'Bones': Live fast, die young
Bones is back, and I couldn't be happier. And while the mystery and the nasty body parts thing is fun, it doesn't hold a candle to Sweets and his girlfriend, the snarky lawyer, and the awesome evidence tech. Whee!
Serious as a spoiler attack
Have you ever read Death in Yellowstone? It tells of all these horrible ways people have died in our first national park, and it's incredibly gruesome. As there's a whole chapter on people being (horribly, disgustingly and fatally) poached in hot springs, I started cringing as soon as our lusty young couple jumped into the mudpot.
While I didn't have to see anyone get boiled alive, Lusty Couple did have a traumatic experience when ...well, I'll let Booth and Bones tell it: "What a shock for that couple, huh? They slip naked into the hot mudbath, and skeletal remains poke her in the --" "Anus." "Bones!"
That's right -- Lusty Couple got groped by a dead man. Eek!
The mystery
Bones hijacks all the mud back to the Jeffersonian for study. Their victim is male, has broken several bones in his body at one time or another, and was struck with a long, thin, blunt object before being dumped in the mud. Angela's reconstruction shows a face Booth has seen before: Tripp Goddard, a motorcycle racing champ. Depending on how much you like him, he's either a fierce competitor or a reckless, cheating schmuck who causes accidents in the pursuit of his own glory. Plenty of people hate his guts.
An early suspect is the son of the team's owner, who always was overshadowed by Tripp. Then the son dies in a fiery crash, and we learn his bike -- the one Tripp had been riding -- had been sabotaged. Either he was the most incompetent killer ever, or he didn't do it.
More evidence implicates a wheelchair-bound journalist, who was a racer himself before Tripp caused the accident that crippled him. There's a pen from his website in the mudpot, and he knew were the fatal hot spring was in the first place. But after some back-and-forth, Bones and team decide the crime was committed by one killer, and the journalist wouldn't have had the leverage to dump the body into the back of the truck.
Once he's out, the team starts suspecting the owner of the racing team -- one of hi hairs is found in the truck. No, I loved him like a son! Besides, I just made a deal with him to take 10 percent of my company because he was that damn good -- why would I kill him?
OK, that leaves one suspect -- Phillipa, the dutiful daughter of the race team owner and loving sister of the second dead biker. She wasn't happy about the deal her daddy signed with Tripp, and sabotaged his bike to kill him. When that didn't work, she fell back on the bludgeon-and-dump plan. She didn't know her brother was going to try out Tripp's bike, so she unwittingly caused his death, too. Doh!
Bones and Booth
The mystery was fine, but it wasn't half so fun as the Bones and Booth Extravaganza. Sweets decides they need to talk about something other than work, and wants to observe them in a social situation. Double date! Bones and Booth meet Sweets and April at their ceramics class -- and Booth makes a pony! It's completely adorable, and no way has Booth not does this before. April, by the way, believes that fish have souls -- you can see it in their tiny fishy eyes! -- and does not take it well when Sweets tries to interpret what she's saying for the sane. Bones and Booth end up flinging clay at each other, but when Sweets tries it with April, he gets a face full of clay. Awkward!
Later, April asks Bones for woman-to-woman advice -- should she stay with Sweets? She likes him, but he's so young, and while the sex is good (we get more details than necessary there), she just feels she's a vibrant cobalt while he's more of a robin' egg blue (it makes sense if you're a fish person). Eventually, she dumps him.
And here's the part I loved -- Sweets despondently walking up to Booth and Bones at the end, completely slumped over and defeated. Booth guesses what happens, and invites him out- we were totally about to go bowling, you should come with! Sweets protests and huddles in his chair, but Booth ends up dragging it away with him. Bowl or die, Sweets!
Highlights, thought and odds and ends:
- The first session when Booth and Bones are with Sweets is priceless. Booth I visibly uncomfortable with the word "anus," and Bones (and eventually Sweets) keep using it.
- Also great -- Booth and Bones defensively saying they do, too talk about things other than work. Why, just now, we shared a few sentences about pie! "It is better when we talk about murder," Bones admits.
- Angela continues to show her wide range of interests -- she knows quite well who Tripp Goddard was, thank you! Then why didn't she recognize him when she drew up his picture from his skull?
- I completely adored the lawyer for the racing family. He's snarky and blunt and ever so willing to put Booth and Bones in their place. Representative quote: "As your lawyer, I must caution you that sarcasm doesn't show up in the transcript." Plus, it was a blast to watch Booth taunting the soon-to-be-dead son, and having the lawyer call him on it. Taunting!
- Also awesome: The FBI evidence tech, who is bike-crazy and more than happy to share her views. Loved her.
Quotes:
- Cam, on Dead Guy Number One: "The victim was braised like Osso Bucco." And now I'm both grossed out and hungry.
- The evidence tech, on whether the bike could have been damaged by accident: "You mean oops I accidentally stuck a piece of metal through this little tiny hole and pushed it with all my might?"
