{Edit from Seels! So…the other day, I was talking with pal Smurfs on the phone and she was encouraging me that the things I was nervous about were ‘all good’. She was so convincing that I begged…BEGGED…her to put it in writing and let me post it on BT. She graciously agreed, and now she only has to fear that I will annoy her so much until she finally writes up that “Booth and Max are two sides of the same coin” post I’ve been annoying her about for weeks! So, it’s my pleasure to welcome Smurfs as a writer for BT, and I hope her words are as encouraging to you as they are/were to me.}
Good morning! I’m here to prove to you that what appears to be bad is not bad and that in fact, like the title says, “It’s All Good.” Ready? Here we go!
Bros before Hos
How is Booth going to Sweets for advice anything but good? Not only did he ask for his advice but he also went and sought the kid out in the FBI gym. (side note, how many other places do you think Booth looked before he found him on the treadmill? And how many mornings before that had he thought about doing the same thing but stopped himself?) As Sweets would say, this is totally an expression of how mega conflicted Booth is. If he were absolutely certain that he no longer has ‘those’ feelings for Brennan, there would have been no internal debate over telling Hannah what happened. In fact, I think he would have told her that night but instead, he waited and he agonized and then he went to Sweets – this is not a man certain of anything.
Talk to the Hand
I know it stings to see Booth and Brennan not relating to each other as we’ve grown accustomed to, to see them out of step and un-symbiotic but it would hurt 1000 times more to see them bantering and bickering like nothing had changed. Everything has changed and for once, they’re acknowledging it even if they’re not really talking about it. The lack of chitchat between them actually reinforces my faith in this ‘eventually’ because, as Sweets said last season, their partnership is paramount to both of them and that’s still true. If that were no longer true, they wouldn’t still be working together after all the pain and guilt and regret they’ve shared in the last year. Instead, they’ve made a conscious effort to continue on their mission, together, and I’ll take that over an argument about alligator’s genitals any day of the week.
That’s What She Said
Booth hasn’t been sporting his flashy, modern-day codpiece as of late and it has been the subject of many a hot debate. What are his reasons for not wearing it? Maybe it’s because Brennan gave it to him or it’s that the Ranger buckle is a nod to his recent time in Afghanistan or (and this is my personal preference) maybe it’s because he’s a man pushing 40 in a committed relationship and it’s time to put it away. Regardless of why, him not wearing it is a very good thing. For one reason and one reason only; who wants to imagine Hannah slipping that particular accessory off him?
Don’t Even Go There
Since the beginning of the season, Booth has only been in the Jeffersonian twice and has had very little interaction with anyone on the team outside of Brennan and Sweets. While this makes him appear aloof and a little jerky, it actually makes my heart hurt for him. He had to walk away from that world he built around Brennan for his own self-preservation, he’s currently a man without a country. As far as Booth is concerned, Brennan and the squints are a package deal – he can’t have them in his life without having her. And history proves that the more time he spends with her around her people, the harder he falls for her. If he wasn’t worried about getting caught up in that beautiful mess that is Temperance Brennan, he wouldn’t have to keep his distance.
Oh No, She Didn’t
Is the Brennan/Hannah friendship a tad odd? Yes, it is but it’s also an important step in the Booth and Brennan dance toward forever. For two reasons; one, Brennan gets to see firsthand that the things she thinks that can’t give Booth, Hannah can’t give either and yet he’s happy with her and two, Hannah’s relationship with Brennan keeps Booth off kilter which means he can’t ever really get settled with Hannah. He can tell Sweets that he’s ok with the situation until he’s blue in the face but the truth is, these women know two very different sides of him and he needs to keep it that way to keep on keeping on.
So what do you think? Is it possible that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself? Is it really “all good”? Let’s discuss!
Bones Theory 
January 31, 2011 at 7:58 am
What a great way to start the morning. I LOVE this post. It is most definitely all good. My favorite is picturing Booth hunting down Sweets in the gym. I think they made a point of him finding Sweets where we have never seen them before. Booth is seriously conflicted and kept looking until he found Sweets. I love it.
