TV Reviews: Bones - The Witch in the Wardrobe

Season 5: Episode 20

Recent episodes of this season have been throwing me for a bit of a loop. Sometimes the shocking reveals are inane and really little more than attempts to stretch out the status quo. Such as in the case of episode 16, where we finally get to see Brennan and Booth's first case together. Unfortunately the episode's writing is sub-par, with several noticeable continuity errors. For example, according to the episode Brennan got Angela a job at the Jeffersonian only shortly after having met her, just a few months before the first case, and about a year before the beginning of the series. I could be wrong, but from past episodes I could have sworn that they'd been friends for much longer than that, as their bond cannot be explained by just a year or so of knowing each other, especially considering their sometimes conflicting personalities. That kind of bond takes years to build.

There's also cases where Cam apparently worked for the FBI before appearing in season 2. I could have sworn they said she was a cop first, not an FBI agent. I figure the only reason she was in the episode was so that her actress had something to do while they were filming this.

The most shocking part was that apparently Booth and Brennan kissed shortly after their first meeting, which of course explains why no effects of this were ever witnessed over the course of the season.

Then of course, there's the end of the episode, where Booth reveals how he feels, and Brennan says she can't be in a relationship for some stupid reason.

Too Sciency for Relationships

Of course we all know the real reason, the writers had made the tension too obvious, and it was all coming to a head. The show obviously couldn't continue with them dating, because that robbed it of all the sexual tension. So, they had to restore the status quo.

I would say that this was jumping the shark, but the following episodes retain everything that makes Bones great. As painful as episode 16 was (especially from a writing perspective), I think this is a case where jumping the shark worked.

And then, sometimes, they have twists that don't quite come out of nowhere, but come much faster than I expected. An example of this is episode 20 where, spoiler, Hodgins and Angela elope at the end of the episode, after spending some quality time together in jail.

I knew they were going to get back together, but I didn't expect it to happen this fast. I could see that they were rebuilding their damaged relationship over the course of the episode, with buildup from previous episodes. And then they eloped.

This twist works for me, just because of how it works for the characters. Both are pretty spontaneous, especially Angela, and while Hodgins may not be as spontaneous as her, I can see how his continued love for her would make him jump on the chance as soon as it provided itself. I thought it was kind of touching how he's been carrying her wedding ring with him ever since their first wedding.

All in all, with the good and the bad, Bones remains the only live action American show that I actually watch.