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Told Ya
See, I mention that May is the month of renewals on Sunday and DB tweets on Monday that Season 7 is good to go. *preens*
So let's get on with Season 4 or I'll never catch up. Technically I have started Season 4, but when you check episode numbers, several of the early ones have a 3 as part of their identifier, namely, in numerical order:
The He in the She 3AKY15
The Man in the Outhouse 3AKY16
The Finger in the Nest 3AKY17
The Crank in the Shaft. 3AKY18
I assume, this was to make up for the writers' strike ravaged shortness of Season 3. It means I am not going to look at Booth's office until I reach Episode 4AKY01 which is The Perfect Pieces in the Purple Pond although there will be a backward step in The Crank in the Shaft to look at THE CHAIR. Just a small snippet today as I'm a bit distracted.
PARKER: Mom says a sunset.
BOOTH: Okay, well, one of the most beautiful man-made things.
PARKER: Mom says the Mona Lisa.
BOOTH: Okay, look, all due respect to your mom, buddy, but a perfectly thrown spiral is way better than any of that stuff, okay, so let me show you how you do this. You put your hand up here like that, spread your fingers wide.
PARKER: My hand’s too small.
BOOTH: It’ll grow, all right? Okay, hand there to steady the ball. Lift it up to your ear.
(Parker lifts the football up near his chin.)
BOOTH: No, your ear, not your chin, silly. All right.
PARKER: What’s it saying?
BOOTH: It’s saying, “Throw your old man a deep pass for a touchdown!” Hey!
(Booth runs out to catch the football then runs back to tackle Parker.)
BOOTH: What? What you got? Whoo!
He lets Parker win the tackle so that they go crashing to the ground. While there, Parker spots a nest in a tree and while he wants to knock it down with the football, Booth tells him that's wrong because it is somebody's home. So he lifts Parker up to look in the nest instead, warning him not to touch an egg is it is there because the 'mommy bird'... Of course, there is something far more exciting than an egg in there: a human finger.
This scene is a side of Booth we have rarely seen where he is just being a dad and having fun. Interestingly, a photo from this scene is in the frame that Hannah breaks in Season 6. Of course, nothing is simple and he is now terrified that Parker will be psychologically damaged by the experience. He turns to Sweets for reassurance. (Fool) Another little snippet of information is gleaned in this exchange.
SWEETS: A human finger?
BOOTH: Yeah, a human finger, all right? Look, is my son going to be suffering from some kind of post-traumatic stress, you know like suppressed feelings, memories, all that hooey?
SWEETS: Well, a child’s brain can’t process death as an end. You know, that’s why we tell children that their deceased loved ones are looking down on us from heaven.
BOOTH: Which they are.
SWEETS: Yeah, it’s an excellent coping technique. You know, grandma isn’t worm food, she’s simply moved on to a better place.
BOOTH: Which she did.
SWEETS: Yeah. Parker looks good to me.
Aside from Booth's belief in heaven what is added here is that grandma is dead. Now that may be Rebecca's mother, but it could just as easily be Booth's, particularly as Sweets is talking from Parker's perspective and Booth is more likely to be thinking about his own mother than Rebecca's. Of course, he could be referring to Pops' wife, his own grandma, but we hear so little about Booth's mother after Season 1 that I would prefer to think of the grandma as being Parker's.
Once he starts having nightmares about singing frogs, Booth insists that Sweets deal with it and the truth comes out. Again, we see what a good father Booth has tried to be.
BOOTH: I got a message that you have something to tell me about Parker.
SWEETS: Uh,yeah, yeah. Uh, you were right. Parker is traumatized. (Booth looks dejected and flops into a chair with a sigh.) Uh, it has nothing to do with the finger in the nest.
BOOTH: Huh?
SWEETS: Um, he has a girl problem.
BOOTH: Girl? He’s six.
SWEETS: Uh huh. The girl, her name is Stephanie Clyde. She’s somewhat large. Likes to pick him up and carry him around.
BOOTH: Carry him under her arm?
SWEETS: Like a pet monkey. He doesn’t know what to do. He says you told him never to hit girls.
BOOTH: I told him never to hit anyone. You know, unless it was for self defense. She, uh, carries him around?
SWEETS: Like a monkey. At recess. She thinks he’s cute.
BOOTH: What about the finger?
SWEETS: Parker actually wishes that you’d let him have the finger. So he could show it to Stephanie and maybe make her barf.
BOOTH: Why doesn’t he just run away?
