Sigh. And finally, this lovely episode with so much backstory goodness, and Booth as high as a kite. And Wong Foos. And Parker. And DB and ED are just pure perfection.
We have already recapped this episode on this site, link below.
Boots & Blazers Fallout Shelter Recap
To read Sarah’s take on the ending scene, link below.
Fallout Shelter-Wong Foos-Bones Theory
Have a merry, merry Christmas my Bones friends! 🙂
Ok, this one is one of my favorites, as it is nearest and dearest to my heart. Santa in the Slush–and the that KISS–was my first episode of Bones EVER. What a high bar this show set for my expectations!!
Yeah. I’m with you Booth. I was stunned.
But just as good is the follow up conversation the dynamic duo has with Sweets in the diner where they talk about the kiss as well as the “lying to children” aspect of Christmas.
Ah, the leaning in towards each other..
Booth thinks Sweets is full of it…
But Brennan considers his words…
And you gotta love that body language 🙂
And because I cannot do this justice the way Sarah did on Bones Theory, here is the full and complete awesomeness:
“Okay, I have to remove your clothing now.”
You have a perfect acromion.
“Anyone for mistletoe?
Make fun of the naked guy. Knock yourself out.
Please read the entirety of the wonderful Bones Theory recap because there is none better!!
MAX: This is fun. Isn’t it fun to meet a new relative, girls?
BRENNAN: So, you’re my cousin, Margaret?
MARGARET: My mother was your mother’s cousin, according to Uncle Max.
MAX: It’s an uncanny resemblance. You’re practically sisters.
BRENNAN: Why… why aren’t you home for Christmas?
MARGARET: This time of year, I prefer to be in Philadelphia, away from my family and all those kids.
BRENNAN: You don’t have children?
MARGARET: “Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, and half-shut afterward.” I never got to the half-shut part. What’s your excuse?
BRENNAN: For not being married? I don’t have an excuse. I just have very good reasons.
Uh-huh. Protesting too much?
MARGARET: Like what?
BRENNAN: I think that marriage is something you need to have a reason to enter into. I never found that reason.
Wait, I thought she just said she had very good reasons! Get your story straight, girl!
MARGARET: Mmm. I totally agree. “Experience keeps a dear school, but fools learn in no other.”
MAX: You see, Margaret is a big fan of Benjamin Franklin.
MARGARET: Yes. He was the smartest man who ever lived. His advice has never failed me.
BRENNAN: Actually, the person with the highest recorded IQ is Marilyn vos Savant.
MARGARET: Ooh. “Tim was so learned that he could name a horse in nine languages; so ignorant that he bought a cow to ride on.”
BRENNAN: I don’t think this is going to work.
MAX: Listen, family reunions are always awkward.
BRENNAN: Well, do you think this is going well?
MARGARET: Not really. You seem like a bit of a know-it-all.
BRENNAN: Nice to meet you, but I’m going to El Salvador for Christmas. You both are welcome to use my place over the holidays.
MARGARET: “He that won’t be counseled can’t be helped.”
LOL. That’s a pretty good one, Margaret!
MAX: I told you to keep to Ben’s scientific stuff.
Good one, Max! He knows his girls!
Brennan checks in with her partner about this new family development.
BOOTH: So, I’ve decided to take you up on your offer.
BRENNAN: What offer?
BOOTH: Uh, you inviting me to your house for Christmas dinner? … You forgot you invited me.
She was distracted by a half-naked Booth at the time so…forgivable.
BRENNAN: No, it’s just… No! My dad brought by my second cousin and… I really didn’t like her.
BOOTH: Well, that makes sense.
BRENNAN: Why do you say that?
BOOTH: Well, because she’s family. I mean, 90% of the time, family just gets under your skin. That’s the difference between family and friends.
BRENNAN: She’s unapologetically dogmatic. She lives her entire life based on the quotations of Benjamin Franklin.
BOOTH: Maybe she feels the same way about you and your mania for logic.
BRENNAN: Mania?
