We open the episode to find Brennan having a Gravedigger nightmare. It is time for court.
BOOTH: You okay, Bones?
BRENNAN: Of course, why wouldn’t I be?
BOOTH: Well, we’re about to come head to head with the woman who tried to kill both of us.
BRENNAN: So are you. Are you okay?
BOOTH: Sure. Yeah. Yeah. I’m just checking in. Just wanted to make sure you’re okay and if you need anything, I’m –
BRENNAN: It’s just another case, Booth.
BOOTH: Right.
BRENNAN: Dad!
BOOTH: Max.
BRENNAN: Wha-what are you doing here?
MAX: Just thought you should have a little support from somebody who’s been through the legal system a few times.
Taffett gets some of the evidence thrown out so the team gets to work looking for more.
BRENNAN: Booth is getting her arrest records as well as old case files from when she was a prosecutor.
ANGELA: Okay, uh, I’m pulling every record we have so far associated with Taffet. Social security numbers, birthdates, blood test results.
HODGINS: I think Taffet is just messing with us again.
SWEETS: I have to disagree. Her pathology is consistent; this is all a game to her. She won the first round so now she’s upping the stakes by challenging Dr. Brennan.
ANGELA: You know, he still gets nightmares. Says he wakes up in a sweat.
SWEETS: I should have been more sensitive.
CAROLINE JULIAN: Here are the first set of documents you asked for. More numbers than I’ve ever seen in my life.
BOOTH: Right. Thanks. You okay?
CAROLINE JULIAN: Oh, you mean because this case is a career killer? I’m cute. I can always find a job.
BOOTH: Come on, Bones. You’ve been at it for hours. You gotta eat something.
BRENNAN: She was laughing at me, I – I can’t let her win.
\BOOTH: She won’t.
BRENNAN: You hope. She may be amoral, but she is brilliant.
BOOTH: Well, you’re more brilliant.
BRENNAN: What if her dispassion makes her more logical. What if that gives her an advantage over me?
BOOTH: Wait a minute. Now you’re upset because you’re not more like a psychopath?
BRENNAN: I just think…maybe I’ve lost my advantage because of all the people I’ve involved with now. All of the relationships, they complicate logical thought.
BOOTH: You don’t mean that.
BRENNAN: Could we please just work.
BOOTH: Sure.
They find a clue that led them to yet another victim. Caroline tells them they can’t work on this case if they pursue their own personal charges against the Gravedigger.
BRENNAN: All of our evidence has been thrown out. The rational thing to do is to persue a case with fresh, untained evidence.
HODGINS: Are you kidding me?! Is it really that easy for you to forget what happened to us?
BRENNAN: I will never forget what happened to us. Or to Booth. Or this boy. You are not the only one suffering, Dr. Hodgins but your emotions have no relevance. Not if we want to convict Taffet.
HODGINS: This better work.
CAROLINE JULIAN: I’ll have the charges dismissed in the morning; you can start right after that.
BOOTH: I told Caroline to drop my charges too. I’m not gonna let you do this alone. She’s gonna see the judge tomorrow morning at 10 and then we can dive in on all this.
BRENNAN: Thanks, Booth.
BOOTH: We’re partners. That’s what we do. Right?
BRENNAN: If Taffet is acquitted on this count, she can never be tried again. Maybe that’s why she wanted us to find the boy.
BOOTH: Yeah, well she arrogant, like Sweets said. And she’s misjudging you.
Booth encounters Max, who plans to shoot the Gravedigger.
BOOTH: Max. You didn’t think I was gonna follow you. Max, this is what you want?
MAX: Don’t trust the system, Booth!
BOOTH: You miss, you compromise the case, Taffet walks.
MAX: I don’t miss.
________________________________
MAX: Hey, honey. I need you to bail me out.
BRENNAN: What! No, dad!
MAX: I was doing it for you.
BRENNAN: No! I don’t want you to kill people for me! Just buy me a sweater, like a regular dad.
They go to the court with fresh evidence. We find out that free spirit artist Angela apparently has a great deal of education and innovating we didn’t know about!
HEATHER TAFFET: That was very impressive, Ms. Montenegro. Could you share your credentials with the court?
