Good morning!
Do you remember that one time (or the few times) when Brennan stated she didn’t ever want kids of her own?
And then there was that brief moment in time when she wanted Booth’s baby. (It’s so brief it’s almost not worth mentioning.) And then she says she’s not good with kids.
For a while now, I’ve been thinking about Temperance Brennan and kids. Together. In the same sentence. Then as I looked at the evidence, I realized that Brennan is actually much better with kids than she thinks. Than anyone thinks.
I’ve chosen one moment from each season to show to you that Brennan is, in fact, good with kids. At least, she’s good with kids in her own way. So what do you say we take a brief look at the evidence, starting with season one.
Season One: The Boy in the Bush: Shawn Cook
We see a very vulnerable, very emotional Brennan in this episode. It’s actually rather impressive when you remember that this is the fifth episode of the series EVER. We get a glimpse of Brennan’s life in foster care and how that shaped who she is. We see how she reacts to Shawn Cook. She is open as she describes the foster system and her experiences. Shawn can relate and he throws his arms around her and sobs into her shoulder. Brennan just holds him close and lets him cry.
So maybe this wasn’t exactly the most positive way for her to relate to a child. But I think it’s a huge step in the growth that Brennan experiences throughout the series. Brennan isn’t one for physical affection (yet anyway- she hasn’t touched Booth’s arm or experienced a ‘guy hug’ at this point) so for her to so willingly accept a child’s hug is pretty monumental. Even if this moment isn’t what would normally be classified as a ‘good with kids’ moment, I still think it’s a big deal in the journey that is Temperance Brennan. What do you think?
Season Two: The Girl with the Curl: Dance class
Here’s a moment when Brennan is left alone with a group of little girls and she’s left to her own devices. She pulls out a picture of her on a dig and starts discussing anthropology. If any of those girls knew who she was they’d probably be dreaming about becoming the next Temperance Brennan.
She’s on the floor, sitting cross-legged, talking about how the little pageant girls have a Darwinian pressure they can’t possibly bear. She takes a chance to get down to their level, in her own way, to teach them something. And they respond to her in a relatively positive way. SIDENOTE: I think it is incredibly adorable when Booth comes in and lifts Brennan off the floor by her armpits.
And then the little girls moon over his big muscles. His deliciously big muscles… Ha ha. Sorry, got sidetracked right there. On to the next one!
Season Three: The Baby in the Bough: Andy
The Baby in the Bough was such a surprising episode for me. The interaction Brennan has with baby Andy was such a surprise. A pleasant surprise that is. She becomes guardian of a baby boy that no one wants. His mother is dead and his dad is a crook. Does that sound familiar to anyone?
Anyway, at first, Brennan is her usual stand-offish self. And then it seems, as with the other two scenarios, when she’s alone with Andy she warms up and starts to be more open. Take the phalanges moment in the car. She crawls over the front seat and she’s talks to the baby as she would an adult. And when Andy starts fussing, as in Girl with the Curl, Brennan is left to her own devices. Thus the phalanges. And it works. Andy stops fussing and he responds to Brennan and her phalanges.
By the end of the episode, we see how much Brennan (and Booth) really did connect with baby Andy. Brennan finally got a taste of baby-ness. Could this be what essentially spurred Brennan’s random baby-hungry phase in The Critic in the Cabernet? What do you think? Was it because she could see Booth’s reaction to “our little guy”?
Which came first? Brennan wanting a connection with Booth or wanting a baby…and Booth was a good option? Thoughts?
Season Four: Critic in the Cabernet: Baby
Remember that one time when Brennan wanted Booth’s baby? Oh, I said that already? Well, even with me mentioning it twice, it feels like we’ve discussed it more than the show has! Yeah, it’s safe to say I feel like that little storyline sort of fell into the water. But that’s not the point. This scene is so brief, but I thought it counted as a ‘good with kids’ moment so I included it.