January 31, 2011 at 8:01 am
OK can I start off by saying, this sentence: For one reason and one reason only; who wants to imagine Hannah slipping that particular accessory off him? Why did you go there. I had managed to avoid even going there until you put the image in my head! :O
I do wonder though if they’ll ever actually say something about the Cocky beltbuckle on the show, and if it’ll come back once he’s moved on from Hannah? I’ve noticed it’s absence and have been more curious than upset about it. I just have this need for them to address it on the show. Of course that new buckle still might be considered a modern day codpiece, it may not be a flashy color, but it’s still not a boring staid belt buckle.
Anyway yes I can see that it’s good that he’s not exactly the same as he was before returning with Hannah. What you’re saying makes sense in that the changes in behavior can indicate that he is conflicted, which certainly does explain the way he approached Sweets (or the fact that he approached him at all) to ask about what he should do in regards to Brennan and Hannah. He’d really been trying to keep Sweets away from anything regarding those two women until that point. The fact that he went to him about it shows his level of confusion.
I do also think that of the rare times we see Booth become defensive and giving any hint that he may not be as sure of his feelings is with Sweets. My thoughts is that it’s because Sweets seems to be the only one questioning it in any way (and even that’s not major because he backs off every time).
As far as his presence at the lab, OK I guess that explanation works, but it’s sad that he thinks he has to give up all of the squints to be with Hannah…and that seems to include Cam whom he’s known far longer than any of the others. What I’ve noticed in the past couple of episodes though is that Brennan is now going to the FBI and their new Briefing Center (Is that what it should be called?) to discuss evidence instead of Booth coming into the lab. I wonder if that will continue.
I actually don’t seem to be getting as upset over things like the belt buckle and Booth not being in the lab as others, I might notice it, but reading comments I have to say I’m not getting as worked up as some.
I do think there are signs in the show that Booth is not a happy and secure with Hannah, so totally over Brennan as he’d like everyone to believe. I just think that maybe they are making it too hard to see that, and I start wondering if I’m just seeing things that I want to see instead of what’s really there; shouldn’t they make it a little easier on us? I think if we could more clearly see signs then people wouldn’t be getting so disheartened.
January 31, 2011 at 8:08 am
This post is excellence itself! Thank you for the objective observation of all these actions. I, for one, tend to sympathize so much with the emotional consequences of the confessions we’ve seen that I have missed the obvious discord between what’s said and what’s done. I also love the idea that Booth has only kept in touch with Sweets… He’s their little duck 🙂 I’ve still held on to hope, but this pushes me through to certainty! Thanks for a great post!
January 31, 2011 at 8:37 am
I love this post! Peeps debate the cocky belt buckle, a lot. Brennan only replaced the original one as he blew it up. But he has been wearing it when he came back from Afghanistan and with Hannah. He only stopped wearing after epi 9, when Brennan confessed she made a mistake when she rejected him. That is puzzle, the correlation between the two.
January 31, 2011 at 8:44 am
You know, it didn’t even cross my mind that people might view the cocky belt buckle being gone as a bad thing until just a couple days ago. I guess sometimes I forget that when you’re communicating via the Internet, you can’t just assume that your feelings will be interpreted as clearly as they would in a face-to-face conversation. I like cocky and I hope it’s not gone for good (it really is “Boothy”) but I think the fact that it’s gone now is a very good sign. In fact, that was the one positive I initially took away from The Body in the Bag.
The bottom line is that a conflict exists and that’s a very good thing. I would be a heck of a lot more worried if Booth weren’t doing any of these things.
Great post brainysmurfs! Thanks.
January 31, 2011 at 8:44 am
I do miss Booth at thelab too but wasn’t he in 3/4 epis there, end of 6.1, 6.4 and 6.6. And the latest 6.11? Anyway, what I miss is the squint squad interaction with Booth, just the banter. Booth/Cam scenes, sigh, I miss those so much. But Daddy duck and Baby duck are a joy to watch so I am conflicted. There is only so much of Booth to go around! Sadly.
January 31, 2011 at 9:33 am
I’m glad you pointed these things out because I hadn’t thought of them. It makes my heart a little bit lighter and gives strength to my faltering hope. I also liked what you said about the cocky belt buckle. It’s been bugging me a little because Booth isn’t wearing it anymore and people are upset because Brennan gave it to him. But… he had one before and it got ruined (or sometihng to that effect) and Brennan gave him a NEW one. So she gave him something he already had before. I liked your theory about how he’s pushing 40 and in a committed relationship. That sits better with me.
