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mistletoeLJ is being a complete arse and not allowing rich text posting on my entries. What a pain as I am in need of not having to code the whole entry. LJ Hook is my saviour.
Anyhoo. First here are my banners of victory!!!
Cool huh?
So with Boothiness in mind and my fingers crossed that this doesn't take 6 hours to do in html, let us look at the next two episodes of Season 3 Booth.
BOOTH IN SEASON 3 - The High School 'hero'
BRENNAN: You know, Angela was right. You were one of “those guys”.
BOOTH: What? One of what guys?
The Boy in the Time Capsule allows us to see what Booth was like as a teenager. We already have a vague idea of a jock who did well with girls, but this episode gives some actual examples. Initially, Booth is being Booth in the way he reacts to being back in a high school:
BOOTH: Wow. Now this is a sweet field. This is what I'm talking about, right. I mean, it's nothing like ours but hey, that didn't stop me from being MVP my Senior year. Got the trophy. Touchdown!
BRENNAN: In certain tribes in the African subcontinent, piercings serve as a reminder – like your trophy – of the power and agility which has since faded away.
BOOTH: What do you mean fade away...Woah! Time out. Can we just concentrate on the case.
This is archetypal behaviour from the two of them: Booth remembering his juvenile glory and Brennan seeing such ability as unimportant in the present. Her dig at fading powers and agility gets under Booth's skin and he immediately drops the subject in case she makes further inroads on his self image. Being good at sports, MVP even, is crucial to Booth's male ego and being belittled for it hurts. As a masculine marker in his society, sporting prowess is important, but Brennan does not see such ability as vital.
The crux of what we find out about Booth's teenage years is his reaction to Brennan's shared story of her high school years. The one time she was weighing the pros and cons of going out with a boy he becomes her secret Santa and humiliates her by taping Brainy Smurf to her locker. She had wanted Smurfette. In spite of promising not to laugh, Booth cannot help himself and sniggers.
He then makes matters worse by laughing through his attempts to say he is not laughing. Now to most people, such a reaction would have been shared, but Brennan isn't most people and as she says, teenagers can be cruel. Booth has clearly never been on the receiving end of that sort of cruelty and so cannot share her hurt.
This is made clearer when the topic comes up at their next session with Sweets. As yet, Sweets is not the irritant he becomes later. His role is clearly defined in Booth's mind and his purpose is to do his job.
BOOTH: Come on, Sweets! Just, come on! You've done a lot of psychological profiling! The case is twenty years old. We just need some help.
Sweets has a different view of why they are meeting.
SWEETS: That's not why we're here today, Agent Booth. This hour is for you and Dr. Brennan.
Consequently, and in spite of Booth's objections, he intervenes with the relationship in the name of resolving issues between them that might interfere with their working partnership, in this case perfectly legitimately.
SWEETS: You look angry, Dr. Brennan.
BRENNAN: (frustrated) I told Agent Booth a private story about my childhood and he laughed.
BOOTH: What? No. I – (to Brennan in a half whisper) I was appreciating it. Don't get him involved.
BRENNAN: Snorting does not suggest appreciation.
BOOTH: It was about a cartoon character from the 1980's! I didn't think you'd be so sensitive.
SWEETS: Well, childhood icons have great significance to us, Agent Booth. All right. I, myself, was very attached to Voltron. (Booth and Brennan just look at him) Cartoon.
BOOTH: Voltron?
SWEETS: You're hurt, Dr. Brennan, because you feel you opened yourself up to Agent Booth and he betrayed that trust.
BOOTH: You're talking about a Smurf.
BRENNAN: (defensive) Smurfette.
Considering how attached to his own teenage icons Booth is, it is insensitive of him to mock Brennan's. This feeds into an earlier assertion Booth had made about Brennan being another guy (sort of) because she was his partner. He has not taken into account here that as a teenage girl she had been sensitive to ridicule whereas a guy would see it as a rite of passage and laugh it off. So there is no avoiding the issue now she has raised it in their therapy session.
SWEETS: Perhaps a way to bring this relationship back into symmetry is if you reveal a childhood story about yourself. Show your vulnerability to Dr. Brennan.
BOOTH: No. You know what? This is crazy. It's – it's not right. Tell him that it's not right.
BRENNAN: Is it?
BOOTH: Oh! You're on his side. Why don't you go play Voltron with him.
SWEETS: You were “that guy” weren't you, Agent Booth. You were the golden boy who could get away with anything just by turning on the charm.
BOOTH: That's ridiculous. You don't even know who I am.
SWEETS: Could it be that you're still holding on to that persona. That you're afraid to reveal yourself?
BOOTH: I'm an FBI Agent. I get shot at everyday. I'm not afraid of anything.
SWEETS: Okay, this is obviously very difficult for you but you shouldn't be ashamed to ask for help.
(Booth looks over at Brennan)
BRENNAN: You shouldn't.
Although I think Booth is right that Sweets and Brennan are on the same side and they resent his popularity, I also think Sweets is right in his assessment of Booth as the golden boy who could turn on the charm to get his way. He does still do that, as recently as The Secret in the Soil where he drank glasses of lemonade just to get the information he wanted out of the tobacco farmer's wife. It is also true that he is afraid to reveal himself, although when we take into account the home circumstances and the contained rage he has, it may be understandable. Not being afraid of getting shot at is one thing; being afraid to show personal failings is another and Booth does not like appearing a failure, in any part of his life. Again, I think we can understand why. Booth however, has been backed into a corner and in order to get out he has to agree to the challenge.
