Posts Tagged ‘Bones’
Bones: The Devil in the Details
Posted on: February 6, 2010
This week’s episodes of Bones made me feel a little uneasy. There are sometimes that I can’t quite get a handle on the intentions of the writers. In this episode, the team is investigating the death of man with horns who is found on fire on an altar in a church. Don’t worry, the horns were coral implants, not real horns. It turns out that the victim was the patient at a mental hospital where he as being treated for schizophrenia. Brennan, Booth, and Sweets spend a lot of time at the mental hospital interviewing patients, staff, and doctors.
The intern on this case is Mr. Vaziri, the Muslim intern whose story lines always center around him being Muslim, and this episode was no exception. While Mr. Vaziri is explaining his belief in Satan, he makes a comment about looking at the Devil everyday. Of course, Cam takes this to mean “The Great Satan,” as in how some Muslims refer to America. But, as you can imagine, he is just talking about how he has to wrestle with a past decision that haunts him everyday and that he sees evil/the Devil in himself because of this.
So, where to start with this episode. It seemed like they just wanted to have a bunch of things that Dr. Brennan doesn’t agree with and doesn’t see reason in in one episode: religion and psychology. Let’s start with religion. Now, I’m not a religious person. There are a lot of things that I don’t understand about religion. But I always feel uncomfortable when Booth, the faithful Catholic, and Brennan argue about religious beliefs, which happened a number of times throughout this episode. I did like at the end, however, when Booth and Brennan were talking about faith and Dr. Brennan talked about her faith in reason in much the same way as Booth talked about his faith in God and church. I think this put Dr. Brennan’s beliefs in a light that Booth could understand and also helped Dr. Brennan understand Booth’s beliefs a tiny bit better.
And then there’s the portrayal of Islam on the show. How many episodes has there been an instance where one of the team members, usually Cam, thinks that Mr. Vaziri hates Americans and Christians because he is Muslim. There are at least two that I can think of off the top of my head and that already seems a little unnecessary. One I can understand: Cam has to learn her lesson about assuming things about Islam and Muslims. But two. Really? And there have probably been smaller situations that I can’t think of off the top of my head right now.
One thing that frustrates me about Bones is that I can sometimes not tell when the writers are trying to make some sort of social commentary by playing into stereotypes or if the writers are just writing these stereotypes without thinking much about it. I like to think that they are trying to make a social commentary, but I’m not always sure. And not everybody would see it as social commentary. Some people would agree with the assumption that Cam jumped to during this episode, where as I just assumed that he had some sort of dark past that he regretted (which is what the case was) and that’s why Cam was freaking out. I just can’t tell sometimes what the writers are intending for people to get out of their story lines.
Now, onto psychology. When it comes to the psychology vs. sociology debate, I would probably fall far onto the side of sociology. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have respect for psychology and the work that psychologists/psychiatrists do on a daily basis. Dr. Brennan, on the other hand, has very little respect for the field or the people that work in the field. I liked what Dr. Copeland (the head of the mental hospital) said to Dr. Brennan: that he helps people on a daily basis who are living in hell and that is probably a more noble profession than finding out what happened to dead people who are already past pain and suffering. I think it really put Dr. Brennan in her place and made her realize that there could be some value in the work of psychiatry.
And speaking of mental hospitals, can we talk about the portrayal of mental illness in this episode. Booth kept referring to the mental hospital as the “loony bin,” which is already insulting, and then asked why people weren’t in straight jackets when they got there. I think that the writers were trying to break down some of the assumptions about mental illness and mental hospitals with Booth making remarks like this and how they differed from their portrayal of the mental hospital, but they didn’t do a great job. They really didn’t do a good job at showing how people with mental illness can function on their own. All the people in the background were usually just shown with a blank stare on their face doing absolutely nothing or fighting nurses. I know that this is the case for some people and for some mental institutions, but I didn’t really think it was necessary for the show. Especially watching this episode with my mom, who is a psychologist and has worked in a mental hospital, she pointed out all the things that wouldn’t really be done in a mental hospital and how the portrayal was largely inaccurate.
