Please, darlings, do get down with your bad selves, because it is indeed…Brennan Week!
"Borrowed" once again with love from JennyJenWho
Confession: sometimes when a lot of people like a certain thing, I want to roll my eyes and pretend I don’t like it any more. This is a dumb trait of mine. Sometimes Judas on a Pole is one of those episodes for me though. I think…oh, a lot of people like this one, it’s…eh. And then I think, “No, it’s awesome. That’s why people like it. That’s why people like ice cream–you don’t think people who like ice cream are dumb do you?” Yes, these are the conversations I have with myself.
Moving on.
Obviously, we will be discussing the very end scene of this episode, but that will come in part two of the scene study (on Saturday), and for today, I want to sort of build up to the end scene with some snippets of other scenes in this episode. First off is a scene where Russ is visiting Brennan in her office:
“You’re sure it was him,” Brennan asks him, and Russ answers in the affirmative.
“He said, ‘You and your sister are in danger’ and then hung up” he tells her.
(Sidenote: I want a Max and Russ knock on the door and give Booth a really hard time for being with Brennan scene, followed by a Brennan is very annoyed by the men in her life scene. )
“I spend half my time with a sniper-trained FBI agent,” Brennan assures Russ. “I feel safe.” SWOON
“Tempe,” Russ tries to reason with her. “I know someone’s watching me.”
“What’s your evidence?” Brennan asks him.
“I can feel it on the back of my neck,” he replies.
“You spend some time in jail…you develop a sixth sense,” he adds.
“Maybe you should stay with me for a few days,” Brennan offers.
“Tempe, I have work.” Russ argues. “I have Amy and the girls,”
“What about your sixth sense?” Brennan challenges with a smile.
“Hey,” Russ challenges right back, also with a smile on his face. “You can’t not believe in something one second and then use it against me in the next,”
‘It’s a long drive,” she finally argues. “You could start fresh tomorrow,”
“And…I’ve got cold beer in the fridge,” she finally bargains and dangles her keys.
“No, don’t drink the Moroccan beer,” Booth strolls in. “It tastes like ear wax.”
Booth is then like, ‘How you doin, Russell.” First of all, I just love that he calls him Russell. It’s like ‘I am in charge of this room. Or at least, I am in charge of the men in this room’. It’s great.
Russ sort of clears his throat and is like, ” Good, uh…yeah…you?”
And Booth never looks away and is like “Yeah,”
Yeah.
Brennan tosses her keys to Russ, who catches them and leaves…
“I still make him nervous, don’t I,” Booth observes and then he sweetly abducts Brennan from her office. She does swat him on the arm for it, though, which is also awesome.
As the episode goes along, Brennan and Booth find out that someone really is after Russ, and Brennan listens to her brother when he says he wants her to meet one of their dad’s friends, Father Coulter.
They meet, and then over the course of the episode, she and Booth continue to work the case. Well, sort of. Booth gets kicked off of the case on the FBI side…but that’s another story 😀
Brennan and Booth find a major bloodstain in her apartment, and she’s convinced it’s Russ’s blood. Booth tells her not to jump to conclusions. She agrees and says he should stop letting her hug him when she’s scared. He tells her that if he gets scared, he’ll hug her.
Just when things are really looking grim, Caroline gives Booth a tip that Father Coulter might not be who he says he is.
“Well, first,” “Father Coulter” begins, “I want to tell you that your brother…is with his father.”
“You mean…” Brennan is horrified. “With God?”
“No,” Coulter laughs a bit. “His earthly father. Your father.”
“Are you certain?” Brennan asks.
“Saw it with my own eyes,” he replies.
“Oh, thank God,” Brennan breathes, and then clarifies. “Which I only use as a figure of speech.” Hahahahaha!
“Well,” he replies somewhat sardonically. “We have to start somewhere.”
“You know,” he continues. “You’re very much like him.”
“I’m nothing like my father,” Brennan disagrees.