ANGELA: I have a bachelor of fine arts from the University of Texas with a minor in computer science. And I’ve also studied biomedical illustration at American University.
HEATHER TAFFET: But you do not have a degree in sound engineering, is that correct?
ANGELA: No.
CAROLINE JULIAN: Objection. Ms. Montenegro has numerous patents pending from her work in auditory forensic reconstruction.
HEATHER TAFFET: The homeless man on my street has a patent pending for a time machine. That doesn’t mean I’m going to ask him to testify in court.
Booth coaches Brennan on making the evidence more personal and less technical for the trial.
BOOTH: That’s…that’s..that’s good and all, but Taffet’s kind of had a field day, you know, trashing the whole technical goobledy stuff. And the jury seems to like her for it.
BRENNAN: But those are the facts.
BOOTH: It’s how you present the facts that win or lose a case. Bones, the jury needs to know what that little boy went through.
BRENNAN: I’ve – I’ve testified before, Booth. I’ll be fine. We-we should go.
BOOTH: Okay.
BRENNAN: The five-foot-four assailant – crushed the boy’s chest, choked him and finally caused him a torturous death by burying him alive.
HEATHER TAFFET: Objection. Speculation. She can’t know what the witness felt.
BRENNAN: I was buried alive. Which makes me uniquely qualified to comment on its horror.
Hodgins finds a tiny dust mite full of Taffet’s DNA on the victim. Wrap up time!
BOOTH: Are you okay, Bones? Your team just nailed Taffet.
BRENNAN: I’m just tired.
BOOTH: Yeah. Yeah. It’s been – it’s been a tough case.
BRENNAN: It’s not just the case. I’m tired of…of all of it. I’m tired of dealing with murders and victims and sadness and pain.
BOOTH: Well, Bones, that’s what we do. Alright? We catch the bad people and we make the world a better place.
BRENNAN: No, Booth. That’s what you do and somehow I got caught up into it.
BOOTH: Wait a sec. Hold on. You were dealing with dead people long before we got together.
BRENNAN: As a researcher, an anthropologist. That’s how I can make the world a better place.
BOOTH: And you do. Come on. You make the world a great place. Hey. Cheers to that, alright? You’re just anxious. Alright? And tomorrow, when we have won, everything will be perfect. It’ll be fine.
BRENNAN: I have this sense that everything’s changing, Booth.
BOOTH: Well, not everything. Look, we’re still partners. Right? And-and Taffet. She’s-she’s put away. I mean, you’re feeling good about that, right?
BRENNAN: You almost died, Booth. That can happen again. What if, next time, I can’t get to you?
BOOTH: It’s not going to happen again.
BRENNAN: I envy your ability to substitute optimism for reality.
BOOTH: You know what? Maybe you just need to take some time off. Go to a beach. Lay in the sun.
BRENNAN: I might need more than a little time.
BOOTH: Don’t make any decisions about your future right now.
BRENNAN: I’m just saying…
BOOTH: You know when a dentist gives you anesthetic and tells you not to operate any heavy machinery or make any important decisions within 24 hours? Alright, this case was bigger than a root canal. Come on, let’s just go back inside and have one more drink. Come on. Just one.
BRENNAN: No. I’m tired, Booth. I-I-I’m going to go home.
BOOTH: Alright. Come on. Let’s-we’ll get you in the cab. I know, it’s-it’s been a long, long day. Alright, get in there, alright? Hey. I’ll see you tomorrow, alright?
Thoughts:
*Still not buying a middle-aged woman as the sole perpetrator of the Gravedigger schemes! How’d she lift Booth in a dead weight? Or Brennan? Or Hodgins? How did she bury everything alone? Did she have help? Who? So many questions!!
*Enjoyed the team working together for a common cause they are passionate about.
*Appreciated the realness of Brennan and Hodgins still working through the trauma of their experience.
*We got Max AND Caroline in one episode!
*That ending with Booth having to watch her leave him yet AGAIN is heartcrushing.
Boots & Blazers 
The first time I saw this episode, I had seen maybe 4 previous Bones episode near the end of season 5. This episode made me a permanent follower. Not only was the B&B chemistry great, it was a great episode with the courtroom drama, the evidence, the team testifying… the heartcrushing ending!