Brennan actually offers to hold a baby. Of her own volition. That kind of blows me away. The previous examples have been situations that were thrust upon Brennan. This is the first time that she actually volunteered to interact with a child in any way, shape, or form.
As I said before, it’s a brief moment. There isn’t much interaction between Brennan and this baby. No phalanges or talking or anything super cutesy. It’s just Brennan, with this look on her face. Talk about cute! What is going through her mind at this exact moment, do you think? What is going on in BOOTH’s mind?
Season Five: The Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: Parker
I know Parker has been in Brennan’s life since he entered the scene in The Man in the Fallout Shelter in season one. Despite the fact that he’s been around for awhile, we’ve never seen really good interaction between Parker and Brennan up until now.
Booth is so nervous about bringing up the topic of his love life with his son around. Brennan, ever pragmatic and level-headed, suggests Booth just ask Parker why he thinks Booth needs a girlfriend. Of course Booth, ever the prude (gentleman), really doesn’t want to talk about it. So Brennan asks instead. And Parker responds honestly and without any hesitation. It’s obvious that Brennan doesn’t intimidate or seem ‘cold’ to Parker.
This is just such a great scene. Booth, Brennan, and Parker sitting in the diner eating lunch after a long case. It’s obvious that Parker likes Brennan. He calls her awesome after all. Okay, okay. He calls her awesome after she gives him a key to her building so he can use her pool. But that is beside the point. The POINT is that Brennan was able to get him to open up and reveal why he wanted his dad to have a girlfriend. She was upfront, forthright, and honest with Parker, thus rendering her ‘awesome’ in his eyes. And I think she blew Booth away too. But it isn’t really hard for Brennan to blow Booth away, right? It’s sweet when he also calls her awesome.
Season Six: The Body and the Bounty: Prof. Bunsen Jude, the Science Dude’s TV show
Brennan is presented an opportunity to go on with Professor Bunsen Jude, the Science Dude , on his TV show. She says no at first but after a discussion with Booth where she basically states that she’s not good with kids and Booth argues by saying people can evolve, she starts to consider it. Angela helps by convincing Brennan that she has the chance to give little girls everywhere a dream. (That may not be verbatim or even what Angela said but that’s what I got out of it.) How can Brennan deny a chance to let children see how fun and cool science can be?
By the end of the episode, we have an opportunity to see Brennan totally out of her element. That’s not something that happens very often. And despite the ridiculous outfit, the kids are eating it up. Talk about a role model. She doesn’t have personal interaction with kids but she still does a great job at interacting with them. Oh and her outfit. What a corny and ridiculous outfit. But Brennan looks so cute and sweet in it as she does the song or slogan or whatever it is. And Booth can’t take his eyes off of her. I feel like this episode gives us a glimpse at the pre-100th episode Booth and it’s so fun. Okay, I’ve kind of gone off track again. The point is, here’s how I feel about it:
I know that there are a more examples throughout the series of Brennan interacting with kids. Take her step-nieces for example, or times with Parker, and what were those baby-Brennanite-girl-science scout-types? The Woodchucks? And I certainly could have gone into greater depth on some, if not all, of them. But I felt that these brief moments in the series were just great examples and showed how Brennan really is around kids, despite how she thinks she is around them. I think her biggest issue when it comes to interacting with kids is that she really doesn’t know how to take them. She’s repressed her own childhood memories in an effort to cope and focus on her work. This coping mechanism is what makes her so distant and cold around adults at times.
There are moments though, when we see the truly warm hearted person she is. Whether it’s being generous with her money, her time, or her expertise, she has her moments. The previous examples I gave are times when Brennan has been open and willing to show her vulnerability, whether she knows it or not.
So, in conclusion, I think Brennan is actually pretty good with kids. She may not feel like it but she has a warm and giving heart, but as Booth told her in The Critic in the Cabernet, she’s going to be a good mom (someday).