BOOTH: Okay. Okay. I apologise. I do. I need help – (he pauses, and Sweets finally thinks he's had a breakthrough) – with this case. So, while you review this, I will reveal myself to Bones. (Booth places his hand on Brennan's leg - Sweets takes notice) I know that sounded weird, but you know what I mean.
BRENNAN: So you will share an emotionally humiliating episode from your youth with me.
BOOTH: Yeah. I – I have 'em. Here. (He hands the file to Sweets)
SWEETS: (taking the file) All right, excellent. Now, for the remainder of our time, let's role play.
BOOTH: (putting on a hat) Now I know why I'm not allowed to bring my gun in here.
Whether the gun remark is related to the fact he has a cowboy hat or the general idea of role play isn't clear.
So what emotionally humiliating episodes has Booth got?
Exhibit A: Public nudity.
BRENNAN: Pretty sure that Sweets would say a lost baseball game - is not personal or revealing.
BOOTH: Football, Bones. Okay. It's Football. Oh, okay. I got one. All right, personally, between two people or revealing like, uh...aha! (he whispers) naked?
BRENNAN: That's very literal.
BOOTH: There was this girl, Karen Eisley, and we were under the bleachers one night – personally.. With me?
BRENNAN: Got it. You were having sex, in the dirt, under the bleachers.
BOOTH: Excuse me, I'm a gentleman. I brought my sleeping bag.
BRENNAN: Did you fail to perform sexually?
BOOTH: What?
BRENNAN: Cause that might actually count as a humiliation. (she walks past him)
BOOTH: Will you just wait. Will you just - (he starts sprinting after her, stopping her.) - allow me to tell my story.
BRENNAN: Fine.
BOOTH: Thank you. All right, so this girl had this game where she would ask me a question-
BRENNAN: (interrupting) What kind of question?
BOOTH: It doesn't matter – okay, so if I got the question wrong I'd have to take off a piece of my clothing. Of course, I knew all the answers but I pretended that I didn't.
BRENNAN: So you could take off your clothes.
BOOTH: Exactly. No. The point is I'm standing there, ya know, in my socks and my St. Christopher medal – she runs off. She runs off with the sleeping bag and all my clothes and I'm standing there, starko-
BRENNAN: Well, why did she do that?
BOOTH: Well, I suppose she heard I was under the bleachers with another girl the week before...
BRENNAN: Okay, this is a story about sexual prowess, Booth. You're bragging.
BOOTH: (laughing) I had to run across the campus buck naked.
BRENNAN: You're laughing about it now. You enjoyed displaying your penis. It showed alpha male mastery. Only one other person knew about Brainy Smurf. It was my mother. (she takes off into his office)
BOOTH: (he starts after her again) It's cold. Okay. It's was cold. Do you know what happens to a guy when it is cold (he notices Gil sitting in his office) outside?
This sounds like a fairly typical Booth experience. We have already heard of one encounter under the bleachers in 8th grade and a night in a bunker at the local golf course. The difference here is that the girl got her revenge on Booth for his hound-like behaviour. And Brennan is right: this wasn't emotionally humiliating for Booth.
Exhibit B: degrading job
BOOTH: Hey, I scraped grills at a Burger Shack for $3.55 an hour. That's humiliating.
BRENNAN: Nice try.
All teenagers have that sort of job.
Exhibit C: The Prom
BOOTH: Okay, Bones, so there was this girl, okay? Sharay Bellapini. Sharay, Sharay. She was the coolest, hottest girl in high school and I wanted to ask her to my junior prom. So what I did was, I bribed the suck up who did the morning announcements-
BRENNAN: Suck up?
BOOTH: Yeah, the kids who did anything to please the teachers. So I get on the loud speaker and I ask her to the prom.
BRENNAN: Uh huh.
BOOTH: On the loudspeaker.
BRENNAN: Thi-This is your embarrassing story?
BOOTH: On the loudspeaker!
BRENNAN: Yeah.
BOOTH: I got laughed at for weeks.
BRENNAN: Did she go with you to the prom?
BOOTH: Sure.
BRENNAN: Okay, this is merely another story of victory and sexual conquest.
(Brennan presses the doorbell.)
BOOTH: Look, Bones, they laughed at me. Okay? Laughing has got to count for something.
BRENNAN: There's no public humiliation in that story, Booth.
Well, if you don't count being laughed at for weeks as public humiliation she's right. On the other hand, the Brainy Smurf story probably resulted in being laughed at too so it's a moot point. Still, she is right that Booth was not publically humiliated in that Sharay did go to Prom with him. Also, the way he tells the story using terms like 'suck up' and 'kids who did anything to please the teachers' suggests he was really unaffected by the laughter as it only lasted for weeks and the loudspeaker announcement was a one off.
The boorish side of Booth is apparent the next time he sees Sweets, but at least he can now rein it in somewhat.
Again, Sweets is actually doing his job here, although the chance to get out of his office clearly goes to his head and he becomes a more frequent visitor to the Lab, for less well-defined reasons.
SWEETS: Well, the murder happened at night on a high school playing field, not a likely place to find adults. Plus, teenagers are dominated by their ids, which make them act irrationally. Physiologically, their judgment's impaired by an incomplete frontal lobe.
BOOTH: You're what, 22, right? How's your front lobe? Almost there?
SWEETS: Again, a hectoring tone.
BOOTH: All right, look, I'm sorry, just keep going.