BOOTH: Okay, enthusiasm. Look, if you ditch this opportunity because a family member annoys you, it just… it just goes with the family territory.
And Booth would know!
Brennan attempts to bond with her cousin/sister.
MARGARET: You’re not going to El Salvador for Christmas?
BRENNAN: Mm-hmm.
MARGARET: You don’t strike me as someone who’s flexible about their schedule.
BRENNAN: Well, I took advice from someone who knows more about families than I do.
MARGARET: “He that raises a large family does stand a broader mark for sorrow, but then, stands a broader mark for pleasure as well.”
BRENNAN: Well, that’s sort of what he said, but without the pleasure part.
Enter the “someone” who gave Brennan life advice.
BOOTH: Nice tree. Oh, wow, who is this, your sister?
BRENNAN: No, uh… my second cousin.
MARGARET: I’m Margaret.
BRENNAN: There’s no resemblance.
BOOTH: What do you mean? You’re both very beautiful.
Smooth.
MARGARET: “Beauty and folly are old companions.”
BRENNAN: Told you… Benjamin Franklin.
BOOTH: Right, right. Hey, hey! Good old Ben, you know, he invented electricity and the hundred dollar bill.
MARGARET: Neither one of those things is true.
BOOTH: You’re right, there’s no resemblance whatsoever. Nice meeting you, Maggie.
BRENNAN: Bye, Booth.
BOOTH: See ya.
BRENNAN: Uh, that’s my partner. He’s FBI.
MARGARET: His eyes are too small to be really handsome.
BRENNAN: Well, I have to admit, I… find him pleasing to look at.
As do we all, Brennan.
Cut to the Christmas dinner.
SWEETS: I’m not here for baby Jesus; I’m here for Agent Booth.
CAM: Ah, that explains the antlers.
SWEETS: It was a moment of whimsy.
ANGELA: So you think that we should feel like big, giant losers that we’re not spending Christmas with family?
HODGINS: There’s more than one kind of family.
The theme of the whole series.
BOOTH: Hey. That’s too much salt there, that’s too much salt.
MARGARET: “He that would fish must venture his bait.”
BOOTH: Bones, when are we gonna eat? I’m starving.
BRENNAN: Well, right now…If Booth wants to fish, he’ll fish. What on earth are you trying to say?
MAX: Honey, families always give unwanted advice.
BRENNAN: Unwanted advice? You… you have to stop quoting Benjamin Franklin at me.
MARGARET: Why?
BRENNAN: Well, I have no evidence of this, but I feel that every time you do that, it’s not actually communication. I feel the same way when people tell jokes.
MARGARET: Hmm. I never thought of it that way.
BRENNAN: I’d rather hear what you have to say than Benjamin Franklin.
MARGARET: That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.
Brennan is learning to mix in some Boothy empathy in with her own honesty.
MAX: Tempe. This is your gathering. Wouldn’t you like to say something?
Proud Papa
BRENNAN: Oh, um…Thank you, everyone, for coming. Let’s eat.
MAX: No. I-I mean, would you like to say something about Christmas?
BRENNAN: Okay. Um, Christmas has its roots in the pagan festival of Saturnalia, which is traditionally celebrated by intoxication, naked singing and the consumption of human-shaped biscuits.
BOOTH: I think what Bones is trying to say here is that we’re all just happy that we are all together.
BRENNAN: Well, we’re all together every day.
MARGARET: Not me. No, I’m not here every day.
MAX: Well, it’s a different kind of together.
BOOTH: To family… friends… lovers… family… and food.
BRENNAN: You said “family” twice. It’s repetitious.
BOOTH: It’s a good toast, though. Cheers. Okay?
BRENNAN: Cheers.
ALL: Cheers, Merry Christmas.
BOOTH: All right.
MARGARET: What do we do now?
BOOTH: Ah, let’s say a prayer.
BRENNAN: No, no prayer, not in my place.
BOOTH: Bones, I always pray.
BRENNAN: Maybe just a moment of silence.
BOOTH: Hold hands.
Family, friends, togetherness…Bones Christmas.