So what do you think? Do you think Brennan really is good with kids? Or are these moments that we’re given to settle our minds over Temperance Brennan’s outward coldness? Do you, like me (and like Seels!) REALLY want to see this storyline developed? What’s your opinion? What do you think is Booth’s opinion?
Discuss, discuss, discuss!
Bones Theory 
January 6, 2011 at 7:38 am
I loved your article cuz first i always thought this about Brennan. Not because i’m totally in love for her but cuz if you really pay attention on Brennan you can see how she’s AWESOME with kids. When i say this i mean she never treat the kids like the other adults treat. She’s always Honest with them ( Parker) and i think this is one of the reasosn he likes Brennan. Brennan can’t have not clue about her abilities with kids as she always haven’t about many things in her social life but this abilities is there. All this episodes show that and Booth knows this mostly after the Critic in the Cabernet. He knows how wonderful mom she’ll be. And like we saw Booth want be involved, he wants be the baby father of the Brennan’s baby. Love this article mostly too that we can glimpse how beautiful will the the Booth and Brennan’s life together.
January 6, 2011 at 8:10 am
I agree, Brennan is really very good with kids. She is honest with them and that is what kids value most when dealing with adults. I think she would be a terrific Mom. My favorite child scene is from this year (The Twisted Bones In The Melted Truck):
Parker: We saw a lion pee for, like… ten minutes!
Brennan: That would be physically impossible. An adult lion’s bladder when full can only hold approximately fifteen hundred milliliters of urine. The bladder would completely empty in 37.5 seconds.
Parker: She says weird stuff like that all the time. She’s cool.
Hannah: Yes, we’re friends, actually!
Parker: She knows everything. Watch this! What animal farts the most?
Booth: Hey, hey, hey, hey.
Brennan: The termite. Because of their diet and digestive process, they produce as much methane gas as human industry. But you can’t hear them.
Parker: Isn’t she cool?
Hannah: Very.
Parker: We can go to her house and go swim. She can do a cannonball!
You’ll notice that Hannah was quick to tell Parker that Brennan is her friend. I feel Hannah is sort of trying to capture Brennan’s popularity with Parker and trying to get some of it to rub off on to her. (Just a thought) Parker has decided that Hannah is Ok; but, Brennan is Cool.
January 6, 2011 at 8:40 am
I agreee that she is good with kids, even though she may not think so. I’m anxious to see how she is with Jack and Angela’s baby and to see if it brings back the storyline of her wanting her own child…
January 6, 2011 at 8:55 am
O.k. first, let me tell you, I love that someone wrote about this. As someone who has been working with children for years I have always loved the interactions between Brennan and the kids who have been on the show. For someone who is thought of as outwardly cold at times, I think the moments with kids are some of her most innocent and unguarded moments on the show. You made some excellent points and pointed out some of those best moments!
Season One: I think this moment actually was a positive way for Brennan to interact. No, she wasn’t a counselor and didn’t try to fix everything for him but she did get down on his level and when he needed a hug and a shoulder to cry on, she let him. A part of her may have been thinking what do I do now? But you also do see the vulnerability and the fact that she identifies greatly with the foster child situation.
Season Two: I loved this scene in the dance studio! I think you are right, if those girls knew anything about anthropology, she probably would have become the idol of every girl in the room. This is Brennan, again, getting down on their level and having a conversation. Yes, it is a conversation about all things work related but it was a great interaction…and I think she felt pretty good when the girls were all commenting on Booth and his muscles and she was the one to leave the studio with him!
Season Three: Dancing phalanges! This is one of my all time favorite Brennan scenes! She starts the scene wondering what to do and when it works, I think she is rather proud of herself and realizes she can interact with kids, especially babies! I do believe this may have been when she started feeling like she wanted a baby of her own.
Season Four: It is a brief moment but it was filled with so much. We see Brennan volunteering to hold a baby and does anyone else think she looked so natural doing it? Even happy…
Season Five: I love the interactions between Brennan and Parker. I thought it was great how she just came out and asked him why he wanted his dad to have a girlfriend. She can be very honest and very direct but in this case, I think it definitely helped her relationship with Parker. And yes, the key to her place to use the pool helped I’m sure but how could he not find her awesome?
