Sometimes I think Temperance Brennan is, as a character, the biggest walking contradiction on television today. Emily Deschanel is absolutely stunning, and a brilliant actress to play such a complicated character, but, I’m not necessarily a fan of the way she’s being written these days. Quite fewer people agreed with my opinions on Bones’ actions during the 100th episode, including our own Julia, and, well … showrunner Hart Hanson. However, I stand by the idea that Bones’ has been acting out of character this season (and love that commenter “JoyBrennan” was able to so much more thoroughly make my point), and this week’s episode of Bones helps prove my point.
In about 30 seconds of airtime, Brennan goes from calling the Rock and Roll Camp dilettante camp, to being on stage rocking out herself. It doesn’t work for me. Not only did she delay working on the case once a lead came in, she bought into the same hypocrisy that she had moments before been railing against. So, either her criticisms of the camp were falsehoods, or, well, the word hypocrite comes back up. Her first scene of the episode ends with her goofing around with Cam and Booth about their conversation topic, then looks down on the same type of out-of-bounds conversation that Hodgins and Vaziri were having about baseball.
I expect more out both the character and the show. Bones was — and will continue to be — one of the best procedurals on television today. I’ve been a big fan of the way that the characters have been developed over the five-plus seasons that we’ve known them (especially Sweets, with considerably less screen time overall). I can’t deny, though, that I’ve been disappointed in the direction that they’ve taken with the show’s namesake this season. As I’m sure that our two leads will be coupled in some manner by the end of the season, I’m hoping that I’ll be able to write off these changes to the path that Hanson and the other writers wanted to follow to get to that eventual endgame.
Notes & Quotes
Third show in an industrial laundry: Walt’s new lab on ‘Breaking Bad’ is in one.
” I’m hoping that I’ll be able to right off my these changes to the path that Hanson and the other writers wanted to follow to get to that eventual endgame.”
That sentence is off by a couple of words…
“In about 30 seconds of airtime, Brennan goes from calling the Rock and Roll Camp dilettante camp, to being on stage rocking out herself. ”
That scene was so painful I fast forwarded through it. I blame it on Fox forcing the whole theme week. As to Bones acting out of character – do they have a new writer?
They change Brennan every episode. The writers, HH & Co., don’t care how inconsistent it comes off, as long as it fits their purpose for the episode. It’s ridiculous. Brennan went from an awesome character in S1-S3, to this puppet the writers like to play with. It’s not becoming.
Yes, that scene was definitely awful LOL I cringed throughout that whole scene!
I totally agree with you about the inconsistencies Amber(Although my love of the show makes me want to ignore them).
I can remember watching an interview with HH about what season Five would be like. He said that the character arcs would be resolved from episode-to-episode, rather than over multiple episodes like seasons 1-4 (or something close to that). Now that they are doing this, i feel that they are creating more inconsistencies with characterization? I really do not like the decision they made.
Also, pressure to adhere to the whole ‘Fox Rocks’ crapola probably pulled this episode down :(
I don’t want to be a debbie downer, but do you really think B/B are going to be a couple by the end of the season? I don’t see that happening. Not this season, at least. HH is adamant about prolonging the UST between those two. So, I’m hoping he has a creative way of keeping them apart while maintaining the UST. Not that I even care if they get together or not, anymore. I think they’ve missed their moment. As of right now, the over-focus of B/B is being a detriment to the whole show. It shows in the boring cases and the writing. *shrug*
This episode fell flat. I was feeling second-hand embarrassment for B/B on that stage.
“In about 30 seconds of airtime, Brennan goes from calling the Rock and Roll Camp dilettante camp, to being on stage rocking out herself. ”
Whoa. Wait, what? I see it differently. I see it as Brennan seeing how much joy rocking on stage gave Booth that she too decided to join in. What’s wrong with that? She can’t have a little joy in her life? She can’t join Booth in a few added moments of fun? Not in character? I don’t think so. It’s very much in ‘character’ – she’s evolving.
Agreed. Brennan is evolving. She saw something that made Booth happy and because she truly loves him, she cast aside her ‘logic’ to share that moment with him. Epic.
*POST AUTHOR*
It’s just ironic that over the last week I’ve complained about her choices, and was shouted down because people said that’s not what she would do. I argue it is what S1 Brennan would do, but not the changed S4 Brennan would do, and that was the problem. Now, she can evolve? Oy, vey!
I agree! I was so impressed she decided to rescue him from being humiliated as soon as she knew he’s got amusia! She grabbed a guitar to get him the right key and joined the shout with the right melody.
And then, she found it’s fun. So she told Booth he is a good singer, maybe the first flattery of her life, to express how much she enjoyed playing and singing with him.
Yes, she is evolving, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes. However, recently the plots are getting flat and boring. ONLY CHEMISTRY doesn’t work. Good plot as a procedural drama is apparently essential for Bones.