- Plus, said tech blames violent crimes on the Three Stooges -- people see Larry, Moe and curly beat the crap out of each other with no ill effects, so they think they can do the same: "All I'm saying is that killings like this are stooge-related."
- The lawyer scoffs at Bones and Booth's claim that they have forensic evidence: "Whaddaya got -- a nail clipping, a piece of dried snot, a hair?"
- Sweets, after April dumps him: "You know fish aren't actually sentient..." There's some debate about your ex, too, Sweets.
What did you think? Was this episode worth the wait? Were you hoping for something heavier and more serial-killery out of the gate, or were you happy with the tone of this episode? Would you describe Sweets as robin's egg blue or more cerulean? What did I miss? Talk about it!
I wonder if Sweets' now-ex is a Steinemite and thinks that she needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle? Appropos, given her, um, career choice. I guess it goes along with that old yarn about doctors being the worst patients: shrinks never can see what's right in front of their faces, because all the degrees and education on the planet will not give you sudden insight into romance. It's a mine field, and inevitably, you end up missing a few toes. Now that Sweets knows that psychology is not the be-all, end-all of relationships, maybe he'll be able to understand Booth and Brennan a little better. They have a strong friendship that is almost sibling-like, in that they don't mind squabbling with each other as long as they each know the other has their back. So, yes, the episode was most definitely worth the wait (especially the double date...given the actors' penchant for ad-libbing, I'd love to know how much of that clay fight was in the script), and I'm glad they didn't come right back with the ongoing Gormogon mystery. Next week's episode is one that was originally slated for before the strike, so I'll be interested to see if there's a difference in style and such. Oh, and I'd describe Sweets as variable-blue, kinda like the sky in Arizona in January, which can go from a nearly bleached-white-blue to sapphire, sometimes in the same day. Take that, fish-woman. :P
P.S. Just for the sake of trivia: the lawyer was played by the same actor who plays/played Mr. Friendly on "Lost." Good to see him in a different role. Also, nice use of footage from Speed Network and incorporating it into the show. Makes me wonder if Speed is owned by Fox.
^ Yes, Speed is either owned by or affiliated with Fox.
I watched Greek (east coast feed) right before watching Bones tonight. It sure was strange to watch Lizzie the perky sorority girl become April the fish lady. She sure is getting a lot of work these days. And little Andrew Lawrence all grown up! And Mr. Friendly! What a night for familiar faces on Bones.
So glad someone mentioned the lawyer because I just loved him. (Please, oh Bones gods, please let him come back again!) I think my favorite line of his was when the father was a suspect because they'd found a hair of his on the deceased, and the lawyer turns to Lenny (the father) and asks something along the lines of "Did you sit next to him? Hug him? Make out with him?" to explain away the hair. Tooo funny.
Great episode. I'm a happy camper.
I loved it when Booth made his horse gallop. It's the little moments like those that make me love this show.
Incidentally, next week's show is actually an episode that was supposed to be on last season, but they pulled it because it was the same week as the shootings at Virginia Tech. They have had to rework some scenes, because it's the episode where Hodgins first proposed to Angela. (They reference that proposal in the episode that did air last year which would have followed it.)
Last night's episode and 2 others were filmed and finished before the strike, but Fox decided to hold them in case the strike wasn't resolved, so they could air them now together and still get ratings for April-May. With them back at work, maybe we'll get some more new post-strike eps to finish up the season.
My favorite part was how Bones take things so seriously, why april says that Fish are just like people and Bones, replies "no their not... people can't breath underwater"
So happy this show is back! I loved the double date and how Booth and Bones even dressed alike. Also loved the girl from Greek and her fish have souls deal.
And way to go Angela for knowing about choking up on the bat.
Great show! So happy to have Bones back! Would like to see B&B on a real date. Hopefully the writers will give us that in season four!
Thank god for this show! Seriously, that was the best hour of TV I've watched in quite a while.
I have a little issue, though, with Booth adamently denying that Sweets would know when they are lying and with Brennan defending it. It was cute, sure, when Sweets called her on her lie (and when Booth and Brennan both sorta teamed up on Sweets: "Did you two plan this?"), but their reaction to his apparent skill was off. When the series began, Booth was always going on his gut and saying he could tell when something was off with someone, and it took Brennan time to credit that maybe he could have a knack for reading behavior, even though his gut wasn't based in fact. Tonight though, Booth wouldn't believe that anyone could "know" when someone's lying and Brennan was the one saying there are scientific studies that suggest its plausibility. Their reactions even contradicted the end of the episode, when Booth guessed that Sweets was dumped and Brennan asked how he could know that.
sarah, please have some one proofread your articles before you publish. some grammatical errors that just really stuck out. and yes, i'm aware i'm using all lowercase... but then again i'm not a writer for this site.
just like the show that followed afterwards, the mystery plot was okay but it was the dynamics between booth, bones, sweets and his girlfriend that were the highlight of the show.
i really hope sweets makes a more permanent appearance on the show, his conversations with booth and bones are so much more interesting than with the other cast.