All in all, I was really disappointed with the stereotypes that this episode perpetrated, even if they were intended for social commentary. They weren’t always read as social commentary and I think that they were subtle enough that not everyone would realize that they were trying to be social commentary. In the end, they just ended up being stereotypes.
Also check out meloukhia’s review up at this ain’t livin’.
Bones: The Dentist in the Ditch
Posted on: January 29, 2010
Oh, Bones. In “The Dentist in the Ditch,” a skeleton is found on a civil war reenactment. It turns out she was a gay dentist who plays football. Why do I word it like this? Because the team, primarily Booth, seemed fascinated by the gay football team and gay men playing football in general. On the side story, Jared, Booth’s brother, is back from his trip to India…with a girlfriend, Rebecca from Greek. Jared wants to propose but Booth thinks it is too soon as they have only been dating a month. Then Booth runs a background check on her and freaks out because he finds out that she used to be an escort. But of course Jared knew this already because they don’t have any secrets.
This episode really bothered me. I thought that the writers were desperately trying to say “it’s okay to be gay” with this story line, but it didn’t really come off that way. There were a bunch of comments, mainly from Brennan, about the fact that gay marriage is illegal not being fair and not making sense. But the fact that they paid soooo much attention to the fact that the victim was gay and based a lot of their investigating on this as well told the audience that being gay isn’t normal, that being gay is a significant factor in an investigation where as they wouldn’t have paid that much attention to the victim’s sexuality if he were straight.
First they thought that the victims hunting ex-boyfriend killed him. Then it was someone on the victims football team murdered the victim because of “lingering glances” in the locker room that would have threatened a straight man’s masculinity. But then they found out the whole football team was gay, so they thought it was someone from a rival football team whose masculinity was threatened. Then they found out about his secret, closeted lover and thought that he killed him. But in the end, his murder had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that they victim was gay. So why did we have to focus so much on the victim being gay? Pretty much no reason other than showing us that being gay isn’t normal and is something that should be considered in a murder investigation.
A lot of this was coming from Booth, but also from Sweets and Hodgins. It’s not too surprising that these reactions to the victim being gay were from the men on the show, especially the “hyper” masculine Booth. Then there was Booth who, upon meeting Jared’s girlfriend Padme complimented her on her English because she looked Indian, had an Indian name, and Jared met her in India. Then she was like “I’m from Virginia” and he felt like a jackass…which he was.
The investigations on Bones are usually what saves it from it’s insensitive self. But then they went and brought the insensitivity into the investigation. All in all, I was pretty disappointed with this episode.
But, favorite line of the night: “yeah, I’m gay and I hunt. Get over it.”
For a different take on the episode, check out meloukhia’s review up at this ain’t livin’.
Bones: The Proof in the Pudding
Posted on: January 21, 2010
For all you conspiracy theorists out there, this was the episode of Bones for you. The episode starting out with mysterious government men taking over the lab insisting that the team work to discover the cause of death of a set of remains which they are not allowed to identify. But of course they try to identify them and come to the conclusion that the remains belong to JFK based on some pretty convincing evidence. The episode was pretty much a deadlock between our team and the government men that took over the lab, with the team constantly trying to find ways around these men.
Using the impacts on the skull, the team comes to the conclusion that there were two shooters. Booth is very upset by this because it would me that the government that he loves so much was a part of a cover up. At the end of the episode, though, Brennan disproves that the remains belong to JFK (at least it’s statistically unlikely). The team decides that it was like a dry run because there were congressional hearings debating whether or not to exhume JFK’s remains to do similar testing.