Anyway, thanks for this awesome post! Made my day. 🙂
January 31, 2011 at 9:35 am
“What she said!”
Hahaha – well, I think many know where *I* stand with everything – I love the evidentiary analysis that Smurfs brings us! Hooray!
I am unfazed by the Cocky belt buckle – although, with the way attention has been brought to it throughout the show, I cannot dismiss the obvious symbolism behind it – but, it does not worry me in the least.
I appreciate the attention you bring to the Sweets-Gym thing – because I found that some folks were unexpectedly upset by that whole locale – I figured that it was really just a way of showing this new comraderie (okay, spell-check does not like this word – how do you spell it? Or have I just been making this word up for years?), but Smurfs gives a good follow-up for it (although, it will still upset mate Laffers in other ways, if I recall . . .)
One thing that I’ve been reflecting on recently is this idea that Booth so easily used “I love you” with Hannah. I recognize that the 2 relationships are different . . . coming around to use “I love you” with a relationship built on friendship is different than one that stems immediately from romance . . . but even so, though I do not doubt that Booth loves Hannah (really – of course he does), when you love someone with the intensity that gets you nervous to use the words because you know how meaningful they are, that signals to me where Booth’s heart truly lies.
How does this translate to it all working out? I don’t exactly know (except for that faith, thing) – because the fact that we haven’t seen any soul-searching, revealing conversations between Booth and Hannah could be deliberate – or it could be a time issue. I think right now I lean towards “deliberate”, although I confess that I would be happy seeing one of these conversations between Booth and Hannah to see if Booth reveals or becomes evasive. However, I’m pretty sure that won’t happen.
So, a comment that I intended to merely be a “right on, sister!” turned into more. I am amazed at how much I adore this show and these characters.
A parting note – a song that reminds me sometimes of a couple of characters I am writing about, but also Booth and Brennan . . . it is by a Christian group, but like many religious songs – they can be interpreted for many different purposes – (just listen to U2 carefully sometime . . .). Anyway, this one is so much like a love song, too . . .”Born Again”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fw9EDKGHTU
January 31, 2011 at 10:01 am
You make a good argument, smurfs, but I won’t go there just yet. Sorry.
In this whole upsetting year, I have come to one conclusion: if I have no hope, I won’t be disappointed. I’m tired of having to micro-analyze to find the good. I’m just tired, exhausted.
I hope that you are right and I am wrong, but I know that that way disappointment lies — or has for nearly an entire season. (There were five or six eps after 100 and we’re up to 12 this year; that’s 17 or 18 eps — only 4 or 5 short of a full season.)
Think of me as channeling, Brennan: you’re evidence is anecdotal and obscure, too boot. And, I’m sealing myself off from more hurt. ;-D
January 31, 2011 at 10:07 am
@nicole Thank you, some of the shippers are driving me crazy over the belt buckle. It is Booth’s, it was his idea, his choice since season 2, Brennan only replaced it. *sighs*
January 31, 2011 at 10:48 am
Thanks Brainy Smurf, for your post! Very uplifting.
Booth has carried his “Guilt” of not talking to Hannah around for a while. He told Sweets that Bones confide to him a while ago. This is a good sign that he has not moved on, because as you have said, he could have told it right away to Hannah. Now also I noticed when he finally told Hannah, after she said:”She loves you?”He said: “loved”. I see this of a sign of protecting Bones and put Hannah at ease, but at the same time he was also concerned for Bones and told Hannah to go easy on her when they talk.
There are so many other signs that he is not over Bones, even when he told Hannah, whatever feelings he had, they are gone. If he was over her, why would he still be working with her after Episode 9 that would only give stress to his happiness.
Yes I also feel very sad, that he lost his “Family” at the Jeffersonian. They are his friends. Who else is there for him except Sweets and Hannah?
The Beltbuckle, it is interesting that he stop wearing it after Episode 9, maybe one day we will find out.
