Good morning, good morning!
I must say, I’m pretty excited for this scene study. I think, and while it’s sort of impossible to really say officially, but I’m pretty darn sure that this is my all time favorite scene in a BONES episode. Fire in the Ice is not my all time fave episode (though it’s probably in the top 3), and there are other moments I really love, but as far as scenes…I can’t think of one I love more. I really cannot.
Let’s. Do. This. Thing. Woo!
Here’s a little history to get us started.
Booth is in a hockey league (how cute is it that Wendell is on the Federal team?), and he has a game. He’s the ‘enforcer’ and the alpha male on his team, which is no surprise and also awesome. Cam, Sweets and Brennan all show up for it. Did Booth invite them? I have no idea. Did they surprise him by coming to see him play? I don’t know. Why haven’t they been to any of his other games? I don’t know (at least, don’t you get the impression that at least Brennan has never been?). What I DO know is this. When Brennan catches Booth’s eye, after he’s tossed into time-out (that’s what it is, we all know it.)…she gets this gaspy little fluttery voice and says, “Hi” and waves.
Welcome to the "Booth Makes us Fluttery" Club, Brennan!
Brennan! What I love about it is how cute she is, and also completely in character. I think that would be hard to pull off. The hat helps, and I love that too. Meanwhile…Booth. He can’t hear her, I don’t think, but that doesn’t matter, does it? Because he waves back automatically, kind of catching his breath…
Welcome to the "Booth Makes Us Fluttery" Club, Booth's Hands!
…and THEN he sort of smiles in a way that feels new. Sort of a ‘yeah, baby’ and a ‘that’s my girl’ and a ‘I Love Bones’ and a ‘Giddyup’ all rolled into one, right?
Yeah, baby! There’s something about that scene that always makes me think “This is new”, and I don’t know if it IS new, necessarily, or if it’s just that it’s so public! It’s a B&B moment, completely out in the open. Right?
Moving on (if you want. You can stay up here and stare at Booth’s hands all day. Fine by me! There is shirtless Booth below, though…just so you know.)
Booth gets into a fight on the ice, etc, etc, and later when B&B are examining a body, Booth realizes it is the man he fought and that he’s a suspect (kind of a leap, but whatever).
But first, Booth and Wendell are in the locker room, and Brennan busts inside.
Apparently, for some reason (though she is the one who busted in), she’s surprised. I’m sensing a trend.
As in...not surprised at all
She’s hilarious. And she’s also asking if the two of them are alright. Booth gets one of those “You’re unbelievable, you know that, Bones?” looks on his face…
…and asks her if she wants to wait outside. “Well,” Brennan shrugs. “Your hand might be broken. Do you want me to look at it?” And obviously I’m the one who will help you. Period. So, no, I won’t wait outside, thank you very much. After all, I’m a doctor. Yes, I know not that kind of doctor, but still… (That’s in the Seels:Bloggers’s-Cut Edition. That’s what I should do for my next project. Like Mystery Science Theater 3000, I”ll just sit in a theater, watch all the episodes and add my own dialogue. Yeah, moving on…)
It's because I care about you, Booth. And because no one else should be touching your bones. Or your Bones. Get it? I was the second Bones.
Booth says “No, that’s alright. You can wait outside please.”
My bones are just fine
I love Wendell’s reaction, and I love the reaction of every other man in the locker room, too. I’m guessing they are all FBI related. Side question: How much crap does Booth go through from fellow FBI agents because of Brennan? I’d say in that moment, it just doubled. WOO!
And do any of these looks say, “Oops, my mistake?” or “Oops, I’ve made a miscalculation and unnecessarily embarrassed Booth?”
Nope, I don’t think they do!
And you can’t quite see it perfectly, because it’s a fade out/fade in shot, but Booth gets this little smile on his face that always makes me laugh.
BUT we must move on or we will never get to the actual scene I want to discuss. I’ll just use bullet points.
>There is a case, the hockey player.
>Agent “I’m a backseat kind of a girl, myself” Perotta is brought in to assist during Booth’s recovery.
>But it doesn’t matter, as Brennan has never been prettier than she is in this episode.
>Okay, maybe Booth flirts a bit, but we all kind of like it, because of that whole fluttery thing, because of his eyes, his shoulders, the tone of his voice, and because he may or may not be wearing a t-shirt with a slot machine on it.
>Sweets senses they are having a moment, and he does what is necessary, making Booth annoyed. Perhaps that’s not his original intent (breaking up the flirt/interrogation sessions between Booth and PP, but it worked!) I love his line, “Rats, I winced!”
>The case continues, and Booth has another hockey game, during which he falls down and gets a concussion, imagining Luc Robitaille, and when he opens his eyes, Brennan is there and she says, “I get nervous when you fall down and don’t get up.” Now, THAT’s a line!
> These guys are Booth’s People
>Booth solves the case from his couch. Brennan arrives to his apartment. Quick note: She has a key, but puts it back on the counter, leading me to believe that no matter what any fanfic writer says, they don’t have spare keys to each other’s places. On one hand, I think…well, they probably do. How can they not? They are close. But then, I’m pretty sure they don’t. I think they aren’t as close as we think they are. Or at least, they don’t let themselves admit that they know how close they know they are. Another discussion for another day, but basically, giving a spare key to the other would be an admission of that closeness, and they don’t have that.
I love that she has the soup from the place (and that we have no idea what kind or from where, or whatever. Can’t you just imagine Booth on the drive home? First of all, she’s driving, so you know he’s annoying her. And he’s probably like, “I need you to get me some soup. From the place. You know…the place, with the soup! Mama…just ask for her, and tell her it’s for me. She’ll know. She’ll know, Bones.” Hahaha
Meanwhile, Brennan looks gorgeous in that red jacket and even prettier when she takes it off. Too bad Booth has a concussion!
They solve the case and get the murderer to confess, and then here’s another scene from the Blogger’s Cut Vault:
Booth: Another one solved.
Perotta: Oh, um…I was wondering, I um, I made some soup, and I thought you might like it, so if you want…
Brennan: That’s okay, I already got him the soup from the place. He likes my soup just fine.
Booth: Soup.
Perotta: I see. So, okay then. But…you’re going to need someone to be with you for the night. Concussions are serious business. I could always, you know…check in on you and your body, I mean…your headache, through the night, if you want.”
