Here we go!
May. 23rd, 2011 08:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mistletoeBig shift in the weather: not Icelandic volcano or Rapture related, just a low in the Atlantic. So wet and windy.
Let's get Booth to a place we haven't been yet: with his roots showing.
A BOOTH FOR ALL SEASONS
Yeah. Yeah, I'm confessing to a past. I have a past, like everybody else. I bet even you do. Of course, God absolved me of my past. How about you?
BOOTH IN SEASON 4 - Family values.
I'm going to indulge in a little speculation as I look at The He in the She with its religious overtones; The Skull in the Sculpture with its overtones of sexuality and The Conman in the Meth Lab with its family overtones. Each of the episodes deals in some way with relationships, appearance and reality, and each reveals something new about Booth.
This trio of episodes made me think about what Booth has in the way of foundations. Chief among them is his belief in a Divine Being, most specifically the God of the Catholic church. Time and again, Booth has espoused and defended his belief in God and I was prompted to ask why a man like Booth with his no nonsense approach to his job and a military history would be willing to expose his frailty (perhaps) to Bones by sticking so doggedly to the faith. I think the doggedness is at the root of his need. Whatever background he has, and we have little evidence at the moment, his faith seems to have been a constant. It is that surety which has sustained him. As it becomes clearer that there is little stability in his background, the church becomes the rock and the belief Booth holds remains unshaken, whether it be the Turin Shroud or the respect due to officers of the church: nun or priest, Bishop or Pope.
In addition, his faith gives him hope for reward in heaven. In the first episode Brennan mocked his desire to set the record of his life straight; to set right the cosmic balance sheet so that each life he had taken was matched by a crime he had solved, an absolution for his sins. This idea of redemption, of what God would see within him is addressed in The He in the She.
By this stage, he tends not to argue openly with Brennan about religion, but he doesn't stop following his beliefs. Stated baldly, as things generally are by Brennan, his tenet could sound like superstition.
BRENNAN: This is a very spiritual person, catholic in her tastes.
BOOTH: Oh, what, you can tell she's Catholic?
BRENNAN: Not Catholic, catholic. Encompassing, universal. She has a lot of religious books, but they cover a wide range of dogmas and philosophies. She herself seems to be Protestant. There's crosses, no crucifixes.
BOOTH: (looking at a picture of Patricia with her congregation) She's a pastor. Yeah. Looks like one of those grassroots community churches.
BRENNAN: (looking at Patricia’s open bible) She was preparing for a sermon.
BOOTH: A pastor with breast augmentation and veneers?
BRENNAN: So?
BOOTH: A spiritual leader shouldn't be so vain.
BRENNAN: The Pope sits on a throne; he wears robes worth thousands of dollars. Isn't that vanity?
BOOTH: Really? You're going after the Pope now?
BRENNAN: One pastor gets her teeth whitened, and the other drinks wine on Sunday mornings and tells everyone that it's been miraculously transformed into blood. Which of those is more outlandish?
When it becomes apparent that the Pastor was in fact a transgender person, Booth has a bit of a dilemma. Putting aside his initial difficulties in trying to express whether the victim was male or female as a rather cheap joke, he does say something when Sweets asks one of his rare useful questions.
SWEETS: Generally, transgendered people feel that they're the victim of a cosmic mistake. They're certain, from a young age, that they were born into the wrong body. Surgery and hormone treatments are a way to correct that biological mistake.
BRENNAN: Which is why Patricia Ludmuller's past only went back five years.
BOOTH: Are pastors allowed to think that God makes those kind of mistakes?
SWEETS: Do you think God makes that kind of mistake?
BOOTH: I think that God expects us to overcome certain things.
If we transfer 'certain things' to what Booth has had to overcome, then I think we could say that Booth sees the difficulties he has faced as a test of his worthiness and he has overcome them by trying to do the right thing. As is the way of things, he may feel that it is never enough, but still he strives. So, whatever his personal views, there is a murder victim to help and he will do his best to help. I'll say more about inadequacy in The Conman in the Meth Lab.
Interestingly, while this conversation is going on, Booth is very much aware of his male status, playing with a baseball and throwing it at Sweets, as if to assert his masculinity.
For now, he continues and when he and Brennan go to question the members of the Inclusion Church, he shows due respect.
CHUCK: A moment of silence for the pastor we loved so much.
BRENNAN: What are you doing?
BOOTH: I'm praying. Would you keep your voice down?
BRENNAN: Sorry. You're not a member.
BOOTH: It's not a gym, Bones.
When they find the Pastor had been a televangelist with a wife and son, Booth again shows he knows the right thing to do. His instinct to protect the feelings of others remains strong.
CECILIA: Patrick was a religious man. He would never offend God in this blatant manner.
BRENNAN: The theft, you mean, because it's a sin?
CECILIA: A sex-change operation. We are made in God's image, Dr. Brennan. Who are we to alter that image?
BRENNAN: Obviously, you dye your hair, there's evidence of plastic surgery.
CECILIA: That's different.
BOOTH: Bones.
BRENNAN: How?
BOOTH: It's augmenting God's work, not undoing it completely. How about that, Bones?
More interesting, is the exchange he has with the son when they track him down. I wasn't very happy with the casual way he made a bet with Sweets about where he would be, or that Brennan didn't call him on it. However, Sweets proves right and the son proves to be someone that Booth can empathise with.
BOOTH: According to her congregation, who loved her, your father welcomed everyone. What? You afraid your father's gonna burn in hell?
RYAN: No. No, I just wish I had the chance to know the new him...her. I'm a suspect? You thought perhaps I found out my father was a fraud who had a sex change and that God asked me to kill him?
BOOTH: Did God tell you to kill your dad?
RYAN: I've changed. Do you believe in redemption?
BOOTH: Yes, I do.
RYAN: One of God's challenges to us is to see past the surface. (rips off the written-on paper cover of his bible, showing a white one just like Patricia’s) To the deeper, essential nature which lies right beneath.
BOOTH: You believe our bodies are like dustcovers?
RYAN: That's exactly what I think, Agent Booth. Rip them off and see what's underneath. You see, all this time I thought my father was killed or...had abandoned me, and that's just not what happened. He didn't want to shake my faith. He was protecting me from the truth. He...he didn't want me to have to choose between him and God, and I love my father for that. I just hope God can forgive me for making him feel that way. Do you think I could have my father's Bible?
(Reaches towards Patricia’s bible)
BOOTH: I'm afraid it's still evidence. But, hey, we figure out who killed your father, we'll make sure you get that.
RYAN: Thank you.
BOOTH: You ever consider returning to the ministry, Ryan?
Again, Booth is trying to see beyond the surface, and to hear someone express a similar idea, that what lies beneath shows the true person, he is prompted to intervene, encouraging Ryan to take over his father's ministry. In many ways that conversation allows us to see another of Booth's strengths which is to read what is in people's hearts. The outer trappings, be they feminine, masculine, dust covers or tattoos, only form a casing. What is within is the important thing. In my conjecture, I wonder if Booth sees in the relationship between Ryan and his father something that he regrets not having himself. With hindsight of facts about to be revealed in a couple of episodes time, I see in the look that Booth gives Ryan an admiration for the compassion he has for what his father did. I think he wishes his own father had shown such moral courage and how his own life might have followed a different path.
At the end, the dichotomy that makes up the Booth and Brennan partnership is shown in their reaction to Ryan's words to his new congregation.
RYAN: I think I should begin my first sermon to you as kind of an introduction. My name is Ryan Stephenson. I'm a child of man. I'm a child of woman. But more importantly, I'm a child of God, and as I look around I see others like me. We don't look alike. None of us look alike. On the outside, we are gay and straight, black and white, fat and thin, man and woman, saint and sinner. Should I keep going, or do you guys catch my drift? But inside...inside we are all the same.
BRENNAN: That is completely incorrect.
BOOTH: Not now, Bones.
BRENNAN: Our skeletons are wildly different or I wouldn't have a job.
BOOTH: Just listen.
RYAN: I am sorry that I didn't get to know my father--Patricia. But I hope I will find him...her...that redeemed human being...both in her old Bible (holds Patricia’s bible) and, more importantly, in you, the people who she loved.
BOOTH: Redemption through transformation, I get it. What do you believe in Bones?
BRENNAN: Always swimming with a buddy.
BOOTH: What?
BRENNAN: You gather your wisdom, I gather mine.
BOOTH: Okay.
In passing, Booth's vanity can be seen in this little exchange.
BRENNAN: Patrick Stephenson wasn't murdered, Patricia Ludmuller was.
BOOTH: You think the moment Patricia Ludmuller came to exist, Patrick Stephenson stopped?