This is just a question I have, not related to the post. “I don’t know what this means?”What did Booth imply when he said at the end scene of the “Bullet in the brain” “I just did not want to let anyone down?
and he looks at Bones.
January 31, 2011 at 11:43 am
This is for the B&B fans who only see what they want to see ~ ~ BOOTH HAS WORN HIS COCKY BELT BUCKLE SINCE EPI 6.1 ~ ~ HANNAH HAS REMOVED COCKY BELT BUCKLE MANY MANY TIMES. ~ ~ Read it. Deal with it ~ ~ Not aimed at anyone here or the writer, GREAT POST by the way ~ ~ but at the twitter fangirls who are gloating that this isn’t the case. They live in DENIAL. Now I feel better. Thanks
January 31, 2011 at 1:09 pm
Booth is more fragile emotionally than Brennan. In actuality, Brennan is teaching Booth about love.
Consider his history of childhood abuse, days as a sniper, being a prisoner of war, and gambling addiction. He may have seemed like a white knight, but this season has shown how much emotional baggage he is carrying around.
(Look up the definition of man cave in the book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.) Booth went into his man cave to escape his emotions after Brennan pushed him away because she was scared during the 100th. He locked his emotions down to survive. You see that in the acting. He begins to withdraw. Getting rid of the cocky belt buckle is one of those signs, amongst the many others that people have noticed.
His relationship with Hannah was another withdrawal tactic, which he is clinging to. Since epi 6-9 and Brennan’s confession, Booth is now CONFLICTED. He now has to face that she does love him, (and we are not talking about a “you know only certain things about me” kind of love like he has with Hannah). The Bullet in the Brain had Sweets explaining Cognitive Dissonance. That is what is happening to Booth. (Look up the definition of Cognitive Dissonance.)
He will come to the correct conclusion by epi 13. I am sure of it.
Just remember, Brennan has been teaching Booth about love. For some reason, we easily see when Booth teaches Brennan about love and melt. If you go back to their first case together, you see how Brennan has been teaching Booth. That is what this season is about, even if it has been painful to watch.
January 31, 2011 at 1:38 pm
Oh, I love that you brought up the cognitive dissonance – and isn’t it great how the writers blend their themes – subtly and sometimes not so subtly? Excellent theme and topic to explore!
January 31, 2011 at 1:23 pm
OMG! I am so glad that Seels convinced you to post this. Everything you said makes so much sense! I never thought about it like that before. This is why I love Bones Theory, it seems like every time I start to feel like everything is falling apart on the show I come on here and there is a post that just renews my faith and makes me feel like everything is going to be right again. 🙂
January 31, 2011 at 1:32 pm
Great post, as usual. Smurfs is right in that the things that grate on us the most now (the lack of in-your-face B&B chemistry, Booth’s absence from the lab/squints, and so on) are the things that NEED to exist in order to show the importance of the crossroads we (and the characters) are fast arriving at. If B&B were acting as they usually do, we’d all be climbing the walls shouting about how unrealistic it was for them to ignore the proverbial “mastodon in the room”.
That said, realism hasn’t been easy to watch, and subtle hints like the ones Smurfs cites above have sometimes left me wondering if I’m inventing things to make myself feel better. So, here’s to hoping that we seem some blantant signs soon, for our viewing sanity if nothing else.
Another poster above mentioned what I considered to be a very important hint in last week’s episode-Sweets explaining the concept of “cognitive dissonance” to Booth. It was a perfect summary of Booth’s state of mind-two conflicting beliefs can’t ultimately coexist within one person. That, to me, was the ultimate hint that hope and faith are soon to payoff.
January 31, 2011 at 1:40 pm
I like Booth in the FBI building set, so I’ve been OK with him not being in the lab. Actually, I love that new set. One of my favorite parts of Bullet in the Brain, actually. I like it because BONES isn’t just about Brennan, Booth, the Squints, and the Lab (my favorite set still), but the FBI, too. It’s the other half to the group that’s sometimes put in the background, but is important, because it is where the cases actually come from, as we are reminded in the 100th. I wish they could play up the FBI/Jeffersonian issues like in s1 again, those were great, and I think important to the story. And I’ve always wondered where Booth fit into the whole FBI scheme of things. Now we know.