Brennan: 
Booth: Oh, no need. Bones here is going to go ice skating with me all night. (stands up to leave, Brennan follows)
Brennan: At the ice rink. (They walk out the door)
Booth: (nudges her arm) Hey, you got that one right, Bones!
Brennan: We’re really going skating all night?
Hahahahahaha, I have issues.
But THEN! WOOOOOOOO! Here we are!!
Brennan says she’s not positive this is a good idea, but we can see on Booth’s face that it is a very good idea. Throughout the series, we don’t have many moments where Booth really is the expert. That might be another reason why I love this scene so much. There are these amazing layers of them supporting one another. It’s really incredibly well done. There’s also a sense (and maybe I’m wrong) that they sort of gave ED and DB the script, turned on the cameras and said…go for it. Does anyone else feel that way? I don’t know that every trip and fall and smile is choreographed; it’s more that they just were in the moment, and they did it. Thoughts?
Brennan trips and falls down, but she’s also laughing. Booth picks her back up and answers her question. “Well, I’ve gotta stay up all night, so who better to keep me company…than you?” Does anyone else die a bit of a sweet death at the tone of his voice in that moment? Please tell me I’m not the only one.
Brennan laughs again, sort of calling him out on it, but sort of clarifying too. “You and me skating is saving you from slipping into a coma?” Booth doesn’t really answer her, but also doesn’t deny it. He also doesn’t say that her being with him saves him from all kinds of bad things, hahaha, but oh well.
She sort of trips again, and he catches her, “Easy, Bones. Now I’m gonna go down.”
She laughs again and is steadied, declaring. “I have a lot of natural athletic ability!”
“Oh yeah, natural.” Booth replies. “I can see that. Real smooth and natural.”
This always reminds me of Happy Gilmore, “What? Friends listen to Endless Love in the dark.” Yeah, sure they do.
What’s so brilliant about this scene is the sheer physicality in it. It’s not making love or whatever, but there is this underlying ‘permission’ B&B have to touch one another, under the guise of the skating. Remember when Dr. Wyatt said that one of them is acutely aware of the sexual attraction between them and struggles with it daily? You all know I think that’s Brennan, but if it’s NOT her, then it’s really both of them, and Dr. Wyatt was just getting pleasure out of annoying Sweets, ha. But this sort of scene is one of those moments between B&B where for one night, they are breaking their own rules. They aren’t admitting to anything; they barely even admit that the rules exist (“There’s a line. That doesn’t even need to be there” Brennan says in season three), but they both know it, and they are both okay with it. Booth needing someone to talk to him…Brennan needing someone to help her up from the ice every once in awhile, neither of those are reasons for them to hold hands. You know? Those two things might involve occasional touching, but Brennan tucking her arm into Booth’s? That’s love and desire and…permission. What happens then is that their physical permission allows for an increased ability to share from their hearts. Why am I still TALKING about it. I must show you.
It’s kind of hard to get perfect pics, because they are ALWAYS moving, but I’ll try.
Brennan doesn’t quite look at Booth when she begins, “That Agent Perotta… (Oh, Brennan, I love your attempts to sound casual!)…she really enjoyed working with us.”
Booth is sort of surprised and serious and can only say “Yeah”. The word doesn’t convey his tone, but I know you all know exactly what he sounds like. He’s looking at her, but she’s still not looking at him, and she continues, “But, um…you’re the only FBI agent I want to work with.”
I love when Booth smooths his hand down his tie like that. He’s not even looking at her either necessarily, but can’t you just tell that he’s memorizing every.single.word. Right? Oh, I love it. Love, love, love. Brennan, though she doesn’t always know it or get it…she just gets it right sometimes. It’s hard to explain. She doesn’t say the right thing, but it somehow always IS the right thing? You know? Like in season two, when she tells Booth she doesn’t know what to say to make him feel better because he’s the one she asks for that kind of thing.
There are times, I admit, where I think Booth sort of looks for confirmation that she cares about him, and where he sort of ignores other signs from her that she might not care for him. I am not judging him; I do the same thing, perhaps you do too. We sort of hold on to the good signs and rationalize the bad signs, right? But there’s something about this scene, and her admission about only wanting to work with him that I think is fair to interpret as truth & more. She does only want to work with him, as far as the FBI is concerned, but she also only wants him to work with her. And she only wants him to want her, and she wants to want him. She doesn’t necessarily believe she has what it takes, but the desire to have that…it’s there; she wants that. I firmly believe this.
Sometimes, in my own life, I imagine that I’ll say the perfect right thing, but what always happens, when I’m in a situation like the one B&B are in right now…I freeze up. I say nothing. My mind is whirling with everything I want to say, and it just doesn’t come out. Part of me thinks Booth is sort of feeling that way here. He doesn’t respond to what she says. Doesn’t say “Thanks, Bones. You’re the only anthropologist I want to work with.” or anything like that.
I wish that in my life, my own looks could convey as much…
…because Brennan sees that he gets it, and he can see that she sees that he gets it. Remember earlier when Brennan wasn’t really shy or embarrassed about entering the men’s locker room uninvited? Well, in this scene here, we do see her a little more flustered, and she changes the subject quickly, asking Booth. “Will you tell me what the Lucky Luciano told you?”
I love this, because for one, she’s making a joke, which is hilarious. And she’s using the incorrect term, which is so not her thing. That’s Booth’s thing “Rhyming Linguine” etc. And I ALSO love it because earlier in the episode, Booth sort of announced to Brennan, Sweets and Cam that Luc Robitaille told him something…something about himself. Sweets is super curious, but Booth tells him he’ll never know what it is. But when Brennan asks…
“He’s not an Italian opera singer! Bones, why do you always say that wrong? You do it on purpose!
Ah!
Brennan says, “I would like to know what he said.”
And once again, like last week, we have one of those moments where Booth sort of immediately uses his gut to know if she’s telling the truth or not, or being sincere, and he decides that she is. Can he trust her? Not just with his body in the line of duty…but with this? The real him? The stuff about his dad. The stuff that haunts him late at night. Not only that, but a vision/hallucination/modern-day vision quest from a hockey injury. Wouldn’t that normally be the kind of thing she would scoff at? Something he’s never planning to tell anyone? Can he really trust her with this?