SWEETS: All right, there was no sexual assault, no theft. The watch and other effects were still on him. Further indications that this was just a rash and youthful act.
BOOTH: Right, right. That's good - for a kid.
BRENNAN: This is guesswork, Booth.
SWEETS: It's a logical interpretation of subjective analysis by a highly intelligent expert in his field, actually. The killer knew the exact date the time capsule would be opened when he put the victim in there. He's been waiting twenty years for that body to be found so he could reconcile himself with his past and finally pay for his crime.
BOOTH: Like Terry Stinson?
SWEETS: No. (sighs) I think you're looking for someone who's been punishing himself for years. Someone self-destructive, working far below his potential.
BOOTH: Then why doesn't he just confess?
SWEETS: Most likely he has in some way, Agent Booth. The question is, were you listening?
BRENNAN: Agent Booth is an incredibly good listener.
BOOTH: Yeah, I really am. It's my strength.
SWEETS: Then perhaps the time capsule was just a convenient place to stash a body. You know, profiling's not an exact science - (Brennan rolls her eyes.) -but I hope I'm right. I really want to tell my girlfriend I helped catch a murderer. It'd be a good night for me.
My first urge to say 'Go away Sweets' struck about now.
Anyway, he proves more or less correct and we end with Booth's public humiliation story that Brennan accepts. It is interesting what Booth sees as emotionally humiliating.
Exhibit D: The In Crowd
BOOTH: All right, there was this kid, uh, junior year.
BRENNAN: Okay, is this going to be another story where you think you were humiliated, but you actually were not?
BOOTH: Just listen to me. This kid. Junior year. Harlan Kinney. He was one of those real weird, ya know, looking kids. He had this big Adam's apple stickin out and he wore his dad's clothes to school. Ya know, with the whole stretchy belt around his waist.
BRENNAN: What's wrong with that? It's practical.
BOOTH: You're not listening. He was one of those real superior types, always talking out of a thesaurus, and one day he came up to me and a bunch of my buddies and he called us a bunch of Philistines. You know what that means, right?
BRENNAN: Yeah. A Philistine is a smug, ignorant person who is antagonistic toward higher thought and intelligence.
BOOTH: Yeah, well, I didn't know what that meant till I looked it up. I told Kinney, "Look, I'm not Philistine. I'm Catholic."
BRENNAN: (laughs) That's pretty close to humiliation.
BOOTH: No, that's embarrassing, that's not the humiliating part.
BRENNAN: Oh.
BOOTH: My buddy picked Kinney up and dangled him over the stairway. You know, he begged and cried, and everyone laughed.
BRENNAN: How is this about you?
BOOTH: I laughed.
BRENNAN: I don't understand.
BOOTH: I could've stopped it. I could've stepped in and helped the kid out. Instead I-I didn't. Chose my side, and it was the wrong side.
BRENNAN: So you were humiliated because you didn't act like a hero?
BOOTH: Fine. Fine. You know what? I'm perfect. My life was perfect.
BRENNAN: It's a good story, okay? But it's a bad one. I - it's both, I guess. I mean, I get it.
BOOTH: Yeah?
Acting like a hero. How typical that Booth would see his failure to do that as humiliating. And Brennan accepts that it would be important to Booth.
Finally, we have the Booth of now: the one who knows that actions do speak as loud as words.
BRENNAN: (noticing that Booth has something in his hand) What is that?
BOOTH: (crossing his arms and hides it from her) Nothing.
BRENNAN: Well, you evolved. And evolution is very impressive and that is definitely not nothing.
BOOTH: (holding up Brainy Smurf) This?
BRENNAN: Did you bring that for me?
BOOTH: No.
BRENNAN: Good, because it's the wrong Smurf. I liked Smurfette. That's Brainy Smurf.
BOOTH: Well, Smurfette was a stupid, shallow Smurf who only had her looks. Look, you're better than Smurfette. You have your looks and a whole lot more.
BRENNAN: You did bring that for me to charm me in case I didn't find your humiliation story impressive, but I did, so ...
BOOTH: Aha! So I did impress you.
BRENNAN: That's what impressive means, dummy. You're such a Philistine.
BOOTH: (he laughs) I'll tell you what. You can hold on to this, and it will remind you how far I've come.
BRENNAN: (taking the Smurf from Booth) I forgive you for snorting, Booth.
BOOTH: Evolution is a long, long process. It takes hundreds of years.
BRENNAN: Thousands.
BOOTH: Why do you have to always correct me?
BRENNAN: To help you evolve.
I think we have a clearer picture of young Booth after this episode and what fed into the adult we see now. In many ways he was one of those guys so common in High Schools: the charmer of girls; the football quarterback; the cool guy; the normal one in the normal gang of buddies. However, even at that age he had some sense of right and wrong and the incident in Junior Year made him recognise that there was more to life than being a Philistine. He needed to evolve beyond dumb jock.
More of the evolution is shown in The Knight on the Grid where we have Booth the hero and all round good guy well to the fore. This return to the Gormogon arc tells a further part of that story (and shows a slip in the writing that is very important for how they dropped the ball in its resolution); it also cements Sweets more firmly in the dynamic; it shows how Booth will do the right thing, but resist the temptation to take the credit.
