The Secret in the Soil (3×4)

“The Secret In the Soil”

Episode 3×04

Written By: Karine Rosenthal

We meet a new key player in the Bones Universe…

SWEETS: Okay, Dr. Brennan, Agent Booth. Together. A little closer. Okay, yeah, that’s perfect. Beautiful. Now keeping your back straight, I want you each to lean forward.

BOOTH: No.

SWEETS: Excuse me?

BRENNAN: Come on, Booth. I’m sure this is just one of those meaningless exercises meant to illustrate the importance of supporting each other.

BOOTH: We agreed to see another therapist, not be action figures for a 12-year-old.

SWEETS: I’m 22, Agent Booth. I have a doctorate in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, where my dissertation on the effects of job stress was published.

BOOTH: That’s great. I’m sure your mother is really proud of you, Sweets.

Sweets attempts to explain his presence (due to Booth arresting Brennan’s dad) and Booth gets sassy.

LOL

They find a strange, extra warm, body at a crime scene and investigate.

BRENNAN: There’s no evidence here to suggest cannibalism…no bite marks.

HODGINS: No condiments.

Bah-dum-tiss!

They investigate but have to do another session with Sweets.

SWEETS: No, no, no, this is good, let’s talk about conflict. When you guys argue, how do you come to a resolution?

BRENNAN: We don’t argue.

SWEETS: Come on, remember, zone of truth, right here.

BOOTH: Fine. We might bicker a little bit, but that’s not arguing.

BRENNAN: Bicker? I don’t bicker.

BOOTH: No? What about the whole environmentalism thing?

BRENNAN: That was a discussion.

BOOTH: You pretty much told me my penis was going to shrink if I didn’t eat organic food.

BRENNAN: That’s not bickering, that’s being a good friend.

BOOTH: My penis is just fine, thank you.

Yup.

B&B bicker again about the case, this time in front of Angela.

BRENNAN: One of the other farmers also said that he just switched. And he has a key, he could’ve dumped the body the middle of the night.

BOOTH: I’m sorry, but whose side are you on? Uh, don’t say the facts, because that just annoys me.

BRENNAN: You want us to base our actions on your gut again?

BOOTH Yes. You have your shiny machines, I have my gut.

ANGELA: Is it always like this when you two are together?

(Together) BRENNAN: Yes. BOOTH: No.

ANGELA: It’s kind of hot.

B&B find out it was another case of “accidental murder” and mistaken identity. Time for a wrap up!

SWEETS: So, case finished?

BRENNAN: Yes.

SWEETS: Congratulations.

BOOTH: Yeah.

SWEETS: You don’t seem too happy.

BOOTH: Well, because sometimes, if you win, you end up with somebody else’s pain and screwed-up life. You work for the FBI, you should know that.

SWEETS: Must be a challenge for you to access those feelings.

BRENNAN: Okay, stop. You don’t know Booth. You don’t know me, you have a limited view of us based on superficial data you’ve accumulated on a standardized questionnaire, and a subjective analysis from talking to us that is not at all scientific, so back off.

Did she really just say those nice things about me?!

Aw, standing up for her man!

SWEETS: Are you normally this protective of him, Dr. Brennan?

BRENNAN: We are partners. Our lives depend on being protective of each other.

SWEETS: And you feel the same way, Agent Booth?

BOOTH: Sweets, I can only hope that one day you know what a real partnership is.

SWEETS: You two are very close, that was evident in your superficial, standardized questionnaire and my unscientific observations.

BOOTH Yeah?

SWEETS: You complement each other…I have observed some underlying issues that need to be addressed….There’s clearly a very deep emotional attachment between you two.

How does he know that already!?!?

BOOTH: We’re just partners.

SWEETS: And why do you think I would have thought otherwise?

BOOTH: ‘Cause you’re 12.

BRENNAN: Don’t read into anything that Booth said. We’re professionals. There’s a line that doesn’t even need to be there.

BOOTH: Not at all, I mean, if there were no more murders, I would probably not even, you know, see her.