Yes.
“He said…that I’m not like…my old man. He said I’m made of better stuff.”
Like with Brennan’s confession, we see here that Booth is not really looking at her, but that Brennan is listening in with everything she can. She is literally hanging on his every word and hanging on to him. She doesn’t say “Stuff is the incorrect word, Booth. And besides, the likelihood that your DNA and genes are that much different than your father’s is slim. It’s simple biology, Booth. Your parents had intercourse, and you were created. So…” At which point, Booth blushes or changes the subject. No she does not go anthropology on him at all. Instead, she gets personal. And like with her earlier wave, it’s incredibly sweet and different, and yet also completely in character. She just validates him, in a way that I just don’t see anyone else being able to do. If that makes me narrow-sighted about it, then sue me. I don’t care. This is beautiful to me.
She grabs his arm, and look at his face!
And she says, “Well, I don’t know your old man…”
Look at HER face. She has a crush on him. She loves him. He’s very well structured, he’s pleasing to look at…all of it. And she likes him.
Do I think that B&B could work with other people sometimes? Sure, and I don’t mean just work-work. I mean, life and all of it. I guess, yeah. But there’s just something about them that also works, and it doesn’t make sense. Which can be annoying and liberating, I guess.
But look at Booth’s face, too. Sweets makes his own comments about Booth’s dad earlier in the episode, and Booth is furious and threatening and annoyed. But here…it’s like everything bad about his life just rolls away when she’s good to him. It’s this kind of thing that sort of puts a nail in the whole “fate” coffin, and where I think Booth is kind of wrong. Sure, it’s possible he felt something for her the moment he laid eyes on her. I believe that. But that isn’t enough for a whole life together. But this kind of thing is. This, and a hand on his arm at a gravesite, and sitting at his bedside and reading to him from a story she wrote about him…that is the stuff of life.
Not that HE’s the one who needs convincing of course, but still…that’s not fate.
Okay, I’m getting carried away. Let’s get back to the scene. Brennan continues…
“I don’t know your old man…your father, but…”
…”But I think you’re made of very, very good stuff.”
So sweet. It’s not really ‘smooth and natural’, but it’s perfect. And she said stuff.
So, in that moment, Booth gains some confidence of his own, right? And he finally figures out the right thing to say (remember earlier, about that whole ‘freezing up’ thing?).
“Hey, know what? Forget about Agent Perotta”
Agent who?
“Alright? Nothing’s going to change between me and you”
So…what do we do with that, in light of the current situation? Does it mean Booth is a hypocrite? That he gave up on love too quickly? That he’s been lying this whole time?
No.
No.
No.
It doesn’t mean that. We can’t judge this past Booth like that. I really don’t think we can. To use a possible Brennan phrase, he just didn’t have all of the evidence to make an official conclusion. He’s an optimist (anyone ever wonder why? Another post for another day!), and that also shouldn’t be held against him. I think we have to sort of separate his normal cocky attitude and confidence and assurances about love and all of that from his personal self esteem. They are two different things. I know I harp on this all of the dang time, so you’re probably annoyed by this point, but I don’t care. We have a series-long history of him being confident in the things he can control (his work, his ability to shoot things (mostly), his gut, his ability to help Brennan with her personal issues), but NOT regarding his past or his personal life. To insist that he should just ‘know better’ or somehow magically gain a ton of self-esteem in that area AFTER BRENNAN REJECTED HIM (in the 100th) is completely irrational and frankly it just makes me mad! Haha. Whoo, okay. Sorry about that. Back to the scene.
Also, I think it’s fair to sort of say that who knows what he means here. We sort of interpret this to mean, “Hey, Bones. Don’t worry about FBI Barbie, because I love you, and I’ll never leave you ever. I don’t even want to have sex with anyone but you, even though we can’t. I love your dark silky hair and that you embarrass me all the time but busting into rooms (hey, remember my bathroom?), and all of that. Don’t worry; nothing’s going to change between me and you. We’ll just be ‘just partners’ even though we both know that doesn’t really mean what it means, and that both of us want more and we both know it.”
But maybe he’s not saying that. Maybe he’s saying, “Don’t worry, Bones. I will always, always protect you and care about you. No matter who I date or sleep with.”
If we interpret it one way (and believe me, I do), that’s not Booth’s fault.
Brennan tells him that “Entropy is a natural force that pulls everything apart at a sub-atomic level. Everything changes.”
I love how we’ve gone from light brushing, to hanging on to Booth’s fingers, to holding his hand, to grabbing his arm to him cupping her waist and hips. Love it.
Booth says, “Not everything, Bones. Not everything.”
And they are both laughing and loving it. She says, “You’re going to make me fall.” And he replies. “I’m never going to make you fall. I’m always here. Are you kidding me?”
There’s nothing anyone can say or do that will ruin this scene for me. Ever. To me, it’s a perfect example of B&B and a single life shared. Neither one is perfect or says the exact right thing. Maybe Booth is too optimistic; maybe Brennan is too scientific at the end. Does that really matter? When it comes down to it, they both know the truth in that moment. Booth doesn’t necessarily say the right thing at the right time. When put on the spot, he kind of freezes up, but Brennan gets it. And when she pushes him to share about Lucky Luciano, he does, and she does say the right thing. They want to touch each other and be close, and for a single moment…they gave themselves the permission to do so, all under the guise that Booth’s health might suffer if they didn’t. B&B don’t need our permission to love one another, nor do they need it from anyone else. They need it from themselves and each other, in a way that yeah, possibly, might be slightly unhealthy. Only when they both realize that and give themselves that permission…only then will they be together. That makes it tough to watch sometimes.
But for the most part, it’s good. And like Brennan on the ice, or Booth’s expressions about his personal life, it’s NOT always ‘smooth and natural’. But what in life and relationships really is?
It’s still good.
Very good.
Hope you are having a great day. If you made it this far, thanks for sticking around during my insane ramblings!
Peace, Love & Bones,
~S
Bones Theory 
January 2, 2011 at 10:41 am
OK, i thoroughly enjoyed this. Like, really loved it and i agree on everything. Except one thing.
I don’t think Booth is an optimist. At all, actually. When it comes to himself, and his life, he tends to expect the worse.
