'Bones' Jumps In

I have a feeling that Dr. Catherine Bryar is going to be one of the least popular characters to ever grace a few episodes of Bones.  It's not her fault, but she has the unfortunate task of being Booth's love interest and her name is not Temperance Brennan.  Yes, most unfortunate for her.  I'm not totally convinced that her presence on the show is a bad thing (I'll explain later), but I do find it tough to watch her scenes with Booth and even tougher to watch Booth and Bones talk about her and Andrew amongst themselves.  Ever since that darn 100th episode, there has been this undeniable heartbreak hanging in the air between them.  It's so strong, it's palpable through the television.  But, these two are a classic case of two people who need to both be ready before they take that enormous leap.  Until Bones comes around then, they need to go their separate ways even if that means emotionally killing all of us (and most likely, themselves).  Which brings us to my earlier point: Catherine just might be a good thing.


Hear this convoluted theory out before throwing tomatoes.  I believe that Brennan has massive feelings for Booth -- always has, probably always will.  Whether she wants to admit it or not, she does "belong with someone" and that someone is Booth.  She became aware of these feelings around the time that he had to have his brain surgery last season, and this manifested itself in the form of her story/his coma-induced alternate reality (which, it is very important to note, she ERASED the minute she finished it).  I think the reality of what she was feeling was way too much for her, so she hit the road and headed to South America (once she knew Booth was going to be OK) where she could escape whatever she was feeling.  When she got back, she was feeling renewed and feelings-for-Booth-free.  That was until she saw him in her office.  From that moment forward, she has spent the entire season denying how she felt and using her principles of rationality and science to keep the distance between her heart and her brain.

The trip down memory lane that she and Booth took in the 100th jogged those feelings loose and it scared her.  To make matters worse, Booth confronted them.  He went all in and he asked her to join him.  She was too scared and ran away.  Now, she has once again convinced herself that she doesn't belong to anyone and she is perfectly fine with Booth seeing other people.  She's not, and here's how I know: I saw the look on her face each time Booth happily described something about his time with Catherine.  She might not get it yet, but I believe that having Catherine in Booth's life is going to be the impetus that Brennan needs to finally go all in with Booth.  She needs to realize she can and will lose Booth if she doesn't act.  And she isn't going to realize it unless another women forces her to, so I'm not against the Catherine character.  I think that, from the writers' perspective, she's a tool to advance the story between Booth and Bones.  Of course I could be completely wrong, but I'm hoping that I am not.

Meanwhile, Andrew is merely a distraction and I don't think that Brennan's relationship with him is going to last long.  He might make her laugh and he may find her literal manner charming, but I believe that she's going to realize that there's nothing else between them and there can't be anything else there because her heart is somewhere else.  I liked the case this week.  The aquarium setting was so cool and the suspects interesting.

And now, here is this week's edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:

THE GOOD: The beginning of Brennan's wake-up call.  She might not wake-up right away, but I think she's on the road to doing so.

THE BAD: Those poor Angel Fish that were pureed into an Angel Fish smoothie!  I know, I know -- they died on their own, but it was still unnerving in the way only Bones can pull off.

THE UGLY: The motivational speaker who was full of crap (or, as it turns out, shark stem cells).  The man was making oodles of money off of a lie.  Not that this justifies his murder, but still.

If you missed this week's episode ("The Predator in the Pool"), check it out for free at Hulu.com.