In the meantime, Cam finds a pregnancy test in the lab bathroom and becomes convinced that Michelle, the teenager she adopted, is pregnant. Turns out though, that is was Angela’s pregnancy test and the whole episode she has to talk with Hodgins about whether or not she wants Wendell’s baby. Hodgins thinks that she will keep it. Because of this, he admits that he is still in love with Angela and that he wants to help her raise the baby. But at the end, Cam reveals that she retested the test and it turns out to be a false positive. So basically nothing good happened…
I was really liking this episode until the end. I like hearing about conspiracy theories (man, was Hodgins in heaven in this episode). And I thought it was an interesting storyline with these mysterious government agents taking over the lab. But in the end, it turned out not to be JFK (most likely) and Angela’s not pregnant. They took away all the good storylines right at the end.
Speaking of Angela’s pregnancy… I actually really kind of liked that storyline, but not the fact that Hodgins was and wanted to be so involved in the decision about whether or not to keep the baby. Shouldn’t that be a conversation to have with Wendell? And I didn’t like that they gave Wendell so little credit, I’m sure he would be a good dad and rise to the occasion. But I would be really interested in seeing Angela as a mother. I think it would add a lot to the show. But my prediction is that this pregnancy “scare” is going to make Angela realize that she really does want to have a baby and will try to get pregnant…but probably with Hodgins, which I don’t know how I feel about.
It was also a really interesting point in the plot to kind of pit Hodgins and Booth against each other. They were both working on the same team, but Booth is very patriotic and refuses to believe that the government would be involved in such a cover up and Hodgins is convinced that that is exactly something that the government would do. Of course it did kind of come off as painting Hodgins as the crazy liberal and Booth as the unreasonable Republican. But, it still made for an intersting part of the plot, even if it did rely of political stereotypes.
And I’d just like to note that the past couple episodes they haven’t been blatantly playing up the Booth/Brennan romantic relationship, but there have been a lot of “knowing looks” from the other characters on the show when they are around each other…which kind of makes me want to gag, but that’s just me.
And one last comment…Booth is related to John Wilkes Booth? Really? A desperate attempt to add another weird layer to Booth?
Bones: The X in the File
Posted on: January 14, 2010
Bones is back! This week’s episode revolved around the case of a murdered UFO chaser and was full of alien speculation. The storyline outside of the case was mainly about Angela and Wendell. As we saw a while back, Angela and Wendell were starting a relationship, which they have now delved into deeper, yet they are still keeping it a secret…or so they think. But throughout the episode, they have to tell Hodgins about their relationship, which is sufficiently awkwards and makes Hodgins realize that he is still in love with Angela.
Ok, so while I think Angela and Wendell are cute together, I have some major problems with their relationship and the storyline around their relationship. First of all, I think Wendell is too young/immature for Angela. He just seems like this cute little puppy that Angela is playing with. This is most clearly demonstrated in a scene when Angela and Wendell are out to lunch with Hodgins. Hodgins makes coments about how they shouldn’t feel uncomfortable around them and they can hold hands, etc. So Wendell randomly kisses Angela, which she was not prepared for and did not appreciate. I did like that she made the comment that she didn’t like being kissed when it wasn’t about her. I thought that was a good touch.
The second major thing that I have a problem with about this storyline is the way that Sweets talked to Hodgins about it. Hodgins went to Sweets because he needed advice on how to deal with his feelings about Angela and Wendell. Sweets tells Hodgins that it sometimes feels like it’s ok to feel lonely when the object of your grieving is also lonely. So, now that Angela is in a relationship, Hodgins is starting to feel lonely again and grieving over their lost relationship. Ok, this makes sense to some extent. But did everyone just forget that Angela was in a relationship before this…with a woman? So, she wasn’t lonley for a good portion of time between her relationship with Hodgins and her relationship with Wendell. It just seemed to me like they didn’t take Angela’s relationship with the woman (I’m sorry, I don’t remember her name) seriously…like it wasn’t a real relationship, so Hodgins didn’t need to feel upset about it. Why not just address what the real problem is…that she’s in a relationship with Wendell, Hodgin’s friend.