BRENNAN: When the butterfly emerges, does the caterpillar cease to exist?
BOOTH: Okay, what are you, like some kind of kung fu master? Why don't we just figure out who killed this guy...gal, person, okay?
BRENNAN: Would you like me just as much if I were a man?
BOOTH: Oh, yeah, much better. I wouldn't have to be so polite and accommodating. How about you? Would you like me better if I was a woman?
BRENNAN: No, I would not.
BOOTH: Why?
BRENNAN: I'd be jealous that you might be prettier than I am.
BOOTH: I would be, too. I'd be hot. Smokin’ hot.
True.
Appearance and reality play their part in The Skull in the Sculpture. When does junk stop being scrap and start being art? There is little to add to Booth here as the episode focuses more on Angela and her latent bisexuality, but there is one little nugget to be extracted from Booth's reaction to Angela's affair with Roxie.
Needless to say, there is the usual initial floundering that is so Booth.
ANGELA: Roxie's an old friend and she'd have told me.
BRENNAN: Well, she says she's a lesbian.
BOOTH: Delicacy, Bones.
BRENNAN: What? It's not an affliction, Booth.
ANGELA: Yes, Roxie is gay. At least she was when we were together.
BOOTH: In school?
ANGELA: Yes.
BOOTH: Oh, you heard rumours.
ANGELA: No, I have firsthand knowledge.
BOOTH: Oh, you walked in on her, that's awkward.
ANGELA: (stopping in front of a station and turning to address Booth) No, we were together, for over a year.
BOOTH: Wow. You and, uh, Roxie?
BRENNAN: You have a problem with that?
BOOTH: No. I was just processing the information there, that's all, and in doing so, I was envisioning you and her, you know, together, and, well, not to... well, together, but... Really?
BRENNAN: Women tend not to be as rigid in their sexual identities as men.
BOOTH: Weren't we talking about murder, here?
He he. He is so good at putting his foot in his mouth. However, we then get a more considered reaction and a reason why we can believe him when he said he didn't have a problem.
ANGELA: So, does it freak you out?
BOOTH: What?
ANGELA: You know, that Roxie and I were a couple.
BOOTH: No. I mean, come on, you had feelings for somebody.
ANGELA: I'm surprised.
BOOTH: Why, because you think I'm some kind of lunkhead cop?
ANGELA: No, I just...
BOOTH: All right. Uh... look, my Aunt Ruth had a roommate, okay? She was my favourite aunt. She and Franny, they'd take me to the ballpark, to the movies. And I heard talk when I was a kid. Beat up my friend, Pete, because of it. Then, I found out it was true.
ANGELA: And...?
BOOTH: I already said she was my favourite aunt. And Franny... well, you know, she had box seats for the Phillies games. I mean, come on, it doesn't get any better than that, right?
ANGELA: Right.
BOOTH: So, you and Roxie... hey. You know what I mean?
ANGELA: Yeah. So, you brought me along. What can I do to help you?
BOOTH: I want you to be an artist, okay, and, uh, keep me from looking like an idiot.
ANGELA: I'm not positive I can do both.
In other words, Booth has priorities and doesn't make a judgement on Angela's lifestyle because well, what kid would pass up box seats at Veterans Stadium just because his aunt was different?
So we have an aunt, another reference to growing up in Philadelphia and it is in the next episode that we meet an actual member of Booth's family whom he has mentioned only once before in A Boy in a Bush: his brother.
The episode opens with an unexpectedly bubbly Booth, full of expectation and hope.
BOOTH: Exactly, work. Work Bones okay. I was putting the final touches on a case that’s about to propel me into FBI legendary status.
BRENNAN: Ah the big RICO case (Booth glares at her) …that I’m not supposed to know anything about.
SWEETS: Why don’t I know about this case?
BOOTH: (Whispers) Bones, it's top secret.
SWEETS: But you told Dr Brennan.
BOOTH: She’s my partner okay. (Turns to Brennan) Indictments any minute followed by a pay raise, possible parade and most definitely my face on a coin. (Indicates his face.)
SWEETS: Just in time for your birthday.
BOOTH: Which I will be spending in, Ha-wai-i. Uh look at that, ha, shark adventures. (Hands Sweets and Brennan brochures.)
This is Booth as we rarely see him; not since The Pilot has he expressed the hope for recognition of the work he does. We know that did not happen and so the phone call he receives should act as a warning that the whole edifice is going to come crashing down. Indeed, from the moment he answers the phone he is on the defensive and in true Booth fashion conceals the truth by omission.
JARED: Camille.
(Cam approaches Booth and Jared).
CAM: Jarhead, it’s really you.
JARED: Jarheads are marines. I’m a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy, not an acceptable mistake.
CAM: He’s getting so big. Soon he’ll be wanting a later curfew and a car of his own.
BOOTH: Jared, this here is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan, that back there (indicates Clark) is a squint. Bones, this is my little brother.
(Brennan removes her gloves and approaches Jared).
JARED: Bones.
BOOTH: (To Jared) Dr. Brennan.
(Jared and Brennan shake hands).
BRENNAN: Ah it is nice to meet you Jarhead. I can see the family resemblance. (She looks closely at his face). Your facial structure is even more symmetrical than Booth’s.
JARED: (To Booth.) Is she coming on to me?
BOOTH: No it’s just the way she talks.
JARED: Right.
CAM: So, the Pentagon huh?
JARED: You’re looking at the new head of Strategic Plans and Policy.
BOOTH: Basically he runs the place. So, uh, Cam, Jared has a favour he’d like to ask.
JARED: I can ask my own favours Seeley.
BOOTH: Okay, go ahead.
(Brennan moves away).
JARED: There’s a cocktail party tonight. I’m in need of a beautiful woman on my arm, preferably a very smart one.
BRENNAN: I’m quite intelligent.
BOOTH: No. Not that you’re not intelligent, I mean you are intelligent.
CAM: I would be delighted.
Already there is an undercurrent, that everyone except Dr Brennan can sense. The way the two brothers interact, Cam's understanding of what the favour means; Seeley putting Jared in his place, there is very much a feeling of father and son. All appears fine until Cam has to cry off. Booth's body language here is very revealing, as is the clipped way he responds. Again, Brennan is oblivious.
JARED: More important than catching a murderer, I’m dateless tonight.
BOOTH: What happened to Cam?
CAM: Oddly I think it’s more important to catch this murderer. I’m working.
JARED: So who else you got for me Seeley?
BOOTH: What am I, your pimp?
JARED: Don’t think I’m not appreciative.
BRENNAN: Clark has everything under control so I could go.
BOOTH: What?
JARED: Really?
BOOTH: Huh.
JARED: Thank you.
BOOTH: No.
JARED: Wha… w, wait this is Bones, right? Not some ugly FBI woman with a moustache.
BRENNAN: I don’t have a moustache Jared.
JARED: Seeley would you mind?
BOOTH: Mmm No, why would I mind? ‘S all right.
JARED: Which means this is a great time to hang up.
BOOTH: Um-hmm. (He flips his phone closed).
It's not really clear what is going on, until Jared tells Brennan what he really thinks of his brother at the cocktail party. This is the first insight we have had of someone who really knows Booth apart from Cam, so it should be very revealing.
BRENNAN: I was thinking how Booth would be bored, at a function like this.
JARED: This kind of event would make Seeley very nervous. I don’t mean he’s incapable, my brother’s very very capable. It’s just, it’s like Seeley’s afraid of success. He stays in his comfort zone. Drove our dad nuts. (He sips his drink).
BRENNAN: Really?
JARED: Maybe that’s what made him a good sniper. He doesn’t like to be visible above the ridge line so he keeps his head low – instinct. Me on the other hand, well I cannot help but run that ridge.
BRENNAN: Can you give me an example?
(Jared leans in and kisses her)
JARED: I bet you Seeley never took that risk.
BRENNAN: Nope.
JARED: (They clink glasses.) To a good night.
BRENNAN: Yes, so far.
On the face of it this would be what we know about Booth, but using the words 'afraid' and 'comfort zone' give a different impression from 'cautious'. Brennan is taken in and when Jared swoops in for a kiss she is flattered by Jared calling it a risk Booth wouldn't take. (ignoring #100 here)
Booth is being shown in an unexpected light by his brother and Brennan is completely convinced. Others are not. Booth is worried.
BOOTH: (His voice over speakerphone) Have you seen Bones this morning?
CAM: No, I think she and Jared had a late night. Open the attachment I just sent you.....
BOOTH: ‘Kay, Anthony Pongetti, multiple fraud convictions.
(first sighting of bobble headed bobby)
...................
BOOTH: You know, Bones never gets in this late.