BRENNAN: That’s very true.

BOOTH: Might have coffee.

BRENNAN: Probably not.

I think Booth’s heart just skipped like 5 beats here.

BOOTH: What?

BRENNAN: What?

Genuinely has NO clue what “bad” thing she said

BOOTH: You wouldn’t even have coffee with me?

BRENNAN: Well, in your scenario, we wouldn’t even know each other because there are no murders.

BOOTH: Were. I said “no more murders.”

BRENNAN: Then fine. I mean, we could have a coffee. So that’s clear, then? I mean, we’d have coffee and that’s our relationship? Coffee.

BOOTH: Yeah, let’s move on.

Body language: left (before conversation) right (after conversation)

So, Sweets is here! What do you all think of this one? Besides Sweets stumbling on the opportunity of a lifetime to study these two!!

Do you think Brennan realized the implications of what she said about not meeting Booth for coffee, after she thought about it? Is she imagining an actual world where she never met Seeley Booth and how boring her life would be?

Do you think Booth realized he intimidated Sweets (after Sweets’ comment to him about it?) Do you think Booth is realizing he’s more emotionally damaged than he himself realized?

So many things to unpack here. What are your thoughts?

Death in the Saddle (3×3)

Episode 3×03

Written By: Josh Berman

Directed by: Craig Ross, Jr.

They find a gruesome crime scene, but we have bigger problems.

HODGINS: Angela is going to be hypnotized.

BRENNAN: Why?

HODGINS: She’s going deep into her subconscious to remember her husband’s name. So we can find him, divorce him, get married ourselves, and live happily for all eternity.

BRENNAN: You won’t live for eternity.

The victim was into some interesting stuff.

BRENNAN: Well, this isn’t about the horses. It’s about a dominant versus submissive balance of power, a variation on sado-masochism.

BOOTH: Those people are eating from troughs…Do you think that’s sexy?

BRENNAN: Fetishism is a way of indulging in sexual activity, without actually engaging emotionally with the other person as a fully formed human being.

BOOTH: Okay, sex is all about engaging. You don’t wanna engage, you just stay home, and… you know.

____________________________

BOOTH: Aristotle also thought that the purpose of the human heart was to solve math problems.

BRENNAN: I’m surprised you know that.

BOOTH: Well, turns out I’m smarter than a fifth grader.

____________________________

BOOTH: When you turn someone into an object of sexual pleasure, it’s wrong.

BRENNAN: How do you know?

BOOTH: It says in the Bible.

BRENNAN: It does not!

BOOTH: Then it got left out by mistake.

_____________________________

BOOTH: This is not normal, okay, it’s uh…

BRENNAN: It’s what, Booth?

BOOTH:…You’re not interested in, uh…

BRENNAN: Pony play?! No, but I’m the first to admit that in sexual situations, I have indulged in… role-playing.

BOOTH: ‘Kay, you know what, it’s getting a little warm out here, what do you say we go back-

As B&B investigate, Angela and Hodgins continue to track down Angela’s first husband. The internet doesn’t seem to have any photos of this. Stop and go watch the episode right now! 🙂

Then, we get our traditional wrap up scene!

BRENNAN: Maybe you should consider going vegetarian, too.

BOOTH: I didn’t lose my appetite because you mentioned horse meat, I lost my appetite because you made me think about all those people parading around, pretending to be something they aren’t, just so they could have crappy sex.

BRENNAN: How do you know it’s crappy?

BOOTH: Gotta be, Bones, come on! It’s gotta be!

BRENNAN: Why?

BOOTH: Why? I’ll tell you why. Here we are. All of us are basically alone, separate creatures just circling each other. All searching for that slightest hint of a real connection. Some look in the wrong places, some, they just give up hope because in their mind they’re thinking ‘Oh, there’s nobody out there for me.’ But all of us, we keep trying over, and over again. Why? Because every once in a while, every once in a while, two people meet. And there’s that spark. And yes Bones, he’s handsome. And she’s beautiful. And maybe that’s all they see at first… But making love? Making. Love. That’s when two people become one.