Are you feeling a little overwhelmed or just “over it” with all the Christmas craziness? It’s time to rediscover your Christmas childhood joy with a visit to Santa’s apartment!
BRENNAN: Well, there’s the old Dutch Cinter Claus. He had a partner, named Black Peter, who carried a whip to beat naughty children. Myths are traditionally used to control behavior. For instance, the story of Moses bringing the Ten Commandments-
BOOTH: Wait, you’re equating Moses to Santa.
BRENNAN: Well, Santa’s usually considered more jolly, but basically-
BOOTH: Oh. My. God.
BRENNAN: What?
BOOTH: He lives in a toy store!
BRENNAN: Oh!
BRENNAN: Watch out for reindeer…
BOOTH: Yeah, really funny.
BOOTH: Wow, Parker would love this place. Look at this!
BOOTH: Ha. You gotta be kidding me. Bones! Look at this! Wow! This guy was committed.
BRENNAN: He should have been.
BOOTH: Hey Bones? Check this out. Hidden compartment. Looks like Santa was planning on buying a lot of toys.
RALPH: Kris rented this place from me for six years.
BRENNAN: Do you know where he lived before that?
BOOTH: Well, actually Bones, that wasn’t my first question.
RALPH: He wrote his previous address on the lease.
BRENNAN: North Pole?
BOOTH: Aw, come on with that.
BRENNAN: See? It turned out to be a good question!
BOOTH: You actually accepted that address?
RALPH: Are you kidding? How many guys want to live above a toy store? It’s noisy. And Kris gave me first and last months rent, upfront, in cash.
BRENNAN: Kris Kringle. From the North Pole. Lives above a toy store – This is further evidence that our victim, is indeed, the mythic figure known as Santa Claus.
BOOTH: Mythic. Coming from the Latin, “Myth”, meaning “doesn’t actually exist”.
BRENNAN: No. From the Greek, “Mythos”, meaning “word”
BRENNAN: Where did he work?
RALPH: Uh, employment agency called “Temp Time”. On 7th, by the Convention Center.
BOOTH: Ha! Couldn’t have been Santa!
BRENNAN: Why?
BOOTH: Because Santa wouldn’t have worked at a temp agency!
BRENNAN: Well, why not? His work is seasonal…
So…..have you rediscovered your Christmas joy yet? Brennan has!!
New discussion thread for Seal Team! 🙂
Oh, the joy that is Bones at Christmas! I thought I’d take a break from episode reviews and remember some Brennan and Booth Christmas joy! There are SO many good ones, especially that is the amazingness of Santa in the Slush…which was my first episode of Bones EVER and hooked me right then and there! For today, let’s consider Booth (and Parker) bringing Brennan some Christmas cheer.
It’s moments like this that anger me that these two actors do not get the recognition they deserve. Look at those faces. Everything is said without words.
We all know how important Parker is to Booth, and getting to spend time with his son is everything to him. Booth is sharing his special time with Parker with Brennan and that means so much. He’s sharing his most precious thing with his work partner. So you KNOW this is serious, people.
We all know that “Merry Christmas” is code for “I love you. You complete me. You dazzle me. You’re awesome. Let’s have adorable Boothy babies together”. But the simplicity of just that one phrase just makes it so powerful.
How Brennan does not drop the phone and run outside for a big, grey-sweatery hug, I’ll never know!!! Because I’d be buying an express ticket for that ride.
It makes it so great now to imagine Booth, Brennan, Parker, Christine, and Hank snuggled up around their family Christmas tree!
What do you love about this scene? What stood out to you the first time you saw it and has your view of it changed as the series progressed?
Written By: Karine Rosenthal
Directed By: Thomas J. Wright
BOOTH: They found the victim in the filtration system. Just, you know, some bones, and nobody knows what to make of ’em.
BRENNAN: I mean, look at this. Millions of tax dollars are spent to clean and treat tap water and yet people spend billions on bottled water.
BOOTH: Well, it’s cleaner. Look, it comes from a clean mountain stream.