“Black and white–the two of you. You always saw the world in black and white.” He argues. “Your mother wasn’t like that. Either is Russell”
Brennan grows with suspicion–either because she is not sure what is happening, or why this person seems to have so much information on things her mother said. At this point in the series, she would be suspicious of people who knew her mother, I think.
“Your father,” ‘the father’ continues. “Talked about when you were four. And your brother was nine…”
“And he hid behind this door and he jumped out at you.” They both smile. “Boo! he hollers. Boo!” and Brennan smiles at the memory or possible memory
“And you, you had this doll,” he continues. “This string in the back for talking.”
“Chatty Cathy,” Brennan replies.
“Wham! You took that doll, and you wound up and you hit your brother so hard you knocked him flat as a pancake. I said to your mother, ‘No one will ever jump out at that girl again’ and your mother said, ‘Just like you, Max. She’s just like you’ “.
“Hair color, plastic surgery,” Brennan lists off the modifications ‘Matthew Brennan’ has made to himself to hide as Max Keenan (or any other identity–now Father Coulter). “”Colored contact lenses, chin and cheek implants.”
“Fifteen years older,” she continues and then sits down. “Still…I should have seen it.”
Fascinating response from Brennan there. My take on this is that she feels as a forensic anthropologist, that she should have noticed his facial markers. Does that seem right to you at this stage? Or do you think it’s more along the lines of “I still should have recognized you as my dad?” I guess it could be both. Thoughts? But I think it’s interesting that she might be challenging her own professional skill at this level here.
Oh, and meanwhile, Booth is driving like a bat out of hell (in Caroline’s little Gremlin car!)
“Russ knew it was you all along?” Brennan asks Max, and now at least, it’s moved from professional to personal. I don’t think this is where she is wondering how Russ knew and she didn’t see it; this is her realizing that Russ has been lying to her. Remember in season three ( I believe) when she challenges him that all their family does is lie to each other (or something like that?)? I feel that same emotion from her in this scene. Frustration…annoyed at herself for trusting again, for going with her heart.
“Yeah,” Max confesses.
“You talk to Russ, but not to me?” Brennan wants to know.
“You know, to tell you the truth…” Max replies. “You do better without me, and Russ does worse.” Well, I don’t know what a daughter would do with that kind of statement! I guess assume that she’s not the kind of person who gets to have a family!
“Take this,” he offers her the Bible in his hand.
“I’m not religious,” Brennan refuses.
“No, we’re gonna play this your way. Please,” he asks.
“This is Gus Harper’s journal,” Brennan observes when she flips through the pages.
“There’s a key there that’s to a safety deposit box. In that safety deposit box is all the evidence.”
“Why didn’t you give it to them?” Brennan wants to know. “Back in 1978?”
“Because your mother took one look at this and said, ‘If you turn this over to them, they will kill us. And our kids’ ” Max tells her.
“They got Mom anyway,” Brennan comments, sadly.
“There’s not a day that goes by that my heart is not broken,” Max insists.
At that point, Russ drives up with presumably the getaway car, and Brennan is faced with the real reality that her brother and dad are working together or are doing something shady, etc.
“I gotta go,” Max says.
“Wait,” Brennan replies. “I can’t let you go.” She pulls him into a hug.
“I love you too,” Max tells her.
“No,” Brennan reveals. “I mean…I can’t let you go.” She tries to take Max down and handcuff him so that Booth can come get him, I assume. But Max pulls a fast one and handcuffs her to the bench. Sad.
“I’m sorry,” he tells her. “Listen to me. If you find somebody that you can trust…you hang onto him. You remember that.”
Russ calls for Max to hurry, and Max tells Brennan, “I’m proud of you. I love you.” Poor Brennan…what a whirlwind situation. She sees her dad (who doesn’t look like her dad), and he turns out to be just as not good as possible. He handcuffs her to a bench, gives her romantic advice and then says he’s proud of her and he loves her.
Just then, Booth arrives, and I have always, always loved the look on Max’s face when he sees this. No fear, first of all, but just… “Yeah.”