CAM: You’re the one who said you didn’t mind them going out together.
BOOTH: (Sighs) Bye. (Cam rolls her eyes.)
Why didn't Booth warn Bones about his brother? There is clearly something off about him, so what is holding Booth back? I can only conjecture that in spite of all the evidence he hopes his brother will not let him down, or that Brennan can see through the surface to the reality.
In the meantime, Booth is holding the moral high ground, not only over his brother but also the commander of the State Police.
COLONEL WOLCHUCK: Mind if I sit?
BOOTH: No, please have a seat. You know if this is about the RICO investigation I’ve been keeping you guys in the loop just like I promised.
(They both sit).
COLONEL WOLCHUCK: Well I’m here about the meth lab body.
BOOTH: Okay.
COLONEL WOLCHUCK: It’s extremely embarrassing for the State Police that this homicide victim was blown up during a training exercise.
BOOTH: Uh huh.
COLONEL WOLCHUCK: And the Superintendent, the Governor, various movers and shakers would look kindly on it if you, well if you simply neglected to give that small detail to the press.
BOOTH: And if the press digs up that the bodies were burned and blown into several pieces it makes the FBI look sneaky.
COLONEL WOLCHUCK: Well, the FBI is sneaky. (They both laugh)
BOOTH: (Stands) Right. Not today sir.
COLONEL WOLCHUCK: (Stands) Careers are made when men of good intent help each other.
BOOTH: I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we just tell the truth and take our lumps when we have to.
Typical Booth. There is his brother pressing the flesh with the movers and shakers and here is Booth refusing to take part in a cover up of the truth, even though it would be little more than an embarrassment to the police. For Booth, there is nothing but absolute truth.
Cam and Angela are trying their best to alert Brennan to the dangers of Jared. When Cam does see Brennan she too shows some concern.
CAM: Can I offer you a little insight into Booth’s little brother.
CLARK: Oh god, why am I always standing precisely in the wrong place?
BRENNAN: I didn’t have sex with him Cam.
(Angela enters)
ANGELA: Didn’t have sex with who?
CAM: Jared Booth.
ANGELA: Good. (She hands a file to Clark, he leaves the room).
BRENNAN: Why good?
CAM: Because… because…
ANGELA: Because he’s Booth’s little brother and it would just be a creepy way to have sex with a Booth without having sex with the real Booth.
CAM: Kudos Angela. I would not have had the guts to say that aloud.
BRENNAN: N… Jared is a real Booth.
ANGELA: Hmmm. Jared’s Booth lite. Booth is the real Booth.
BRENNAN: W… what if Booth is Booth lite?
Now this is where I take issue with the episode. Brennan has known Booth for over 4 years; she has met Jared twice. I know she has difficulty spotting when a man is being flattering, but I find it hard to believe that she would question Booth's realness based on one thing that Jared said about him and a kiss, which is all the evidence she has to start doubting Booth.
The evidence for doubt of what Jared is really like is soon presented when Booth gets a text from his brother that he is in trouble. Booth immediately rushes to the rescue, to find Jared has crashed his car after falling asleep at the wheel. Booth knows that he is in fact drunk, but things take a downturn when Wolchuk turns up.
BOOTH: Colonel Wolchuck. Is that what we’re going with here, he fell asleep at the wheel?
COLONEL WOLCHUCK: I’m sure you’ll agree it’s best just to tell the truth, take our lumps when we have to.
JARED: They get me for DUI, I lose my job Seeley. I mean, I lose my whole career.
BOOTH: (turns back to Jared) Shut up. Shut up. Please. (To Colonel Wolchuck) Can I talk to you for a second?
We can see where this is going and the suspicions are confirmed when Booth watches Wolchuk on tv at a press conference taking all the credit for the RICO case. He throws his Hawaii tickets and brochures in the bin and refuses to answer Cam's call. She gets hold of him anyway.
CAM: What happened? (Booth looks puzzled. Cam returns the look) I watch TV, State Police getting all the glory for that big RICO case. What the hell?
BOOTH: Relax, okay it’s political. It came down way far above my head, right.
CAM: Don’t you lie to me big man, I’m your friend. I know where this came from, and it wasn’t from on high.
BOOTH: Cam, just let this one slip by. (She looks down, then nods. He leaves).
However, home truths are about to be spilled and, of all people, it is Sweets who gets them.
SWEETS: Capitals.
JARED: Yeah, I know Seeley’s a Flyers man, but hey, when in Rome right? (The elevator doors open, he motions Sweets to exit first). Please.
(They exit the elevator and walk towards Booth’s office)
SWEETS: Yeah, I still haven’t gotten him anything for his birthday.
JARED: Oh my brother doesn’t like birthday presents. Anyways these are more like a thank you. Or, an apology. You know what it’s like with brothers right?
SWEETS: No, only child. (They enter Booth’s empty office, Sweets waits in the doorway, Jared approaches the desk)
JARED: Oh well having a big brother is like having an extra dad, only a dad who protects you from your real dad, and always thinks of you as a kid. (He leaves the tickets on Booth’s desk, and turns back to Sweets).
SWEETS: I have the same problem with Booth.
JARED: There is nothing worse than somebody who always thinks they’re right, and then they’re right. Right? It’s a pleasure Agent Sweets. (they shake hands. Jared leaves)
SWEETS: Doctor, not Agent. (And thereby hangs a tale I bet)
So Sweets has heard about Booth's role as a surrogate father and someone who thinks he knows best and it turns out that he does. Jared is resentful. Why else say that Booth doesn't like birthday presents. Is he hoping that the ice hockey tickets are the only present Booth will get so they will mean more? Is it significant that he doesn't give them directly to his brother in the hope that by not seeing him he will forgive Jared?
In the end, he almost costs Booth not only his chance of success, but also his friendship with Brennan.
BRENNAN: What happened with your RICO bust? (Booth turns back to her).
BOOTH: Nothing, why? Huh, you been talking to Cam?
BRENNAN: No. Did you do something wrong?
BOOTH: What d’you mean?
BRENNAN: Well you didn’t get the credit you deserve. What did you do?
BOOTH: Life is not always about credit.
BRENNAN: Well that’s not what you said before. You said life was all about credit and you were going to Hawaii and they were going to put you on a coin.
BOOTH: Uh, you know what, let’s just forget about it. Okay Bones, forget about it. (He turns to go again).
BRENNAN: Jared warned me that you tend to sabotage yourself. (Booth turns back).
BOOTH: Jared said that?
BRENNAN: Mm-hmm. He said that you were afraid of success.
BOOTH: Mmm, so basically I’m a loser.
BRENNAN: No, he never said the word loser.
BOOTH: Do you think I’m a loser, like that guy in there. Some clown in some dumb-ass uniform who basically can’t do any better? Is that what you think?
BRENNAN: Well, anthropologically, males tend to rank themselves into a hierarchy. There’s no shame in not being at the top of the hierarchy.
BOOTH: You’re not answering the question Bones. Answer my question.
She doesn't because his phone rings. However, Booth is the one who introduces the word 'loser' which I think speaks volumes about his self esteem. Clearly, he has been knocked back, told he was worthless, before, not by Jared, but by someone else whose opinion he would value. I think that would be his father. The way he jumped immediately on Brennan using the word 'afraid' clearly shows his dislike of the suggestion of cowardice. He is now angry and upset and falls back on protocol to get him through.
BOOTH: Bones, lets just go and do our work.
Booth's sense of inadequacy is understandable, considering that he has never had a public recognition of the worth of the job he does. The one chance he had when he shot Maruf, he turned down because he didn't want to be honoured for killing someone. More galling is the fact that he has done nothing wrong other than be over protective of his brother. To save his brother's position he has had to forego his own success. Bitter. To have Bones doubting him too must be the final straw and we feel similarly frustrated when she resists Cam's and Sweets' attempts at an intervention, although they handled it very poorly.
SWEETS: I was troubled by a conversation I had with Jared Booth.
CAM: Sweets came to me with some theories about Booth’s family life, and he pretty much nailed it.
BRENNAN: Nailed what.
SWEETS: Sit down. (They all sit; he places the tray on the table.) Booth and Jared are children of a physically abusive alcoholic father.
CAM: Booth’s been digging Jared out of trouble since they were kids. Jared always comes up smelling like a rose and Booth takes the hit.
SWEETS: He’s denying his brother the opportunity to take responsibility and learn from his own mistakes.
BRENNAN: You have no evidence of that.
CAM: I’ve known the Booth boys for 15 years.
SWEETS: Now it’s natural to be protective of a younger sibling. Of course Jared is a grown man, an intelligent, talented, capable adult.