BRENNAN: Yeah, which contains fecal matter from animals.
Good point, Brennan.
The team investigates. The victim appears to be a child but with fake teeth and bleached hair.
ANGELA: I hate working with kids. Childhood should be all about swings.
ZACK: Swings?
ANGELA: Yeah. You know, how high can I go? If I twist the chains, how fast will I spin?
HODGINS: What if I try to jump off before the swing stops?
ANGELA: Exactly.
HODGINS: I miss that feeling.
ANGELA: Yeah, me too.
BRENNAN: I miss organic chemistry class. Those were good times.
ZACK: I miss my first microscope.
BOOTH: Great. Yeah. And I miss normal people. Can we go on?
The team finds out it was a beauty pageant girl who’d gone missing. Hodgins brings Angela some evidence but that’s not all he wants to say…
HODGINS: Listen … Angela.
HODGINS: We’ve been … dancing around this for months now … like two pieces of neodymium caught in a magnetic field.
ANGELA: Is that good?
HODGINS: Yeah. But if the field weakens, they fly apart. Which is why I thought they should go on a date.
ANGELA: Hodgins —
HODGINS: You can’t say that you don’t feel it.
HODGINS: Come on, we owe it to ourselves to give it a try.
ANGELA: I — I just don’t think it– would be a good idea.
ANGELA: I mean, we work together, Jack.
HODGINS: Angela …
ANGELA: I’m sorry.
Meanwhile the team discusses the things people do for beauty.
BRENNAN: People have done much worse for beauty — neck stretching, foot binding …
BOOTH: Okay. And you’re saying that makes it okay.
BRENNAN: Well, of course not. Any major alteration of our underlying architecture demeans us. You know, we all have aspects of ourselves we might wish were different.
ZACK: Yes. I wanted larger biceps before I became comfortable with my mental acuity.
LOL!
Brennan tries her hand at interrogation with the victim’s mother.
BRENNAN: Did you ever think to tell Brianna that she didn’t need to alter her physical appearance in order to be loved?
BOOTH: Did Brianna disappoint you somehow?
JACKIE: No. She was a perfect angel. She won every competition, even her first one. And after that, it was music and dance classes. She was a real competitor.
BRENNAN: And when she won, it reflected well on you. That way you wouldn’t have to deal with your own physical identity.
JACKIE: I don’t like her.
BOOTH: Whoa.
Angela and Brennan talk about boys (aka Hodgins).
ANGELA: Hodgins asked me out.
BRENNAN: Is that why you’re hiding in here?
ANGELA: I’m not hiding. I need advice.
BRENNAN: What — on a personal matter?
ANGELA: Yes.
BRENNAN: From me?
ANGELA: Yes.
BRENNAN: But romance is sort of — This is like me asking you advice on phylogenetic systematics.
ANGELA: Phylogenetic systematics. I have no idea what that is.
BRENNAN: Exactly.
ANGELA: Well, I can’t ask Cam.
CAM: Can’t ask Cam what?
BRENNAN: Oh, Hodgins asked Angela out on a date.
ANGELA: Brennan!
BRENNAN: What? Was it a secret? It was a secret.
ANGELA: Wait. You can’t pretend you didn’t hear about this.
CAM: Fine. What’d you tell him?
ANGELA: “No.”
CAM: Why?
BRENNAN: Because it would be a disaster.
ANGELA: All of a sudden, you have an opinion on this?
BRENNAN: You should never indulge in a romantic relationship with someone you work with.
CAM: Why not?
BRENNAN: Well, anthropologically…
ANGELA: There’s an anthropological answer?
BRENNAN: An efficient workplace is predicated upon a simple hierarchy. Romance undermines that hierarchy. This is like when I had an affair with my thesis supervisor in college.
CAM: Don’t think we have time for that. I say go.
ANGELA: What about this hierarchical-sexual … ?
CAM: Won’t be an issue. It’s always fun to flirt in the workplace. But out there, when fantasy becomes a reality, it’s a drag.