“You take care of her!” he ‘commands’ to Booth–which, we all know he already does and will, even if it isn’t ‘open season on Brennans’ as he said before 😀
“FBI. ” Booth pulls his gun. “Stop, or I’ll shoot.”
“Booth!” Brennan calls out–not wanting him to shoot her dad.
He lowers his gun and walks over to Brennan (and uncuffs her) . Meanwhile, Russ purposefully backs up into Caroline’s car. Ouch. But considering the rest of the series…we know Caroline forgave Booth 😀
Brennan watches Russ and Max drive away to who-knows-where.
Booth puts his hand on her shoulder…which to me is a notable acknowledgement of her saying ‘let’s stop hugging and such’ (well, she didn’t say that exactly, but still) and he says “Are you okay?”
Brennan nods, with a touch of resolution in her gaze. She has been okay, and she will be okay is what I take from that look in her eyes.
Meanwhile, Placebo’s version of “Running Up That Hill” begins to play, and we move to the final scenes of the episode. And that will be discussed on Saturday. But for now…what do you think of Max’s revealing his identity in this scene? Or how about him issuing responsibility for Brennan onto Booth? What is Brennan feeling as the scene/scenes progress?
Let’s discuss!
Peace, Love & Bones,
~S
Bones Theory 
October 20, 2011 at 7:48 am
I love how Max, even before Booth, was the one who “KNEW”:
“Listen to me. If you find somebody that you can trust…you hang onto him. You remember that.”
Just then, Booth arrives, and I have always, always loved the look on Max’s face when he sees this. No fear, first of all, but just… “Yeah.” —> That look on his face is like, hm… ok, Tempe’s partner is getting all fierce and protective about her. I get it. 🙂 🙂
“You take care of her!” he ‘commands’ to Booth.
I think Max has been a shipper just as long as we have. He has always had that sense that Booth is “the one” who can be an equal to, and love fully, his daughter. And that is fun to take an earlier episode and see that. You just know he was soooo excited to see them together like that in CitG! 🙂 🙂
Is it wrong for me to now ship Max and Caroline? Because I want to so badly! 🙂
October 20, 2011 at 7:55 am
There’s something about Max and Booth scenes that is just so awesome. I guess it reminds all the girls in the world of what it would be like if your boyfriend met your dad. But seriously, I voted Max as the “top shipper” in “Rock the vote” last year!!!
Max and Booth scenes next season are gonna be EPIC. EPIC!!!
October 20, 2011 at 8:05 am
Sarah, never feel badly about loving this episode. It’s an awesome episode. It’s very well written, jam packed with action and character development and not a scene or word wasted. SO MUCH happens: there’s an actual case for one, a complex, interesting case then getting solving the OLD murder too, PLUS finding out who Max is, PLUS Zack getting his doctorate/makeover/job offer PLUS Booth losing his job and the team banding together to get it back. When I summarize this episode, it’s hard to believe it all happened in 44 minutes, yet no subplot is shortchanged.
I adore this episode.
I love that Booth is well aware of the quality of beer in Brennan’s fridge, that she cheerfully acknowledges they spend half their time together, Booth in a small car is just something that always amuses the heck out of me and I always remember “I was pissed upon from a very great height” as one of the best throwaway lines. The very ending, with Max mounting the deputy director on a pike and lighting him on fire was creepy/scary/badass.
Oh, you had questions? Sorry.
I think Brennan is thinking “This is the story of my life. The people I love leaving me.” I think Max sees Brennan as most outsiders do (because at this point he is an outsider) and he figures she’s strong, she can handle it. I’m not sure we ever see him fully understanding how deeply she was hurt by her family’s abandonment.
Anyway, I see Max’s parting words to Booth as granting his blessing to what he sees as a courtship, albeit an unorthodox one.
October 20, 2011 at 8:31 am
Forgot to add…you didn’t ask what Booth was thinking in this scene but I think he’s appalled. Because…who does this, right? Her brother and father are both leaving her in the dust and she’s weeping on a bench and for Seeley “Weight of the Universe” Booth, he’s gotta be thinking this is partly his fault because he’s the one who went out and found Russ and traced the dolphin charm and brought these SOBs back into her life.
