Are you there now Booth?

[mistletoe]

I am not impressed with the new improved(sic) posting box when it comes to long and complicated entries, but I shall endeavour to post my next installment of Booth for All Seasons, still in Season 4.


We have hit a bit of a trough with the next three episodes: The Princess and the Pear, The Bones That Foam and The Salt in the Wounds because they add very little new to our picture of the many facets of Booth and in many ways go over old territory. So I shall endeavour to find something which has been cast aside, or even forgotten in Season 4, namely, that Booth is a very intelligent guy. Too often in this season, he has been reduced to the muscle with the transport and the inappropriate comment at the scene of the crime. He has had his role narrowed even in the interrogation room thanks to the 'assistance' of Agent Dr Sweets and frequently the Jeffersonian crew not only find the hard evidence, but solve the crime too and Booth is left to flourish the handcuffs or pick up the tab.

A BOOTH FOR ALL SEASONS

BOOTH IN SEASON FOUR - Not just a pretty face?

I'm not asking you to perform surgery; just do what you did last time and fix it with your magic knuckles... Look, there's no one I trust more to get my back and crack it, than *you*.

A fine example of marginalised Booth is The Princess and the Pear. Having introduced a bad back, it can come in handy (or be completely ignored) when necessary. As it happened, a certain Mr Boreanaz needed prep time for his directorial debut in the next episode so the back allowed him to take no active part in this case whatsoever.

Charm smile notwithstanding, Booth is left with a very bad back and a corset. This allows us to find out he does not react well to Vicodin and to have a little look at his apartment.


Like his office, it is full of personal memorabilia ranging from tin toys to parts of aeroplanes on the walls. His coffee table has a few vital items.

Lots of books, some magazines, a laptop and a bowling pin that later acts as a pillow so he can watch his beloved cartoons from the floor. Also his watch, a glass of water, the painkillers and a tv remote.




The Vicodin allows a return to Booth's hankering for more noble times as he did in Yanks in the UK.

BRENNAN: The whole Age of Chivalry was irrational. Knights, maidens, and thank goodness we've moved through the Reformation and the enlightenment and into the age of reason. (She points to Booth’s X-rays) Do you see what I mean?
BOOTH: Not at all. I gotta tell you, I think they had a pretty good idea with the whole chivalry thing, you know, open cart doors, kill dragons, small hearts…
BRENNAN: You still on vicodin?


So, nothing new there, but in The Bones That Foam we get a reminder of something that has rankled with some fans. The dumbing down of Booth has been going on for most of this season, and Angela is the one to point out that there is more to Booth than maybe Brennan likes to see. She has already tried to take over his role in the interrogation room by getting Sweets to teach her some techniques. Needless to say, she makes a complete mess of it. Yet she feels her superior intelligence should make her capable of doing what Booth does. Angela sets her straight.

ANGELA: Because what Booth has, you can't learn from baby boy shrink. Booth's brilliant at pretending to be stupider than he actually is most of the time.
BRENNAN: Brilliant at stupidity?
ANGELA: Especially around you. Okay, here is what Alex Newcomb's skeleton looked like 12 hours ago.
BRENNAN: Why would Booth do that?
ANGELA: Well, he knows that you like to be the smart one, so he lets you have that. All right, here's what Alex's bones looked like at the time of his death.
BRENNAN: Huh. Jagged crenellations between the seventh and eighth vertebrae indicate the path of the murder weapon.
ANGELA: Combining trajectory analysis with force and thrust ratio. This suggests a square-edged blade with an overlying step that was at least 16 centimeters long.
BRENNAN: You know I am smarter than Booth.
ANGELA: Okay, so maybe you should just let him have the people skills part of the job to himself then.
BRENNAN: Can you zoom in there? Okay, look at this. A curved notch, maybe from a small pin?
ANGELA: Yeah, or a screw.
BRENNAN: Screw. Two blades held together by a screw. Scissors. You are amazing, Angela.
ANGELA: Eh, I just program the computer. You're the whiz master who makes the calls. You're welcome. Hey, sweetie? I think you'll find that the murder weapon was a pair of tailor shears.
BRENNAN: Why?
ANGELA: Why don't you run this information by Booth and see how quickly he comes to the same conclusion?

Although it's not clear that he does get the significance of the scissors, he does work out who the murderer was and the motive without much prompting so go Booth.