I will comment more later, some other important scenes-
CAROLINE: Well, I’ll give you that one. So, how’s your girlfriend holding up?
BOOTH: She’s fine. She’s not my girlfriend.
CAROLINE : Oh, so those little looks between you…
BOOTH: Nothing.
CAROLINE : Right. I hope you’re more believeable on the stand.
Love Max tries to kill Taffet and Booth takes him down. Not the first time Booth & Max got into a physical altercation.
Angela & Jack announce they are married.
Brennan’s nightmares about Booth drowning.
https://thunderbirdthor.tumblr.com/post/69203263573
The end scene with Brennan and Max is sweet.
MAX: I guess I’ll go home.
BRENNAN: A real bed is probably going to feel good
. MAX: I’m sorry that I, uh… that I doubted you.
BRENNAN: Sweets would say that subconsciously you wanted Booth to catch you so you and I wouldn’t have to be separated again. (Max hugs Brennan)
MAX: Smart guy, that Sweets. I love you, honey. (Booth comes out of Founding Fathers and joins them)
BOOTH: Thanks for leaving me with the bill again. That’s nice of you.
MAX: Your fault, Booth. My wallet got stolen in jail.
BOOTH: Yeah.
MAX: Bye. (He walks away, leaving Booth & Brennan on the sidewalk, alone)
Love when Booth again comes to Brennan’s apartment and they have a great hug. I wonder again how did the night end??? Booth just leaves? He probably stayed around taking with her for a bit longer and I like to think he kissed her on the cheek.
Sara has a scene study on this episode also-
“When Brennan admits that she’s having nightmares, he tells her that Taffet will never get the best of her. He promises. Oh, Booth!
I don’t know about you, but it’s moments like those that always leave me thinking…how exactly does that evening end? Right? I think in some ways, we think Booth and Brennan are closer than they are. I’ll talk more about that another time, as far as I don’t think they really do spend their weekends together or have keys to each other’s apartments or make each other meals, etc, etc. But still, how does this evening end? Booth pulls back and says he has to leave? She nods, and that’s it? 😦”
That damn taxi!!
https://thunderbirdthor.tumblr.com/post/54705298332
Lots of angst in this episode!!!
Fast forward to B&B together comfort hug
Sara wrote-
“I don’t want you to kill people for me. Just buy me a sweater like a regular dad.
Leave her alone, Max!”
“The quote I chose at the beginning there is one of my all time favorite B&B moments. It just so totally has a feel of almost like a boyfriend thing from Booth, right? Actually, this entire episode kind of has that feel in some ways. But I just love when he sort of calls out to Max over the phone when Brennan is talking to him. And I like that Brennan doesn’t even flinch or call him out on it. Right?”
So in this episode we see a preview of what is to come in the finale. Brennan clearly tells Booth she needs a break.
BRENNAN: I have this sense that everything’s changing, Booth.
BOOTH: Well, not everything. Look, we’re still partners. Right? And-and Taffet. She’s-she’s put away. I mean, you’re feeling good about that, right?
BOOTH: You know what? Maybe you just need to take some time off. Go to a beach. Lay in the sun.
BRENNAN: I might need more than a little time…
Goodbye Booth, Hello Maluku…hello Hannah…*ugh*
I do blame Brennan for all that. Had she not left for Maluku, Booth would not have left for the army. He would have stayed if she had.
Also their convo. in the bar is very reminiscent of the wonderful conversation in Bones Museum. Only this one is more ominous.
BOOTH: Well, Bones, that’s what we do. Alright? We catch the bad people and we make the world a better place.
BRENNAN: As a researcher, an anthropologist. That’s how I can make the world a better place.
BOOTH: And you do. Come on. You make the world a great place. Hey. Cheers to that, alright? You’re just anxious. Alright? And tomorrow, when we have won, everything will be perfect. It’ll be fine.
Booth is panicking after these 2 conversations with Brennan because he feels they are falling apart.
*That ending with Booth having to watch her leave him yet AGAIN is heartcrushing.”
The look on Booth’s face says it all.
Everything is changing next episode!
