There are times when you start something at the wrong time when you're not quite ready for it. I had tried reading the Harry Potter books but couldn't really get into it, but once the movie was announced I knew I had to read the books before the movie came out and then I couldn't put the books down. Likewise I couldn't stand the BBC Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth when I was younger and then one day it just clicked and it became my favorite film. I've had a similar experience watching Bones. I watched the first series a while back after my marathon's of Buffy and Angel and I was on a quest to watch more of David Boreanaz. It was enjoyable but the second season had a slow start and I never got that far into it before getting distracted by something else. I recently decided to return to it as a break from all the British science fiction series I had been consumed with. I started the second season and couldn't stop until I was completely caught up, partly because I had seen a preview for the latest season (the 7th in the series) where Bones was pregnant and apparently with Booth so I had to see how they had gotten to that point. Although the show deals with law enforcement and murder, like most other shows on television at the moment, there's something about the program that I find endearing. I think the anthropology angle is new and fresh but it has gotten as the series has progressed a little old and I find that some of the cases don't actually need Bones' expertise in order to solve the case.
What gives the show an edge over other dramas like Law and Order and CSI is the relationship between Bones and Booth, the two opposites of logic and gut feeling coming together which Borenanz and Emily Deschanel embody flawlessly. Their chemistry on screen is amazing even though the show makes the audience wait for seven season before anything really happens between them. Part of the problem which I had with the show was the amount of waiting the audience had to do before couples got together. I loved Angela and Hodgins together a great couple, loved it, but of course they couldn't just be together and I had to sit through them trying to find her husband to get divorced and then them breaking up only to get back together again. I do admit that their actual wedding was romantic but it was a long wait to get to that point.
And contrary to what I've just said I did like at the beginning how the show allowed characters to have personal lives outside the diegesis of the show which carry into the diegesis without blatantly being said. The show, at least at the beginning with the supporting characters, focused on the anthropology and the crime while leaving out the personal relationships. I felt this was a different approach than other shows.
Watching television series like I do, all in one go, has its problems. Mainly that it all kind of runs together and its hard separating what happened in which season, not to mention which episode. It's even harder with US network television because each episode has on average 22 episodes per season. That plus having watched 6+ seasons makes for certain things to inevitably get lost in this posting but I can at least call attention to some of the things I remember.
On top of my list is the departure of Zach from the show in a twisted turn of events. Having him join up with the cannibal seemed unlikely and I didn't really understand it, really at all. Especially because he kept showing back up in the show in later episodes. I really liked his character and he was a good match for Hodgins but it was still strange to have him turn from the good side to the dark side so quickly with little explanation. It wasn't that he was evil, he blew himself up instead of letting Hodgins get hurt and he didn't actually eat anyone but still it was as strange has having Marissa turn Lesbian in season 3 of The O.C.! The same can be said about the season 4 finale 'The End in the Beginning' where Booth goes into an alternative universe/dream state. It was a fun episode but came sort of out of left field for the aesthetic of the rest of the series. Still they were able to explain it through Booth's brain tumor.
The strength of the show, as I have suggested previously, are the characters. It was such a delight for me to see Stephen Fry guest star as a therapist. It wasn't necessarily a stretch of character for him but he fit the part perfectly. Comparing Fry's Dr. Gordon Wyatt to John Francis Daley's Dr. Lance Sweets I think would be unfair. Wyatt was a perfect fit for Booth from the unset of where the story was at that point whereas Sweets was more of a replacement for Zach so he must overcome his appearance of youthfulness in order to give out the psychological stuff. Most of the time I find his tangents about psychology boring but his character has grown on me.
The disappearance of Zach also meant that Bones needed a new intern and I liked what they did here, well eventually I liked it. I wasn't so keen on them bringing a rotating cast mainly because I like some more than others and so I felt like I was watching a daytime soap where they changed focus from one storyline to the next when you really wanted to just focus on the one. It eventually grew on me though, although I'm still not a huge fan of Fisher.
I loved the characterization of Clark Edison although lately as he's become more open to discuss personal issues I find his character just boring. His endearing qualities were that he always got stuck in between intense personal conversations and hated it wanting just to focus on his work. His first outburst of how great Bones and Booth would be together was comedically charged and worked well but since then the charmed factor has waned as he has become more and more open.This also occurred with Arastoo Vaziri. I identified with Wendell Bray the most because of his financial situation and I loved his accent. My favorite, who of course has such a shocking death was Vincent, Mr. Nigel Murray.
His final episode was his best with his excitement over the t rex. I liked his Britishness and all of his fun facts that he couldn't help but say. I admit his winning jeopardy wasn't out of the realm of possibility but his loosing all of his money on drinking and gambling was but I can over look that. His death though was so heart wrenching. You knew someone was going to be shot because of the camera work but I wasn't expecting it to be Vincent. I had hoped that it would be the FBI agent (even though I loved seeing her in something besides Veronica Mars) or one of the other interns. It was great to finally see some real emotion from Bones over his death I think that's what made it even more dramatic and emotionally touching was Bones' reaction. The only good thing that came out of his death was that it led to Bones and Booth finally getting together and the shocking season finale - Bones is pregnant.
Thankfully by the time that I got to the end of season six I had a few episodes of season seven to watch so I wasn't left hanging but I have to say that they did a poor job of connecting the two seasons with jump in time so that now Bones is hugely pregnant which has to be done because of Emily Deschanel's pregnancy but I still feel like they could have explained it more or better. It's all I love you from both sides but there isn't that passion that was there say in a previous season when Booth wanted to make a go of it after they had told Sweets about their real first case or when Bones confessed to Booth her feelings while he was still with Hannah. I understand the circumstances but I felt it could have been handled better.
What I really liked about season six was the backdoor pilot for The Finder which will be premiering next year. I thought it was a great way to introduce a new show and new characters while still involving the original cast but also to set up a new show. Michael Clark Duncan - AMAZING. It might turn out a little like Psych but I'm willing to give it a chance. I will miss Saffron Burrows who was in the Bones episode but not in the show.
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