(I’ve come to love Brennan’s family, but I’m just saying, at this point in season 2, it’s fair to say Booth isn’t too impressed with the Brennan Men.)
We’ve all talked a lot about Booth having decided early on that he was going to be the one person in Brennan’s life who did not desert her and we can debate on when he made that decision but for me it’s this scene here. He sees her father and brother driving away and is just resolved that he’ll never be just another man in her life who drove off into the sunset without her.
And at the risk of opening a s6 can of worms…I don’t think he ever did. Not even in season 6. I think he struggled very hard to find a compromise between being there for Brennan without damaging his relationship with Hannah and I think “the one you love the most isn’t going anywhere” was him assuring her that no matter what their relationship was/could have been/became at that point, he would always be there for her in any way he could.
October 20, 2011 at 8:58 am
I totally agree with you about season 6. It took some time to figure out, and he needed some distance for that. But when Brennan said something about letting a person slip away, that made him sit up, and kind of gave him renewed vigor to not let that happen, and to start regaining some of their closeness.
October 20, 2011 at 8:37 am
This is one of my favorite episodes because, as Barbara said, there’s not a wasted word. The little gestures are also so telling– Max holds onto Brennan as he brings up the memory from childhood with the doll which is similar to Booth’s gesture when he asks her if she’s all right and later outside the diner when he tells her there’s more than one kind of family. Those are all gestures of connection, about family, and the whole episode is rift with those gestures– between the squints and Booth, Angela and Zach, Brennan and Russ, etc.. But despite all the connections that Brennan very clearly has, the one connection that when unplugged makes her still feel alone is that abandonment from her father. It’s a powerful episode.
The whole theme of trust is also threaded throughout and it is remarkable that Max– who knows his daughter well and doesn’t know her well– sees the white knight in a dilapidated car as the one she can trust. Max cannot know just how badly he hurt her, but he knows a thing or two about trust and sees the power that Booth can have in her life. He’s good at reading people– he’s had to be, I suppose, and he sizes up Booth quickly. (Later he doesn’t always read his daughter well, but we all tend to have blind spots when it comes to family.)
The other thing about the episode that makes it so incredibly powerful is the look of pain on Brennan’s face when she sees the truth of her father and feels the sting of being left behind again. This is someone who knows the sting of rejection because of how she is so different from the rest of the world, but the worst sting is to be left behind by the people who should love her the most. Even under the circumstances, it has to be devastating. She can justify why he did what he did both times, but it still has to hurt. And Emily plays it so well that if you feel her pain even on a repeated viewing. The anguish is evident and still gnawing at her outside the diner. I see her anguish on the bench to be comparable to her anguish on the steps of the Jeffersonian when she realizes how she’s failed Zach.
October 20, 2011 at 8:43 am
I think I maybe the only person who doesn’t like Max (& Ryan O’Neal) & to some extent this episode. Now don’t all yell at me at once lol .
I love the squint scenes & Caroline is just a hoot and a half! Well I guess I like most of the episode except when Max is in it.
I always felt so sorry for Brennan in this particular scene. The deception, the lies & hey, I’m your Dad oh and bye! Brennan just looks so sad & despondent. I know everyone will say he left to protect her but it’s still shitty behaviour & I can’t get past it.
ps. How hot is DB in this ep! *drool*
October 20, 2011 at 11:02 am
you’re not alone on not loving Max (or Ryan O’Neal).
And DB? It takes a special kind of sexy to look good in a Gremlin 😉
October 20, 2011 at 11:09 am
Totally agree about hotness, DB and the Gremlin. I can’t stop laughing about it, and I have an important interview shortly. What am I going to do? ;-D
October 20, 2011 at 11:13 am
Big guy + tiny car = comedy gold! I also loved seeing the Gremlin back in Harbingers. Caroline likes her car! She’d rather have it fixed than buy a new one.