Season Six: Brennan is so darn cute in this scene at the end of the episode. She had the initial resistance but I think once she got started, she found it was kind of fun and why not be silly in front of a crowd of kids? She got to make science look “cool” and even a bit silly but like you said, the kids are totally eating it up and Booth…pre-100th Booth is a great way to describe what we got to see a glimpse of…although I could have done without him having some random girl on his lap…thought it would have been more natural for Parker to have gone with him.
Someone mentioned it already but I absolutely laughed out loud at the scene between Parker and Brennan in The Twisted Bones in the Melted Truck!
Thanks again for writing this! Brennan does have a warm and giving heart and I think we see it in a very innocent way through her interactions with kids.
January 6, 2011 at 8:56 am
I do agree that Brennan does well with children, I think she can relax with them more when other adults aren’t around. Maybe because she doesn’t feel so much that she’s being judged on what she’s doing? Now I don’t know if she’d be someone’s first choice as a babysitter because after your child has spent time with her there is no telling what they’d say next week at church! 😀
I think children tend to like her because she does treat them like people. She’s honest with them and answers their questions. Even the teenagers in Twisted Bones appreciated that she treated them like adults instead of like juvenile delinquents. When she finshed talking to them they seemed to have a different attitude toward her than they did when she first walked in; more of a she’s cool we won’t reduce her to rubble kind of attitude.
I do think she’d make a great mom. Her child might not be like all of the other kids though. Can you imagine the things they might tell the teacher in preschool? They’d also probably be likely to correct the teacher. 🙂 But watch her with Andy and not only the dancing phalanges, but when she blew the raspberries on his neck. She’d play with them just as much as she’d teach them things.
One of the things I liked about the scene you described in Neighborhood was when she started to ask Parker about why he thought his dad needed a girlfriend Booth was very nervous, but she just told him to trust her, she was confident. I just liked the way she did it.
January 6, 2011 at 9:18 am
Brennan touches Booth’s arm at the end of man in the suv to comfort him without being told to do so. When you look at S1 you can see that Brennan was better (I’m not saying perfectly) balanced between her emotion and her reason and all of that slowly disappeared in the course of the show.
Maybe Brennan doesn’t think she is good with kids or in general with people because she has been told numerous time that she is not, is inadequate even though a lot of people often welcome her honesty, they still tell her that she is bad with people, Booth can be quite harsh/rational too.
Brennan didn’t need anyone to know how to comfort Angela on a personal level in skull in the desert. During boy in a bush she immediately saw that Angela (and Zack) was having a hard time, she was not clueless like she is now (crank in the shaft), and it is Angela who refused her help and wanted to deal with it on her own. When other characters, like Angela and Booth, want to deal with their problems on their own nobody complains, but when Brennan wants to do the same, some people complain that she is irritating with her hyper-independence of needing nobody. Angela is promiscuous before Hodgins, just like he is, nobody complains, she is a free-spirit, he is a man, Brennan sounds promiscuous because of her rationality, people complain.
Brennan confided in Stires and showed herself vulnerable to him, and did with Goodman too, and with Angela and then Booth.