Then there was the representation of people who believe in UFO’s as “crazy,” “idiots,” and “morons.” While I may not believe in UFO’s and I don’t always understand how other people could believe in UFO’s and aliens, I don’t think it’s completely appropriate to use ableist language in describing them. Brennan makes a comment at the end about a man being a moron, “figuratively, not literally,” because “it’s exciting to use insulting colloquialisms even when they aren’t accurate.” This is just basically a round about way of saying that she’s using ableist language and likes it. But Bones doesn’t always have the best track record with ableism and representing disabilities.
Well, anyways, as I hear, we have some “great” (depending on who you are and what you like about the show) situations to look forward to between Booth and Brennan and the rest of the season progresses. If you’ve read any of my other reviews of Bones, you know how I feel about this storyline.
How Much Sexism Is Too Much?
Posted on: January 9, 2010
A couple weeks ago I received a great email from a reader that posed many thoughtful questions. I want to start by addressing one of them here.
This reader brought up the fact that in one of my posts about Glee I stated tht I wasn’t sure if I would continue to watch the show if it weren’t for the musical numbers because of the amount of sexism, ableism, racism, etc. apparent in the show. So, when does the sexism of the show outweigh the positive or entertaining aspects of the show? How much sexism is too much?
Because of the society that we live in, there is at least some sexism (and other -isms) in all tv shows. And I watch a lot of television, so I “put up with” a lot of sexism. So why do I continue to watch all these shows even though there is apparent sexism in them?
First of all, I am interested in how pop culture reflects the values of society. So even though I enjoy these shows, I am always critiquing them — analyzing what they are saying about society.
But we still have to come to terms with the fact that I enjoy these shows — they are entertaining to me — despite the fact that they promote values that I disagree with. Of course there are some aspects of certain shows that promote feminism, but they are certainly in the minority and still have sexist aspects to them as well.
For example, Secret Life of the American Teenager goes back and forth between healthy and unhealthy attitudes towards teen (and adult, sometimes) sexuality. There is the teen who in one episode thinks that the fact that she had sex with her boyfriend whom she loves killed her father, then has a conversation about masterbation with her mother in another episode. And Bones can have a great portrayal of bisexuality in Angela and then can portray stereotypes in heterosexual male-female reationships (Bones and Booth). And there are some many other examples that I could go into.
But there are still many shows that I enjoy that have very few positive feminist aspects (How I Met Your Mother, Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy, etc.). When does the sexist factor outweigh the entertainment factor?
Honestly, I’m not quite sure. I think it depends on each person and each show. There are certainly a lot of shows that I don’t watch. And that might be becuase their sexism and oppressive norms outweight the entertainment…or that the premise of the show just doesn’t interest me. But I don’t really think there is a set line that can be used as a template for all shows.
I know this isn’t really an answer to the question. But I can speak to my personal preference in continuing ot watch shows.
First of all, I have a tendancy to get invested in characters and storylines. Shows that are good at storytelling tend to keep my interest. Also, characters that I can either identify with in some way or see as an escape from my life can keep me interested in the show. For example, I use Gossip Girl as an escape from my life because the lives of the characters are so different from mine…but I can still see some of my personality traits in some of the characters. If the show can’t keep me interested in the storyline and invested in the characters, then the sexism will start to outweigh the entertainment factor for me.
So…how much sexism is too much in television? I don’t know. It has to be considered with the storyline and characters of the show…at least for me. I might have a higher tolerance for shows that have apparent sexism than other people. But, like I said, even if the storyline and characters are enough to keep me interested in the show, I am still always critiquing and analyzing what the show is saying about society and the sexism, racism, ableism, etc. that is in the show.