To get the writing slip out of the way first I finally found the place where the writers confused themselves in the plot of the Gormogon. According to Sweets, and he's probably right, the victims are chosen to represent Adam, the ultimate fatherless son, by having their bones used to make up the skeleton. So, all of the victims are carefully shown to be sons without fathers. That makes sense with how the Gormogons went after perceived members of secret societies such as The Knights of Columbus whom they saw as dangerous to the freedom of humanity from oppressive didacticism. . Where they went wrong is here in the extended version, but not the broadcast version. That scene was cut as was the follow up scene where Brennan wrongly suggests the apprentices were fatherless young men from a disturbed background. Clearly, Zack does not fit that profile. Fortuitously or not, the broadcast version misses that out. It also missed out Brennan identifying Booth as a fatherless son and therefore a possible candidate as Gormogon and him refusing to speak up on behalf of Russ.
What is in there is Booth the all round good guy. First of all, he helps the Brennan family and extended family by allowing Russ to visit his partner's little girl in hospital after he had arrested him.
BRENNAN: Thank you, Booth.
BOOTH: Oh, this never happened. Don’t thank me. As far as the bureau is concerned I caught him here, fifteen minutes from now.
(Brennan leans up and kisses Booths cheek.)
BRENNAN: Thank you. Booth.
BOOTH: Just don’t tell anyone.
Again, he has put his job at risk to help a family come together. Later, he does more and then denies any involvement.
JUDGE WATKINS: I’m still the judge and I get to make those decisions. Agent Booth, what are your thoughts?
BOOTH: I got nothing to say, Judge.
BRENNAN: Booth, please!
JUDGE: I got a phone call from the Archbishop of D.C. 15 minutes ago. He promises to take a personal interest in Mr. Brennan’s rehabilitation.
CAROLINE: For God’s sake. Why?
JUDGE WATKINS: Also a psychiatrist, Dr. Lance Sweets, who says he believes Mr. Brennan will not flee the jurisdiction again. Plus, a parole officer who’s recommending against revoking parole. Why should I ignore all that?
Only Booth could have done those things.
BOOTH: Russ, you gotta go with the Marshals.
BRENNAN: (to Booth) Thank you again.
BOOTH: I didn’t do anything, again.
BRENNAN: (to Amy) You should thank him too.
AMY: Why?
BRENNAN: He saved Russ.
BOOTH: I didn't do anything -
(Amy runs up and hugs Booth)
This is typical of Booth that he does things and then keeps a low profile, partly to make sure that he doesn't compromise his position in the Bureau, but also because that is the way he is.
Finally, there is Booth the hero, rescuing himself and Brennan from the blown up taxi.
Rescuing the lobbyist in the nick of time before pursuing Gormogon. With the culprit in his grasp he then rescues a little boy rather than catching Gormogon who had jumped into a swimming pool with the boy.
By the end of the episode Booth is honing his skills as amarksman to make sure Gormogon does not escape again.
That did take six hours!
Anyhoo. First here are my banners of victory!!!
Cool huh?
So with Boothiness in mind and my fingers crossed that this doesn't take 6 hours to do in html, let us look at the next two episodes of Season 3 Booth.
A BOOTH FOR ALL SEASONS
BOOTH IN SEASON 3 - The High School 'hero'
BRENNAN: You know, Angela was right. You were one of “those guys”.
BOOTH: What? One of what guys?
The Boy in the Time Capsule allows us to see what Booth was like as a teenager. We already have a vague idea of a jock who did well with girls, but this episode gives some actual examples. Initially, Booth is being Booth in the way he reacts to being back in a high school:
BOOTH: Wow. Now this is a sweet field. This is what I'm talking about, right. I mean, it's nothing like ours but hey, that didn't stop me from being MVP my Senior year. Got the trophy. Touchdown!
BRENNAN: In certain tribes in the African subcontinent, piercings serve as a reminder – like your trophy – of the power and agility which has since faded away.
BOOTH: What do you mean fade away...Woah! Time out. Can we just concentrate on the case.
This is archetypal behaviour from the two of them: Booth remembering his juvenile glory and Brennan seeing such ability as unimportant in the present. Her dig at fading powers and agility gets under Booth's skin and he immediately drops the subject in case she makes further inroads on his self image. Being good at sports, MVP even, is crucial to Booth's male ego and being belittled for it hurts. As a masculine marker in his society, sporting prowess is important, but Brennan does not see such ability as vital.
The crux of what we find out about Booth's teenage years is his reaction to Brennan's shared story of her high school years. The one time she was weighing the pros and cons of going out with a boy he becomes her secret Santa and humiliates her by taping Brainy Smurf to her locker. She had wanted Smurfette. In spite of promising not to laugh, Booth cannot help himself and sniggers.
He then makes matters worse by laughing through his attempts to say he is not laughing. Now to most people, such a reaction would have been shared, but Brennan isn't most people and as she says, teenagers can be cruel. Booth has clearly never been on the receiving end of that sort of cruelty and so cannot share her hurt.
This is made clearer when the topic comes up at their next session with Sweets. As yet, Sweets is not the irritant he becomes later. His role is clearly defined in Booth's mind and his purpose is to do his job.
BOOTH: Come on, Sweets! Just, come on! You've done a lot of psychological profiling! The case is twenty years old. We just need some help.
Sweets has a different view of why they are meeting.
SWEETS: That's not why we're here today, Agent Booth. This hour is for you and Dr. Brennan.
Consequently, and in spite of Booth's objections, he intervenes with the relationship in the name of resolving issues between them that might interfere with their working partnership, in this case perfectly legitimately.
SWEETS: You look angry, Dr. Brennan.
BRENNAN: (frustrated) I told Agent Booth a private story about my childhood and he laughed.
BOOTH: What? No. I – (to Brennan in a half whisper) I was appreciating it. Don't get him involved.