October 20, 2011 at 12:17 pm
I miss seeing Booth in more casual gear, especially the FBI jackets and jeans. Yum! He’s wearing the green jacket in Judas that goes buh-bye after he gets shot in WITW. Booth is always a little agitated in a little car and agitated Booth is always fun and hot:) Booth likes his wheels and his FBI mobile for sure, anything less simply does not do.
October 20, 2011 at 2:45 pm
Not to take away from Booth’s hotness but I tell you that ED looks absolutely beautiful in this episode. In the beginning, when she wears that green top – I always thought she looked striking.
October 20, 2011 at 4:00 pm
Haha Natbor! It is quite okay, I think, to believe they both looked beautiful in this ep. 🙂 And I agree… her hair adds to it, too.
October 20, 2011 at 8:46 am
I have to admit I was a little disappointed because when I saw “Scene Study” and “Judas on a Pole” I just KNEW we were going to get the scene when Brennan meets Max and I just . . . oh, I just love that scene. The look on Oliver’s . . . I mean, Max’s face when he sees Brennan up close for the first time, it gives me a severe case of the warm fuzzies. He loves her so much, and he’s one more person who’s dazzled by Temperance Brennan.
For me, the last scene is all about Max being unable to keep his secret anymore. It wasn’t a slip of the tongue or a mistake. It was deliberate. He needed – NEEDED – Brennan to know he was her father. In my world, he’s been watching her from afar for years, staying away because he thought it would keep her safe and because she had built a successful life on her own. Russ would be more forgiving of Max and Russ would need Max more, to bail him out of trouble if nothing else.
I have some max love for some Max.
October 20, 2011 at 11:11 am
This essay keeps cracking me up: OLIVER! Ha, ha!
October 20, 2011 at 11:21 am
“Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
😀
October 20, 2011 at 1:24 pm
LOL what does that even mean, MJ? I cannot figure it out!! Because it seems to me that love, definitely ALWAYS means saying you are sorry! Or you may be out of love pretty quick!
October 20, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Love Story. Ryan O’Neal was Oliver Barrett….the Fourth thankyouverymuch. Go get yourself a box of tissues and watch it. He’s beautiful. She’s beautiful. It’s all beautiful.
Love love love that movie. He’s so beautiful. Maybe I mentioned that already?
October 20, 2011 at 11:27 am
OMG I totally forgot that was his name in that movie!
October 20, 2011 at 12:12 pm
I’m forgiving to Max too. I give credit to Ryan O’Neil (I’ve never been a huge fan of his but I do love me some Paper Moon) because that is not an easy thing to do, to turn a character who is a killer into someone you look forward to seeing on screen. I can see Max and Christine really trying to do the best for their kids under the worst conditions. I also agree that he watched Brennan from a distance. Yes, he caused her pain but I really do think he did it out of love. He really does want the best for her and for her to be happy. That’s why I personally like the scene in BITB when he talks to her about how he thought she and Booth would get together. I LOVE how he tells her she’s prettier and smarter than Hannah, such a Dad thing to say and do. No one wants to see their child hurt and parents see the best in their children. Tempe is a grown, accomplished, woman and he’s proud of her but to him she will always be his little girl. Even when grown children have adult problems – problems they may contribute to themselves and issues their parents may not be entirely privy too – the parent still wants to take that pain away.
October 20, 2011 at 8:51 am
Oh, Max. What an interesting character. I do love all the Booth and Max scenes we get because it is such an interesting dynamic, and I can’t wait to see the future ones.
Anyway, awesome episode. Poor Brennan. It really was a whirlwind of emotion for her. I did think it was clever how Max revealed himself. And then his reaction when Booth pulled up – priceless. Max loved his wife, and since he and Booth are kind of like two different sides of the same coin (has there been a post on this?), in addition to his people-reading skills as a con-man and a vested interest in scrutinizing those close to his daughter, I think that’s how he picked up on something about the way Booth treated his daughter. He probably saw something in Booth that reminded him of himself.