I think she was just fine, with flaws of course but still better than most people, in S1/2, maybe too fine so they destroyed her character making her slowly more and more clueless, hyper-rational and literal, back then she was not that literal and never was called ‘hyper’-rational, she did sarcasms and understood them. And then comes S4 since when she is literal at least once per episode in almost all the episodes…
Ok my rant is off-topic I’m sorry, it just needed to get out, but I feel some people are to quick to compare Brennan with S1 Brennan (who is supposed to be the worst Brennan) without remembering how she really was in S1, and are also prone to have a double standard for Brennan and Angela/Booth. Again I’m sorry, and of course this is my opinion, it sounds like I think I’m stating facts, but I don’t pretend to have the truth, I could be wrong all the way of course. 🙂
January 6, 2011 at 9:44 am
Booth may have a fear that Brennan is not good around kids because Brennan was the one that allowed Baby Andy to play with the key that he ended up swallowing. Booth is very protective of his own son and we have seen him interact with other children in a very loving and considerate way (The Boy In The Shroud, The Baby In The Bough, The Woman In The Car). Brennan is very good with children and his fears are groundless; but, that is just Booth being Boothy. I think the gang at the Jeffersonian is just afraid of what Brennan will say to a child. They saw her inter-action with the Woodchucks and her bluntness in this particular instance did not win her any friends amongst the girls. They did see her inter-act with Baby Andy; but, they didn’t see how she played with Andy. They didn’t get to see the sweet inter-action between Brennan and Andy.
January 7, 2011 at 9:31 am
“Brennan was the one that allowed Baby Andy to play with the key that he ended up swallowing.”
See, here I don’t blame Booth but the writers, I don’t think that would have happened in S1 or 2, Brennan so clueless that she doesn’t know you don’t let small objects around babies, it was contrived, it couldn’t have happened to Booth cause is a very careful dad and it couldn’t have happened the rescue people, so that leaves Brennan.
As for the woodchucks I’m on Brennan side, they were wrong to do what they did and Brennan is not here to pleased them, they could have totally ruined the case. And that’s why I like her character, she tells things the way they, are most of the time, things that need to be said, sugarcoating is not good in the long run, and is not an hypocrite, most of the time. By telling people the truth she actually shows them respect by thinking they can handle it, otherwise, protecting them from it, would be belittling, thinking they can’t handle it, which is why some people complain that she lies to Booth in proof in the pudding (whether she did lie or not is not the point here, these people thought she did), they like when Booth protects her from the truth or else, but they don’t like when she does the same cause he is supposed to be the strong one of the 2, the protector physically and emotionally (gag). On the other hand some complain when she tells him an harsh truth about him, reproaching her to be insensitive… I guess they are both too extreme, Brennan by thinking everybody is strong enough to handle to truth and Booth by thinking they are not and he has to protect them.
Sometimes it’s more people’s reaction that irks me than Booth or Angela attitude, it is the fact that they are most of the time on their side, so I tend to think it is the side we are supposed to be on, the side the writers are on, especially since so far it is mostly Brennan who is adopting the others’ beliefs and changing (gag)… I would like to see Brennan rebel sometime 🙂
January 6, 2011 at 9:40 am
“Dancing Phalanges”…sigh, I love that scene, and I think it shows one of the many ways Brennan is so wonderful with kids. Here’s hoping the baby storyline will be addressed at some future date. And I know that Brennan will never utter the words “I don’t know how I would feel being a woman one day, then a mother the next. And that is all I will rant on about! Sorry…..
January 6, 2011 at 9:50 am
Before I respond to the post, there’s something I have to get off my chest…HH, please, please, please, please, please, please, PLEASE bring the Brennan baby storyline back!!! Okay, now I feel better.
Nice post Nicole. I agree, Brennan is much better with children than she thinks. I really only have two things to point out/add to the list.
1. I am always impressed by the way Brennan relates to the foster kids in The Boy in the Shroud. Yes, they’re teenagers, and not children, but I still think it’s relevant. I’m talking specifically about the runaway foster kid they found with the victim’s sunglasses and the victim’s girlfriend. Just as with Shawn Cook, their shared identity as “foster kids” is what makes the difference. She feels a fierce need to protect them and in return, they feel safe enough to open up to her in a way they don’t with Booth.
In fact, I thought it was interesting how Sweets is the one who talked to the former foster kid (the bartender) in The Shallow in the Deep and not Brennan. It’s a discussion for another day, but I wonder why, if Sweets spent time in the foster care system, we haven’t seen more bonding between him and Brennan because of it.