BRENNAN: Snorting does not suggest appreciation.
BOOTH: It was about a cartoon character from the 1980's! I didn't think you'd be so sensitive.
SWEETS: Well, childhood icons have great significance to us, Agent Booth. All right. I, myself, was very attached to Voltron. (Booth and Brennan just look at him) Cartoon.
BOOTH: Voltron?
SWEETS: You're hurt, Dr. Brennan, because you feel you opened yourself up to Agent Booth and he betrayed that trust.
BOOTH: You're talking about a Smurf.
BRENNAN: (defensive) Smurfette.
Considering how attached to his own teenage icons Booth is, it is insensitive of him to mock Brennan's. This feeds into an earlier assertion Booth had made about Brennan being another guy (sort of) because she was his partner. He has not taken into account here that as a teenage girl she had been sensitive to ridicule whereas a guy would see it as a rite of passage and laugh it off. So there is no avoiding the issue now she has raised it in their therapy session.
SWEETS: Perhaps a way to bring this relationship back into symmetry is if you reveal a childhood story about yourself. Show your vulnerability to Dr. Brennan.
BOOTH: No. You know what? This is crazy. It's – it's not right. Tell him that it's not right.
BRENNAN: Is it?
BOOTH: Oh! You're on his side. Why don't you go play Voltron with him.
SWEETS: You were “that guy” weren't you, Agent Booth. You were the golden boy who could get away with anything just by turning on the charm.
BOOTH: That's ridiculous. You don't even know who I am.
SWEETS: Could it be that you're still holding on to that persona. That you're afraid to reveal yourself?
BOOTH: I'm an FBI Agent. I get shot at everyday. I'm not afraid of anything.
SWEETS: Okay, this is obviously very difficult for you but you shouldn't be ashamed to ask for help.
(Booth looks over at Brennan)
BRENNAN: You shouldn't.
Although I think Booth is right that Sweets and Brennan are on the same side and they resent his popularity, I also think Sweets is right in his assessment of Booth as the golden boy who could turn on the charm to get his way. He does still do that, as recently as The Secret in the Soil where he drank glasses of lemonade just to get the information he wanted out of the tobacco farmer's wife. It is also true that he is afraid to reveal himself, although when we take into account the home circumstances and the contained rage he has, it may be understandable. Not being afraid of getting shot at is one thing; being afraid to show personal failings is another and Booth does not like appearing a failure, in any part of his life. Again, I think we can understand why. Booth however, has been backed into a corner and in order to get out he has to agree to the challenge.
BOOTH: Okay. Okay. I apologise. I do. I need help – (he pauses, and Sweets finally thinks he's had a breakthrough) – with this case. So, while you review this, I will reveal myself to Bones. (Booth places his hand on Brennan's leg - Sweets takes notice) I know that sounded weird, but you know what I mean.
BRENNAN: So you will share an emotionally humiliating episode from your youth with me.
BOOTH: Yeah. I – I have 'em. Here. (He hands the file to Sweets)
SWEETS: (taking the file) All right, excellent. Now, for the remainder of our time, let's role play.
BOOTH: (putting on a hat) Now I know why I'm not allowed to bring my gun in here.
Whether the gun remark is related to the fact he has a cowboy hat or the general idea of role play isn't clear.
So what emotionally humiliating episodes has Booth got?
Exhibit A: Public nudity.
BRENNAN: Pretty sure that Sweets would say a lost baseball game - is not personal or revealing.
BOOTH: Football, Bones. Okay. It's Football. Oh, okay. I got one. All right, personally, between two people or revealing like, uh...aha! (he whispers) naked?
BRENNAN: That's very literal.
BOOTH: There was this girl, Karen Eisley, and we were under the bleachers one night – personally.. With me?
BRENNAN: Got it. You were having sex, in the dirt, under the bleachers.
BOOTH: Excuse me, I'm a gentleman. I brought my sleeping bag.
BRENNAN: Did you fail to perform sexually?
BOOTH: What?
BRENNAN: Cause that might actually count as a humiliation. (she walks past him)
BOOTH: Will you just wait. Will you just - (he starts sprinting after her, stopping her.) - allow me to tell my story.
BRENNAN: Fine.
BOOTH: Thank you. All right, so this girl had this game where she would ask me a question-
BRENNAN: (interrupting) What kind of question?
BOOTH: It doesn't matter – okay, so if I got the question wrong I'd have to take off a piece of my clothing. Of course, I knew all the answers but I pretended that I didn't.
BRENNAN: So you could take off your clothes.
BOOTH: Exactly. No. The point is I'm standing there, ya know, in my socks and my St. Christopher medal – she runs off. She runs off with the sleeping bag and all my clothes and I'm standing there, starko-
BRENNAN: Well, why did she do that?
BOOTH: Well, I suppose she heard I was under the bleachers with another girl the week before...
BRENNAN: Okay, this is a story about sexual prowess, Booth. You're bragging.
BOOTH: (laughing) I had to run across the campus buck naked.
BRENNAN: You're laughing about it now. You enjoyed displaying your penis. It showed alpha male mastery. Only one other person knew about Brainy Smurf. It was my mother. (she takes off into his office)
BOOTH: (he starts after her again) It's cold. Okay. It's was cold. Do you know what happens to a guy when it is cold (he notices Gil sitting in his office) outside?