BRENNAN: It is… scientifically impossible for two objects to occupy the same space.

BOOTH: Yeah, but what’s important is we try. And when we do it right, we get close.

BRENNAN: To what? Breaking the laws of physics?

BOOTH: Yeah, Bones. A miracle. Those people- role-playing and their fetishes and their little sex games- It’s crappy sex. Well, at least compared to the real thing.

BRENNAN: You’re right.

BOOTH: Yeah, but- Wait a second, I just won that argument?

BRENNAN: Yup.

*So….Booth’s speech…it works better with all the flashbacks to people in the episode, Hodgins, Angela, Cam, Zach…so go watch it now. But on reflection, it sounds A LOT like Brennan’s book, doesn’t it? Hm. It’s one of those bordering on cheesy bits of dialogue that DB has the gift of making perfect.

*Is Booth right? Is Brennan agreeing with him because she truly gets his point, or is she just thinking about getting that “first hand experience” herself??

*And Emily deserves all the Emmys, because how she doesn’t just pass out when DB looks at her like that, I’ll never know.

 

The Soccer Mom in the Mini Van (3×2)

 

Written By: Elizabeth Benjamin

Directed by: Allan Kroeker

Shockingly, B&B are discussing personal business at a crime scene.

BOOTH: Look, Bones, all I’m saying is that Caroline went though a lot of trouble to get you private visitation with your father, now you don’t want it.

BRENNAN: The federal detention facility already has visiting areas.

BOOTH: Yeah, behind 2 inch glass. Now you’ll be able to give your old man a hug.

BRENNAN: I didn’t ask for special treatment, Booth.

BOOTH: That’s because you don’t have to because you are special. (AWW!!!) And you are gonna tell me – whoa – what happened to whatever the hell is melted to that steering wheel and everything else.

BRENNAN: Why do you care about my relationship with my father, Booth? You were only too happy to arrest him and put him in prison.

BOOTH: Alright, look Bones. Ya know what, it’s not about being happy, okay. It’s about doing my job.

Brennan has everything sent to the lab. Angela is still pretending that she can’t do full reconstructions with bone fragments. lol

ANGELA: Oh, great. Is this all I have to work with? I always hated puzzles.

CAM: How close are we to ID’ing the victim?

ANGELA: Well. This is the skull. I’m good, but I’m not that good.

Booth brings in a pretty FBI agent to help Hodgins. Angela gets sassy.

ANGELA: He’s Dr. Jack Hodgins. Angela. Montenegro. I do facial reconstructions – and him.

Brennan visits Max.

PRISION GUARD: Alright, Max. There ya go.

MAX: Ooh, gee. Real chairs. It’s nice to have an important daughter.

BRENNAN: This is Booth, not me.

MAX: Well, you thank him for me. I always liked Booth. Nicest guy that ever arrested me.

MAX: You’re upset.

BRENNAN: Yeah, of course I’m upset. My father’s a criminal.

MAX: No, outlaw. There’s a difference.

BRENNAN: Subtle distinctions like that are lost on me and, I imagine, your victims.

BRENNAN: And you walked out on Russ and me when I was fifteen!

MAX: But that was to protect you, people were after us.

BRENNAN: Because you were a criminal.

MAX: Outlaw. See, I knew you weren’t gonna understand.

Booth puts things into perspective for Brennan via the case comparing the soccer mom’s child with Brennan.

BRENNAN: It’s not like I ever really had a father. Max was absent for years.

BOOTH: Well, here’s what I know. I know that Nash girl would give anything to spend one more day with her mother. I’m sure you’d feel the same way if something happened to your father.

Enter Caroline.

BRENNAN: You’re not supposed to be up here.

CAROLINE: Booth can shoot me later.

BOOTH: Caroline? Why are you here?

CAROLINE: June Harris was turning herself in. I arranged with her attorney for the surrender.

The soccer mom apparently had secrets.

CAROLINE: He was gonna deliver her on Thursday after she said goodbye to her family.

BRENNAN: What was the deal?