There isn’t really much I can add, because I agree with all of these points. Thank you. 🙂
January 31, 2011 at 2:27 pm
You know? I think it IS all good. Maybe not to be as enthusiastically spoken as Sweets’ all good, but still, on the whole…yeah. I’d say so. Hurts like nobody’s business in its’ goodliness, sure, but I guess that’s the price I (slash we, though I don’t really want to generalize anybody!) pay for getting invested in a stinkin’ TV program, haha!
Very, very good points, here. It’s VERY good, at the very least, that Booth is getting advice from somebody. I love Sweets, so I’m good with him getting his advice from him. I miss it coming from Cam or Gordon Gordon (or, you know, Brennan) sometimes, but I guess that’s just life. It is kinda sad when you think of him not being around the Jeffersonian in that light…it’s his own decision, though, and it’s kind of hard for me to feel too bad for him.
As for Brennan and Hannah’s friendship…okay, I’m not exactly socially adept, but I don’t see why it’s weird. They’re two strong, independent, fierce ladies who love Booth. Sure, sure, if I found out my SO’s partner made a move of some sort on him, we’d at least have to discuss it a little more strenuously than “I would have done the same thing”, but I’m not the one who’s gotta write these things. Not my problem to come up with realistic ways of hashing out issues, and if they tell me that’s realistic, arguing isn’t too productive. I’m okay with that, myself. However, I just keep getting more and more happy not to see the cocky belt buckle. Thanks for that. *g*
It IS all good, I think. Technically speaking, at least. Definitely doesn’t FEEL good (Rabies shots don’t feel good either, but if you get bitten by a coon who’s foaming at the mouth…), but in the long run? …oh. Hey. Can I add in my pllleaaaaase for that Booth and Max post? I’d love to read that! S’il vous plaît? Por favor? Bitte? Le do thoil? I can go on. 😉
February 1, 2011 at 10:43 pm
Oooh, can I second the Max and Booth post??? The Max-and-Booth relationship seems so untouched sometimes, and yet it’s one of the ones I want most to see discussed! Especially having just had a big Max episode. I was so happy to see Max–I’ve missed him. 🙂
Also, um, great post, haha. Nothing to add! Fantastic points, all.
January 31, 2011 at 2:47 pm
Booth and Brennan are consummate professionals who place high value on their mission and jobs. They’re both good at compartmentalizing their feelings…protecting themselves…but as we’ve witnessed, those looks they still give each other mean that neither one of them is totally comfortable after all that’s been said and done. No matter what’s happened, they still need to be near each other. And this is good.
When I realized that Booth stopped going to the Lab, it just meant, to me, that he wasn’t, because it’s Brennan’s territory, and the only reason he went there in the first place was not so much to be involved in the crime-solving process as it was to be near Brennan…because, as we’ve seen recently, Booth doesn’t really need to be there in person. He communicates via other means, which work just as well. So…there’s no reason for Booth to be there…not now.
Removing the Cocky belt buckle was just the last thing Booth thinks he needs to do in order to sever another connection to Brennan…to get over her, but that was the only thing she’s ever given him, and it must have significant meaning for Booth – and be the most difficult to let go of. I personally hope Cocky returns. 🙂
Sweets ‘ insistence that Booth talk to him about Hannah and Brennan is his way of getting Booth to face the situation that Sweets knows is bound to be a source of conflict for Booth, even if Booth won’t admit it. Sweets doesn’t really push too hard, but he keeps planting the idea in Booth’s mind that he needs to step back and assess what’s really going on and be honest about his feelings, hoping that one day Booth will confide in him. It’s like he’s setting the stage and letting Booth be the one to approach him when he’s ready. Until Brennan’s confession of regret, I think Booth was pretty much ignoring Sweets, but afterwards…that changed everything, and Sweets’ plan begins to work…Booth seeks him out.
Booth finding Sweets in the gym, not waiting until they are somewhere private, shows that Booth has to deal with this – right now. It’s been eating at him for days. It’s very difficult for Booth to reach out for help, so asking Sweets for advice speaks volumes on how conflicted he is. If Booth was secure in his relationship with Hannah, and he was really over Brennan, he wouldn’t be asking Sweets to give him a pill to make the guilt go away, and he wouldn’t hesitate to tell Hannah. Even when he tells Sweets he doesn’t love Brennan anymore – and to stop bringing them up – it’s just to make Sweets stop bugging him. Despite what he SAYS, he doesn’t ACT like a confident man in control of his feelings.