Bones: The Goop on the Girl
Posted on: December 11, 2009
The case this week involved a guy dressed like Santa who robbed a bank with a bomb strapped to his chest and when Booth was about the arrest him outside of the bank, the bomb when off. They later found out that the guy dressed as Santa was forced into the bomb and to rob the bank and it wasn’t actually his fault So no worries, Santa didn’t kill Christmas.
In the meantime, Brennan’s father (where did he come from?) is trying to convince her to spend Christmas with him instead of going to El Salvador, so he invites another family member to spend the holidays with them — Brennan’s 2nd cousin Maggie (played by Emily Deschanel’s real life sister, Zooey Deschanel). Of course we got all the jokes about how they look so much alike they could be sisters. Brennan finally agrees to stay for Christmas and has the whole team over for a Christmas dinner.
I am getting increasily annoyed with how the other characters treat Dr. Brennan. Dr. Brennan doesn’t see the world the same way as a lot of other people, but there’s nothing wrong with that. But a lot of the characters treat her like she’s defective in some way, especially Booth. When Brennan expressed her desire to go to the “Santa’s” funeral so his mother wouldn’t be alone, Booth said, “your heart muscle is bigger than people give you credit for.” This just shows that people don’t understand how Dr. Brennan’s brain works. Then Booth interupts Brennan’s Christmas dinner toast because he thinks she’s doing it wrong. But it was her toast, her house, and her gathering…she should be able to do whatever kind of toast she wants to do.
And while we’re speaking of Booth and Brennan, they’re awkward sexual tension continued throughout this episode in really annoying ways. First, Booth has evidence all over his clothes, so Dr. Brennan has to undress him. I get that that’s how it’s done, but it wasn’t really necessary to the story. I think they just wanted to have Booth running around the lab in his underwear and Dr. Brennan undressing him. And then there was Brennan dropping random lines like “he’s very hard to resist” and “I find him pleasing to look at.”
Ever since I heard that Zooey Deschanel was going to be guest starring, I have been looking forward to this episode. But I have to say, I was really disappointed with her character. She quoted Benjamin Franklin all the time and just every scene with her felt awkward and forced. Which is really a shame because I like her as an actress. I know they wanted to make her similar to Dr. Brennan in that they are both awkward and socially unaware, but it was just weird. I don’t really know how to put it, but it just rubbed me the wrong way.
Overall, I think they’ve had better Christmas episodes.
Bones: The Gamer in the Grease
Posted on: December 4, 2009
It’s been a while since I’ve written about Bones, but I thought I should jump back on the wagon. This week’s epsiode was about a gamer (famous for his high score on an old school game) was murdered. The team investigated how he got his high score as well as his competitors. On the side, Hodgins, Sweets, and the intern Colin Fisher have gotten three tickets for the movie Avatar so have to switch spots standing in line to get good seats for the movie. It was entertaining only because they have to make up weird excuses to leave and for where they have been because they shouldn’t be standing in line for a movie while they are supposed to be working.
First off, how much do you think Avatar had to pay to get intertwined into the script like that? It was kind of weird…not only because I don’t really understand what the movie is about, but that’s a conversation for another place. Of course there were the gratuitous digs at how sci-fi nerds never get laid…but oh wait, Fisher is nearly 100 girls that he has slept with, so that disproves the myth, obviously. I don’t always appreciate these kinds of comments. I’m kind of a sci-fi nerd. I don’t think an enthusiasm about science fiction is an automatic turn-off.
Speaking of this. Sweets meets this girl in line for Avatar who completely throws herself at him and offers to show him the tattoos on her breasts multiple times. He seems into it, but ultimately has to resist because he has a girlfriend. But then Fisher shows up and they are introduced and automatically get into the tent to have sex. I’m sorry, but how has loud, active sex in a flimsy tent while in a very busy line for a movie? It just seemed really out of place and forced. But then we got to have Hodgins be all sweet and comfort Sweets because he was feeling blue about the number of women whom he’s slept with. It’s about the quality not the quantity, according to Hodgins. And it’s all good, because Sweets has probably had sex more times that Fisher even though Fisher’s had more partners. So isn’t that still about quantity? Sweets said nothing about how good the sex is. They just figured that having more sex was better than more partners. While the sentiment was sweet, I didn’t really buy the argument in the end.