BRENNAN: I like him very much.
CAM: Yah? Well, cut it out.
BRENNAN: Booth shouldn’t be threatened by the fact that his brother is more successful.
CAM: I am absolutely certain that however it is Booth lost all the credit for that RICO bust, it’s because of Jared.
BRENNAN: We’re all scientists here, right? Well, not you. (She points to Sweets). What is your evidence?
CAM: How about this, the last time I told Booth what I thought of Jared, he didn’t speak to me for six months.
BRENNAN: That is an anecdote.
CAM: We’re saying maybe Booth deserves the benefit of the doubt here, until all the evidence is in.
BRENNAN: Evidence, I am comfortable with evidence.
How about that of your own eyes woman? Why is she so convinced that Booth is jealous of Jared's success? Surely, she should see that success is measured by more meaningful criteria. Booth has been acknowledged as the best of the Army's snipers. He has the highest success rate of any FBI agent at solving cases. All right, he doesn't move about in the White House or the Pentagon, but he is still successful. Anyway, they botched it.
At least, however, she goes to seek evidence and confronts Jared.
BRENNAN: I need to know the truth.
JARED: I’ve heard that about you.
BRENNAN: Do you know anything about Booth losing credit on the RICO case?
JARED: No. What, I mean that’s the first I’ve heard of it.
BRENNAN: People are telling me that somehow all the credit went to the State Police because of you. Is that possible?
JARED: (He sighs) Oh.
BRENNAN: So, it is possible.
JARED: What did he say to you?
BRENNAN: Nothing.
JARED: I think this is something between brothers. No offence.
(Brennan starts to leave)
JARED: Tempe.
(Brennan turns back to him).
BRENNAN: You took advantage of him. You know you made me think that he’s a loser. And what really makes me angry is that I believed you. You know I wouldn’t blame Booth if he never spoke to me again. You’re the loser. (She leaves.)
(She comes back and pushes Jared completely off his bar stool. She leaves. Jared gets up.)
As a final insult she then proceeds to distract Booth during a hostage situation and she gets shot. He kills the cop who was working with Pongetti. Some birthday.
At no point is Jared honest. Whether this is Booth's fault because he has protected him all his life, or whether it is a character flaw is hard to say. However, he has got into his own comfort zone, knowing that Seeley will always be there to bail him out. He also seems to have followed his father's footsteps and become an alcoholic, something that Booth has clearly tried to ignore.
Brennan's apeech at the bar is very pretty. I find it shallow.
BRENNAN: Anthropology teaches us that, the alpha male is the man, wearing the crown, displaying the most colorful plumage and the shiniest baubles, he stands out from the others. But I now think that anthropology may have it wrong. (Booth looks puzzled.) In working with Booth… (She turns to face him.) I have come to realize that the quiet man, the invisible man, the man who is always there for friends and family, that’s the real alpha male. And I promise, that my eyes will never be caught by those… shiny baubles again. Happy birthday. (She clinks glasses with Booth).
There is nothing wrong with the insight or the conclusion, it's just that she seems to forget that is what Booth is like too frequently after that.
Booth has had a rough ride, and it is not over yet. Before he gets his last kick in the teeth from his brother, it's worth pointing out one or two little clues about why he did it.
To Lily Stegman he says:
Plus, you have a family to take care of. We do whatever we can for family.
And
You needed the money and in a way you felt like you earned it for taking an old man in. Family.
With Bones:
BRENNAN: People make stupid irrational decisions. (Her cell phone rings. She answers). Brennan.
BOOTH: They act from the heart sometimes Bones, ’s not a crime.
Family and acting from the heart; where have we heard that before?
We are reminded in their final exchange on the matter in the bar:
BRENNAN: Just c’mere for a second. (She leads him to a quieter area further along the bar.) What you’re doing for your brother, isn’t fair.
BOOTH: Come on Bones, don’t get me mad… at you, after that great speech right. Not after I got you shot.
BRENNAN: You didn’t get me shot, I got me shot.
BOOTH: (He sits). I don’t wanna talk about my brother.
BRENNAN: Would you prefer Sweets do it?
(They look along the bar to see Sweets. He raises his glass to them. Booth turns back to Brennan.)
BOOTH: I’m listening.
BRENNAN: Well I forgot all the psychological stuff but basically, when you… rescue somebody all the time. If you keep getting them out on bail…
BOOTH: Bail them out Bones, if you bail them out.
BRENNAN: You’re thwarting their ability to help themselves. Now you’re angry.
BOOTH: Come on Bones, you have to admit, getting a psychological lesson from you is like…
BRENNAN: Getting and anthropology lesson from you.
BOOTH: The RICO case, I traded my one shot at glory to keep my brother from being arrested……. for drunk driving.
BRENNAN: Booth! You know, what if he does it again? What if he kills someone next time? You shouldn’t have done that.
BOOTH: Right. Says the woman who got her father off murder charges. (He sighs.) Face it, we do things for family.
BRENNAN: You’re right, you’re totally right.
(We see Jared at the bar chatting and laughing with a young woman.)
BOOTH: No, I’m not.
BRENNAN: What? Why?
(Booth stands)
BOOTH: There’s no risk that your father will kill again.
So Booth tries to do what he should have done years before and he is rejected.
BOOTH: Well no. It’s, uh what I gotta do. I, uh, I gotta stop. Do you understand?
JARED: Stop?
BOOTH: Yeah, and you should stop too.
JARED: I gotta stop what?
BOOTH: The drinking: Stop it.
JARED: I’ll take that under advisement. (He turns to re-enter the bar).
BOOTH: I’m serious Jared. No more stepping in to make things go away.
JARED: (Angrily) I carry my own water, Seeley. Now you should go back inside and enjoy your birthday party. (He drains his drink and waves the glass in Booth’s face)
BOOTH: Right.
Booth has nothing left. He has tried to do what he thought was the right thing and he has got nothing to show for it. He has tried to do his job, protect his brother and show him the error of his ways. All he has as a reward is his brother's contempt, tickets to an ice hockey game and a piece of birthday cake. This may go some way to reinforce his belief in reward from God and a happily ever after in heaven, because there is nothing for him here. He only has Bones, to whom he finally confesses something personal
My dad drank.
This episode is the first we have had which directly addressed Booth's background, and in due turn he is revealed to be as damaged by what happened to him in his childhood as Brennan. He has presented a face of capability and wisdom to Brennan that he has gained through dealing with the real world, outside of academia and the lab. Yet he has as many difficulties to face as she in navigating through life. Interestingly, this episode has allowed us to look at him with a clarity that we have lacked. In a way, he is his own worst enemy in that he is as protective of himself as he is of others. By not letting anyone, especially Bones, see what is going on inside he has prevented anyone helping him. He would probably reject the claim that he needs help. However, when his help is refused, he finally has to come clean about something. It is the only thing he has ever volunteered of importance about his family. It was caused by family and he shares it with someone from his new family.
Well that was very long, but it gets rather bitty after this so I gave it a good going over.
Still windy and stormy out
Let's get Booth to a place we haven't been yet: with his roots showing.
A BOOTH FOR ALL SEASONS
I'm going to indulge in a little speculation as I look at The He in the She with its religious overtones; The Skull in the Sculpture with its overtones of sexuality and The Conman in the Meth Lab with its family overtones. Each of the episodes deals in some way with relationships, appearance and reality, and each reveals something new about Booth.
This trio of episodes made me think about what Booth has in the way of foundations. Chief among them is his belief in a Divine Being, most specifically the God of the Catholic church. Time and again, Booth has espoused and defended his belief in God and I was prompted to ask why a man like Booth with his no nonsense approach to his job and a military history would be willing to expose his frailty (perhaps) to Bones by sticking so doggedly to the faith. I think the doggedness is at the root of his need. Whatever background he has, and we have little evidence at the moment, his faith seems to have been a constant. It is that surety which has sustained him. As it becomes clearer that there is little stability in his background, the church becomes the rock and the belief Booth holds remains unshaken, whether it be the Turin Shroud or the respect due to officers of the church: nun or priest, Bishop or Pope.
In addition, his faith gives him hope for reward in heaven. In the first episode Brennan mocked his desire to set the record of his life straight; to set right the cosmic balance sheet so that each life he had taken was matched by a crime he had solved, an absolution for his sins. This idea of redemption, of what God would see within him is addressed in The He in the She.
By this stage, he tends not to argue openly with Brennan about religion, but he doesn't stop following his beliefs. Stated baldly, as things generally are by Brennan, his tenet could sound like superstition.
BRENNAN: This is a very spiritual person, catholic in her tastes.
BOOTH: Oh, what, you can tell she's Catholic?
