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.