SWEETS: Well, when I suggested that, he told me very proudly that his father never ran away from anything.
BOOTH: (Laughs.) Proudly? He said that?
SWEETS: I think you know what to do. I mean, we’ve all had our Stephanie Clydes, right?
No, Booth hasn't. Still, telling his son about not hitting girls and never running away has had an impact. Booth is proud that his son has remembered. He still has his doubts of course.
BRENNAN: So did Sweets help you with Parker?
BOOTH: Yeah. I told Parker that it’s best to just walk away sometimes.
BRENNAN: What, sometimes? Isn’t it always better to walk away? You know, this dog would still be alive if he wasn’t forced to fight.
BOOTH: I told him to walk away if it’s for himself, and to stand up and fight if it’s for someone else. I don’t know if that was the right thing to say, but…
BRENNAN: You’re a very good father.
The case revolves around dog fighting and Booth is more disconcerted by the dogs than he was in The Blonde in the Game. There he claimed to be a dog person and approached a Dobermann with a conciliatory word and then a gun. Here, he is attacked by a Pomeranian or similar lapdog and refuses to get out of the car when he sees Gladys the pit bull. However, once he is in the capable hands of the dog whisperer he feels more at ease.
Having established the killer dog is Ripley, Brennan takes it under her wing and says something revealing to Booth.
BOOTH: Uh, the dog should be, you know, in the cage. He killed Seth Elliot.
BRENNAN: It’s not his fault. He’s actually a very nice dog, aren’t you? He reminds me of you.
BOOTH: Me?
BRENNAN: He’s got warm and reassuring brown eyes, and he’s capable of great violence.
BOOTH: Hey, great. Thanks a million.
I think there's a bit more to Booth than warm reassuring brown eyes and the capability for violence. Unlike a dog, Booth is not blindly obedient: he has a very strong moral compass that even a case like this can illustrate.
I was going to do more, but I haven't done the research yet, so it must wait.
So let's get on with Season 4 or I'll never catch up. Technically I have started Season 4, but when you check episode numbers, several of the early ones have a 3 as part of their identifier, namely, in numerical order:
The He in the She 3AKY15
The Man in the Outhouse 3AKY16
The Finger in the Nest 3AKY17
The Crank in the Shaft. 3AKY18
I assume, this was to make up for the writers' strike ravaged shortness of Season 3. It means I am not going to look at Booth's office until I reach Episode 4AKY01 which is The Perfect Pieces in the Purple Pond although there will be a backward step in The Crank in the Shaft to look at THE CHAIR. Just a small snippet today as I'm a bit distracted.
A BOOTH FOR ALL SEASONS
SEELEY BOOTH IN SEASON 4 - Loyal and true
What do I look like, Ranger Rick?
One or two items of interest about Booth's family are obliquely referenced in The Finger in the Nest. First we have a very nice example of father son bonding that I doubt Booth experienced himself. We have Booth and Parker out in the park with Booth showing Parker how to throw a perfect spiral. This is a lovely scene with Booth saying all the right things that a dad would say, and doing all the things a good dad would do.
BOOTH: You know what the most beautiful thing in the world is?What do I look like, Ranger Rick?
One or two items of interest about Booth's family are obliquely referenced in The Finger in the Nest. First we have a very nice example of father son bonding that I doubt Booth experienced himself. We have Booth and Parker out in the park with Booth showing Parker how to throw a perfect spiral. This is a lovely scene with Booth saying all the right things that a dad would say, and doing all the things a good dad would do.
PARKER: Mom says a sunset.
BOOTH: Okay, well, one of the most beautiful man-made things.
PARKER: Mom says the Mona Lisa.
BOOTH: Okay, look, all due respect to your mom, buddy, but a perfectly thrown spiral is way better than any of that stuff, okay, so let me show you how you do this. You put your hand up here like that, spread your fingers wide.
PARKER: My hand’s too small.
BOOTH: It’ll grow, all right? Okay, hand there to steady the ball. Lift it up to your ear.
(Parker lifts the football up near his chin.)
BOOTH: No, your ear, not your chin, silly. All right.
PARKER: What’s it saying?
BOOTH: It’s saying, “Throw your old man a deep pass for a touchdown!” Hey!
(Booth runs out to catch the football then runs back to tackle Parker.)
BOOTH: What? What you got? Whoo!
He lets Parker win the tackle so that they go crashing to the ground. While there, Parker spots a nest in a tree and while he wants to knock it down with the football, Booth tells him that's wrong because it is somebody's home. So he lifts Parker up to look in the nest instead, warning him not to touch an egg is it is there because the 'mommy bird'... Of course, there is something far more exciting than an egg in there: a human finger.