I know people have different opinions on what Booth has or hasn’t told Hannah, but for me i firmly believe he hasn’t told her about the Gambling, or his father. She will know some of his past as a Sniper, but i doubt he’s told her of the struggle he faces daily. And for me, that’s because he thinks if he tells her she will no longer love him. I think, if he was a optimist, he would tell her and expect it to be all ok. For her to stay and love him, but he doesn’t think that.
I just…don’t see Booth as the optimistic type. I think he pretends to be at times, but deep down he’s not.
Make sense? Probably not because it’s me, but oh well! LOL
January 2, 2011 at 1:03 pm
I think he’s an optimist in some ways, and what I’d call a realist in others. In my opinion, an optimist isn’t someone who doesn’t see the darkness, but rather, is someone who never loses hope that light is out there, too. I think the fact that he believes he can make a difference shows that he has hope, even when he’s seen the worst of what people can do to one another.
And the fact that he believes in love, believes in eventually, makes him optimistic in my book, too.
Neither of those things mean he’s optimistic about himself, necessarily. He’s confident in his skills (i.e., sniper skills, his ability – generally – to read people) and that translates into an optimism about making a difference and solving cases. But I think his past (abuse, what he sees as personal failures like gambling) means he’s lacking in confidence about his own value. He believes in love, and wants to believe he’s worth love – him, the core of who he is, not just his skills – but he’s not completely certain of it. And that, I think, is what we see that occasionally registers as ‘not an optimist.’
January 2, 2011 at 11:10 am
1) Thank you, thank you, thank you. And, agree, agree, agree. This is my fave all-time scene. When I can’t take what’s currently going on, this is where I go. It is just the two of them, enjoying each other, enjoying being together and the physical activity seems to provide enough of a distraction that they aren’t measuring every word as carefully as they so often do. There is so much affection and caring in this scene. So much understanding and appreciation of each other.
Also, thanks for the screen shots, esp the shirtless Booths. They will go into my Shirtless Booths Powerpoint immediately.
2) Laffers — I have a slightly different take on why Booth hasn’t shared everything with Hannah. I think it’s less that she won’t love him than that it will destroy the easiness, the lightness, the openness of their relationship. That is, as much as H and Bones have similarities, there is a huge difference in his relationship with the two women. With Bones there has always been (and will probably always be) angst and uncertainty and lots of stuff unspoken, esp “I love you.” They clearly care deeply for each other, but both restrain the expression of that, esp speaking about it. The relative absence of those things is part of the big attraction of the H relationship. H can and does say “I love you.” And, shows it, by following Booth to DC. inter alia. She doesn’t run half way around the world when he says “I love you.” She is sunny and not obviously repressed. She doesn’t carefully control her emotional responses (which is one of things that really irks people about her — it’s what makes her seem less serious and substantial, etc.). She understands pop culture. She doesn’t require translation from squintspeak to English. She’s easy to be with and maybe she wouldn’t be so easy to be with if she knew all the hard stuff about Seeley Booth. Just one woman’s opinion.
Happier New Bones’ Year!
January 2, 2011 at 11:11 am
Sarah, Thank you so much for this wonderful scene study. It makes me want to run to my Bones DVD collection and remember “the way they were”…..sigh. Happy New Year!
January 2, 2011 at 11:27 am
Everytime you post these scene studies I feel like a kid in a lolly shop saying that’s my favourite, no that’s my favourite! It serves to remind me just how great these episodes were.
I have rewatched the waving scene so many times as their smiles to each other were SO different than anything before. They were soooo cute. *sigh*
As for the change room scene – shirtless Booth is all that needs to be said on that lol.
I’ve always felt that there was a little ad libbing going on in that final scene (when ED falls & also when DB says he’s gona go down) so I am glad someone else also had a sense that.
As usual you articulate so very well all of those small nuances (smoothing the tie etc) that mad me smile and yes squeal lol when I first watched it.
OK off now to get the dvd for a lookey loo!!
January 2, 2011 at 11:45 am
Haha, awesome scene study. I love that episode and your interpretation of it was great. I love how different and sweet the scene is. You can tell that there is no place Booth and Brennan would rather be at that moment.
I’m kind of on the fence about whether Booth is an optimist. I think in order to do his job you have to be an optimist, though there are areas of his life where he is more of a pessimist. I don’t know if I’d class him as either.
January 2, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Favorite. Scene. Ever. I can’t get enough of it. And, “Well, I’ve gotta stay up all night, so who better to keep me company…than you?” Does anyone else die a bit of a sweet death at the tone of his voice in that moment? Please tell me I’m not the only one.” You are not the only one. It gets me every time!
January 2, 2011 at 12:27 pm
Awww. Thanks for making me relive this again. Excellent post. I LOVEEEE this ep a lot too. I have 6 eps on my phone. This is one of them. I adore the ep. B&B are totally dating here. LOL. That skating bit is a full date.
Anyway, a few answers.
YES, Emily (Brennan) looks amazing in this ep. SO stunning. I am in love with her look at the beginning in that hat. Her make up, hair, those hats she wore, that red coat. It was all perfect. I have another episode where Emily is slaying me with her looks all through the ep: Double Death of the Dearly Departed. Darnit Em, why so pretty? Anyway, side tracking.
Then that wave from Bren to Booth and visa versa. GAHHH. Melt galore. Isn’t that wave totally adorable??? Gosh. SO cute. Like you said previously; Teenagers crushing on each other.
And I rewatched the ep not too long ago and that guilty/embarrassed look when she closes the door of the locker room. Can’t get over it. A friend of mine actually screencapped it and made the cap pretty for me since I love it soo much. And, then there is bare chested Booth. Nuff said!
The Key. YES! No, they don’t have each other’s keys. She knows where his spare key is hidden, and, obviously, will use it when she feels she has to, needs to (Pain in the Heart). But otherwise, she is a proper ‘partner’ that just knocks. I am sure Booth also knows how to get her spare key if the case arises he needs it. Or, you know, he just kicks in her door in that case. But I too am convinced they don’t have, in normal conditions, possession of each other’s apartment key but when needed, know how to get it ‘legally’, or know its hiding spot. That is one line they indeed don’t dare to cross – yet.
There’s also a sense (and maybe I’m wrong) that they sort of gave ED and DB the script, turned on the cameras and said…go for it. Does anyone else feel that way? I don’t know that every trip and fall and smile is choreographed; it’s more that they just were in the moment, and they did it. Thoughts?
