Bones -- "The Bond in the Boot"
We have a bone to pick (sorry, you know the pun had to happen at some point) with Bones. They need to decide if they're going to lean towards the lighthearted slapstick (e.g., "The Double Death of the Dearly Departed") or gut-wrenching and serious (e.g., "The Girl in the Mask").It's hard to discern which path they intended to take with this Bond-inspired plot -- the obligatory "Bond, James Bond" imitations or the more dramatic "CIA analyst-turned-superspy killed trying to do the right thing". As fun as episodes such as "Double Death" have been, we'd prefer they keep the crimes serious and the humor -- which they do very well -- contained to interactions between characters we know and love.
In the Plus Column
Ok, so the roundabout way (which any viewer who has ever seen a TV show before saw coming) in which they ensured an "anonymous" donor coughed up enough money to keep super-cuddly lab tech Wendell Bray on scholarship was a little silly, but sweet. And, it led to an awesome old Brennan/new Brennan moment: in classic cold, logical style, she tells Wendell his scholarship has run out of money and it's been nice working with him and, almost in the next breath, realizing how deeply the news is affecting her soon-to-be-ex-but-not-really intern, the distanced façade fades and Brennan looks kicked in the teeth by what she's just done. Very nice.
In the Minus Column
For those keeping score at home, the Booth/Brennan issue resolved this week: income disparity. As in, Brennan's Ms. Moneybags and Booth... works for the government and is reluctant to pay a plumber to fix his leaky pipes. It does lead to two "awww" moments: 1) Booth explaining to Brennan that the things which truly make him happy -- solving a case with her or getting a hug from Parker -- aren't dependent on money; 2) Booth "teaching" Brennan how to fix a sink, which leads to the proverbial inadvertent shower with wrench in hand.
But this all felt a little forced - the "look how honest we are with each other... right? RIGHT?!" How many other issues do they need to check off their list? Let's see, they've covered (in no particular order) love, marriage, sex, money, religion, children, childhood, mommy/daddy issues, sibling issues, and logic vs. emotion. It came off like the writers throwing us a "furthering their relationship" bone without actually accomplishing anything.
What do you think? Was this episode a little uneven in both overall tone and Booth/Brennan romance or are you still in the "Bones is Back!" afterglow? Talk in the comments!