CAROLINE: 9 years.

BOOTH: 9 years for killing a cop?

Brennan brings Max some items for prison as he requested.

MAX: So the prosecutor’s gonna want to talk to you about me. It wouldn’t hurt if you, uh, had some good things to say about your old man. Might even offer to testify on my behalf.

BRENNAN: Is that why you finally apologized?

MAX: What?

BRENNAN: To use me? Maybe you’d like me to alter evidence now. That way I could join the family business.

MAX: How could you think that?

BRENNAN: I don’t know, Max. Maybe because I seem to pass in and out of your life when it’s most convenient. Maybe because you built a whole career using your considerable charm to manipulate people?

MAX: Wait, listen. I know that it’s hard to trust me, I know, and it’s gonna take some time to fix things, but we can –

BRENNAN: No. No. Some things break and you can’t put them back together again. That’s just the way it is. I was find on my own, Max. I was just fine.

Brennan butts heads with another investigator on the case.

SAM: Ballistics says that the bullet was NOT a match for Danny’s gun.

BRENNAN: Booth should have that report first. He’s the lead.

SAM: You know, Booth. She must be really good in bed because I can’t see any other reason you keep her around here.

BRENNAN: I am. Very good. But Booth has no direct knowledge of that fact.

BOOTH: Okay, okay. Let’s all stay focused here, people.

Booth checks in with Brennan about Max.

BOOTH: Ya know, look. I’m – I should never have gotten in the middle of all this, I’m – I’m sorry. I was just – I’m just trying to help.

BRENNAN: He wanted me to testify on his behalf. He just wants to use me.

BOOTH: Well, he’s s con man, Bones, that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love you. He’s just looking for a little payback.

BRENNAN: Payback?

BOOTH: Yeah. He’s thinking that he got arrested so that he could spend some more time with you. I mean, you could at least return the favor by doing something nice for him.

BRENNAN: I’m not sure I want a father who’s always keeping score.

BOOTH: Yeah. Sounds like you are too.

BRENNAN: You know what? You’re right. This is none of your business.

BOOTH: You know what, Bones? You’re never gonna forgive yourself if you don’t cut the guy some slack just because you’re afraid to get hurt.

BRENNAN: Ugh, what the hell is taking Hodgins so long?

They solve the case, Brennan plays cards with her dad, Booth drinks with his FBI pal. B&B wrap it up.

BRENNAN: How much scotch did you drink?

BOOTH: Oh, just enough. You know, I would have invited you, but Reilly. He just – wow – he doesn’t like you.

BRENNAN: I understand.

BOOTH: I’m sorry. Was that rude?

BRENNAN: Not from someone who’s been drinking.

BOOTH: God, you know, I love this place. I love it. I love this country. You know, I tell ya something. If I was working law enforcement back in the day when they threw all that tea, alright, in the harbor – I’m good, alright, I’m – I’m good. I would have rounded everybody up and we’d still be English.

BRENNAN: Ya think?

BOOTH: Yup. Yup. Definitely.

BRENNAN: I saw my father.

BOOTH: Wow. I didn’t think that you were gonna – do that.

BRENNAN: As an Anthropologist, I accept change as the natural order of things – but with him I didn’t allow for transformation. Ya know, I predicated his behavior based on a set of outmoded preconceptions. It wasn’t rational.

BOOTH: Wow. I – I didn’t get any of that.

BRENNAN: If I was conducting an objective experiment on my father, observing his behavior, I’d have to conclude that he loves me.

BOOTH: Hmm. Why? What happened?

BRENNAN: We played cards.

BOOTH: Cool.

BRENNAN: I killed him.

BOOTH: Good for you.

Classic Bones. What a great ending, CGI and all 🙂

Thoughts?

The Widow’s Son in the Windshield (3×1)

 

Written By: Hart Hanson

Directed by: Ian Toynton

We meet the new guy, Clark Edison, the first squintern to step in for Zack.

BOOTH: This the guy Bones is checking out to replace Zack?