I’m nowhere an expert in psychology, but knowing Max and Russ, I think it makes sense that Brennan is drawn towards Booth. Like I said, there’s Booth and Max being two sides of the same coin. And, before this post, I didn’t realize Brennan and Russ where 5 years apart, like she and Booth. Hmmm. Russ was the oldest who looked after and protect his little sister, Booth was the oldest who looked after and protected his little brother. Brennan has become very independent, stubbornly so, but her hard exterior probably wouldn’t have formed if she had not had everyone in her family leave her. Before her world changed, she was in a family. A family that loved her, cherished her, and she was looked after. A part of her will always yearn for that. (Her interactions with Max always bring out the little girl in her, even to this day. Excellent job, ED!) And she even admitted that she missed Booth protecting her in Maluku, despite the fact that she would have been on his case about it if he was doing that while he was there. She automatically fights against being protected, but deep down she knows it’s a form of caring. She told Angela she missed people not knowing where she was all the time. We all know Booth has always been concerned about her well-being and safety, even when they were just friends. It may have been an order from Cullen at first, but it didn’t take long before he began to have his own reasons to do so.
October 20, 2011 at 1:27 pm
Hm….I’m loving the Booth and Max comparison. Methinks there could be a whole post about that 🙂
October 20, 2011 at 9:07 am
And now she gets to spend her whole time with our favorite FB! trained sniper, not just half-yay! What I love most about the Booth/Brennan men interactions is that Booth’s always in control; it isn’t your typical “dad meets boyfriend” scenario, because he sees himself as her protector and them as the people who can’t be trusted with Brennan’s heart. I agree with va32h. He’s got to be really ticked off at having brought these people back into her life only to see them betray her like this. That split second of indecision, when he debates whether to go after Max or stay behind with Brennan was one of the moments I believe we see Booth falling in love already. We know how he feels about duty, and for him to forsake his obligations and his sense of justice-all the things he holds dear- for his partner, well, its awesome to watch. In my opinion, Max and Booth only truly begin to reverse their protector/boyfriend roles in Change in the Game, and it’ll be a lot of fun to see how it goes from here, especially now that Booth knocked up Max’s little girl. Well, at least he’s finally dating her…
As to Emily Deschanel’s reaction to Brennan being left behind once again, truly, I’m glad the writers didn’t spoil that moment with lots of words. You didn’t need any, as far as I’m concerned-the scene speaks for itself. That Christmas Day when she woke up to a world without parents is evoked perfectly. Such a heart-wrenching moment to see her own dad handcuff her and admit that he stayed in touch with her brother but not her. Ugh!
October 20, 2011 at 9:28 am
I’m really interested to see how Max reacts to B&B having a kid but not being married…. Yes, he’s never been a real conventional guy but Tempe IS his little girl and, well, yeah. Can’t you just picture Max feeling fine after CITG, feeling something had changed between B&B and happy that maybe his daughter has some happiness with a good man like Booth. Then his suspicions are confirmed, they are together! yay! But then, BAM, like maybe 2 seconds later he learns he’s going to be a grandfather. Every Father’s dream, right? LOL. Even if Max knows his daughter and how she thinks, he has to say something, right? I mean he HAS to. And then, of course, there can be a sly dig in there about how traditional his family was – not! I do agree that Booth probably saw himself as the “protector” and not Max, the opposite of most father/boyfriend dynamics but….I don’t know… once a dad, always a dad. And Max would do anything to protect his family and was there for his daughter in her early life. Anyone think Max will offer to babysit and B&B will have to debate that one.
October 20, 2011 at 9:31 am
When he finds out, Max rushes to the FBI and catches Booth off-guard with a stiff right hook to the jaw!
Or, maybe that’s just my version of what happens. 🙂
October 20, 2011 at 11:13 am
MJ, I could TOTALLY see that scenario! LOL. Picture it, Brennan and her dad having lunch and Brennan tells Max that she and Booth are together and he’s just like, yeah, I knew it! and then in the next breath she’s like and I’m pregnant and Max is all….what?! I can see Max heading straight for the FBI building and at least getting all up in Booth’s grill. Booth’s face when he puts it all together and telling Bones that you just don’t blurt something like that out to your dad, geesh. Remember Max and Booth’s epic fist fight when Booth arrested him? So good.