Nope!!! I think that is EXACTLY what happened. They got their lines and probably just went on the ice and were themselves. In the original script, Brennan was made a good skater but since Emily failed that, they made it that she wasn’t a good skater. Once that was settled, I totally think what they did on the ice was just them doing what they thought was right in that scene. No particular directing. I am certain that every smile, fall, misstep, and maybe even the handholding just happened and the cameras caught it. Nothing of that was scripted.
HH has said before, they sometimes just let the cameras run in scenes like this (also those Founding Father scenes) without directing a thing and sometimes they end up with jewels. I definitely think this is one of such occassions. They had their lines but how they did their lines on the ice was likely just up to them. Isn’t that ADORABLE?
I still feel this ice skating scene is a fully first date, even without them aknowledging it, or, refusing to aknowledge it. But things develop so naturally and they are again those teenager we saw at the beginning of the ep. The girl that waved to hockey star Booth, is the same girl that went skating with him. The macho, alpha male Hockey star who felt his ego rise when the cutest schoolgirl waved at him, is the same guy that took his partner skating and felt his ego just as good as when he was playing hocking and flirting. It’s like the ep came full circle.
B&B dating is THE CUTEST THING EVER!! So, HH, take note!! Get those two crazy kids dating since we’d all be dying from the sugar rush that will be laid upon us then. 😉
FYI, I am totally certain Brennan is the one that was acutely aware and struggling. Ep 100 convinced that for me. She’s been aware of feelings (which she couldn’t place at all) for a looooong while and because she couldn’t place those feelings, what it meant or what to do with it, she struggled with it. Booth was for everyone the obvious answer but GG is never one to go for obvious. So, I’m with you. It’s Brennan. Always has been.
January 3, 2011 at 8:04 pm
nice one 🙂
I’d like to think that this ‘date’ between the teenage hockey star and the cutest schoolgirl, with that amount of touching, must’ve included a kiss… *sigh*
why else would you go skating for a date ? 😉 Perfect excuse to ‘help’…
January 6, 2011 at 8:15 am
This episode was on t.v. last night and I was rewatching and completely noticed the scene with the key. When Brennan walks in she announces “I’m back” and then goes and puts the key on the counter. That leads me to believe that she was already there and Booth gave her the key so that she could just let herself in when she came back.
January 6, 2011 at 8:27 pm
I agree. I watched it again and I think Brennan helped him get home since he was injured and then took the key to go get the soup so that Booth wouldn’t have to get up to get the door. It was just a one-time thing.
January 2, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Ah, I love these older episodes, so much promise and a hint of more to come for our fav couple. *sigh* Back to reality, poor H, yes I said poor H, she is great, everything he thinks he wants, but what he really wants is complicated, adorable, confusing Brennan. So I rewatch the eps of happier days and try to get thru the angst, anxiety and sadness we currently are being subjected to. But, this is a new year and a new beginning, so I am still looking for cracks as big as the Grand Canyon. Love your posts, they are always so entertaining and lift my spirits.
January 2, 2011 at 12:57 pm
You actually made me laugh when I saw this. I wanted to watch Bones last night and what did I watch? Fire In The Ice. How about that?
Whenever I see the scene where Brennan is sitting with the group and waves at Booth when he sits down in the penalty box, I think that is the first time she has ever gone to one of his games. The look on his face is one of surprise seeing her and then happiness that she actually came to one of his games. His smile is so sweet and so is hers.
I love their ice skating the night away to keep Booth out of harms way. It so a B&B moment. Obviously Brennan does not do much ice skating and skating all night would probably be low on her list of things she would want to do in life and yet, for Booth, yes, she will skate with him all night. I just think that is so lovely.
I too find it interesting that Booth cannot talk about his family issues (his Dad, his brother) with others and keep a civil tongue in his head and yet Brennan can ask him about personal stuff about his family and he will answer her in a quiet, sad voice. Cam once said that Booth didn’t talk to her for months when she tried to talk about Jared with Booth and Booth was very menacing when he confronted Sweets about using Perotta to find out about Booth’s feelings for his dad. When Brennan crosses that personal line of his, he lets her. He trusts her like no one else in his life.
January 2, 2011 at 1:11 pm
Remember when Dr. Wyatt said that one of them is acutely aware of the sexual attraction between them and struggles with it daily? You all know I think that’s Brennan, but if it’s NOT her, then it’s really both of them, and Dr. Wyatt was just getting pleasure out of annoying Sweets, ha.
Can I ask a question? I’m always honestly baffled by people who think GG was talking about Brennan, not because I’m dead certain she’s not aware of the sexual attraction between them, but because if it’s only one of them and it’s her, isn’t that saying he’s unaware of it? And how can that be?
January 2, 2011 at 2:13 pm
I’ve always wondered about this too. Booth has seemed so “aware” of Brennan almost from the beginning and definitely seems to be holding himself back at times. Brennan, on the other hand, often seems to be almost innocently unaware of the tension between them; which I tend to think is partly due to her famed ability to “compartmentalize” things.
Booth was totally aware of Brennan in the closing scene of Mayhem on a Cross. He shared a bit of himself for HER benefit (another sacrifice perhaps?). It had nothing to do with Sweets (as Brennan had done). Her reaction to him (tucking the hankie back in his pocket), on the other hand, seems much more innocent. Sweets “saw something” in that moment that allowed him to make a decision and I just cannot see how he got anything definitive from Brennan.
January 2, 2011 at 3:29 pm
I agree that I don’t see how it can be Brennan that GG is referring to for basically the same reason as Stephanie. Brennan doesn’t “struggle” with stuff like this every day. First, she may well be totally oblivious, but even if she isn’t, anything that makes her uncomfortable (read: causes emotional turmoil) is swiftly tucked away in a sealed compartment. She simply denies it to herself and everyone around her and then it can’t trouble her. (Evidence: in PitO in S4 she wonders why people keep expecting them to kiss. Talk about oblivious. ;-D)
Booth on the other hand was very aware of his feelings and very aware of Brennan’s history, fears and tendency to run away at least emotionally from anything like this. Booth is the one who couldn’t touch or kiss or say “I love you” to the woman he had come to love, except when he could frame it as a partner or “guy” thing.