2. I always saw the scene in The Critic in the Cabernet as Brennan’s attempt to prove to (or maybe reassure) Booth that she could be a good mom. She picks up the baby because she’s crying and loooks at Booth almost triumphantly when she successfully calms her down.
January 6, 2011 at 1:05 pm
And Booth later says something along the lines of “You really liked holding that baby, didn’t you?”
January 6, 2011 at 11:18 am
I’ve worked in church and school classrooms and at summer camps for years, and one thing I’ve noticed Brennan does that other adults often don’t do is to get down on the kids’ level. Not necessarily talk like them, but to actually get eye contact by kneeling or bending down to talk with them. She did that on multiple occasions (Shawn Cook, the dance class, and many Parker scenes). I definitely think Brennan is much better with kids than she thinks herself, and than others think (I also think that this happens in other capacities with Brennan’s character, too). She also asks great teaching questions with the kids (and, by the way, interns) in some of the episodes as well. I don’t think everyone else has caught on to what is going on, but I think Booth is starting to get it (with the science show).
I definitely think that this needs to be explored more. And I just want to see Brennan work with kids.
January 13, 2011 at 7:33 pm
I always thought she was a great teacher to Zack in S1 and S2–then the writers seemed to drop that for a while. I may be imagining things–can’t recall specific examples–but it seems she has begun to bring some of that back to her interactions with the interns in S6.
January 6, 2011 at 2:32 pm
If the writers returned to this storyline I would worship them for life…seriously, the whole ‘I want your baby’ thing came way out of left field, and then they never returned to it. It’s just so….arghhhhhhhhh! LOL
I think Brennan is great with children…but no one else thinks so. Angela, Booth, Max etc. They all tell her how bad she is with them…they may qualify it with a ‘but you’ll be a great mother someday’ but still….you can’t blame her for thinking she’ll suck! LOL
January 6, 2011 at 2:48 pm
I have ALWAYS thought Brennan thinking she wasn’t good with kids is rubbish! She’s great with kids! It’s funny, whenever they’ve had her interact with a child on the show, they’ve always portrayed her as being able to connect with them on some level, sometimes better than anyone else. (Read: Sam Cook, Kelly Morris from Boy in the Shroud, the teenage kids from Melted Bones) I just wish she herself could see that and that others would encourage that in her, particularly Booth (but I’m kind of frustrated with him right now, so I’m good with it being someone else!).
It kills me when they make it sound like she’s not good at things that she’s clearly demonstrated an ability for in previous episodes, particularly when it comes to interrogating people, but that’s a nitpick for another day. 🙂
Hopefully with the Hodgins baby storyline this season, we’ll get to see more of Brennan and her maternal instincts as she helps her best friend Angela along the way to motherhood. I’m really hoping the writers take this opportunity to bring back the whole “Brennan wants a baby” storyline back.
January 6, 2011 at 3:27 pm
I’ve never considered Brennan to be good with kids. I enjoyed your article, but I still wouldn’t agree Brennan is great with kids. I’d say that Brennan isn’t great with people in general, but there are certain people she gets along with or just certain times where she knows when to do/say the right thing. I think that’s the same thing with kids. She almost sees kids to be at the same level as adults and does not treat them like they’re children, which works out most of the time for her. For example, she didn’t understand the whole point of lying to kids around Christmas about Santa Claus and in general she doesn’t always understand issues Booth is trying to explain to her about Parker. I don’t think she alters her behaviour or anything to interact with kids rather than adults, which doesn’t really make her good with kids in my opinion.
I’d like them to mention the baby storyline at some point though. It’s really annoying how they ditched it because it seemed so OOC in the first place.
