Bones is back with grave consequences
Lisa Samsom digs deep (sorry…) into the new season of Bones.
Bones returned for the spring season on January 22nd with back to back episodes: Double Trouble in the Panhandle and Fire in the Ice. The first involved the death of Siamese twins in the circus. The second, a dead hockey player frozen in a lake. Good, fluffy, kitschy fun was had, but I couldn’t help wonder if something a little like this went down….
BIGWIGTVEXECUTIVEGUY: David. Emily. Great to have you here. Love you. Smooches. Now, listen, WE want to make YOU happy. How ’bout we write some fun for you kids into a couple of shows. Ideas?
EMILY D: Well, I have always wanted to walk tightrope in the circus…
DAVID B: Hockey is cool…
BIGWIGTVEXECUTIVEGUY: Done. And…..Done. Now lets work on some meaty story lines for you two.
Yes. Let’s do that….
This Thursday, February 5th, we were gifted with the 14th episode of the 4th season: Hero in the Hold. We took a look back and we got a glimpse of what is to come. Let me dig in and give you the quick and dirty.
Remember Season 2, when Brennan and Hodgins were buried alive in a car? Well, that bastard was never caught and you, wise and crafty viewers, know what that means…The Grave Digger is BACK! (Could this be the beginning of a mid season story arch? Please, pretty please. Stand alones, have their place, but us long term commitment folk need more than a series of quickies.) OK. Back to the Q&D. A new agent is assigned to the Grave Digger case, meet Heather Taffet (Deirdre Lovejoy)t, and then quickly forget her because that is what I did. Taffet accuses Brennan, Hodgins and Thomas Vega, the author of “Grave Digger”, of stealing evidence. The evidence is ordered to be returned to Taffet by the end of the day.
Heading out of the lab dressed for an awards banquet, Brennan gets a call with a distorted voice saying that Booth has been buried alive. The ransom is the missing evidence to be returned to a forthcoming location. Booth has twenty one hours to live. The squints look over Booth’s apartment for clues and then focus on finding the missing evidence. And…who has it? The rogue squint, Hodgins. A piece of the Grave Digger’s bumper had been lodged in Hodgin’s leg and he never turned it in. Naughty Hodgins. After some compromise between Brennan and Hodgins, it is decided that they will use eight of Booth’s remaining nineteen hours to conduct their own investigation.
Investigation ensues. Angela analyzes the Grave Digger’s call and finds that there are seagulls and waves in the background. Cam hears a merry-go-round. Conclusion, the Grave Digger was at King’s Beach Boardwalk. And guess who lives near the boardwalk? Vega! But, we are not even near the end of the hour dear viewers. It isn’t going to be that easy. Brennan and Hodgins go to the boardwalk and find Vega dead in his car. As they decided what to do with the body, Agent Payton Perotta enters the scene. She is the new love interest for Booth. Personally I am not feeling it. I am reminded of another nondescript blond paired with David B. Does Detective Kate Lockley from Angel ring a bell? Can’t blame you if it doesn’t.
So, Agent Perotta plays the “all bark” authority figure and is quickly outsmarted by Booth and Hodgins. Run along this time you crazy kids, but don’t let me catch you doing it again. And, run they do. The crew meets at the Grave Digger’s designated drop site hoping to catch the killer in the act. Sweets and Angela hack into the Grave Digger’s signal and watch Brennan and Hodgins do the drop…uh oh…the computer shows that something has changed and there is danger. Run B and H! Run! BOOM! Evidence destroyed. Just in time for Agent Blondie to swoop in and demand an explanation from our crazy crew.
The FBI cuts them off from the Grave Digger case and they are forced to desperation. True desperation. Jared “Loser Baby Brother” Booth. Let’s discuss Jared. First, I don’t see him as Booth’s brother. Maybe I can’t delete the random episodes of Roswell I watched back in the day. Maybe its because as soon as he came on the scene they forced an awkward romance between him and Brennan and I wrote him off. Whatever the reason, this character who appears to be reoccurring is going to have to win my love. Brennan asks Loser Baby Brother to bring her Vega’s body so they can search it for clues. He says he couldn’t possibly, pissing Brennan right the hell off, then promptly swoops into the next scene all gussied up in his uniform presenting the contraband corpse. Vega’s body is searched and it is found that Vega’s body has a defensive wound. The Grave Digger would have signs of an attack. Most likely broken ribs. Very interesting indeed. Let’s leave the squints here and I will update you on Seeley Booth.
Booth wakes up, trapped and disoriented in a dark small space. He works his way out to discover he had been in a toy yellow submarine. Insert corny Beatles reference here. While looking around the less dark and less small space he is now trapped in, he realizes he is not alone. He is joined by Corporal Teddy Parker. Teddy and Booth work together in various schemes to break free from what they discover is a ship. During these conversations and numerous flashbacks we realize the following:
-Teddy is dead. He was shot while on a mission with Booth.
-Booth blames himself for Teddy’s death because he was just a kid of 20 and was not ready for the situation Booth put him in.
-Parker, Booth’s son, is named after Teddy.
-Teddy loved a girl named Claire and wants Booth to go to his grave and tell Claire those three little words that he could never say….and oh, btw ghost/therapist Teddy wonders “Booth is there possibly someone in your life that you love that you have not said I love you too?” (I know! I know!)
-And, lastly, Booth dear, it wasn’t your fault. You told Teddy to stay down and he didn’t. You need to forgive yourself.
Back at the lab….
The FBI find out about the stolen remains and Agent Heather Taffet arrives to reclaim Vegas’s body. (Did you forget about Agent Taffet? Oh, silly you, trusting me.) Brennan notices that Taffet is having a hard time showing them the warrant. Just a little bit higher Heather. Just…a…little…bit.. POKE! Brennan jabs her in the ribs. You stinking Grave Digger! Give us back Booth! Not that easy says Sweets. This here Grave Digger is a smart one and she is not giving up control to anyone. Hodgins suggests “Spring Cleaning” aka breaking out the top secret files. Jared begrudgingly accepts the existence of secret files and orders their retrieval. When the files return, we learn that Taffet has a secret identity who owns a storage locker. When the storage locker is searched they find evidence that leads them to an old Navy vessel. And here comes my favorite part of the show, when Brennan realizes they no longer need Agent Taffet/Grave Digger, she take a briefcase and nails the bitch in the ribs. Oh, how I love to see Brennan when she lets her emotions loose. Good angry fun.
Now, back to Booth and the ghost Teddy working towards their escape…
Booth and Teddy rig up some wires, a flashlight and some clay mermaid thing (yeah, I don’t get it) and blast themselves out of the side of the ship, just in time for Brennan to swoop in riding in a helicopter. Booth looks back to get Teddy and Teddy has disappeared. With a smile we feel that Booth’s heart has been healed from this experience. He lunges for Brennan in the helicopter and they have the best helicopter hug I have seen since The Bachelor last week.
In the last scene, Booth and Brennan are at the cemetery where Teddy is buried. Booth is able to tell Claire that Teddy loved him and Brennan says hi to a very familiar twenty year old Army Corporal who just happened to be walking by…
So, where does that leave us? Is Booth “cured” from his past guilt? Are we left with only a loser brother and wimpy FBI agent love interest to shake things up? And what about my hopes for a mid-season story arch? The Grave Digger done dug her own grave. I thought I was going to get some real loving out of this show, but I guess it was just a quickie after all.
‘Til next week,
Loving you long time,
Lisa