He does have other strengths illustrated here: a chance to show off his golf swing; an ability to bond with car sales persons and to drive a fast car quickly yet safely. Brennan can do none of these. He also shows his interrogation skills with Sweets providing a running commentary for Brennan.

BOOTH: (Booth swings a golf club) Nice grip on this iron. So, is this the type of club that you used to bash in Alex Newcomb's windshield?
LEMON GUY: Hey, this guy took my money. And when there was a problem, it was like I didn't even exist.
BOOTH: He's lucky the only thing you went after was his windshield.
BRENNAN: That isn't what Booth really thinks?
SWEETS: Uh, no, no. Booth sees that the man is humiliated and he displays empathy.
BRENNAN: So, lying.
SWEETS: Manipulating. Much like the car salesmen. I used to teach psychological techniques to car salesmen to make money for grad school. Not one of my finest moments.
LEMON GUY: A lemon is a car that craps out on you three months to a year after you buy it. I didn't get more than ten miles off that lot when the brakes failed. That's not a lemon; that's a death trap.
BOOTH: Yeah, you feared for your life.
LEMON GUY: No, not my life- my kid... who was in the backseat, four years old, he cracked a rib, he... ...hit his head, he got stitches.
BOOTH: Wow, I mean, you expect a car like that to be safe.
LEMON GUY: That's damn right.
BOOTH: Yeah, right? I got a kid. If someone endangered his life, I'd kill the guy.
LEMON GUY: Wait... Somebody killed this guy?
BOOTH: Killed him. Dead.
LEMON GUY: Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, look... I busted up his windshield, all right. I- I l-lost my temper. But there is no way I'm gonna let my kid live without a father.
BRENNAN: I want to do that.


-
More evidence of things we already know is to be found in The Salt in the Wounds

I want to skip most of this other than to point out that Booth's back seems to be fine when bench pressing and cut to the end when we get one of Booth's little homilies.


BOOTH: Yeah. You know, Ashley needed money, to raise her baby. Your baby.
CLINTON: You didn't think those girls would have sex with me because I can't bench press enough.
BOOTH: (chuckles) DNA tests, they prove that I was wrong, so... yeah, I owe you an apology.
CLINTON: I did… I told you.
BOOTH: Yeah. You know what? You are a smart kid.
CLINTON: I know.
BOOTH: But you're also a real smart-ass kid. Okay? There's something I want you to think about, all right? Sex is never free and easy.
(Booth starts taking something out of his pocket.)
CLINTON: I beg to differ.
BOOTH: Because the fact is, any one of these girls, they could change their mind, and you would be paying child support for the rest of your life.
CLINTON: Wait. What?
BOOTH: You see these four girls right here?
(He lays out photos of four girls in volleyball uniforms.)
BOOTH: You are responsible for bringing their children into the world. Whether they think so or not, they are your responsibility. Your children, your responsibility. Do you understand?
(Clinton looks petrified.)
BOOTH: And what you do about that will define what kind of man you are.
CLINTON: No, no, hold on a second.
BOOTH: But if you ignore that - ignore your children - that's exactly what you're going to become: A loser. A deadbeat. For the rest of your life. You know what, there's something else that you should think about. Ashley Clark? She was going to have your baby. According to our pathologist, it was gonna be a boy.
CLINTON: A boy?
BOOTH: Mhm. A son.

(Booth rips up the photo of Ashley Clark.)
BOOTH: Who died... With his mother.
CLINTON: What did you have to tell me all that for?
BOOTH: Because you needed to hear it. Do you understand?
CLINTON: Yes.



So there we are. The focus was largely elsewhere in these three episodes with Agent Perotta and Sweets getting a fair amount of screen time while we also had to deal with the personal foibles of Mr Nigel-Murray and Mr Fisher along with the introduction of Mr Vaziri and the end of Angela's relationship with Roxie. Not much room for Booth's backstory in there and we don't fare much better in the next three episodes either! Short entries are good too.

Comments

[a-mistletoe.livejournal.com]

We are of like minds. They were pushing it for Sweets not to be recognised at the auction especially as the suspect came on to him.. Perotta could have interviewed Goth woman without him in tow.

The squints, especially Angela seemd to lose their way in this Season while the interns were vying for who could have the most outlandish quirk. It certainly took time away from the co-stars.

As ever, thank you.