January 6, 2011 at 8:16 pm
Great post! This is a very good issue to discuss. I especially liked Brennan’s interactions with Russ’s stepdaughter when she was reading to her in the hospital and when she tells Booth she learned about cankles in the Girl with the Curl. Even though she doesn’t have a lot of interactions with kids on the show, there are many times when her thoughtfulness and concern are evident — planning for Andy’s guardians, helping find the kidnapped child at the end of Mastodon, helping to make Christmas for her family in Santa in the Slush, etc. I would like to see more story lines where she interacts with children successfully; especially with Parker. The more opportunities she gets, the more confidence she gains. I especially liked in Critic in the Cabernet when she says she would love her own child and Booth says he knows.
January 7, 2011 at 1:53 pm
With you on this one. However, you didn’t mention “You like spatial disorientation, don’t you?” One of my all time favorite Brennan quotes.
January 8, 2011 at 2:48 pm
I remember one of my college professors talking about how Shakespeare would use minor characters for whatever purpose he wanted to, not minding if it sort of ‘cheated’, meaning that the minor characters could be used as plot devices more than characters, in order to push the story along. Also, he was writing plays, meaning they would be acted, and he was cognizant of the fact that the companies performing the plays would need to pay actors, etc, so it made sense to utilize one or two minor characters for various storylines.
Long-winded explanation to say that I resent when Brennan’s character/characteristics are sort of ‘used’ and abused to make her seem like a flake (same with Booth) or inconsistent. She is good with kids, then she’s not any more.
One of my teaching mentors once told me that Brennan’s character started to get more ‘less aware’ after Zack was gone; but not because of a character development, but because that sort of ‘clueless’ character was gone in Zack and so Brennan’s character had to make up for the loss, and I agree with her. It bummed me out 🙂 Hahaha.
All that to say, I COMPLETELY agree that Brennan is good in her own way. And I think Booth knows that, loves that, wants that. Will Brennan let him? that is the question.
January 17, 2011 at 8:35 pm
“One of my teaching mentors once told me that Brennan’s character started to get more ‘less aware’ after Zack was gone; but not because of a character development, but because that sort of ‘clueless’ character was gone in Zack and so Brennan’s character had to make up for the loss, and I agree with her”
I thought about that too, Zack had become extremely rational toward the end, that hyper-rationality went with him, that’s when Brennan became so weird. I think verdict in the story is the first episode shoot after the strike, they already knew that they would get rid of Zack, and I think that’s the first time Brennan was being qualified as hyper-rational and not just rational. Like I said she seemed to me better balanced before, her brain and heart weren’t struggling that much (yes most of the time her brain was leading but she knew when using her heart was really necessary), but since verdict in the story, we see her struggle way more to know what to follow, brain or heart (verdict, hero – I mean, would Brennan have hesitated in S1/2 between capturing GD and saving Booth? Would she have needed Angela to decide to put Booth first? I don’t think so. People who thinks she lied in pudding also think it was the first time, she didn’t hesitated one second to lie to the FBI in killer in the concrete to the point that Angela was shocked), I think it was also a way to have her something to deal with in the rest of the show since they thought they would only have 2 or 3 seasons, so they had to find potential issues to deal with, I think it is also supposed to be comical even though it makes me cringe each time…
Now some may argue that she become more rational because of all the things she went trough since the beginning of the show, the crime-solving part of her job now, Stires’ betrayal, her mother’s death, having killed people, Sully, Zack, Booth’s fake death etc… I always thought that it was contradicting, Brennan becoming more emotional less rational while having atrocity being thrown at her all the time.
But what is really surprising for me is that a lot of people think that Brennan is better balanced now, that she is more emotional now, more normal, she has come so far, she has grown so much, or they think that she went back to her robotic self in S1 since S4 when she never was that robotic in the first place, and I think was more normal back in S1 yet still awkward but better balanced, well at least IMO, I could be wrong.
January 17, 2011 at 8:38 pm
“She is good with kids, then she’s not any more. ”
She is good at interrogation, then she is not anymore. And so on 😦
September 22, 2013 at 3:51 pm
I am constantly looking online for ideas that can aid me. Thank you!