Bones 5x22 Review

[iaria]

The Beginning of the End

I actually did, mostly, enjoy this episode. This is a huge relief because I was really not impressed by the previous two episodes and I found myself worried about my continued love for this show. I don’t want to stop being excited to see a new episode.

We got a slight hint about what was coming in this episode with Brennan voicing her fatigue with her current life working with the FBI in the previous one but everyone splitting off and going in their own directions still took me by surprise. So I guess next year is going to be fast-forwarding a year which could be interesting. I do have to say though that next year I really think and hope TPTB put Brennan and Booth together because at this point keeping them apart is so contrived.

• The final airport scene was really well done and made me happy (minus Sweets/Daisy). The Cam/Brennan hug made me go awww (for the second time this episode actually) as did the Angela/Brennan hug.

- But my favourite of those goodbye’s was definitely the Hodgins/Brennan one where he gives her a comprehensive list of information on all the poisonous insects and reptiles, which in itself was adorable, but then we get the awesomeness of Brennan telling him “Thank you, Dr. Hodgins. I love you, too.” ♥ Awwww! I can’t even... *hand flaps* Ever since Aliens in a Spaceship I have adored these two and this moment made me so very happy. I love the way she says it and I loved his expression. Aww. I love them.

- The final Brennan/Booth scene was also excellent. I loved Booth worry over Brennan and especially Brennan’s “Please don’t be a hero. Please don’t be you.” which aww. I loved the clasped hands, holding onto each other tight. I loved them agreeing to meet up in exactly one year from that day (so romantic movie of them). I even loved that there wasn’t a kiss or a melodramatic run back to each other even though a part of me was really hoping for it. Possibly just because I really wanted to see them completely blow everyone’s minds.

- It would have been nice to have seen some goodbyes aimed at Booth. Now I can fanwank that his enlisting and everything happened early and they said everything then, or more likely he wasn’t going to be shipping out for a couple days yet and so he will be having his own sets of goodbyes but it still felt really weird. As far as goodbyes for Brennan it would have been really nice, and appropriate, to have gotten a Brennan/Sweets scene since he wasn’t leaving with them (even though he clearly should have been). Oh, and where was Max? His non-appearance seems very weird considering how we saw him just in the last episode.

• I never thought I’d say this but I’ve actually grown to love Daisy. She is just so positive and determined to be happy and I find her adorable. I love her overwhelming enthusiasm for everything. I love her sincere hero-worship and unreserved respect for Brennan. If Brennan offered to be her mentor Daisy would probably die of glee. I really loved her deciding that her career comes first and being completely honest with Sweets about it. This trip was very important to her – both career-wise but also something she just really wanted to be a part of – and she tells him straight-out that she’s going. She offers him stuff that he could do there, gives him a little pitch about adventure but in the end she lets him decide and doesn’t try to manipulating him into doing what she would want. I really like how she handled everything.

• I did not like Sweets handled everything. Not just him deciding not to go with Daisy, which is understandable, but him ending their relationship completely. What the hell was that? Did TPTB decide that since they got Angela and Hodgins back together and married and they couldn’t have two married couples? They’ve spent some time now building up Daisy/Sweets and they were pretty cute (I love the scene where he asks her to marry him) and while they’re not a pairing I really ship I’ve apparently become attached to them because their relationship being dismissed like this really bugged me. They really seemed to be happy together and in love so I’m kind of at a loss at having Sweets basically end their engagement and relationship. I’m left really hoping that sometime in the intervening year Sweets will realise what a huge mistake he made and will head off to surprise Daisy and ask her to take him back.

• Once I realised that Brennan was definitely going to be going I found myself loving the idea of Brennan, Daisy and Sweets hanging out on the Maluku Islands. At the very least, if I can’t have Sweets heading over at some point, I definitely want Brennan to become Daisy’s mentor during this trip. We don’t often see female/female mentorships and I am suddenly loving the idea of this one.

• Booth telling Sweets, with a laugh, that “No offensive but you might be better off without her.” – was very much an ‘um, WTF, Booth?’ moment for me. First, I didn’t realise that Booth disliked Daisy that much, second, omg rude much? This is the woman that Sweets loves and is engaged to (and thus committed to) so how is that in any way appropriate? Shut up, Booth.

• Angela’s father telling her that – “No, I’m giving him you.” – did not work for me. I get the sentiment they were going for there I just don’t like it. Hodgins springing running away to Paris on Angela ended up bugging me a little and I think it’s because it came right after that. It’s actually not even troublesome at all really – this is Angela and that is totally something she would love to do, he asked and didn’t actually just spring it on her with tickets in hand – but it still gave me this little twinge. I did love the line about them doing it because they don’t want to have to break in a new anthropologist and FBI agent.

• I did not buy Parker’s little monologue about why Booth should go back into the army at all. It felt so contrived and was clearly just there to push Booth into deciding to re-enlist for a year.

• Brennan telling Angela that Booth said he didn’t want to return but she thought he did made me go ‘really?’ because I did not see that at all. In fact what I saw was Booth really not wanting to return to the army and trying desperately to hang on to the life he’d created and then getting told by his son that going to Afghanistan would be being a hero in his eyes while being an FBI agent wasn’t (um, seriously, wtf?) and dealing with Brennan very clearly wanting to go to the Maluku Islands, and trying to ignore it, until she finally forces a talk about it (and forces literally in that she ends up having to force eye contact, that was a pretty affecting scene for me, oh you guys) and that it’s only after his son has told him to go and he’s realised that he’s going to be losing Brennan for at least a year that he decides to go. And even after making that decision he does not at all seem happy with it!

• “No, Doctor Brennan you can provide me with a list of anthropologists.” – Cam. Aww. I really loved this Cam/Brennan scene. I love how they have become friends.

• Poor Cam! Both on a professional and personal level she faced a lot of change and loss in this episode (even if only temporary). Professionally she has lost her entire crime solving team but I think more importantly personally she has lost most of her closest friends for at least a year. Now sure she (and the other characters) could have friends outside this little group but we never see them and so it’s not illogical that they are all each other’s closest friends and confidants and she is losing them all. Oh, wait, no – Sweets is staying (or at least until he decides to case after Daisy which is what I am choosing to decide will happen until canon proves otherwise.)

• I really liked Booth’s talk with Caroline. They really felt like friends in that scene and I liked that.