January 3, 2011 at 11:41 am
Thanks! I’m glad I’m not the only one to be confused. I’m quite willing to buy that both of them are aware of the attraction and struggling with it, but if it’s only Brennan, then I’m lost in terms of what’s going on with Booth from very early on in the series. Unless…I’m not where I can check the ep, but maybe GG was emphasizing ‘struggle’ rather than ‘aware’ – that both were aware, but Booth didn’t fight it? Is that how people understand it, I wonder?
January 2, 2011 at 4:43 pm
If I remember correctly from the pages and pages of arguments over this question back when the episode first aired, the key to whether people thought it was Booth or Brennan has to do with the language GG used.
In the beginning, I’d say at least 80% of people thought GG was talking about Booth, but as the season(s) have worn on, people (including myself) have been converted to thinking he was talking about Brennan.
GG says “one of them is acutely aware of the SEXUAL ATTRACTION between them and struggles with it daily.” The key words here are sexual attraction – GG doesn’t say anything about FEELINGS, only physical attraction. If you go back to watch the first season again and include the pre-pilot ep. 100, you can see how Brennan is physically attracted to Booth. Booth is attracted too, but he wants more than sex from her – he has feelings for her and it carries through the seasons, so obviously so that this is why most think GG was speaking of Booth. The thing about Booth though is that he knows of his feelings. He is aware and struggles too, but I’d argue that it’s more from the emotional aspect rather than sexual attraction.
Brennan, on the other hand, would be fine with a romp in the sack but doesn’t want anything emotional. She shuts down her physical response to him pretty quickly, so much so that she almost refutes it, but it’s still there under the surface. She’s been attracted to him from day 1, but she knows that if she were to pursue a physical relationship that Booth would want an emotional one as well. This is why, ultimately, I and others think that Brennan is the one Wyatt was talking about. She’s acutely aware of the physical attraction she has towards Booth, and she struggles with it daily because she denies it to herself and everyone around her. Perhaps only when she’s at home, late at night lying sleepless in bed, would she ever actually acknowledge attraction, and even further her feelings.
This, of course, is all interpretation prior to Season 6. As to their feelings this season? Well, it’s all out on the table now, isn’t it. 🙂
January 4, 2011 at 1:04 am
Ange –
You got me thinking about this again. I had a bunch of car time today and, as so often happens of late, I spent that time thinking about Bones and composing posts or fanfics in my head. So, I was composing a post in response to you and I did the thing that so many people seem to be doing these days: convincing themselves of the opposite of what they feel or believe re: Bones. (I’ll give my main example later.) I ended up convincing myself that I now agree with you about GG meaning Brennan.
Here’s my thought process: I was thinking that even if it’s about sex, Brennan could still stick it in a compartment and then it wouldn’t usually bother her on a day to day basis. Whereas Booth would be constantly bothered by the desire to touch her, etc. There was something in my thought process about because Booth wants both pieces, sex — or rather lovemaking — and emotions, he must struggle with it constantly. Brennan on the other hand has only to deal with the sex (not lovemaking piece), and we know that she’s pretty good at separating the emotional out and seeing sex as just the satisfaction of biological urges. My assumption, based on my own extraordinarily limited experience, is that viewing it as just satisfaction of biological urges makes it easier to control. The reason is that, if all you want is another warm body, you don’t become as attached to that warm body as you do when you are also seeking an emotional connection. (My evidence here is the great gift of menopause. When the biological imperative goes away, sex with no emotional connection no longer has much attraction, so one becomes far less concerned with finding a mate. [read: sp*rm — apologies if that offended anyone. If it did, read up on evolutionary psychology.])
And, that’s when it hit me, Brennan knows it can’t just be about biological urges with Booth. He wants it all and that’s the piece that terrifies her: the emotional connection and commitment. If she and Booth could just “have sex,” then there’d be no problem. It wouldn’t have to contaminate the friendship/partnership; i.e., they could stop having sex, but the underlying friendship and work relationship wouldn’t be affected. But, she and Booth can’t just “have sex.” They would have to “make love,” and she knows that, at least subconsciously. If that didn’t work out, the friendship/partnership would by definition be affected and would have trouble surviving.
And, here’s what made me realize that she does struggle with this daily. As Brennan might say, “Here’s the evidence.” The “guy hug.” BTW, this proves what a genius Booth is regarding people/his Bones. Brennan is leery of hugging/being hugged by Booth because 1) she might become too dependent on the need for that physical contact and 2) hugs (even “guy hugs”) have emotional content. She seeks hugs from Booth (or, rather, Booth makes himself available for hugs), when she needs comfort — not when she needs sex. So, for Brennan, Booth hugs (doesn’t that sound just delish ;-D) are fraught with danger. So, she literally tries to keep Booth at arms length. She fully understands what any contact could do to her.
I hope that made sense. It was a real light bulb moment for me.
Now I have just managed to do what so many shippers have been doing lately: convincing myself of the opposite of what I feel/believe about something about Bones. I have been amazed how articulately upset shippers have been in convincing themselves that the pain and angst B&B are going through is actually a good thing. ;-D
January 2, 2011 at 2:16 pm
This has to be in my top 5 B and B moments of all time. I’ve seen it a thousand times. It’s just perfect. You’ve said pretty much everything, so I’ll leave it at that. 🙂
Oh, and Happy Gilmore is on TV right now. Is this an omen? I’m going to say yes. 😛
January 2, 2011 at 2:20 pm
That was such a beautiful post. I know this because beautiful posts leave me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the last line…especially the fact that it’s said as the screen fades black. I would pay to hear the rest of the conversation!!!! By the way. Don’t you think that when Booth and Brennan are “in the zone” together…they tend to switch lines sometimes? Like here, Seels mentioned that Brennan said “stuff”. Remember in “Santa in the Slush” after the smooch…Booth says “I don’t know what that means” and Brennan uses “stuff” again. How cute!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
January 2, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Beautiful scene study Sarah. Thanks.
I keep coming back to this line: “And they are both laughing and loving it. She says, ‘You’re going to make me fall.’ And he replies. ‘I’m never going to make you fall. I’m always here. Are you kidding me?’