Booth can remove all the “evidence”…like the belt buckle…stop going to the Lab…but he can’t get Brennan out of his mind and heart, not after what she said. That has to be seriously messing with his mind. And that is a really good thing
January 31, 2011 at 3:03 pm
You’re right….I know you’re right….but it just feels so wrong with all the angst. I miss my B and B!
January 31, 2011 at 4:12 pm
I agree with everything you said Smurfs, and the optimism and faith and general over-worrying that us fans do made me smile and laugh a little.
People ask for more blatant signs of confliction, and sure the writers could shove some really obvious ones in our face, but I’m happy with “cognitive dissonance” and the signs above that we all over-analyse. If it was too obvious i’d probably be more upset, i mean B&B didn’t really sing their emotions out for the world to hear before when they were “together”, they ain’t gonna start now!
Meanwhile, until that destined day I’m going to believe that no Cocky is not a complete bad thing, and hope that we see Booth in the lab some time soon. I’m going to love the Daddy Duck/Baby Duck interactions, miss the constant banter and bickering and cringe slightly at the Hannah/Brennan friendship – but i’m never going to lose my faith, baby 😉
January 31, 2011 at 4:20 pm
I loved this! It’s so inspiring and very to the point. I’d never really thought about any of these things and love how you put it all together. My favourite was the point about Booth and Brennan not relating to each other. I’ve never thought about how angry we’d all be if they just went on and pretended like nothing has changed their relationship. Thanks for the great article.
January 31, 2011 at 4:54 pm
I agree with many others who found this to be an uplifting post. The only thing that continues to baffle me, more so than the missing belt buckle and Booth’s non-presence in the lab is the Brennan/Hannah friendship. I appreciate your take on it, that it’s a way for Brennan to gather evidence about being in a romantic relationship with Booth and for Booth to realize on his own that perhaps what he has with Hannah isn’t genuine. Although it’s not all good as I see it, I’m slowly getting there. Thanks again 🙂
January 31, 2011 at 5:34 pm
I agree. Imagine if HH followed the whims of his fans – impossible to do it is true that people do have differing opinions on how things should go. The Brennan/Hannah friendship I’m not really upset about. But maybe for different reasons. I think Booth is what brought them into the same sphere, but I don’t think he’s really the basis of their friendship now. Basically, they like each other and are friends in spite of…the situation (for lack of a better description).
January 31, 2011 at 7:23 pm
I do think it’s odd that Hannah and Brennan are friends, odd to the point of even stretching credibility.
I suppose I can see Brennan thinking that there’s no logical reason for she and Hannah NOT to be friends, since Brennan has no intention of doing anything to disrupt the Booth/Hannah relationship, and of course being Brennan she can totally compartmentalize.
I don’t know what Hannah gets out of the friendship though. Perhaps she’s just trying to prove to someone (Booth? Herself?) that she’s such a secure, trusting, woman that it doesn’t bother her in the least that Booth still works with someone he was so emotionally involved with. That makes me wonder if Hannah knows about Cam, and really, I think that would have been a very interesting way to go with the story, because in many ways Cam knows Booth even better than Brennan.
And what I really, really don’t understand is what Booth gets out of a Hannah/Brennan friendship. I don’t get why that’s something he would want to encourage and any reason I try to come up with doesn’t reflect well on Booth. He wants Brennan to know just how much he’s moved on? He feels sorry for Brennan because she doesn’t have any other friends?
January 31, 2011 at 7:35 pm
The thing I like best about Bones Theory is when the members of the online Bones community share their perspectives on the show and cause me to see things that I had not seen on my own. Thanks for pointing out what you did about Booth seeking Sweets out in the FBI gym. I didn’t get the feeling Booth just happened upon Sweets there. I hadn’t thought about how this could be a sign of a conflicted Booth.
