Loading...
Follow Zap2it:
Z-Cap
'Bones': Requiem for an arch nemesis
We hope you didn't have an attachment to the head you see to your left, because its body certainly doesn't anymore. Gravedigger Heather Taffet (Deirdre "ironic last name" Lovejoy), whose presence was first felt in Season 2 on "Bones," is no more.
The events of "The Bullet in the Brain" have been a season in the making, with rumblings of her final appearance starting in Summer 2010. But none of that could have prepared us for her shocking and speedy exit. So let's get right to it.
For the Squints:
- Taffet and Sweets (John Francis Daley) are in an armored car, en route to the court house where she'll have her appeal hearing. She goes full sociopath on him, telling him he looks like a little boy in his father's suit and that he's the weakest link in the Jeffersonian Scooby gang, stopping just short of calling him "Clarice." You could say she's trying to bury him alive... in his own feelings.
- When they arrive at the court house, Booth (David Boreanaz) sees a guy with a camcorder and you can tell from the look he makes that he thinks it might be a gun. (Hannah just Netflix'd "The Bodyguard.") He's about to make a move for him when OH MY GOD HER HEAD EXPLODED.
- The Gravedigger is dunzo in every sense of the word. And the mega-bullet that decapitated her proceeded to burrow into a granite wall. Do normal bullets do that -- or did this bullet study at the Angela Montenegro Academy of Unrealistic Technology?
- Caroline Julian (Patricia Belcher) is apoplectic about all of this -- even though she's happy it happened. And Sweets isn't doing much better either. He's put Taffet's pre-death soliloquy on his iPod, which has the opposite effect of "Put the Lime in the Coconut." You'd think therapists would have more self-esteem.
- Brennan (Emily Deschanel) is upset about Booth putting her father, Max, on the suspect list. (Why... Because he tried to snipe the gravedigger before?) Ryan O'Neil has a reality show to film, so we're pretty sure it's not him. Also: we know it's that guy from "The Mummy."
- Just kidding! There's Max, and he says he didn't do it. Angela (Michaela Conlin) also says there's no way he could have.
- Booth and Brennan go to the apartment where Angela's magical tool of the week tells them to, and they establish that the sniper had a clear shot - and, for him to get it, he must be elite enough to have kept company with Booth. They find a murdered escort in a bathtub, just to make it clear that this isn't the "Dexter" of snipers.
- It's narrowed down to six suspects, and Booth knows all of them. At first, they go for the wrong dude (It's the guy from "The Mummy!"), but after a quick commercial break, Booth sort of figures this out too. The real sniper? Booth's mentor, Jake Brodsky, who's been AWOL for some years now.
- Apparently the guy with the camcorder is involved. He ordered the hit, but only after the sniper offered it. That will totally hold up in court.
- This is where things get a tad confusing. The sniper purchased a lot of land under the name "Seeley Booth" to lure Booth out there and make him realize that this is somehow about. Booth heads to the lot, where they have a very civil exchange. Brodsky, in Christopher Walken voice, casually denies his involvement - until his running away sort of implies guilt.
- Booth chases, twists his ankle, survives a bizarre explosion and still gets the opportunity to take Brodsky out. But he doesn't, which will clearly come back to haunt him when he kills more people. We'd argue with this somewhat nonsensical climax, except Boreanaz's delivery of "I don't need a warrant, this land belongs to Seeley Booth" more than makes up for any plot loopholes.
For the shippers:
- As if they didn't already have enough baggage with the gravedigger, Angela discuses with Hodgins (T.J. Thyne) about how horrible it would be to have a child fall victim to a serial killer. And then she has the gall to question his morals when he says he's happy about the shooting. This could bring up his victim trauma again, but there's whimsical music playing, so we think it will be OK.
- The cameo by Max allows for another person to get the low-down on the dissolution of Brennan and Booth. He says that he thought they'd end up together and Brennan cuts the conversation short. She's still quite raw over this.
- Caroline, in full force this episode, exercises her rights as mother hen and lynchpin by snapping Sweets out of his emotional coma... by telling him that she peed her pants when the gravedigger's head exploded. We don't want to take away from this sincere display with sarcasm, but, come on, she peed her pants.
- We end on a tender moment between Brennan and her father, which is made even better by the shot of Booth, behind the venetian blinds of the Royale Diner, looking longingly in her direction.