Post Doctor in the Photo it seems that perhaps he did make her “fall” after all (in love with him that is. Ha ha, I know that sounds corny, but it’s true). And yet, even though at times it seems like he’s left her, he hasn’t. Not when it really matters.
I don’t know. It’s confusing and ironic, and heavy with meaning, and really very painfully beautiful…all at the same time.
January 2, 2011 at 2:46 pm
Hi,
I love your posts and look forward to reading them everyday after work like a little kid.
Today when I was reading this post I had a little epiphany. I’ve know that Booth tells Brennan things he doesn’t tell anyone else (about his father, Jared, his fears as father, his past as a sniper, etc). When I was remembering some of these gems, I thought of the first time WE saw him open up to her. At the end of the Pilot episode, Booth tells her he wants to catch as many murders as men he has killed as a sniper. Initially, she is classic Brennan, being literal and questing his belief in a cosmic balance sheet. Then she looks at his face, sees that rejected look and gets it, GETS HIM! Then she says “I’d like to help you with that” -completely serious. In that moment he shared something that I would bet no one else knows. Then she accepted him and even offered to help. And I think that is the beginning of this ability to share their inner thoughts. He knows that she doesn’t say things to be polite, she only tells the truth. So when he opens up and she openly accepts him -he know that it is honest acceptance. So in the Fire in the Ice, when she tells him he is made of very, very good stuff. He know it is the truth!! (Does that make sense to anyone else?)
Now I am trying to remember if he has shared any of these little tidbits since the 100th episode. I will have to go back and re-watch them all 🙂 I know he hasn’t shared any of these inner demons with Hannah (I do wonder if it is because he shared all of this with Brennan and she rejected him).
Now that Brennan has dropped her bombshell, I think it will make the next episodes interesting. How is he going to process that information? Who is he going to tell? Hannah? Sweets? Cam? I’ll be watching to see!!
Thanks again for making me think more about the characters. I love the show, but am a science person, so I think I miss a lot of the psychology. That is why I am addicted to your posts!
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January 2, 2011 at 4:26 pm
the scene studies are definitely my favorites of all bones theory posts! You have such an awesome way with words. The alternate conversations showing what they are really thinking and maybe wishing they could say are spot on! Love this episode, these scenes and this post. I agree with you that Booth is basically an optimist. He greets life with joy and that is very endearing to Bones and to me.
January 2, 2011 at 4:46 pm
great post. You’re a great writer!
January 2, 2011 at 4:47 pm
*SIGH*
I love, love, love this episode, and this has to be one of my all-time favourite B&B moments! It’s just too perfect, yet imperfectly-perfect, like you outlined. You have this gift of bringing a ridiculously huge grin to my face while simultaneously giggling like a fangirl.
LOVE and THANKS.
That’s all I really have to say. 😀
January 2, 2011 at 6:13 pm
There’s a scene in the episode that shows a father with his son. The son looks like a dead ringer for Sweets when he was a boy. Wonder if anyone else picked up on it. 🙂
Overall the episode was very good. The ice skating scene at the end was more improv than scripted. perfectly done. 😀
January 2, 2011 at 8:24 pm
YES! I totally thought that was Sweets when I first saw the episode!
January 2, 2011 at 6:40 pm
First off, I love your scene studies. They just rock my socks off! Second, I totally just watched this episode two days ago. But, ironically enough, I watched it to see Booth in a cast. My goodness, that man is attractive even with a broken hand. Makes me swoon. Well not really.
I love this scene too. It’s so cute and so… relationshipy. I think I’ll watch it again. Thanks for these Scene Studies. I love ’em!
January 2, 2011 at 7:14 pm
Seels, I love how you remind us of the “real” B&B-how close they were, how we hope they will be again. I loved this episode when it aired and it’s still one of my favorites. I think they did everything right from beginning to end between them in this one. When the angst and sadness get to me from S6, this is one of my go to episodes. Thanks for a great play by play.
January 2, 2011 at 8:34 pm
I love waking up to these posts! What a way to start my day 🙂
This has always been one of my fave eps – and even though I’ve never really analysed why, I can see now that it is the ‘potential’ that comes from it. There’s flirting, and smiles, and sharing and closeness and physicality that just makes me gooey inside. For me B&B could have made it from here…at around this stage they could easily have become a couple.
I can’t help but link this ep to an earlier discussion about innocence. At this point they are so sweet and innocent. They screened the Passenger in the Oven here in Australia last night and I could say the same about that. The flirting, the final scene eye lock (*fans oneself*). It was so simple back then. I know that some have had issues with S4…but for me it is a sweet, innocent fun season. Once Booth had his coma dream, we all spent so much time watching his reactions and analysing them that it was hard to get as innocently excited by them as we can with the skating scene in this ep.
I do wonder – will we ever see this again? In my mind B&B will end up together, eventually, but I can’t help but think that the sweetness and light has passed and that when it does happen, it will be more serious, more permanent, less of a shock as it may have been at this stage of their story.
January 2, 2011 at 8:44 pm
reply to self
Oh! and I loved the idea of them having crushes on each other! Brennan does look beautiful in this ep…
January 2, 2011 at 8:38 pm
I really love this scene study. Every time you do one you really do make me rethink what I thought were my favorite B&B moments. Thanks for your time in pulling these scenes apart for us less observant watchers — it really takes the enjoyment of this wonderful show to a whole other level.
Also, if you need some robots for your MST Bones watch — I’ll gladly volunteer 🙂
January 2, 2011 at 8:42 pm
Another wonderful scene study! You are so good at these. I love that you said the scene on the ice felt very natural and is likely that ED and DB were given lines and a more free reign with their performance. It definitely feels like that while watching and I love all the little glances and gestures. I am definitely going to rewatch this one tomorrow.
January 2, 2011 at 11:22 pm
Fantastic scene study! Thank you so much for this. I’m just grinning at my computer screen.
Those two! Brennan is just so, so pretty, and Booth is just… well, shirtless Booth is always welcome!
To me, this ice skating scene is beautiful because of its innocence. Let’s face it, there are other ways for Brennan to keep Booth company and awake all night. (I can think of one in particular… ) 😉
Which leads me to consider your recent post about innocence being lost – I have to say I agree that it has. When Brennan and Booth are skating together, they’re like any young couple. Each touch – from hand to arm to waist – is the furthest they’ve ever been, physically. (Well, technically that’s not true for these two.) Each conversation – possibly each line of dialogue – binds a couple closer than they were before. But eventually, every true couple reaches the point where they know one another completely, both physically and emotionally. So forgive me for going off on a tangent that actually belongs in the comments for an earlier post, but reading this scene study made it so clear to me that where we are now – halfway through season 6 – innocence is lost because of what Booth and now Brennan have made known to one another.