BRENNAN: Not Catholic, catholic. Encompassing, universal. She has a lot of religious books, but they cover a wide range of dogmas and philosophies. She herself seems to be Protestant. There's crosses, no crucifixes.
BOOTH: (looking at a picture of Patricia with her congregation) She's a pastor. Yeah. Looks like one of those grassroots community churches.
BRENNAN: (looking at Patricia’s open bible) She was preparing for a sermon.
BOOTH: A pastor with breast augmentation and veneers?
BRENNAN: So?
BOOTH: A spiritual leader shouldn't be so vain.
BRENNAN: The Pope sits on a throne; he wears robes worth thousands of dollars. Isn't that vanity?
BOOTH: Really? You're going after the Pope now?
BRENNAN: One pastor gets her teeth whitened, and the other drinks wine on Sunday mornings and tells everyone that it's been miraculously transformed into blood. Which of those is more outlandish?
When it becomes apparent that the Pastor was in fact a transgender person, Booth has a bit of a dilemma. Putting aside his initial difficulties in trying to express whether the victim was male or female as a rather cheap joke, he does say something when Sweets asks one of his rare useful questions.
SWEETS: Generally, transgendered people feel that they're the victim of a cosmic mistake. They're certain, from a young age, that they were born into the wrong body. Surgery and hormone treatments are a way to correct that biological mistake.
BRENNAN: Which is why Patricia Ludmuller's past only went back five years.
BOOTH: Are pastors allowed to think that God makes those kind of mistakes?
SWEETS: Do you think God makes that kind of mistake?
BOOTH: I think that God expects us to overcome certain things.
If we transfer 'certain things' to what Booth has had to overcome, then I think we could say that Booth sees the difficulties he has faced as a test of his worthiness and he has overcome them by trying to do the right thing. As is the way of things, he may feel that it is never enough, but still he strives. So, whatever his personal views, there is a murder victim to help and he will do his best to help. I'll say more about inadequacy in The Conman in the Meth Lab.
Interestingly, while this conversation is going on, Booth is very much aware of his male status, playing with a baseball and throwing it at Sweets, as if to assert his masculinity.
For now, he continues and when he and Brennan go to question the members of the Inclusion Church, he shows due respect.
CHUCK: A moment of silence for the pastor we loved so much.
BRENNAN: What are you doing?
BOOTH: I'm praying. Would you keep your voice down?
BRENNAN: Sorry. You're not a member.
BOOTH: It's not a gym, Bones.
When they find the Pastor had been a televangelist with a wife and son, Booth again shows he knows the right thing to do. His instinct to protect the feelings of others remains strong.
BRENNAN: The theft, you mean, because it's a sin?
CECILIA: A sex-change operation. We are made in God's image, Dr. Brennan. Who are we to alter that image?
BRENNAN: Obviously, you dye your hair, there's evidence of plastic surgery.
CECILIA: That's different.
BOOTH: Bones.
BRENNAN: How?
BOOTH: It's augmenting God's work, not undoing it completely. How about that, Bones?
More interesting, is the exchange he has with the son when they track him down. I wasn't very happy with the casual way he made a bet with Sweets about where he would be, or that Brennan didn't call him on it. However, Sweets proves right and the son proves to be someone that Booth can empathise with.
BOOTH: According to her congregation, who loved her, your father welcomed everyone. What? You afraid your father's gonna burn in hell?
RYAN: No. No, I just wish I had the chance to know the new him...her. I'm a suspect? You thought perhaps I found out my father was a fraud who had a sex change and that God asked me to kill him?
BOOTH: Did God tell you to kill your dad?
RYAN: I've changed. Do you believe in redemption?
BOOTH: Yes, I do.
BOOTH: You believe our bodies are like dustcovers?
RYAN: That's exactly what I think, Agent Booth. Rip them off and see what's underneath. You see, all this time I thought my father was killed or...had abandoned me, and that's just not what happened. He didn't want to shake my faith. He was protecting me from the truth. He...he didn't want me to have to choose between him and God, and I love my father for that. I just hope God can forgive me for making him feel that way. Do you think I could have my father's Bible?
(Reaches towards Patricia’s bible)
BOOTH: I'm afraid it's still evidence. But, hey, we figure out who killed your father, we'll make sure you get that.
RYAN: Thank you.
BOOTH: You ever consider returning to the ministry, Ryan?
Again, Booth is trying to see beyond the surface, and to hear someone express a similar idea, that what lies beneath shows the true person, he is prompted to intervene, encouraging Ryan to take over his father's ministry. In many ways that conversation allows us to see another of Booth's strengths which is to read what is in people's hearts. The outer trappings, be they feminine, masculine, dust covers or tattoos, only form a casing. What is within is the important thing. In my conjecture, I wonder if Booth sees in the relationship between Ryan and his father something that he regrets not having himself. With hindsight of facts about to be revealed in a couple of episodes time, I see in the look that Booth gives Ryan an admiration for the compassion he has for what his father did. I think he wishes his own father had shown such moral courage and how his own life might have followed a different path.
At the end, the dichotomy that makes up the Booth and Brennan partnership is shown in their reaction to Ryan's words to his new congregation.
RYAN: I think I should begin my first sermon to you as kind of an introduction. My name is Ryan Stephenson. I'm a child of man. I'm a child of woman. But more importantly, I'm a child of God, and as I look around I see others like me. We don't look alike. None of us look alike. On the outside, we are gay and straight, black and white, fat and thin, man and woman, saint and sinner. Should I keep going, or do you guys catch my drift? But inside...inside we are all the same.
BRENNAN: That is completely incorrect.
BOOTH: Not now, Bones.
BRENNAN: Our skeletons are wildly different or I wouldn't have a job.
BOOTH: Just listen.
RYAN: I am sorry that I didn't get to know my father--Patricia. But I hope I will find him...her...that redeemed human being...both in her old Bible (holds Patricia’s bible) and, more importantly, in you, the people who she loved.
BOOTH: Redemption through transformation, I get it. What do you believe in Bones?
BRENNAN: Always swimming with a buddy.
BOOTH: What?
BRENNAN: You gather your wisdom, I gather mine.
BOOTH: Okay.
In passing, Booth's vanity can be seen in this little exchange.
BRENNAN: Patrick Stephenson wasn't murdered, Patricia Ludmuller was.
BOOTH: You think the moment Patricia Ludmuller came to exist, Patrick Stephenson stopped?
BRENNAN: When the butterfly emerges, does the caterpillar cease to exist?
BOOTH: Okay, what are you, like some kind of kung fu master? Why don't we just figure out who killed this guy...gal, person, okay?
BRENNAN: Would you like me just as much if I were a man?
BOOTH: Oh, yeah, much better. I wouldn't have to be so polite and accommodating. How about you? Would you like me better if I was a woman?
BRENNAN: No, I would not.
BOOTH: Why?
BRENNAN: I'd be jealous that you might be prettier than I am.
BOOTH: I would be, too. I'd be hot. Smokin’ hot.
True.
Appearance and reality play their part in The Skull in the Sculpture. When does junk stop being scrap and start being art? There is little to add to Booth here as the episode focuses more on Angela and her latent bisexuality, but there is one little nugget to be extracted from Booth's reaction to Angela's affair with Roxie.
Needless to say, there is the usual initial floundering that is so Booth.
ANGELA: Roxie's an old friend and she'd have told me.
BRENNAN: Well, she says she's a lesbian.
BOOTH: Delicacy, Bones.
BRENNAN: What? It's not an affliction, Booth.
ANGELA: Yes, Roxie is gay. At least she was when we were together.
BOOTH: In school?
ANGELA: Yes.
BOOTH: Oh, you heard rumours.
ANGELA: No, I have firsthand knowledge.
BOOTH: Oh, you walked in on her, that's awkward.
ANGELA: (stopping in front of a station and turning to address Booth) No, we were together, for over a year.
BOOTH: Wow. You and, uh, Roxie?
BRENNAN: You have a problem with that?
BOOTH: No. I was just processing the information there, that's all, and in doing so, I was envisioning you and her, you know, together, and, well, not to... well, together, but... Really?
BRENNAN: Women tend not to be as rigid in their sexual identities as men.
BOOTH: Weren't we talking about murder, here?
He he. He is so good at putting his foot in his mouth. However, we then get a more considered reaction and a reason why we can believe him when he said he didn't have a problem.
ANGELA: So, does it freak you out?
BOOTH: What?
ANGELA: You know, that Roxie and I were a couple.
BOOTH: No. I mean, come on, you had feelings for somebody.
ANGELA: I'm surprised.
BOOTH: Why, because you think I'm some kind of lunkhead cop?
ANGELA: No, I just...