This sounds like a fairly typical Booth experience. We have already heard of one encounter under the bleachers in 8th grade and a night in a bunker at the local golf course. The difference here is that the girl got her revenge on Booth for his hound-like behaviour. And Brennan is right: this wasn't emotionally humiliating for Booth.
Exhibit B: degrading job
BOOTH: Hey, I scraped grills at a Burger Shack for $3.55 an hour. That's humiliating.
BRENNAN: Nice try.
All teenagers have that sort of job.
Exhibit C: The Prom
BOOTH: Okay, Bones, so there was this girl, okay? Sharay Bellapini. Sharay, Sharay. She was the coolest, hottest girl in high school and I wanted to ask her to my junior prom. So what I did was, I bribed the suck up who did the morning announcements-
BRENNAN: Suck up?
BOOTH: Yeah, the kids who did anything to please the teachers. So I get on the loud speaker and I ask her to the prom.
BRENNAN: Uh huh.
BOOTH: On the loudspeaker.
BRENNAN: Thi-This is your embarrassing story?
BOOTH: On the loudspeaker!
BRENNAN: Yeah.
BOOTH: I got laughed at for weeks.
BRENNAN: Did she go with you to the prom?
BOOTH: Sure.
BRENNAN: Okay, this is merely another story of victory and sexual conquest.
(Brennan presses the doorbell.)
BOOTH: Look, Bones, they laughed at me. Okay? Laughing has got to count for something.
BRENNAN: There's no public humiliation in that story, Booth.
Well, if you don't count being laughed at for weeks as public humiliation she's right. On the other hand, the Brainy Smurf story probably resulted in being laughed at too so it's a moot point. Still, she is right that Booth was not publically humiliated in that Sharay did go to Prom with him. Also, the way he tells the story using terms like 'suck up' and 'kids who did anything to please the teachers' suggests he was really unaffected by the laughter as it only lasted for weeks and the loudspeaker announcement was a one off.
The boorish side of Booth is apparent the next time he sees Sweets, but at least he can now rein it in somewhat.
Again, Sweets is actually doing his job here, although the chance to get out of his office clearly goes to his head and he becomes a more frequent visitor to the Lab, for less well-defined reasons.
SWEETS: Well, the murder happened at night on a high school playing field, not a likely place to find adults. Plus, teenagers are dominated by their ids, which make them act irrationally. Physiologically, their judgment's impaired by an incomplete frontal lobe.
BOOTH: You're what, 22, right? How's your front lobe? Almost there?
SWEETS: Again, a hectoring tone.
BOOTH: All right, look, I'm sorry, just keep going.
SWEETS: All right, there was no sexual assault, no theft. The watch and other effects were still on him. Further indications that this was just a rash and youthful act.
BOOTH: Right, right. That's good - for a kid.
BRENNAN: This is guesswork, Booth.
SWEETS: It's a logical interpretation of subjective analysis by a highly intelligent expert in his field, actually. The killer knew the exact date the time capsule would be opened when he put the victim in there. He's been waiting twenty years for that body to be found so he could reconcile himself with his past and finally pay for his crime.
BOOTH: Like Terry Stinson?
SWEETS: No. (sighs) I think you're looking for someone who's been punishing himself for years. Someone self-destructive, working far below his potential.
BOOTH: Then why doesn't he just confess?
SWEETS: Most likely he has in some way, Agent Booth. The question is, were you listening?
BRENNAN: Agent Booth is an incredibly good listener.
BOOTH: Yeah, I really am. It's my strength.
SWEETS: Then perhaps the time capsule was just a convenient place to stash a body. You know, profiling's not an exact science - (Brennan rolls her eyes.) -but I hope I'm right. I really want to tell my girlfriend I helped catch a murderer. It'd be a good night for me.
My first urge to say 'Go away Sweets' struck about now.
Anyway, he proves more or less correct and we end with Booth's public humiliation story that Brennan accepts. It is interesting what Booth sees as emotionally humiliating.
Exhibit D: The In Crowd
BOOTH: All right, there was this kid, uh, junior year.
BRENNAN: Okay, is this going to be another story where you think you were humiliated, but you actually were not?
BOOTH: Just listen to me. This kid. Junior year. Harlan Kinney. He was one of those real weird, ya know, looking kids. He had this big Adam's apple stickin out and he wore his dad's clothes to school. Ya know, with the whole stretchy belt around his waist.
BRENNAN: What's wrong with that? It's practical.
BOOTH: You're not listening. He was one of those real superior types, always talking out of a thesaurus, and one day he came up to me and a bunch of my buddies and he called us a bunch of Philistines. You know what that means, right?
BRENNAN: Yeah. A Philistine is a smug, ignorant person who is antagonistic toward higher thought and intelligence.
BOOTH: Yeah, well, I didn't know what that meant till I looked it up. I told Kinney, "Look, I'm not Philistine. I'm Catholic."
BRENNAN: (laughs) That's pretty close to humiliation.
BOOTH: No, that's embarrassing, that's not the humiliating part.
BRENNAN: Oh.
BOOTH: My buddy picked Kinney up and dangled him over the stairway. You know, he begged and cried, and everyone laughed.
BRENNAN: How is this about you?
BOOTH: I laughed.
BRENNAN: I don't understand.
BOOTH: I could've stopped it. I could've stepped in and helped the kid out. Instead I-I didn't. Chose my side, and it was the wrong side.
BRENNAN: So you were humiliated because you didn't act like a hero?
BOOTH: Fine. Fine. You know what? I'm perfect. My life was perfect.
BRENNAN: It's a good story, okay? But it's a bad one. I - it's both, I guess. I mean, I get it.