But I did like that they showed that not all “sci-fi nerds” are men, that women can enjoy sci-fi as well. Even if their main example was a woman who would sleep with anyone who sounded like they had an interesting job. Not the best representation of women sci-fi fans, but at least it’s a start.
There was a short little line about sexism in the gaming industry which I appreciated. The top gamer now that this guy has been murdered is a woman. Booth makes a comment about how it’s good for business because more people would pay to see a woman. The woman “fights” back by saying that it shouldn’t be about the gamer’s gender but their skill. I liked this woman. She was pretty awesome. And she even fixed her own machine!
And as always, I liked that there wasn’t a whole love of Bones/Booth relationship drama in this episode. Always a fan when they do that. But there was a lot of talk of sex in this episode, what with the counting of the partners and number of times and all. I just don’t really understand why it should matter how many times you have had sex versus another person of how many partners so and so has had. It should be about your experiences and what is best for you, not a competition among men to see how many chicks they can score. And trying to say it’s about quality and not quantity does not count when your evidence of that is simply how many times you’ve had sex as opposed to the number of partners.
So here’s the thing with Bones recently…there hasn’t been a whole lot of storyline outside of the investigation in the episode. Which is ok, the investigation is usually what I find most interesting, especially how they discover all of the things that they do. But it’s kind of hard to write reviews of an episode when there’s not a lot outside of the investigation because that’s not really what I want to write about.
Sunday Link Love
Posted on: November 22, 2009
I hope everyone’s had a great weekend, because I sure have — despite my allergic reaction that caused me to spend a few hours that could have been spent visiting with friends in the bathroom over a toilet. But it was still good. I’ve got a pretty busy week coming up between retail work during the holiday season and Thanksgiving, but I’m hoping to do a litle more blogging this week than I did last week. I don’t think I will be writing a post about Bones this week as I don’t have the motivation, but check out meloukhia’s review if you’re facing withdrawal. I have not made it through all of the posts that I’ve missed over the weekend, but here are some of my favorite that I have read through and more to come for the Tuesday post. As always, don’t forget to leave links to what you have been writing/reading in the comments!
Bitch Blogs: The gender wars are over and WE WON!
Everyone! This just in! The “gender wars” are over, and women won!. That’s right; after fighting for centuries for equality, our struggles have finally paid off BECAUSE MEN ARE BECOMING JUST LIKE WOMEN. Which, you know, means not only are we equals now, but women are actually the conquerors in this scenario. WE WON!!!
Equal Writes: Gender Roles and “Hookup Culture” Anxiety
While it has long been more acceptable for men to enter short-term and uncommitted relationships, the stigma surrounding women’s participation in such an engagement seems to be particularly fierce, whether or not the “hook up culture” actually exists. Yet, the fact that the “hook up” culture seems to exist and that there doesn’t seem to be too much long-term dating among Princeton undergraduates is not simply reflective of a morality meltdown; instead, it is symptomatic of shifting trends in the way that gender impacts students’ willingness to seek out and commit to long-term relationships.
o filthy grandeur!: Presentations of violence and gender in the Twilight novels
I recently finished Stephanie Meyer’s vampire romance, Twilight. While it wasn’t the most fantastic novel (certainly it took a lot of reading before reaching anything remotely climactic), it wasn’t all that horrible. But it wasn’t all that good, either. I didn’t have high expectations for a romance novel as it was (admittedly I have read few, not having acquired a taste for the genre–yeah, studying literature makes you elitist. I’m no exception). This post will examine gender roles and gender presentations in the novel, as well as other problematic themes.