This scene is a side of Booth we have rarely seen where he is just being a dad and having fun. Interestingly, a photo from this scene is in the frame that Hannah breaks in Season 6. Of course, nothing is simple and he is now terrified that Parker will be psychologically damaged by the experience. He turns to Sweets for reassurance. (Fool) Another little snippet of information is gleaned in this exchange.
SWEETS: A human finger?
BOOTH: Yeah, a human finger, all right? Look, is my son going to be suffering from some kind of post-traumatic stress, you know like suppressed feelings, memories, all that hooey?
SWEETS: Well, a child’s brain can’t process death as an end. You know, that’s why we tell children that their deceased loved ones are looking down on us from heaven.
BOOTH: Which they are.
SWEETS: Yeah, it’s an excellent coping technique. You know, grandma isn’t worm food, she’s simply moved on to a better place.
BOOTH: Which she did.
SWEETS: Yeah. Parker looks good to me.
Aside from Booth's belief in heaven what is added here is that grandma is dead. Now that may be Rebecca's mother, but it could just as easily be Booth's, particularly as Sweets is talking from Parker's perspective and Booth is more likely to be thinking about his own mother than Rebecca's. Of course, he could be referring to Pops' wife, his own grandma, but we hear so little about Booth's mother after Season 1 that I would prefer to think of the grandma as being Parker's.
Once he starts having nightmares about singing frogs, Booth insists that Sweets deal with it and the truth comes out. Again, we see what a good father Booth has tried to be.
BOOTH: I got a message that you have something to tell me about Parker.
SWEETS: Uh,yeah, yeah. Uh, you were right. Parker is traumatized. (Booth looks dejected and flops into a chair with a sigh.) Uh, it has nothing to do with the finger in the nest.
BOOTH: Huh?
BOOTH: Girl? He’s six.
SWEETS: Uh huh. The girl, her name is Stephanie Clyde. She’s somewhat large. Likes to pick him up and carry him around.
BOOTH: Carry him under her arm?
SWEETS: Like a pet monkey. He doesn’t know what to do. He says you told him never to hit girls.
BOOTH: I told him never to hit anyone. You know, unless it was for self defense. She, uh, carries him around?
SWEETS: Like a monkey. At recess. She thinks he’s cute.
BOOTH: What about the finger?
SWEETS: Parker actually wishes that you’d let him have the finger. So he could show it to Stephanie and maybe make her barf.
BOOTH: Why doesn’t he just run away?
SWEETS: Well, when I suggested that, he told me very proudly that his father never ran away from anything.
BOOTH: (Laughs.) Proudly? He said that?
SWEETS: I think you know what to do. I mean, we’ve all had our Stephanie Clydes, right?
No, Booth hasn't. Still, telling his son about not hitting girls and never running away has had an impact. Booth is proud that his son has remembered. He still has his doubts of course.
BRENNAN: So did Sweets help you with Parker?
BOOTH: Yeah. I told Parker that it’s best to just walk away sometimes.
BRENNAN: What, sometimes? Isn’t it always better to walk away? You know, this dog would still be alive if he wasn’t forced to fight.
BOOTH: I told him to walk away if it’s for himself, and to stand up and fight if it’s for someone else. I don’t know if that was the right thing to say, but…
BRENNAN: You’re a very good father.
The case revolves around dog fighting and Booth is more disconcerted by the dogs than he was in The Blonde in the Game. There he claimed to be a dog person and approached a Dobermann with a conciliatory word and then a gun. Here, he is attacked by a Pomeranian or similar lapdog and refuses to get out of the car when he sees Gladys the pit bull. However, once he is in the capable hands of the dog whisperer he feels more at ease.
Having established the killer dog is Ripley, Brennan takes it under her wing and says something revealing to Booth.
BOOTH: Uh, the dog should be, you know, in the cage. He killed Seth Elliot.
BRENNAN: It’s not his fault. He’s actually a very nice dog, aren’t you? He reminds me of you.
BOOTH: Me?
BRENNAN: He’s got warm and reassuring brown eyes, and he’s capable of great violence.
BOOTH: Hey, great. Thanks a million.
I think there's a bit more to Booth than warm reassuring brown eyes and the capability for violence. Unlike a dog, Booth is not blindly obedient: he has a very strong moral compass that even a case like this can illustrate.
I was going to do more, but I haven't done the research yet, so it must wait.