Bones

[mistletoe]

It took me three tries and a system restore to get a copy I could actually watch (thank you rapid download program - 3 downloads in three hours) but by Jove it was worth it.

This episode was excellent. The Widow's son Gormanghast (I'm as bad as Booth I don't know the word) telling was gripping. I admit I was scared for the first time in the whole show at various points in the story. Eg the old guy in the nursing home and considerably creeped out by the minutiae of the body parts. I won't waste time on the fangirly aspects of Brennan being the one to kiss Booth ( although I noted his discomfiture then and when Amy hugged him) and move swiftly on to the coolness that was Booth in the whole thing. 

I accept his infatuation with Sweets as investigative psychiatrist because I think he was enamoured of Gordon-Gordon's take on his psyche and isn't as eager as Bones to dismiss it. To me it fits in with his 'go with your gut' instinctive reaction to cases. Besides, he doesn't have the intellectual capability to psycho-analyse a killer and Bones certainly doesn't and there is no harm in using somebody with that kind of profiling skill. This was also shown in the way Booth did nothing himself to save Russ but used the right tools in the Archbishop and Sweets to convince the judge while still apparently following protocol. 

His pursuit of Gormagon when he figured out the reason for the bombing was also exemplary Booth and what he did when the killer dived in the pool with the kid was so him. In fact I think this episode re-instated Booth as hero in the old literary sense by making him do things which apparently went unrecognised for no other reason than to do the right thing. It was like what Angel said after his epiphany: there is no big win; the act of doing something is its own reward.

Everybody showing their own way of dealing with the situation at the end was also very revealing, Angela studying the texts; Zach studying the skeleton; Booth taking target practice, illustrating the strengths that each brings to the team and showed that the investigation, though stalled, will go on and everyone is doing their best to caatch the cannibal.

My video cut out as the lobbyist opened the door on his attacker so I hope that was blackout and I didn't miss anything. I admit I looked away as I knew that was going to happen. Secret Societies don't just give up after one little setback.

Of course, being Bones it wasn't perfect. Max irritated me; Bones was particularly stupid in the set up of the skeleton shipping and I think Booth let her off lightly, while Amy turning up out of the blue felt like a Mary Sue to illustrate what families really mean, but other than that: Go team!

Meanwhile, my water heater seems to have packed in. How inconvenient. I don't use a lot of hot water so I just put the immersion heater on to do the washing up, but I'll have to send for the Gas board to fix it. Yay for Homecare insurance. And we have a Friday off at the end of the month so they can come then. Every cloud has a silver lining I suppose.

Happy Thanksgiving America!

Comments

[laisserais]

For about the first half of this ep, i was so irritated that i almost turned it off. i had a moment where i thought: what else could i be doing with my tuesday nights?

because every episode is exactly the same. i always know that the first scene is going to have something gory in it. the next scene will be the squints rapidly figuring out a bunch of stuff, and pretty much the first person they interview for the murder will be the murderer.

so yeah, i was irritated. but then it got better. i confess that i'm a sucker for conspiracy theories. the gormagon (i think that's how you spell it?) stuff is interesting. i wish they'd shown more of the difficulty in solving some of their breakthroughs.

and the family stuff i still find to be heavy-handed. the kid and the girlfriend of Russ and all... and bones' dad. yeah. meh. it's just too syrupy for me.

but the explosion was awesome. what wasn't awesome, for me, was the fact that booth ran away from a car crash to catch a killer, without backup. in fact, i'm really tired of booth going after killers all the time without backup. this is a procedural. booth is not a superhero, you know? so it makes it seem like he's the only cop/FBI agent in an entire city when he does this. plus, in this case, it was irresponsible. i enjoyed watching him rescue the kid, but it felt like danger-porn or something. it felt gratuitous. and then there's no discussion of it afterwards. he never says that he was close to capturing the guy.

plus, later, booth and bones both are walking around in the same clothes they got blown up in. that's just kind of unrealistic, imo. why didn't they go to the hospital? or at least go home and change?

i'm a little worried that the show is moving away from being a procedural with UST on the side towards being the bones/booth show, which just happens to be set in a crime lab. i enjoy the UST, for sure, but i wish they'd dial it down sometimes. it feels like they're really trying to sell it, and imo, that kind of thing works much better when you let the audience build it for themselves, you know?

it feels a little like they're telling me to want to see booth and bones hook-up, which natrually just makes me not want to see it. *g*

but i love Bones. I love DB, and i want him to stay on tv. the serial killer thread is fascinating, and this ep was good, particularly for the creepiness factor. i guess mostly i'm just bummed because i can't meta this show, you know? everything is on the surface, and it's all just sort of laid out for the audience. so i think i need to treat it like candy: enjoy it but don't expect it to give you any substance.

and oh! you didn't miss anything in that scene. the lobbyist opens the door and that's it- it goes to credits.

[a-mistletoe.livejournal.com]

I think you're right in what you say about the way the show is forcing the UST on the audience at the expense of procedural 'thrills' but DB has said the show wasn't procedural per se but driven by relationships (of course, that's David's take and he's not known for in depth thinking).

This was my first opportunity (Season 3 epi 8) to attempt any meta and I admit it's pretty thin. Still, Bones is just a a little show in the scheme of things, and as I'm not a Supernatural or Heroes fan, I take what I can get.

Bones refused to go to the hospital, so must have been patched up by the EMTs on site although I agree they should have changed clothes at least. Remember how fastidious Booth was about his shirt in Season 1. Still, he has dressed down since then.

As for his tendency to gallop off in hot pursuit he had a split second to decide he needed to go and save the lobbyist's life or to wait for backup from some non-existent other agents on the case. Being Booth he went with his gut. At least that's my excuse for such maverick behaviour and I'm sticking to it.

I don't go for the family stuff. It's all been clunky and unrealistic and the only one we know little and contradictory things about is Booth's e.g. where he's from. Was his father in the forces? I remember his mother was some sort of cartoonist or illustrator for advertising or something arty and he has a brother, but other than that we don't know much about his upbringing.

Love your input. Thanks for giving me such thought!