My review of the New Moon movie to come tomorrow!
Tiger Beatdown: The Edward Cullen Underpants Condundrum
But the issue of Our Cultural Discomfort With Objectifying Robert Pattinson, which is a very important phenomenon that I just made up and decided that we should focus on, is perhaps best illuminated by how different it is from our generalized Cultural Discomfort with MF. Because we have no problem with objectifying Megan Fox, really! We just have a problem with everything she says, and specifically the things she says wherein she takes issue with being objectified. We just hate her. Whereas people don’t hate Robert Pattinson, really. At least, not outside of the inevitable superfans in various Internet comment sections, who take issue with him not loving Twilight like it is his own sweet mother, and most of their ire is reserved for Kristen Stewart anyway. And superfans just yell about shit all the time. That is how they show their love. People outside the superfan matrix don’t tend to have strong feelings about The Pattz, but they do tend to get all squirmy and giggly and uncomfortable with the way that so many women relate to his filmed image (for example, by screen-printing it on their underpants) and/or his person.
The Sexist: Why Sarah Palin is a Better Feminist Than Nancy Pelosi
On the Daily Beast today, Amy Siskind decries Nancy Pelosi as a “feminist nightmare.” Why so serious? Because “the House Speaker pushed the Stupak amendment through—then moved to block the woman bidding for Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat.”
That first point makes sense—feminist women were thrown under the bus in order to pass the health care bill, and they’re right to be pissed about it. But what’s this business about forcing us to vote for lady politicians? “A major element in our battle for equality is getting women into positions of power,” Siskind explains. “The hope is that these leaders, once in place, would promote women’s issues and encourage the next generation of women leaders. Speaker Pelosi reveals a flaw in feminist thinking: There are exceptions. A powerful woman can in fact be an enemy to women.”
Bones: Dwarf in the Dirt
Posted on: November 13, 2009
This week’s episode of Bones centered around an investigation when they found the skeleton of a dwarf in a sinkhole. They soon discover that the victim is the Iron Leprechaun in the midget wrestling world. He was killed during a robbery in the collapsed underground pedestrian walkways, which is how he ended up in the sinkhole.
In the meantime, Booth is having trouble with his marksmanship and is convinced that it is a result of his brain damage from having the tumor removed. He can’t go to Sweets to talk because Sweets’ first loyalty is to the FBI, so he goes to his former psychiatrist, Dr. Gordon Gordon Wyatt, who now works as a chef. But of course, Gordon Gordon consults with Sweets (and Brennan at points) to get a better understanding of what has been happening to Booth since his brain surgery. Gordon and Gordon come to the conclusion that Booth and Brennan are in love with each other — that Brennan uses her intellect to mask childhood trauma which in turn masks intense emotions such as love, and Booth knows that expressing his love for Brennan would be seen as a sort of assault on her, so suppresses his emotions and these side effects are a result of his “phallic frustration.” Gordon Gordon calls him out on it and he claims that they are too different, that Brennan will never love him, but Gordon Gordon tells him to be patient. But magically, when Booth invites Brennan to his marksmanship test, he hits all of the targets in the chest. She’s like his good luck charm.
So, where to start. Let’s talk about Dr. Brennan to start off with. Throughout the episode, she is using colloquialisms and trying to make jokes, which is kind of out of character for her. Booth says that he likes it because it shows that she is adapting. Adapting to what? And why is it so important to adapt? I think Dr. Brennan was pretty awesome the way that she was. Is it really important for her to be able to use colloquialisms? And this is just yet another example of Booth not understanding how Brennan’s brain works.