BOOTH: Yeah?
Acting like a hero. How typical that Booth would see his failure to do that as humiliating. And Brennan accepts that it would be important to Booth.
Finally, we have the Booth of now: the one who knows that actions do speak as loud as words.
BRENNAN: (noticing that Booth has something in his hand) What is that?
BOOTH: (crossing his arms and hides it from her) Nothing.
BRENNAN: Well, you evolved. And evolution is very impressive and that is definitely not nothing.
BOOTH: (holding up Brainy Smurf) This?
BRENNAN: Did you bring that for me?
BOOTH: No.
BRENNAN: Good, because it's the wrong Smurf. I liked Smurfette. That's Brainy Smurf.
BOOTH: Well, Smurfette was a stupid, shallow Smurf who only had her looks. Look, you're better than Smurfette. You have your looks and a whole lot more.
BRENNAN: You did bring that for me to charm me in case I didn't find your humiliation story impressive, but I did, so ...
BOOTH: Aha! So I did impress you.
BRENNAN: That's what impressive means, dummy. You're such a Philistine.
BOOTH: (he laughs) I'll tell you what. You can hold on to this, and it will remind you how far I've come.
BRENNAN: (taking the Smurf from Booth) I forgive you for snorting, Booth.
BOOTH: Evolution is a long, long process. It takes hundreds of years.
BRENNAN: Thousands.
BOOTH: Why do you have to always correct me?
BRENNAN: To help you evolve.
I think we have a clearer picture of young Booth after this episode and what fed into the adult we see now. In many ways he was one of those guys so common in High Schools: the charmer of girls; the football quarterback; the cool guy; the normal one in the normal gang of buddies. However, even at that age he had some sense of right and wrong and the incident in Junior Year made him recognise that there was more to life than being a Philistine. He needed to evolve beyond dumb jock.
More of the evolution is shown in The Knight on the Grid where we have Booth the hero and all round good guy well to the fore. This return to the Gormogon arc tells a further part of that story (and shows a slip in the writing that is very important for how they dropped the ball in its resolution); it also cements Sweets more firmly in the dynamic; it shows how Booth will do the right thing, but resist the temptation to take the credit.
To get the writing slip out of the way first I finally found the place where the writers confused themselves in the plot of the Gormogon. According to Sweets, and he's probably right, the victims are chosen to represent Adam, the ultimate fatherless son, by having their bones used to make up the skeleton. So, all of the victims are carefully shown to be sons without fathers. That makes sense with how the Gormogons went after perceived members of secret societies such as The Knights of Columbus whom they saw as dangerous to the freedom of humanity from oppressive didacticism. . Where they went wrong is here in the extended version, but not the broadcast version. That scene was cut as was the follow up scene where Brennan wrongly suggests the apprentices were fatherless young men from a disturbed background. Clearly, Zack does not fit that profile. Fortuitously or not, the broadcast version misses that out. It also missed out Brennan identifying Booth as a fatherless son and therefore a possible candidate as Gormogon and him refusing to speak up on behalf of Russ.
What is in there is Booth the all round good guy. First of all, he helps the Brennan family and extended family by allowing Russ to visit his partner's little girl in hospital after he had arrested him.
BRENNAN: Thank you, Booth.
BOOTH: Oh, this never happened. Don’t thank me. As far as the bureau is concerned I caught him here, fifteen minutes from now.
(Brennan leans up and kisses Booths cheek.)
BRENNAN: Thank you. Booth.
BOOTH: Just don’t tell anyone.
Again, he has put his job at risk to help a family come together. Later, he does more and then denies any involvement.
JUDGE WATKINS: I’m still the judge and I get to make those decisions. Agent Booth, what are your thoughts?
BOOTH: I got nothing to say, Judge.
BRENNAN: Booth, please!
JUDGE: I got a phone call from the Archbishop of D.C. 15 minutes ago. He promises to take a personal interest in Mr. Brennan’s rehabilitation.
CAROLINE: For God’s sake. Why?
JUDGE WATKINS: Also a psychiatrist, Dr. Lance Sweets, who says he believes Mr. Brennan will not flee the jurisdiction again. Plus, a parole officer who’s recommending against revoking parole. Why should I ignore all that?
Only Booth could have done those things.
BOOTH: Russ, you gotta go with the Marshals.
BRENNAN: (to Booth) Thank you again.
BOOTH: I didn’t do anything, again.
BRENNAN: (to Amy) You should thank him too.
AMY: Why?
BRENNAN: He saved Russ.
BOOTH: I didn't do anything -
(Amy runs up and hugs Booth)
This is typical of Booth that he does things and then keeps a low profile, partly to make sure that he doesn't compromise his position in the Bureau, but also because that is the way he is.
Finally, there is Booth the hero, rescuing himself and Brennan from the blown up taxi.
Rescuing the lobbyist in the nick of time before pursuing Gormogon. With the culprit in his grasp he then rescues a little boy rather than catching Gormogon who had jumped into a swimming pool with the boy.
By the end of the episode Booth is honing his skills as amarksman to make sure Gormogon does not escape again.
That did take six hours!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-09 10:04 pm (UTC)Your victorious banners are very cool.
of the power and agility which has since faded away
It's a very sensitive point with Booth, aging. Not the first or last time Brennan points it out in a matter of fact manner and Booth obsess about it.
As yet, Sweets is not the irritant he becomes later.
I think I stepped up on the soap box in your last Booth for all seasons installment, so I'll try and be a big person and not bash Sweets too much this time...