BOOTH: All right. Uh... look, my Aunt Ruth had a roommate, okay? She was my favourite aunt. She and Franny, they'd take me to the ballpark, to the movies. And I heard talk when I was a kid. Beat up my friend, Pete, because of it. Then, I found out it was true.
ANGELA: And...?
BOOTH: I already said she was my favourite aunt. And Franny... well, you know, she had box seats for the Phillies games. I mean, come on, it doesn't get any better than that, right?
ANGELA: Right.
BOOTH: So, you and Roxie... hey. You know what I mean?
ANGELA: Yeah. So, you brought me along. What can I do to help you?
BOOTH: I want you to be an artist, okay, and, uh, keep me from looking like an idiot.
ANGELA: I'm not positive I can do both.
In other words, Booth has priorities and doesn't make a judgement on Angela's lifestyle because well, what kid would pass up box seats at Veterans Stadium just because his aunt was different?
So we have an aunt, another reference to growing up in Philadelphia and it is in the next episode that we meet an actual member of Booth's family whom he has mentioned only once before in A Boy in a Bush: his brother.
BOOTH: Exactly, work. Work Bones okay. I was putting the final touches on a case that’s about to propel me into FBI legendary status.
BRENNAN: Ah the big RICO case (Booth glares at her) …that I’m not supposed to know anything about.
SWEETS: Why don’t I know about this case?
BOOTH: (Whispers) Bones, it's top secret.
SWEETS: But you told Dr Brennan.
BOOTH: She’s my partner okay. (Turns to Brennan) Indictments any minute followed by a pay raise, possible parade and most definitely my face on a coin. (Indicates his face.)
SWEETS: Just in time for your birthday.
BOOTH: Which I will be spending in, Ha-wai-i. Uh look at that, ha, shark adventures. (Hands Sweets and Brennan brochures.)
This is Booth as we rarely see him; not since The Pilot has he expressed the hope for recognition of the work he does. We know that did not happen and so the phone call he receives should act as a warning that the whole edifice is going to come crashing down. Indeed, from the moment he answers the phone he is on the defensive and in true Booth fashion conceals the truth by omission.
JARED: Camille.
(Cam approaches Booth and Jared).
CAM: Jarhead, it’s really you.
JARED: Jarheads are marines. I’m a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy, not an acceptable mistake.
CAM: He’s getting so big. Soon he’ll be wanting a later curfew and a car of his own.
BOOTH: Jared, this here is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan, that back there (indicates Clark) is a squint. Bones, this is my little brother.
(Brennan removes her gloves and approaches Jared).
JARED: Bones.
BOOTH: (To Jared) Dr. Brennan.
(Jared and Brennan shake hands).
BRENNAN: Ah it is nice to meet you Jarhead. I can see the family resemblance. (She looks closely at his face). Your facial structure is even more symmetrical than Booth’s.
JARED: (To Booth.) Is she coming on to me?
BOOTH: No it’s just the way she talks.
JARED: Right.
CAM: So, the Pentagon huh?
JARED: You’re looking at the new head of Strategic Plans and Policy.
BOOTH: Basically he runs the place. So, uh, Cam, Jared has a favour he’d like to ask.
JARED: I can ask my own favours Seeley.
BOOTH: Okay, go ahead.
(Brennan moves away).
JARED: There’s a cocktail party tonight. I’m in need of a beautiful woman on my arm, preferably a very smart one.
BRENNAN: I’m quite intelligent.
BOOTH: No. Not that you’re not intelligent, I mean you are intelligent.
CAM: I would be delighted.
Already there is an undercurrent, that everyone except Dr Brennan can sense. The way the two brothers interact, Cam's understanding of what the favour means; Seeley putting Jared in his place, there is very much a feeling of father and son. All appears fine until Cam has to cry off. Booth's body language here is very revealing, as is the clipped way he responds. Again, Brennan is oblivious.
JARED: More important than catching a murderer, I’m dateless tonight.
BOOTH: What happened to Cam?
CAM: Oddly I think it’s more important to catch this murderer. I’m working.
JARED: So who else you got for me Seeley?
BOOTH: What am I, your pimp?
JARED: Don’t think I’m not appreciative.
BRENNAN: Clark has everything under control so I could go.
BOOTH: What?
JARED: Really?
BOOTH: Huh.
JARED: Thank you.
BOOTH: No.
JARED: Wha… w, wait this is Bones, right? Not some ugly FBI woman with a moustache.
BRENNAN: I don’t have a moustache Jared.
JARED: Seeley would you mind?
BOOTH: Mmm No, why would I mind? ‘S all right.
JARED: Which means this is a great time to hang up.
BOOTH: Um-hmm. (He flips his phone closed).
It's not really clear what is going on, until Jared tells Brennan what he really thinks of his brother at the cocktail party. This is the first insight we have had of someone who really knows Booth apart from Cam, so it should be very revealing.
BRENNAN: I was thinking how Booth would be bored, at a function like this.
JARED: This kind of event would make Seeley very nervous. I don’t mean he’s incapable, my brother’s very very capable. It’s just, it’s like Seeley’s afraid of success. He stays in his comfort zone. Drove our dad nuts. (He sips his drink).
BRENNAN: Really?
JARED: Maybe that’s what made him a good sniper. He doesn’t like to be visible above the ridge line so he keeps his head low – instinct. Me on the other hand, well I cannot help but run that ridge.
BRENNAN: Can you give me an example?
(Jared leans in and kisses her)
JARED: I bet you Seeley never took that risk.
BRENNAN: Nope.
JARED: (They clink glasses.) To a good night.
BRENNAN: Yes, so far.
On the face of it this would be what we know about Booth, but using the words 'afraid' and 'comfort zone' give a different impression from 'cautious'. Brennan is taken in and when Jared swoops in for a kiss she is flattered by Jared calling it a risk Booth wouldn't take. (ignoring #100 here)
Booth is being shown in an unexpected light by his brother and Brennan is completely convinced. Others are not. Booth is worried.
BOOTH: (His voice over speakerphone) Have you seen Bones this morning?
CAM: No, I think she and Jared had a late night. Open the attachment I just sent you.....
BOOTH: ‘Kay, Anthony Pongetti, multiple fraud convictions.
(first sighting of bobble headed bobby)
...................
BOOTH: You know, Bones never gets in this late.
CAM: You’re the one who said you didn’t mind them going out together.
BOOTH: (Sighs) Bye. (Cam rolls her eyes.)
Why didn't Booth warn Bones about his brother? There is clearly something off about him, so what is holding Booth back? I can only conjecture that in spite of all the evidence he hopes his brother will not let him down, or that Brennan can see through the surface to the reality.
In the meantime, Booth is holding the moral high ground, not only over his brother but also the commander of the State Police.
COLONEL WOLCHUCK: Mind if I sit?
BOOTH: No, please have a seat. You know if this is about the RICO investigation I’ve been keeping you guys in the loop just like I promised.
(They both sit).
COLONEL WOLCHUCK: Well I’m here about the meth lab body.
BOOTH: Okay.
COLONEL WOLCHUCK: It’s extremely embarrassing for the State Police that this homicide victim was blown up during a training exercise.
BOOTH: Uh huh.
COLONEL WOLCHUCK: And the Superintendent, the Governor, various movers and shakers would look kindly on it if you, well if you simply neglected to give that small detail to the press.
BOOTH: And if the press digs up that the bodies were burned and blown into several pieces it makes the FBI look sneaky.
COLONEL WOLCHUCK: Well, the FBI is sneaky. (They both laugh)
COLONEL WOLCHUCK: (Stands) Careers are made when men of good intent help each other.
BOOTH: I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we just tell the truth and take our lumps when we have to.
Typical Booth. There is his brother pressing the flesh with the movers and shakers and here is Booth refusing to take part in a cover up of the truth, even though it would be little more than an embarrassment to the police. For Booth, there is nothing but absolute truth.
Cam and Angela are trying their best to alert Brennan to the dangers of Jared. When Cam does see Brennan she too shows some concern.
CAM: Can I offer you a little insight into Booth’s little brother.
CLARK: Oh god, why am I always standing precisely in the wrong place?
BRENNAN: I didn’t have sex with him Cam.
(Angela enters)
ANGELA: Didn’t have sex with who?
CAM: Jared Booth.
ANGELA: Good. (She hands a file to Clark, he leaves the room).
BRENNAN: Why good?
CAM: Because… because…
ANGELA: Because he’s Booth’s little brother and it would just be a creepy way to have sex with a Booth without having sex with the real Booth.
CAM: Kudos Angela. I would not have had the guts to say that aloud.
BRENNAN: N… Jared is a real Booth.