And that’s why I love this scene. It’s why I love looking back at when my own relationships were this innocent. Innocence is beautiful. But it’s fleeting. It never lasts, it can’t. But there are times when once the innocence is lost, something even more beautiful remains.
January 3, 2011 at 1:10 pm
Happy New Year! Kids back to school, guests finally gone-only the tree still remains (and the needles everywhere that will last until September)-so back to my Bones obssession. Could you have picked a better scene? No way! (Although I say that about every one…) And what a great study-I’ll be smiling all through the kids’ homework. Such a sweet episode, definitely a high school romance vibe to the whole thing. And it showcases one of my favorite Booths-alpha male Booth! The way he beats that guy up (terrible for me to like that I know, but if Cam likes it too it must be ok); the way he uses his charm smile on Perrotta; how intimidating he is with Sweets; how he cuts off his cast; all the slamming on the ice…too awesome. And in the midsts of all this, how incredibly gentle and vulnerable he is with Brennan at the end-swoon!
All the sharing he does with Brennan is why they work, and why ultimately he won’t with Hannah. I’ve always gotten the impression that all the bad stuff he keeps bottled up inside himself is what’s made his past relationships fail; there’s a “keep out” sign that is obvious to all who get near and which ends up sabotaging any relationship he’s in. The sign allows his vulnerabilities to be hidden from the world; if people don’t see his fears and weaknesses then he’ll be safe from judgment. Only it doesn’t work that way. At some point the women in his life will witness the intensity, the demons, and are going to need to know more. When the information isn’t forthcoming all they’re going to hear is “I don’t trust you enough to share” not “if you see my wounds you won’t like me.” Brennan is the only person he has consistently and voluntarily shared personal stuff with. I agree that this started with the pilot. Because he knows that she never says what she doesn’t mean her acceptance of him in the cemetery, the real him, gave Booth the freedom to further reveal himself to her, albeit very slowly. That, and her own initially reluctant sharing with him of her own troubles. Their mutual desire to be known and accepted by the other makes their relationship special and is why I’m confident that they will find their way back to each other. I don’t see anyone else giving Booth what he needs, mainly because he doesn’t want acceptance and love from just anyone-he wants it from Brennan. The unconditional trust they have in each other, so evident in the scene you picked, is the strongest evidence of their love-and this hasn’t really changed in S6, even when their circumstances may temporarily have.
January 3, 2011 at 1:46 pm
Sarah, you have just made me enjoy this scene so much more than I ever have. I have always felt like I have been in the minority with this scene because everyone loves it so much and I always thought it was to, I don’t know, *obvious* about things. It lacked the subtlety that usually accompanies B/B moments. I liked it as a whole – especially the exchange between the 2 regarding Brennan not wanting to work w/any other agent and Booth sharing his Lucky Luc hallucination info.
But the part of “I’m never gonna let you fall.” ? For some reason, that felt too overt. I am such a big fan of “showing not telling” that this line disappointed me.
But, the way you break this whole scene down . . . I think I can love it after all.
And, well, to be honest, my 2 favorite scenes from this ep:
1) the wave and smile you mentioned . . . love love love
2) “Your people? We’re Booth’s people”
Which are neither here nor there with this episode . . . 😉
January 3, 2011 at 1:53 pm
I meant neither here nor there with this particular scene (not episode). ..
But, aren’t those 2 bits perfect “showing”? So much to glean from a 10 second action and a single coordinated line from Wendell and Hodgins . . .
January 4, 2011 at 10:00 am
Your scene studies are always great, I love them! There are just 2 thing I want to add. 1 – Cam always cracks me up at the beginning when she makes a comment about maybe enjoying the hockey fight ‘a little too much’ – HA! 2 – I’m always a little surprised at the end when Brennan knows what Booth means when he uses the term ‘my old man’…I think the fact she doesn’t call him out on that term proves how important the conversation is to her 🙂
January 4, 2011 at 1:24 pm
I have but one beef with this. If the key wasn’t hers, why would she use it at all? He was home. She had no need to take his key, he could’ve just let her back in when she got back. Just sayin’. 😛
January 4, 2011 at 4:18 pm
You’ve got to get into the building before you can get into the apartment itself. In a big city like DC, the building’s front door is always locked.
January 4, 2011 at 5:12 pm
Booth could have a doorman. 😛
I’m not too concerned about it, actually. 😛
January 4, 2011 at 5:33 pm
It’s a silly detail, but remember he lives over a liquor store or some such establishment and it doesn’t seem very posh, so I’m doubtful about the doorman. ;-D LOL
January 4, 2011 at 3:18 pm
You forgot one of my favorite sections – Brennan and Perotta talking about Booth’s sparkling eyes and Brennan informing her that the pupils dilate unconsciously with sexual interest – go back and watch the skating scene again – there is a very obvious scene showing Brennan with HUGELY dilated eyes – not a mistake I’m sure. : )
January 4, 2011 at 4:17 pm
thank you for another excuse to go watch that wonderful scene again!
January 4, 2011 at 10:53 pm
I hate that I feel I can never catch up on your posts, so forgive me for being a little late on replying to this one.
I LOVE this episode. The end of the episode was absolutely adorable. I loved how comfortable B&B were with each other. Perotta annoyed me to no end, but thankfully she was just another pretty face who tried to come between B&B.
I loved your insights on this episode, guess next time I watch it I will have to pay closer to attention to the scenes.
Thanks Sarah! Love your posts!
January 6, 2011 at 8:20 am
This episode is probably one of my favorites as well. It was just on t.v. last night so I rewatched which was probably good to do after I initially read this post. The scene at the end is one of my all time favorite B&B moments. It is so innocent and I agree, probably mostly improv on the part of DB and ED.
I think everything else has already been said but thanks for another great post!
January 7, 2011 at 5:21 pm
Hello!
All I can say is that, I LOVED this post and I LOVE this scene!!
Thanks!! 🙂