CAM: Clark Edison, meet Special Agent Seeley Booth.

EDISON: Hey what’s up? Bones? Hey that’s funny. That’s what all my friends called me back in college.

BOOTH: Yeah, I like him.

Booth and Brennan head to the crime scene.

BONES: Why am I here?

BOOTH: Y’know, you used to like come out to the field.

BRENNAN: No car fires, no tanker barrels …

BOOTH: You used to insist to me…

BRENNAN: … full of acid. No explosions…

BOOTH: … you were insistent…

BRENNAN: … Don’t tell me you brought me out here for a car accident…

BOOTH: …Now you’re just anxious to get back, y’know, I can barely get you out of your lab coat.

BRENNAN: Well, with Zack gone, I’m needed at the Jeffersonian.

BOOTH: Yah, I’m just saying. I mean, you at the lab; me at the field – we are not working at our full symbiotic potential.

BRENNAN: Late teens or early twenties. Completely devoid of flesh or odor.

BOOTH: It just seems like, maybe you don’t want to work with me anymore?

BRENNAN: I work with you.

BOOTH: You know what I mean, Bones.

Meanwhile, Angela tries to explain this mysterious husband guy.

DOYLEY: So your husband signed his name to the marriage license with an “X”.

ANGELA: Yeah.

DOYLEY: So you married a guy without knowing his name.

ANGELA: It was Fiji, okay? I was on vacation.

Angela tries to figure out why Brennan won’t choose a Zack sub and get back to the field.

ANGELA: And when you don’t hire him it just prolongs this lame excuse for you not to go out in the field with Booth.

BRENNAN: Why would I do that?

ANGELA: Because when Hodgins and I ran away from our wedding, we left you and Booth standing at the altar, and that iconic image totally freaked you out.

BRENNAN: No, it didn’t.

ANGELA: Sweetie, this is not one of those things where you try to keep a secret and I ferret out the truth. This is where I tell you something that’s true so you can catch up to your own reality.

BRENNAN: Angela, I have no idea what you are talking about.

ANGELA: Which actually proves my point. I really I love you to bits and pieces, sweetie. I know, you love me back. We’ll talk again when you catch up.

Meanwhile Cam tries to figure out the same thing with Booth.

BOOTH: No, no, but it is. You’ve given Bones enough time. Just hire the guy.

CAM: Usually when you get all blustery, its ’cause you think something’s your fault.

BOOTH: Yeah, well. You know… I did arrest her father for murder. She could be having trouble with that.

CAM: Yeah. Exposing a parent to the death penalty can have a chilling effect on a partnership.

BOOTH: Well look, I asked Bones if, if, if that was a, a problem; she said no.

CAM: Well, I gotta wonder if deep down anybody is that rational.

BOOTH: You’re not reassuring me here, Camille.

CAM: If you are looking for reassurance, find someone who’s not such a good friend, Seeley

Brennan and Hodgins discuss the evidence in the case.

BRENNAN: Send the details to Booth.

HODGINS: Yeah.

BRENNAN: Hodgins, the reason that I’m not going out in the field with Booth is that I haven’t found a replacement for Zack.

HODGINS: There was no replacement for Zack. I mean, you know, he was good with bones. Excellent at math. He was pretty brilliant in making contraptions. And when our experiments blew up it was easy to pin the blame on him. In my book, all that makes Zack irreplaceable.

BRENNAN: Exactly, which is why I’m stuck on the lab. Not some other reason.

HODGINS: They only thing you can do is forget about replacing Zack. And find somebody who can just, just help out around here.

Booth finally figures out how to get Brennan into the field.

BOOTH: Look, I want you to come with me.

BRENNAN: I’ve got work to do here.

CAM: Uh, Dr. Brennan, if this building has been used for some sort of ritual cannibalistic killing as indicated by a skull which has been gnawed upon, a trained anthropologist’s eye could be crucial to the case. Rationally speaking.

BOOTH: When I put your old man in jail, you said you understood.

BRENNAN: Don’t start again, Booth. We’ll be together as soon as I replace Zack.