The “Talk to the Hand” part – that paragraph is perfect! I have nothing to add. 😉
Thank you again, this time for providing some rational and perfectly plausible explanations for the recent absence of the Cocky belt buckle. Can we all just simmer down now people? You would have thought the sky was falling the way people have reacted to the change in the belt buckle. I actually like the new one – not more than the old one, but independent of it. Other people have pointed out that the new one isn’t exactly your standard-issue belt buckle either, which is true. Good point.
Of course, Booth is keeping his distance. Is it even possible to move on if you allow yourself to spend so much time in the world of the person you’re supposed to be moving on from? I’m ok with Booth keeping his distance from the lab and interacting with Brennan less than we’re used to. Sure, it changes the dynamic of the show, so season 6 doesn’t feel like season 2 or 3, but we’ve come a long way since then. The B&B relationship is still dynamic and evolving despite their limited time spent together.
The Brennan/Hannah friendship makes me uneasy, but I think Brennan needed to be aware of exactly how “moving on” turned out for Booth.
Love your little headlines – very creative! Great post!
January 31, 2011 at 7:40 pm
It has been stretched some, yes. We knew there was a Booth/Hannah and Booth/Brennan component to this triangle, but sometimes I wondered if we were supposed to be thinking about Brennan/Hannah, lol. I think Hannah does get something out of it. She gets a girlfriend in DC to hang out with, and she gets the opportunity to get some scoops on her boyfriend from his partner and close friend. Besides, I think they are friends in the looser sense of the word, not BFF’s or anything.
I don’t think that Booth thinks himself as getting anything out of their friendship. I’ve never heard him say a word to encourage or discourage it, and I think he chooses to stay out of it or else it would raise more questions. Can you really see him telling either one of them not to be friends or even friendly with the other? And they wouldn’t listen to him anyway, ha!
January 31, 2011 at 7:45 pm
Oh and the belt buckle…that’s not a new one. It’s the one Booth wore through most of season 1 and season 2 until the Cocky belt buckle arrived.
January 31, 2011 at 8:43 pm
you make some excellent points…i DO feel better…
February 1, 2011 at 12:22 am
Smrfs, I wish I had something more eloquent to say, but your post today made me smile all day, I just loved it and I agree with it all. Especially the point about the belt buckle. I think it is conspicuous in its absence, but totally makes sense in context. And I like the idea that maybe it’s showing a more mature side of Booth.
The many shots of our beloved Seeley J Booth (especially the side by side ones…) made me smile too. A lot. You just can’t ever have too much Booth.
So thanks for writing this, and I’ll add my voice to the choir of “you need to write about Booth and Max”. That thought had struck me at one point – that they have a lot more in common than either of them would probably like, and I’d love to hear your take on it. 🙂
February 2, 2011 at 11:09 am
I personally love the Cocky belt buckle. My wife bought me one for Christmas and I get complimented on it all the time. I think she got it from http://cockybeltbuckle.com I hope Booth starts wearing it again as it certainly shows his personality.
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February 5, 2011 at 12:49 pm
I agree with everything…except the first point (you know i had to…this is me!)
I adore the Sweetness, you more than anyone know how much i do. What annoyed me about the ENTIRE scene was the away Booth went about it. How could he discuss Brennan like that in such a public setting? In Sweets office, fine. In Booths office, fine. But in the middle of the FBI gym, where anybody could of heard? Not cool, and he shouldn’t have done it.
As for the belt buckle, i can confess that i assumed he no longer wore the cocky belt buckle because Hannah bought him the new one. Not sure why i assumed she bought it, i just did. As a reminder of their time in Afghanistan but…who really knows?! LOL
February 15, 2012 at 4:08 am
Great post brainysmrfs.
Booth only contacts Sweets about personal issues when he is desperate so he really must have been to talk to him about Brennan.
The gym settinf can be compared to the bar setting where Booth revealed it to Hannah. He must not have been thinking straight and just wanted to get it over with.
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October 22, 2014 at 9:23 pm
If Hannah is friendly with Bones she gets to keep her eye on Bones and make sure Booth doesn’t get pulled back in. Even viewers who don’t like Hannah have to admit she is portrayed as an intelligent woman who must suspect something is up between B & B no matter how much is said otherwise. Knowing your competition is a way of winning the game.