By CHRIS SURPRENANT
Arts Editor
After seven seasons on the air, Hart Hanson’s dramedy Bones is finally giving the audience what it wants—Bones, Booth, and a baby! Hanson and company have realized that crossing a smart-alecky FBI agent with an aloof Ph.D. makes for one of the most unique, interesting couple on television today. This current season wraps together everything fans love about the show, allowing for even more slightly off-kilter storylines to emerge.
Those who have been following the “procedural” since 2005 know that there has always been an awkwardly endearing romance between Booth (David Boreanaz) and Brennan (Emily Deschanel). Booth, a believer in a greater power and an ex-sniper, crossed paths with the incredibly talented but emotionally detached Dr. Brennan. Over the years, they’ve played off of each other’s quirks: Booth is a more earthy people person, while Brennan approaches everything in life scientifically and methodically. Though they are polar opposites of each other, it is the good-natured ribbing and bickering that make them both human and incredibly funny to watch.
This year, Bones is giving the audience what it wants. Last season, we found out that Brennan was having Booth’s baby after a night that was long overdue. After several romances and sob stories, Booth and Brennan found each other. Now, an entirely new set of rules is in play with a baby in the game. For instance, Brennan, not really seeing important things the way average people do, casually informed everyone but Booth that they were going to have a girl. Booth, on the other hand, decided it would be funny to take a picture of Brennan crying over a body at a crime scene (she never cries, so the hormones made her an easy target). This year, the stories are about Booth and Brennan as a new kind of team—parents. We get to see them interact in a way that is quite different from before.
We are also treated to watching Dr. Jack Hodgins (T.J. Thyne) and forensic artist Angela Montenegro (Michaela Conlin) their infant son, Michael, in a family that is anything but ordinary (one deals with bugs and goo all day, while the other reconstructs dead bodies). The audience gets to see two people, who are ordinarily confident, fail at the hands of parenthood. In last week’s episode, Angela wrestles with putting together a walker for Michael because the instructions are all in Spanish or Chinese. Small moments like those are what make the show different from all the other procedurals.
In an age where CSIs dominate the airwaves along with the dozen and one other imitations out there, Bones dives into the characters and their relationships rather than the crime scene. Usually, the cases to be solved are launching pads to the inner-workings of the personalities that dominate the show. There isn’t one repeat among the bunch. Seeing another side of their lives, a side outside the lab, is what makes the audience care about them.
The absurd storylines are also part of the great appeal. Whether the team is investigating the death of a competitive eater or masquerading as circus folk, the case always proves intriguing. Though sometimes predictable, the audience will never expect the way in which the perpetrator carried out his crime.
Ultimately, this season of Bones is about growth and change. All of the major characters are facing new challenges in their lives that have gone previously unexplored. The birth of a child, the challenges of living together, and being coworkers will all play out this season. I look forward to seeing the new stories the team at the Jeffersonian Institute will have to tackle, and how they will come out fighting in a fit of laughter and heart.