BOOTH: Yeah, how’s that going by the way?  Maybe you’re mad at me sub-consciously.

BRENNAN: What? I don’t believe in that.

BOOTH: Look, something’s changed between us. You can at least admit that so we could figure it out.

BRENNAN: Yeah, I would. Yes, if I actually believed anything had changed.

They enter a hidden bank vault and Booth reacts to a blinking light and beeping sound.

BRENNAN: Why are your eyes closed?

BOOTH: I thought we were going to get blown up.

BRENNAN: It’s just a transmitter. I’m curious. In an explosion, how would shutting your eyes help?

BOOTH: Huh? It just does. Okay, Bones. It just does.

Well, you all know what this skeleton means!

And….surprise, Zack returns!

Brennan wants to get involved in the investigation.

BRENNAN: I’d like to be in on it when you interrogate him. What?

BOOTH: You would?

BRENNAN: Why are surprised?

BOOTH: Wait, are you serious? I, I’ve been trying to get you out of the lab since Zack left.

BRENNAN: Well Zack’s back, so here I am.

BOOTH: That simple?

BRENNAN: Why? Did Angela say something to you?

BOOTH: No. Angela? Why? What?

BRENNAN: I told you, that this wasn’t about psychology.

BOOTH: Fine, fine, hah. Hey, you know what I say, huh? Welcome home Zack!

B&B interrogate their suspect who admits to cannibalism. Cam chats with Zack.

CAM: Have you been to bed yet?

ZACK: Iraq is from a different time zone. I can’t seem to sleep right now.

CAM: Why did they send you back from Iraq?

ZACK: I failed to assimilate. Despite my accomplishments, I was detrimental to a military team approach.

CAM: You’re very good for our team approach.

ZACK: The army psychiatrist told me that I should question why the Jeffersonian is the only place that I can fit in.

CAM: All due respect to the army psychiatrist, but that’s a helluva lot more than what some other people get. Go home, Zac-a-roni, get some rest.

B&B get to the heart of the matter.

BOOTH: You know, you weren’t upset because Zack was gone.

BRENNAN: Yes, I was!

BOOTH: Okay, yeah, but you were more upset over the fact that I didn’t stop him from going in the first place. I mean, look I could’ve said to him, Zack, ‘Iraq is no place for a guy like you’.

BRENNAN: And he’d never have left. You could have stopped him. Why didn’t you do that?

BOOTH: Whatever Zack’s deal is- okay his weirdness – whatever you want to call it…

BRENNAN: I call it genius.

BOOTH: He’s a… man. He’s a, um, he’s a strange man, but he’s a man who wanted to serve a larger purpose.

BRENNAN: This is some alpha male rite of passage?

BOOTH: No.

BRENNAN: You mean, go to war?

BOOTH: Wrong. No. Zack needed to leave the nest. The same way you did when you wanted to leave the lab and see the world for the first time. And I helped you do that. How could I stop Zack from doing the exact same thing in his own way?

B&B classic wrap up time.

BOOTH: Look, there’s something else I gotta know, and it’s important. We solid?

BRENNAN: You and me? Yeah!

BOOTH: No, not just you and me. Squints, too. Zack is back for good. Angela and Hodgins have their head back in the game. Cam, she’s locked in.

BRENNAN: Why are you asking me this?

BOOTH: Because. You and me – the center.

BRENNAN: And the center must hold.

BOOTH: Right. So, are we gonna hold?

BRENNAN: Yeah. We’ll hold. We’re the center.

BOOTH: The center.

 

**So much to unpack in this season opener!

*First of all, what in the world was up with Angela and the weird husband guy?

*Second, Cam was actually kinda helpful with both Booth and Zack…and not pushing Brennan on making a new hire!

*Third, Brennan is pretty insistent that the Booth/field thing was merely due to Zack gone…but was Angela at least partly right? Was it a convenient excuse for Brennan to avoid Booth post-wedding? Was Angela right, but Brennan totally unaware that was in her subconscious?

*Fourth, Gormogon is here y’all.