BRENNAN: What? The date will be bad?
CAM: It will be awful. You’ll both realize it’s not meant to be. There’ll be a couple of days of awkwardness, and then everything goes back to normal.
BRENNAN: If I were you, I’d go with Cam on this one.
CAM: Why?
ANGELA: Phylogenetic systematics.
B&B investigate the victim’s dance class.
BRENNAN: I always wanted to take dance, but I was so … gawky and uncoordinated.
BOOTH: What? You?
BRENNAN: Later I understood that the gawkiness was caused by an asymmetrical development of the iliac crest.
Oh yeah, that.
Hodgins and Angela reunite.
HODGINS: Hey. Don’t come around again looking for a second chance. That was a one-time offer, baby.
ANGELA: Really. Hmmmmm.
HODGINS: No. What?
HODGINS: No. N-no, no. Not — not really. I mean, it never occurred to me that y-you would — — Okay, now you talk.
ANGELA: I accept — going on a date — with you. Soon.
HODGINS: Tonight?
ANGELA: Wow. That is soon.
HODGINS: I don’t wanna give you time to change your mind. What do you wanna do?
ANGELA: You asked me. Figure it out.
HODGINS: Thank you.
Meanwhile, Brennan is bonding with the little girls in her own Brennan way.
MEGAN: Is that a real skeleton?
BRENNAN: Yes, of a twelve-year-old from the Bronze Age. These bones show she’d already had children.
MEGAN: What killed her?
BRENNAN: Having the children.
LIZA: She should’ve waited to be married before she had sex.
MEGAN: You said “sex.”
Brennan asks about the victim.
MEGAN: Brianna was kind of mean. She said Liza had cankles.
BRENNAN: What are cankles?
MEGAN: Where your calves and your ankles are the same thing.
MEGAN: You had to be friends with her.
BRENNAN: Why?
LIZA: Because Brianna was the queen.
BRENNAN: So yours was a cultural structure predicated on the equation of beauty with power. You instinctively align yourselves with someone who holds the greatest potential for societal supremacy. It’s … a Darwinian pressure you’re too young to bear.
BOOTH: Okay. Come on, Bones. Up you go. There you go.
MEGAN: You have huge muscles.
BOOTH: Thanks.
BOOTH: Learn anything?
BRENNAN: Yeah, I learned about cankles. How about you?
Hodgins and Angela go on a walk.
HODGINS: Here’s the thing, Angela. I know you’ve been out with a lot of guys.
ANGELA: Hey, you have a different girlfriend twice a month.
HODGINS: Yeah. So imagine the pressure to come up with a date that neither one of us has ever been on before.
ANGELA: So what’s up? We here to walk a dog or something?
HODGINS: I remember what you said … about how you used to feel on a swing.
Brennan wants Booth to feel up a suspect to get evidence.
BRENNAN: Okay, I need to know if her hips are even.
BOOTH: Is that slang, or do you really mean “even”?
BRENNAN: Just stand behind her; place your hands on her hips. Then, move your hands up to her ribcage, gauging if it’s an equal distance on each side.
BOOTH: That’s … so not gonna happen.
Zack and Brennan figure out a way to check via video.
BRENNAN: You might as well let her go, Booth.
BOOTH: Why?
ZACK: She has very nice symmetrical buttocks.
Brennan attempts to check the pageant girls for scoliosis.
BRENNAN: Excuse me. It’s okay. I’m a scientist.
PAGEANT CONTESTANT: Molester! Molester!
BRENNAN: What?
BOOTH: Bones!
BOOTH: What are you doing?
BRENNAN: I’m — I’m not a molester. I’m a forensic anthropologist.
BOOTH: Okay. FBI business. Everybody just simmer down.
PAGEANT CONTESTANT: She touched me on my rear!
BRENNAN: No, back and rear have totally different connotations. Point of clarification. I touched her back.
SECURITY GUARD: Look, scientist or not, FBI or not, she can’t just … go around feeling little girls.
BRENNAN: What? I wasn’t feeling like that. That makes me sound like a pervert.
