No Bones About It

By Megan Geilman

I have been a longtime fan of Fox’s “Bones”--a show based on the life and times of real life Forensic Anthropologist Kathy Reich’s. The main character in the show, Dr. Temperance Brennan is based off of Reich’s protagonist of the same name in her novels, which although a little weak in the writing, have a real life authenticity that cannot be matched. Since I’ve seen every episode at least a couple of times and have read most of her books, I count myself in the “above average” fan base.

Currently we are 3 episodes into the new season of Bones...and so far, things are on the upswing...but just barely. Last season was dismal with a hurriedly copacetic cohabitation with Booth and Brennan and understandably, that had to do with the real-life timing of Emily Deschanel’s pregnancy. But with the writing taking a nosedive and Dr. Lance Sweets looking most of the time like he’d accidentally swallowed some remains...I was almost hesitant to tune in for another season.

But I did, and it may have had to do with the brilliant new serial killer, Christopher Pelant, who although is on house arrest for hacking into a few government agencies, performs his dirty deeds by sending computer codes through his scanned library book returns and even includes carving a computer virus into the bones of one of his remains...pretty inventive, right? Although it was a bit of a hack job bringing him in, inventing new characters and previous scenarios the viewers didn’t know about, his premise was intriguing enough I was excited to see the continuation in the season opener.

Unfortunately, the resolve was a bit of a hack job as well, with Angela “magically” solving the psych patient’s secret wall message--with no explanation whatsoever. I guess we are still supposed to be so wowed by the killer’s genius that we don’t care how they caught him. Luckily for us (and the show’s writers), the plot includes Pelant reviving his egyptian identity and expediting himself from prison allowing a few more episodes where they could possibly win back my affections.

The second episode allowed a little more character development and to resolve some issues with Tempe and Christine’s 3 months absence after being framed by the nefarious Pelant and his devious library book plot. Unfortunately the writing is still pretty bad (puns, really?) and the overall episode was definitely lacking.

The 3rd episode picked it up a bit with a surprise AWESOME explosion (am I sounding a bit too Hodgins-like with that enthusiasm?) and an intriguing unknown-twin-brother-wife-hitman-twist plot with an intense ending where Sweets gets shot while preventing a second explosion...don’t worry, it’s just a flesh wound! The writers also gave me some hope for the rest of the season by introducing a new character, rookie FBI Agent Olivia Sparling. This angry skinny blonde, although initially a bit abrasive, showed promise with hints into a deeper character and does in fact have good chemistry with Sweets. And even though I get attached to my characters and generally don’t like seeing fictional relationships break up...let’s face it, Daisy was annoying as hell.

Megan Geilman has had an on-again-off-again relationship with television since she was young and her parents occasionally let her stay up to watch Star Trek and X-Files. She recently relocated to beautiful San Clemente, CA with her husband, unborn child, and design business. She lives a half mile from the beach and plans on eating a lot of avocados. She occasionally blogs at http://ratedgforgeilman.blogspot.com and http://megangeilmandesign.blogspot.com