Brennanism Caroline-ism of the week:
"Don't just stand there. We got a shrink that needs shrunk and a headless child-killer in a puddle of brains."
So what did you think of the episode? Are you excited for the new big bad?
Follow Zap2it on Twitter and Zap2it on Facebook for the latest news and buzz
Photo/Video credit: FOX
Related pics
Zap2it Elite Sheet Must Reads from the Web's In-Crowd
Advertisement
What's Hot Right Now
Sign in to connect with Zap2it:
Rewards Challenge Members
Top Users from the Past Week | All-time
Zap2it Elite Sheet
Must Reads from the Web's In-Crowd
Our Partners
How times have changed. I remember an episode of Buffy being pulled right after Columbine. Bones can be rather graphic, but the end of The Gravedigger was quite shocking.
As Sweets kept replaying the message, I couldn't help but think it would somehow be revealed that he had some deeper part in the original Gravedigger killings.
The words and phrases Taffet used seemed to be left a bit open. I kept waiting for something specific enough to put me off this thought, because I honestly don't think the show direction or writers are interested in making that kind of play. The encounter (on tape) was heard several times in the episode, and it seemed like Taffet's assertion that Sweets knew she didn't act alone, paired with an alternate interpretation of what could be meant by the appeal being one if Sweets took the stand ...
I'm almost certainly wrong, but I would be curious if anyone else had a similar reaction. Maybe it's just that John Francis Daley would make such a convincing serial killer. I remember the character being dragged into the Gormogon arc quite regularly.
All credits due to David Boreanaz the director - well deserved kudos. It was the most thrilling, dynamic, shock-inducing, exciting episode of all season. With subtle but very efective emotional moments. Simply the best! Boreanaz as a director has a special intuitive feel for his fellow actors. He got the absolute best moments from John Francis Daley, Patricia Belcher and Ryan O'Neal, and let them shine.
As an actor, he got to be all kinds of awesome as alpha male take-charge Special Agent Seeley Booth, the ex-sniper with too much of a moral conscience and a strong grip of the concept of right and wrong.
A complex promising new villain, plus a promising subtle development for Booth&Brennan.
A+
How weird is it that the Mummy guy was speaking English?
What was up with that look that Booth gave a creepy seashell Bones through the window. Yes, girlie, Daddy gave you a toothbrush holder seashell.
Thank you, writers, for making Booth fall in love with someone else because the world is not ready for her to join the gene pool. I'm so ready for someone to snipe her. And Sweets. Better yet, make it a murder/suicide. I'll let them decide which way to go.
Damn, people. Remember how far we've come? She should so not be this retarded still.
As always, this comment has no reflection on Zap2it. Your reviews are the only things that brighten my otherwise dull day.
Great episode! One of my 2 or 3 favorites from the season! S6 has been very different from past ones--still great, and I still love it, but this episode felt like old times and it was comforting. Booth felt back to normal--he's been off all season. I still adore him, but like I said--this was just really, really nice.
The shipper in me LOVED the end scene, and it was sweet to see Brennan and Max getting along like that. How far they've come!
And kudos on the grossness this week!
one thing about casting a well known "villain" to play a long term "villain" on a prime-time show is that you know who is the "villain" especially if its going to take the rest of the season to catch him
I agree L.R.
DB is an amazing director. He doesn't hold back! And his acting is spot on too, he doesn't let it overpower him. Loving the leniency with language and grotesque footage the new timeslot allows also. That episode was epic, I don't think it could have been as good without Boreanaz directing. He almost adds more humanity to the scenes, like how Brennan & Booth heaved/coughed when they found the body in the bathtub, when do they ever do that?
I think this was the best episode of season 6 so far. I love the character of Max. He was curious like the viewers are about what is happening between Booth and Brennan. I think Booth still has some feelings for Brennan. Was that a look of longing when she was outside the diner with her father. Maybe there is still hope for them yet.
Best episode of season 6 because it doesn't include Hannah and a new villian! This episode heralds back to the old days when it was just B&B and their cases. Superb acting by the entire cast especially by Patricia Belcher who showed that even the thoughest people can get scared. Let's hope that the rest of season 6 is like this episode.
That was one of the best episodes I've seen. And the Gravediggers head expoloding shocked the heck out of me. I know she was trying to mess with Sweets head, but I think in the long term we'll find out she staged her own death. It seems like the Gravedigger to have chosen her own way out. And it gave her onle last opportunity to mess with everyones head.