BOOTH: Look, she was just — she was just touching. That’s all.
BRENNAN: I was just … well, examining, really.
BOOTH: Examining, see? Okay, listen, bud, we’re after a murderer here, okay? Doctor Brennan just got a little overly excited …
SECURITY GUARD: How does feeling little girls solve a murder?
BRENNAN: One of them is the murderer.
BOOTH: Okay, look, I know that’s hard to believe.
SECURITY GUARD: You know what? It’s really not.
B&B figure out which girl pushed the victim and wrap up the case. Hodgins and Angela talk.
HODGINS: Hi.
ANGELA: Hi.
HODGINS: We didn’t really get a chance to talk today.
ANGELA: Yeah. I was avoiding you.
HODGINS: That whole … swing thing — wasn’t — good enough, right? ’Cause I can do better.
ANGELA: It was perfect.
HODGINS: It was?
ANGELA: Maybe the best date I’ve ever had.
HODGINS: Really. Great. That’s great. Thanks.
ANGELA: Yeah.
HODGINS: That’s not great. How can a great date be not great?
ANGELA: Because it was supposed to fall flat. That way, we’d both know that this wasn’t meant to be …
ANGELA: … and we’d go back to the way we were before.
HODGINS: I don’t like the way it was before.
ANGELA: Look… Brennan is my best friend, and — Zack is — whatever the hell he is, and — when this goes wrong, it — it pulls everybody else into it. And … what the great … date … tells us is … that when it goes wrong —
HODGINS: It’ll go really, really wrong.
ANGELA: Yeah.
ANGELA: So we go back, right?
ANGELA: Friends.
HODGINS: Sure, friends.
HODGINS: Just one question. What if it doesn’t end that way? What if it doesn’t go wrong?
ANGELA: Friends.
B&B finish as they always like….with food.
BRENNAN: This is what happened when Rome fell.
BOOTH: What? Uh, people ate stale doughnuts?
BRENNAN: Objectification of women, beauty as self-esteem.
BOOTH: Well, I think, um, you know, some of those kids actually had a good time.
BRENNAN: The girl in the pink could really dance. But then again, Nero could really play the fiddle.
BOOTH: You know, Bones, I like to think that, um, someplace deep inside, people really know what’s important.
BRENNAN: It’s hard to believe when you see women trying to disguise or change themselves.
BOOTH: Mmm.
BRENNAN: I never understood that.
BOOTH: Well, I mean, no, of course you wouldn’t.
BRENNAN: Why?
BOOTH: Well, it’s just, you know — someone who looks like … you — well, wouldn’t — Just because of the way you look.
BRENNAN: I don’t understand. What — way do I look?
BOOTH: Well, you know, you’re — you’re structured — very well.
BRENNAN: As are you.
BRENNAN: You okay?
BOOTH: Yeah.
BOOTH: It’s just — whew. I just — I remembered that I had an appointment.
NOPE.
BRENNAN: Oh. So, um, I’ll see you tomorrow?
BOOTH: No. You know, you have all the paperwork for the case, right?
BRENNAN: No, I was — I was gonna stay…do it anyway, so —
BOOTH: No. No, I would — you know, it’s our case. I wanna help.
BRENNAN: You don’t have to, Booth.
BOOTH: Bones, just drop it, okay? I’m here to help.
BRENNAN: Well… what about your appointment?
BOOTH: Uh, it’s — you know, it’s no big deal. I’ll tell you what. How about I, ah, order some takeout and I ditch these doughnuts?
BRENNAN: Sure.
BOOTH and BRENNAN: Thai food?
BOOTH: This time, I’m ordering extra mee krob because you ate it last time. All of it.
BRENNAN: What? I thought you were done.
BOOTH: Oh, right. I was done?
BRENNAN: Yeah.
BOOTH: You finished all of it.
BRENNAN: I did not. You were pretty focused on the fried rice.
BOOTH: Can we just order? Okay?
Good choice, Booth.
BRENNAN: Fine.
Boots & Blazers 