ANGELA: Hmmm. Jared’s Booth lite. Booth is the real Booth.
BRENNAN: W… what if Booth is Booth lite?
Now this is where I take issue with the episode. Brennan has known Booth for over 4 years; she has met Jared twice. I know she has difficulty spotting when a man is being flattering, but I find it hard to believe that she would question Booth's realness based on one thing that Jared said about him and a kiss, which is all the evidence she has to start doubting Booth.
The evidence for doubt of what Jared is really like is soon presented when Booth gets a text from his brother that he is in trouble. Booth immediately rushes to the rescue, to find Jared has crashed his car after falling asleep at the wheel. Booth knows that he is in fact drunk, but things take a downturn when Wolchuk turns up.
BOOTH: Colonel Wolchuck. Is that what we’re going with here, he fell asleep at the wheel?
COLONEL WOLCHUCK: I’m sure you’ll agree it’s best just to tell the truth, take our lumps when we have to.
JARED: They get me for DUI, I lose my job Seeley. I mean, I lose my whole career.
We can see where this is going and the suspicions are confirmed when Booth watches Wolchuk on tv at a press conference taking all the credit for the RICO case. He throws his Hawaii tickets and brochures in the bin and refuses to answer Cam's call. She gets hold of him anyway.
CAM: What happened? (Booth looks puzzled. Cam returns the look) I watch TV, State Police getting all the glory for that big RICO case. What the hell?
BOOTH: Relax, okay it’s political. It came down way far above my head, right.
CAM: Don’t you lie to me big man, I’m your friend. I know where this came from, and it wasn’t from on high.
BOOTH: Cam, just let this one slip by. (She looks down, then nods. He leaves).
However, home truths are about to be spilled and, of all people, it is Sweets who gets them.
SWEETS: Capitals.
JARED: Yeah, I know Seeley’s a Flyers man, but hey, when in Rome right? (The elevator doors open, he motions Sweets to exit first). Please.
(They exit the elevator and walk towards Booth’s office)
SWEETS: Yeah, I still haven’t gotten him anything for his birthday.
JARED: Oh my brother doesn’t like birthday presents. Anyways these are more like a thank you. Or, an apology. You know what it’s like with brothers right?
SWEETS: No, only child. (They enter Booth’s empty office, Sweets waits in the doorway, Jared approaches the desk)
JARED: Oh well having a big brother is like having an extra dad, only a dad who protects you from your real dad, and always thinks of you as a kid. (He leaves the tickets on Booth’s desk, and turns back to Sweets).
SWEETS: I have the same problem with Booth.
JARED: There is nothing worse than somebody who always thinks they’re right, and then they’re right. Right? It’s a pleasure Agent Sweets. (they shake hands. Jared leaves)
SWEETS: Doctor, not Agent. (And thereby hangs a tale I bet)
So Sweets has heard about Booth's role as a surrogate father and someone who thinks he knows best and it turns out that he does. Jared is resentful. Why else say that Booth doesn't like birthday presents. Is he hoping that the ice hockey tickets are the only present Booth will get so they will mean more? Is it significant that he doesn't give them directly to his brother in the hope that by not seeing him he will forgive Jared?
In the end, he almost costs Booth not only his chance of success, but also his friendship with Brennan.
BRENNAN: What happened with your RICO bust? (Booth turns back to her).
BOOTH: Nothing, why? Huh, you been talking to Cam?
BRENNAN: No. Did you do something wrong?
BOOTH: What d’you mean?
BRENNAN: Well you didn’t get the credit you deserve. What did you do?
BOOTH: Life is not always about credit.
BRENNAN: Well that’s not what you said before. You said life was all about credit and you were going to Hawaii and they were going to put you on a coin.
BOOTH: Uh, you know what, let’s just forget about it. Okay Bones, forget about it. (He turns to go again).
BRENNAN: Jared warned me that you tend to sabotage yourself. (Booth turns back).
BOOTH: Jared said that?
BRENNAN: Mm-hmm. He said that you were afraid of success.
BOOTH: Mmm, so basically I’m a loser.
BRENNAN: No, he never said the word loser.
BRENNAN: Well, anthropologically, males tend to rank themselves into a hierarchy. There’s no shame in not being at the top of the hierarchy.
BOOTH: You’re not answering the question Bones. Answer my question.
She doesn't because his phone rings. However, Booth is the one who introduces the word 'loser' which I think speaks volumes about his self esteem. Clearly, he has been knocked back, told he was worthless, before, not by Jared, but by someone else whose opinion he would value. I think that would be his father. The way he jumped immediately on Brennan using the word 'afraid' clearly shows his dislike of the suggestion of cowardice. He is now angry and upset and falls back on protocol to get him through.
BOOTH: Bones, lets just go and do our work.
Booth's sense of inadequacy is understandable, considering that he has never had a public recognition of the worth of the job he does. The one chance he had when he shot Maruf, he turned down because he didn't want to be honoured for killing someone. More galling is the fact that he has done nothing wrong other than be over protective of his brother. To save his brother's position he has had to forego his own success. Bitter. To have Bones doubting him too must be the final straw and we feel similarly frustrated when she resists Cam's and Sweets' attempts at an intervention, although they handled it very poorly.
SWEETS: I was troubled by a conversation I had with Jared Booth.
CAM: Sweets came to me with some theories about Booth’s family life, and he pretty much nailed it.
BRENNAN: Nailed what.
SWEETS: Sit down. (They all sit; he places the tray on the table.) Booth and Jared are children of a physically abusive alcoholic father.
CAM: Booth’s been digging Jared out of trouble since they were kids. Jared always comes up smelling like a rose and Booth takes the hit.
SWEETS: He’s denying his brother the opportunity to take responsibility and learn from his own mistakes.
BRENNAN: You have no evidence of that.
CAM: I’ve known the Booth boys for 15 years.
SWEETS: Now it’s natural to be protective of a younger sibling. Of course Jared is a grown man, an intelligent, talented, capable adult.
BRENNAN: I like him very much.
CAM: Yah? Well, cut it out.
BRENNAN: Booth shouldn’t be threatened by the fact that his brother is more successful.
CAM: I am absolutely certain that however it is Booth lost all the credit for that RICO bust, it’s because of Jared.
BRENNAN: We’re all scientists here, right? Well, not you. (She points to Sweets). What is your evidence?
CAM: How about this, the last time I told Booth what I thought of Jared, he didn’t speak to me for six months.
BRENNAN: That is an anecdote.
CAM: We’re saying maybe Booth deserves the benefit of the doubt here, until all the evidence is in.
BRENNAN: Evidence, I am comfortable with evidence.
How about that of your own eyes woman? Why is she so convinced that Booth is jealous of Jared's success? Surely, she should see that success is measured by more meaningful criteria. Booth has been acknowledged as the best of the Army's snipers. He has the highest success rate of any FBI agent at solving cases. All right, he doesn't move about in the White House or the Pentagon, but he is still successful. Anyway, they botched it.
At least, however, she goes to seek evidence and confronts Jared.
BRENNAN: I need to know the truth.
JARED: I’ve heard that about you.
BRENNAN: Do you know anything about Booth losing credit on the RICO case?
JARED: No. What, I mean that’s the first I’ve heard of it.
BRENNAN: People are telling me that somehow all the credit went to the State Police because of you. Is that possible?
JARED: (He sighs) Oh.
BRENNAN: So, it is possible.
JARED: What did he say to you?
BRENNAN: Nothing.
JARED: I think this is something between brothers. No offence.
(Brennan starts to leave)
JARED: Tempe.
(Brennan turns back to him).
(She comes back and pushes Jared completely off his bar stool. She leaves. Jared gets up.)
As a final insult she then proceeds to distract Booth during a hostage situation and she gets shot. He kills the cop who was working with Pongetti. Some birthday.
At no point is Jared honest. Whether this is Booth's fault because he has protected him all his life, or whether it is a character flaw is hard to say. However, he has got into his own comfort zone, knowing that Seeley will always be there to bail him out. He also seems to have followed his father's footsteps and become an alcoholic, something that Booth has clearly tried to ignore.
Brennan's apeech at the bar is very pretty. I find it shallow.
There is nothing wrong with the insight or the conclusion, it's just that she seems to forget that is what Booth is like too frequently after that.
Booth has had a rough ride, and it is not over yet. Before he gets his last kick in the teeth from his brother, it's worth pointing out one or two little clues about why he did it.
To Lily Stegman he says:
Plus, you have a family to take care of. We do whatever we can for family.
And
You needed the money and in a way you felt like you earned it for taking an old man in. Family.