Speaking of not understanding how Brennan’s brain works, Sweets is pretty adamant that Brennan is the way that she is because she uses her intellect to mask childhood trauma which in turn masks intense emotions. While I do think it is important to bring Brennan’s childhood trauma into the equation, I don’t think that this is necessarily that true. Dr. Brennan does experience intense emotions, we’ve seen it on many occassions — with her parents, her brother, Booth, boyfriends we’ve seen her with such as Sully, and even Angela. And yes, she is really smart, but I don’t know if she’s necessarily using that intellect to mask her childhood trauma. She’s openly talked about it on many occassions, and has even come to terms with her brother and father (where are they, by the way, they seem to have disappeared from the show). While I do think there is some truth in what Sweets says, I think there is more to Dr. Brennan’s personality than just childhood trauma. And I really don’t think that Sweets should be making these assumptions based solely on observation. But I guess it is an easier explanation for the shows writers than having a lead character have a mental disability. That would just be horrible, wouldn’t it?
And we get more of the Booth and Brennan are secretly in love with each other storyline. It’s just getting really old and tired, just do something about it already. Don’t drag it out this long because it just pisses me off.
Even though the victim had a name, they routinely called him “leprechaun” or “midget wrestler” which I found to be pretty insensitive. I know that “midget wrestling” is the name of the sport and his wrestling name involved “leprechaun,” but couldn’t they treat him like a human being and use his name when referring to him — especially now that he is dead.
In the end, Bones has just become the same storyline repeated over and over again…murder, solve it, sexual tension between Booth and Brennan. That’s all there really is to it anymore. Which is really a shame, because it used to be such a good show and something a little different than what had been on television. But now it’s just fallen into the same old routine. I really wish that they would do something about that.
I was very happy for baseball to be over and for Bones to be new this week. In “The Tough Man in the Tender Chicken,” the team is investigating the murder of a man that worked at a chicken farm. This chicken farm was under protest for their treatment of the chickens. That’s right, we got lots of animal rights stuff in this episode.
Outside of the investigation, Angela has gotten involved with trying to save a pig from becoming bacon. Dr. Brennan doesn’t understand how saving one pig can really make a difference, leading to Angela saying that she doesn’t know how they are even friends because they have nothing in common. Angela continues on his quest to save the pig. She asks Wendell to donate to her cause, which he does, and they end up kissing. Not quite sure how it happened but it did. But let’s not forget Sweets in all of this. While trying to help Angela with her fight with Dr. Brennan, Sweets suggests that Angela give up her pledge of celibacy early to regain a grasp on humanity and real life because she has gotten too attached to a picture of a baby animal.
Sweets also tells Dr. Brennan that she should humor Angela and help her get her pig. But Dr. Brennan can’t do that without getting Booth’s opinion. And don’t forget the meaningful looks and hand grazes throughout the episode.
Yet again we see Dr. Brennan’s friends and co-workers lack of understanding about how she sees the world. I don’t want to talk about that too much here, just because it happens every week and it has been touched on a lot in previous posts. Also, at the beginning of the episode, we see Dr. Brennan interact with children (the Woodchuck’s that found the body). That was pretty exciting, you know, with the awkward interactions ending with the children boo-ing her.
Some epsiodes I like Sweets because he’s awkward, and I like that. Other episodes, I can’t stand him. This week, I couldn’t stand him. He was trying to police Angela’s sexuality, saying that she was losing touch with humanity because of her pledge of celibacy. Then I felt like he was talking down to Dr. Brennan when he was telling her to humor Angela about the pig. I felt like he thought he was trying to explain to a five year old how to be nice to your friends. And then he made a gross comment about twins at one point during the episode.
I did like that this episode touched on some political issues, as in animal rights. It would be great if it touched on some other political issues, but I always like when shows incorporate political issues into their episodes.
I also don’t know how I feel about the Angela/Wendell relationship. It just came out of nowhere (even though I had heard the spoilers about it) and while I can see the relationship possibly going somewhere, it just felt kind of forced at this point in time. There was no build up to it like the Angela/Hodgins relationship or the upcoming Booth/Brennan relationship. They just randomly started kissing and then it got really awkward around the lab.
Fighting with the Sky 