Oh! You're on his side. Why don't you go play Voltron with him.
In this instance I think Brennan and Sweets share a common experience, that they were both "nerds" in high school and Sweets could better understand Brennan's experience with Brainy Smurf and Smurfette. But Booth did get it in the end, but that's the grown up Booth, the Booth that is Brennan's partner and has evolved because of it (as has she).
Whether the gun remark is related to the fact he has a cowboy hat or the general idea of role play isn't clear.
I've always thought it was the general idea of role play, hadn't even considered the cowboy hat reason. Hmm... (This is where I don't comment on Sweets and his textbooks ways that imply his lack of experience.)
he then rescues a little boy rather than catching Gormogon
The rational thing to do would of course be to go after Gormogon to try and catch him to avoid future loss of lives, but the human thing to do is to save the boy. Maybe that's why we are able to overlook Booth's boorish side - you're right he is boorish! - because he is a good person. He let's Russ say goodbye to his girls and pulls some strings.
Booth is honing his skills as a marksman to make sure Gormogon does not escape again.
I always saw that as Booth's way to relax after a "busy day at the office". Interesting point. Thanks for all your interesting points here.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-09 10:39 pm (UTC)Bearing in mind recent events, Booth may well be relaxing, especially as the others are doing spare time activities or extra work on the Gormogon stuff.
There is quite a bullying side to Booth particularly, obviously, with easy targets like Sweets or Gil whom he persisted in calling Gruff and Grim in the interrogation even after Gil begged him to stop. Maybe it's his new target instead of being rude to rich entitled people.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 12:21 am (UTC)But later, when he learn his full back story, I wonder if a lot of Booth's actions were fear of anyone finding out what really went on his life at that time. Put on a good front and appear as cool as possible, because the alternative would be unbearable.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 10:31 am (UTC)No doubt the bleachers was safer than the back yard for Booth and he could find some happiness however transitory. I think it took the army for Booth to think about commitment and having a kid to think about a long term relationship. Trouble is, he had no experience of that to be more persuasive with Rebecca.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 03:26 pm (UTC)Sweets had some purpose then. It really seems to me that he has outlived his usefulness as a character and the search for something for Sweets to do results in Irritating!Sweets.
The high school episode is also irritating to me in its own way. While it held itself up in the context of season 3, now that we know Booth's backstory, this episode is really full of missed opportunities. If the showrunner really knew that Booth's father was an abusive alcoholic during this season, would he not have made some reference to it in light of the fact that their victim was himself apparently trying to escape just such a family life. Instead we are left with the impression that Booth was the high school hero golden boy and Brennan was the butt of a cruel teenage prank.
I thought Brennan took the hero analogy a little too far in her interpretation of Booth's story. It wasn't that he failed to act the hero, but that he failed to stand up for what was right.
To some, that might be heroic, but it's also being a good person.
Good catch re: Gormogon story! Knowing what we do of Sweets' backstory, it should have been Sweets!
In reading your post, I found myself feeling slightly melancholy for this Booth. I enjoy complicated!Booth, with all his demons and mistakes, but I do miss the Booth who had a spring in his step and seemed a little more sure of the world and his place in it (though one might argue that this was all image). Or perhaps I miss the Booth who hasn't been dumbed down to the point of not being a good listener and not being able to read people.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 06:51 pm (UTC)1. Re:Sweets. I agree he has outlived his usefulness. When he was supposed to be helping Booth and Brennan with their issues and occasionally offering psychological profiles, then he was useful. He was right about the motive for the murder here and he had knowledge of the Gormogon scenario that no one else could offer. However, when he started dropping into the Jeffersonian for no reason at all, he became more than he was supposed to be. I sometimes think that regrettably he was Zack's replacement in the cast and so got to be in every episode however big the shoe horn had to be.
Re: High school. I think they were very much still focused on Brennan's family dynamic even in the third season and Booth's arc really suffered from the writers strike. So this stuff about young Booth was very much stock material rather than individually crafted.
I think it is a disgrace that it took all the way up to the 67th episode before we knew anything aboout his brother and it was only at that point we learned they had a drunk for a father. Even then it was not pursued. It came right out of the blue and so this episode is really a false trail, unless Booth was hiding from his horrible homelife by living out the American dream in school with the hope of escaping to college on a sports scholarship. Indeed that seems to be what he did until his shoulder blew out. However, you really have to dig for that sort of information.
Re: hero. I don't think Booth was a good person as he describes himself in this episode. The Junior year incident may have been an epiphany but he doesn't say that he changed his attitude totally as a result of it. He sees now that he didn't stand up for what was right, but I don't think he felt humiliated by the others actions. He wasn't the butt of the joke. I think Brennan let him off the hook and once again turned the focus on herself with the Smurf.
Re: this vintage Booth. I agree. In watching these episodes again, I have enjoyed them all, even the less good ones, because this is the Booth who had his finger on the pulse and his brain in top gear. He knew what to ask and how to handle suspects. Here, with Sweets in the mix, he has no idea apparently who the murderer was and makes nothing of the clues that once upon a time he would have seen straight away. As you say, if the showrunners had him as the golden boy back then, he would not recognise the signs. Yet he could empathise with young bullying victim Nestor Olivos in A Boy in A Tree and showed distaste for the rich kids who killed him. There was no empathy here for the victim. By season 4 goofy Booth is too apparent. Thank you Sweets; you certainly dealt with the issues that stopped Booth being a crack agent!