With Bones:
BRENNAN: People make stupid irrational decisions. (Her cell phone rings. She answers). Brennan.
BOOTH: They act from the heart sometimes Bones, ’s not a crime.
Family and acting from the heart; where have we heard that before?
We are reminded in their final exchange on the matter in the bar:
BRENNAN: Just c’mere for a second. (She leads him to a quieter area further along the bar.) What you’re doing for your brother, isn’t fair.
BOOTH: Come on Bones, don’t get me mad… at you, after that great speech right. Not after I got you shot.
BRENNAN: You didn’t get me shot, I got me shot.
BOOTH: (He sits). I don’t wanna talk about my brother.
BRENNAN: Would you prefer Sweets do it?
(They look along the bar to see Sweets. He raises his glass to them. Booth turns back to Brennan.)
BOOTH: I’m listening.
BRENNAN: Well I forgot all the psychological stuff but basically, when you… rescue somebody all the time. If you keep getting them out on bail…
BOOTH: Bail them out Bones, if you bail them out.
BRENNAN: You’re thwarting their ability to help themselves. Now you’re angry.
BOOTH: Come on Bones, you have to admit, getting a psychological lesson from you is like…
BRENNAN: Getting and anthropology lesson from you.
BRENNAN: Booth! You know, what if he does it again? What if he kills someone next time? You shouldn’t have done that.
BOOTH: Right. Says the woman who got her father off murder charges. (He sighs.) Face it, we do things for family.
BRENNAN: You’re right, you’re totally right.
(We see Jared at the bar chatting and laughing with a young woman.)
BOOTH: No, I’m not.
BRENNAN: What? Why?
(Booth stands)
BOOTH: There’s no risk that your father will kill again.
So Booth tries to do what he should have done years before and he is rejected.
JARED: Stop?
BOOTH: Yeah, and you should stop too.
JARED: I gotta stop what?
BOOTH: The drinking: Stop it.
JARED: I’ll take that under advisement. (He turns to re-enter the bar).
BOOTH: I’m serious Jared. No more stepping in to make things go away.
JARED: (Angrily) I carry my own water, Seeley. Now you should go back inside and enjoy your birthday party. (He drains his drink and waves the glass in Booth’s face)
BOOTH: Right.
Booth has nothing left. He has tried to do what he thought was the right thing and he has got nothing to show for it. He has tried to do his job, protect his brother and show him the error of his ways. All he has as a reward is his brother's contempt, tickets to an ice hockey game and a piece of birthday cake. This may go some way to reinforce his belief in reward from God and a happily ever after in heaven, because there is nothing for him here. He only has Bones, to whom he finally confesses something personal
My dad drank.
This episode is the first we have had which directly addressed Booth's background, and in due turn he is revealed to be as damaged by what happened to him in his childhood as Brennan. He has presented a face of capability and wisdom to Brennan that he has gained through dealing with the real world, outside of academia and the lab. Yet he has as many difficulties to face as she in navigating through life. Interestingly, this episode has allowed us to look at him with a clarity that we have lacked. In a way, he is his own worst enemy in that he is as protective of himself as he is of others. By not letting anyone, especially Bones, see what is going on inside he has prevented anyone helping him. He would probably reject the claim that he needs help. However, when his help is refused, he finally has to come clean about something. It is the only thing he has ever volunteered of importance about his family. It was caused by family and he shares it with someone from his new family.
Well that was very long, but it gets rather bitty after this so I gave it a good going over.
Still windy and stormy out
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-23 09:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-23 09:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-23 10:49 pm (UTC)This episode is the first we have had which directly addressed Booth's background, and in due turn he is revealed to be as damaged by what happened to him in his childhood as Brennan. ... It is the only thing he has ever volunteered of importance about his family. It was caused by family and he shares it with someone from his new family.
This.
IMO, Brennan so distrusts her input on people, and trusts anyone named "Booth" to speak truthfully, that she trusts Jared to tell her the truth about Seeley. Of course, she learns that's the wrong way to be; Jared is as much a conman as the one that was exploded in the meth lab.
One of the reason, IMO, that Booth is so attached to an orthodox religious belief is his replacement of "God as father substitute" for "real father". He can't trust his father to teach him about morality/ethics, so he opts for a religion that will do it for him. (Not a comment for/against orthodox religion, but rather another variable in the "what makes Booth tick" column.)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-24 05:02 am (UTC)I think Brennan also figures that anyone Booth vouches for (by not not-vouching for Jared) and likes/loves must be *worthy* of Booth's support...not realizing that Jared is Booth's biggest blind spot. I think she trusts Jared BECAUSE she thinks BOOTH trusts him (because Booth doesn't tell her otherwise). And Russ is a blind spot for her too: she ADORED and idolized her brother and he looked out for her--until he abandoned her--and after initial anger, she reconnected with him, forgave him, and he still *gets* her and...without word to the contrary, I don't think she assumes anything different with the Booth boys.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-24 06:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-24 10:34 am (UTC)Jared is as much a conman as the one that was exploded in the meth lab.
Absolutely. He is a skewed version of Seeley. He is charming. He is extremely cocky. He has a way with women. However, he is also shallow and self serving. He sees nothing wrong in what he does and treats Seeley like a lackey who is there to serve him. That is where they differ.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-24 07:36 am (UTC)Like makd and amilyn, I always assumed that Brennan trusted Jared because he's Booth's brother, so she never suspected he might be playing her somehow (and that's why she was so angry when she realized that he had played her). Also, it always seemed to me that Brennan was pretty much stunned into silence by Booth's question whether she thought he was a loser (because the idea would never even have occurred to her), and even though she later yells at Jared that he made her think Booth was a loser, I never believed that she really thought that - but rather, that she belatedly understood how her actions had made Booth believe she thought that.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-24 10:25 am (UTC)Thanks for reading, ypur comment and getting distracted. That's why I put the pictures in!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-26 12:58 am (UTC)The "sorry you're not a member" "It's not a gym, Bones" exchangge is a favourite of mine. I'm going to think more about how much importance organized religion has in Booth's life. I would like to know who in his early life made it important (his mother, I suspect). I also wonder how important religion was to him this past season. He seemed to be worshipping at a different church in the early going.
As much as I loved Conman, I had the same issue you did with it. How is it that Brennan, who, from the pilot on, has insisted on following the evidence, ignores 4 years of evidence about Booth in favour of Boothlite's lines?
And then the speech. I guess they're doing a running gag on Brennan and her toasts now, but this one disturbed me. In a sense, she didn't really get it right. Booth is a shiny bauble. Don't tell me he doesn't turn heads wherever he goes. He's more than that too, and he is the quiet man who does things for family. I just didn't think her analogy really worked. I guess sorry really is the hardest word for Brennan.
But, the epi gave us Booth backstory, for which I will always be greatful, and an understanding of how Booth, equally (if not more)damaged by his childhood, has chosen to face life. That's of course partly borne of his personality and his looks (and he would have been hotter than Brennan were he a woman). That leads me to the shallow part. What pretty pictures! ♥ ♥ ♥
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-26 09:40 am (UTC)I get the feeling that Booth's religion was from his mother too. It's probably a cliche, but many women find solace in an abusive marriage in the church, particularly when that church disapproved of divorce. I also think that Booth's dream of long term commitment to a relationship (30, 40, 50 years) is born from the lack of one in his childhood. His inability to find such a reltionship is probably also caused by that perfection he seeks.
Falling off the wagon, so to speak, at the beginning of Season 6 with a different kind of perfection he sought in whatsername could have been sold to the viewer, if the writers had thought of it, in that way. Go us! To continue the metaphor, Booth is like the Prodigal Son, who realises the error of his hedonistic ways and returns to the nest. That would have made the drawn out first half a far more valuable experience for all concerned as Booth went through a sort of spiritual journey only to discover moving on was the wrong choice.
The Brennan speech is too simplistic to evaluate what Booth is. He is fully aware of his attractive status when he refers to himself in the Perfect Pieces in the Purple Pond as a sexy FBI agent without any sense of irony. His attitude in the opening scene of Conman shows he wants the shiny baubles, he is just denied them through no fault of his own. I dislike the way Brennan assumes he did something wrong rather than asking what happened like Cam did. OK she was shot down in flames, but at least she was on Booth's side. Brennan didn't give him any benefit of the doubt.
Booth's optimistic personality, always looking for the silver lining, speaks to the suggestion that he has been a success in spite of childhood trauma, which went on longer then Brennan's. By the time he was 15 I am sure he had alreasdy suffered years of abuse; Brennan had suffered nothing. She had 3 years in the system as a teenager, but she seems to have been a withdrawn child to begin with and those years tipped her over the edge to be even more shut down.
I love these people!