Friday, March 13, 2009

Foaming at the 'Bones'

Is it just me, or does this show take the longest in-season hiatuses?? The last time we had a new episode was February 19th. Before that it was January 22nd and before that, November! Fox has promised a long run from here on out, so let's hope there aren't any more interruptions. This week's outing, directed by series star David Boreanaz, had a little bit of everything, so here's a look at what worked, what didn't and what had me reaching for the Pepto.

THE GOOD
Simply having the show back would have been good enough for me, but thankfully for the rest of you, they threw in some funny scenes, an intriguing case and a really sweet car (which, incidentally, led to a great closing scene with Booth and Bones acting more married than partnered). Overall, I think I enjoyed the fact that Bones finally acknowledged that Booth is better at something. She's so focused on book smarts and her research/academic accomplishments that she fails to give Booth credit where credit's due. He has a set of skills that no book or recognition is going to give her. Period. Now that she realizes this, she might begin to appreciate what he does a bit more.

THE BAD
Ever since TV Guide (WARNING: Links to major spoiler!!) spilled the beans about the season finale, I feel like we're watching a countdown to the big reveal. Thus, I found myself seeing meaning in all sorts of things that I would have dismissed as benign conversation in the past. For instance, I spent so much time analyzing Bones's obsession with learning how to read and relate to people the way Booth does. I'm telling you, I tried to forget that spoiler. I really did. But TV Guide wasn't content to simply spill the beans in a column in the print edition. They dedicated an entire cover and story on the spoiler a couple of weeks later (not that I'm complaining because it was great to open my mailbox and find Booth and Bones inside). Now, it's all I can think about when I'm watching the build-up. Ugh.

THE UGLY
Call it bad timing, kismet or the TV gods' sense of humor, but I always seem to be eating dinner when I watch this show! Why??!! Actually, this one wasn't too bad in the stomach turning department despite that morbid plunge and the ensuing green foaming bones. Neither got me this week (maybe I'm getting a tougher stomach?). I didn't even flinch when the disintegrating bones turned into hard shell candy. The thing that got me this week was that horrible broken tibia in the beginning of the episode. It creeped me out so badly, I'm still nursing a nauseous stomach. I think it's the pain element to it rather than the gross-out factor.

If you missed last night's episode ("The Bones that Foams"), check it out for free at Hulu.com.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am not certain that Bones wasn't humoring Booth when she said he was better at people skills than she. She hesitated a long time and only said he was better after he nearly begged.

I liked the episode, but need to repeat my regular criticism of the Angela character. TPTB have dropped her art skills entirely and turned her into a light version of Charlie Epps.

And to make the character more relevant to the case they made two stupid choices. First, in the reconstruction Angela is able to reconstruct the wound track based on a computer model. I believe it is possible to reconstruct a good guess at a body based on a few bones and an understanding of how bone sizes relate to one another and the overall size of the body. But how do you reconstruct a wound from nothing. The little tip of the wound won’t tell them the length or thickness or other characteristic of the weapon.

And then to show how clever Angela is she figures out it was tailor’s scissors (as did Booth later), but Bones couldn’t. This is the type of thing Bones is very good at and she has done it many times in the past.

The show was to keep Angela involved, which I am fine with, and is twisting itself in knots to do so. I resent being asked to forget the past to make it easier for the writers.

Anonymous said...

I don't mind that Bones veers in sci-fi at times, especially with Angela's work. However, extrapolating a whole skeleton from the few remaining leg bones and finding meaningful evidence stretches credibility beyond breaking point.

Assuming a complete skeleton I don't think the conclusions they made about the weapon were unreasonable. The bone damage was on the front and back of the ribcage, giving an idea of the length and shape of the weapon. Having decided it was scissors Angela worked out that tailor's scissors are amongst the few that are long enough.


I thought "The Ugly" would be the squishy bones. I do agree about the leg bone, that's always an uncomfortable sight.

I'm not aware of the big spoiler so I'll just have carry on watching in ignorance.


RichE.

Anonymous said...

Must have written the previous comment in a bit of a rush because I forgot some things.

I'm a little surprised that so much was made of Bone acknowledging Booth's superiority over her in certain ways. This is not news to us or her. Temperance has often commented on Booth being a good father, good with a gun, good with people etc.

About the "The Ugly": did anyone else catch what Bones said about how she concluded it was proof of murder. She said "if he was stil alive when he fell the bones should have [something]". I just can't make out that [something].


RichE.