to do his job while not upsetting Bones is virtually impossible for Booth because he is thinking how he would react in those circumstances. He is forgetting the rational Brennan would be logical and expect him to do his job. This of course is finally resolved in Season 3, but family man Booth finds it difficult to reconcile and no doubt fears that Bones will hate him.
In conclusion, the music at the end of the episode is more than just a pretty tune. I think it encapsulates Booth, how this case has affected his personal moral code and what he would wish. So here's Placebo and the lyrics for Running Up That Hill.
It doesn't hurt me.
You wanna feel how it feels?
You wanna know, know that it doesn't hurt me?
You wanna hear about the deal I'm making?
You be running up that hill
You and me be running up that hill
And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building.
If I only could, oh...
You don't wanna hurt me,
But see how deep the bullet lies.
Unaware that I'm tearing you asunder.
There's a thunder in our hearts, baby.
So much hate for the ones we love?
Tell me, we both matter, don't we?
You, be running up that hill
You and me, be running up that hill
You and me won't be unhappy.
And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building,
If I only could, oh...
C'mon, baby, c'mon, c'mon, darling,
Let me steal this moment from you now.
C'mon, angel, c'mon, c'mon, darling,
Let's exchange the experience, oh...'
And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
With no problems [x2]
'If I only could, be running up that hill.'
You and me, be running up that hill
You and me won't be unhappy.
And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building,
If I only could, oh...
C'mon, baby, c'mon, c'mon, darling,
Let me steal this moment from you now.
C'mon, angel, c'mon, c'mon, darling,
Let's exchange the experience, oh...'
And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
With no problems [x2]
'If I only could, be running up that hill.'
Cold grey damp day but I am feeling better after 12 hours in bed with a hot water bottle. That meant I missed the England game which is just as well as we were poor, downright shocking in fact. Poor Jordan had to be involved in that. Not his fault. In better news Benty is back training. Wonder if we can play two up against Everton on Monday? My fantasy team 206 Bones Utd. scored 55 points this week. 2nd in the league now.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-18 06:03 pm (UTC)Reading this is just making me pine for Season 2, and the really intriguing story arcs. It was so engaging. I remember watching it and couldn't wait to see what happened next.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-18 07:16 pm (UTC)Placebo is def ethereal and way creepy. Voice and pace do it.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-26 01:05 pm (UTC)This. Totally.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-18 11:03 pm (UTC)And great insight into the difference theween Booth's moral code as a soldier and as an FBI agent.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-19 06:45 am (UTC)Booth's code to live by is about to get another knock in my next posting. This NaBloPoMo month is keeping me on my toes!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-26 01:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-26 03:46 pm (UTC)fiordsgood old days. It was an excellent episode and just grows with each viewing.(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-26 04:34 pm (UTC)Great insight. Get better soon.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-26 04:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-26 07:47 pm (UTC)Until this meta, I interpreted the song as fitting Max and Brennan...Never even thought of it as a "Booth" song. Now, after your post, I wonder why I didn't see it before.
Just shows to go that a really well-placed song can have many interpretations.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-26 09:32 pm (UTC)However, it's a song for all chracters in some part or another so there we are.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-27 07:13 am (UTC)[shrugs.] I never heard the song in its entirety before, not having heard Kate Bush's version, either. The lyrics really clarify it.
Your point's valid; Booth would make a deal with God, if he could. Max, on the other hand, would make a deal with the devil..