October 20, 2011 at 12:32 pm
Can you imagine the first conversation between Booth and Max: “couldn’t you have at least taken her out to dinner a few times before knocking her up?” -may have to use that one in fanfic. Oh, the possibilities.To be a writer on Bones…
October 20, 2011 at 1:20 pm
It’s so easy to imagine Brennan being so matter-of-fact in the early days of her pregnancy. Like if Angela was like, WHAT! Huh? Really! and Brennan recounting Booth’s high sperm count and the science and probability, lol. “Couldn’t you at least take her to dinner first?” and Brennan interjecting, “Well it probably happened a few days before we actually went on a date…well we weren’t really going outside a lot…”
October 20, 2011 at 9:17 am
EPIC episode! I just learned recently that David Duchovny (aka Mulder from the X-Files) directed this episode. I can’t believe I didn’t know that! DD directed some fine episodes of XF so it makes sense and it makes me like this episode a little bit more:) I love Brennan’s vulnerability and conflict in this episode. She does love her family but is so conflicted because nothing is as simple as it seems. I love how protective Booth is of her in this episode and how he just doesn’t trust something about the priest and Brennan’s wayward brother. Max and Booth scenes are GOOD STUFF. Max HAS known about B&B. He speaks for the audience in BITB when he comes right out and say to his daughter that he thought she and Booth would “stop the nonsense and settle down”. Ah, Max. Every interaction between Booth and Max from that point forward – except for BITB – seemed to have a feel like a boyfriend/son-in-law and father vibe? Right? In BITB I kind of saw Max looking at Booth in the last diner scene before he parted and thinking, “ok come on dude, what are you doing? You’re still the nicest FBI guy to ever arrest me though.”
October 20, 2011 at 9:30 am
“He speaks for the audience in BITB when he comes right out and say to his daughter that he thought she and Booth would ‘stop the nonsense and settle down’.”
It’s true that’s what we always hoped. I’m not mad at him, but maybe it wasn’t his right to say that to her. I mean, part of the nonsense is those walls she built in the wake of his abandonment. Of course, she’s grown now, so she can’t just blame everything on her past, but she was left with some issues that damaged her view of relationships. Besides, Max doesn’t know the whole story, either. Booth asked for a chance, and she said no. You could just feel Brennan’s pain as she felt the weight of her regrets. So him saying that only reminded her of her mistake.
October 20, 2011 at 10:06 am
“Fifteen years older,” she continues and then sits down. “Still…I should have seen it.”
Fascinating response from Brennan there. My take on this is that she feels as a forensic anthropologist, that she should have noticed his facial markers. Does that seem right to you at this stage?”
This detail is SO interesting to me… because why on earth didn’t she see it? She can tell if a woman is pregnant just a few weeks in because of her “widening ilia” and her gait, she can see that Booth is a descendant of John Wilkes Booth (although, granted, she might have researched this), she can tell that the son in “Time Capsule” (or whatever that ep is called) is not the biological son of the wife’s husband (just from a picture) — why did she not know that this was her father? I’d like to think it is one of those many contradictions about a character that ED once talked about in an interview. Brennan is an expert, but unasked for emotions cloud that expertise. We see this frequently with her and I love it. It’s so authentic.
October 20, 2011 at 10:11 am
It was also so unexpected. I mean, why should she expect to see her father? Sometimes you don’t see things because you don’t know to look for them.
October 20, 2011 at 11:13 am
She is blinded by the people closest to her. She cannot see just how badly she hurt Booth, she cannot reach out and help Zach, she cannot see the truth of her father standing in front of her. As a forensic anthropologist, she is the best. As a woman, she has trouble seeing “her family”– it’s one of the reasons why she didn’t talk to her brother for years. And it’s a trait she shares with Booth who has a blind spot when it comes to his brother (and possibly other family members.)
October 21, 2011 at 12:13 pm
It’s like in Mastodon when she says, “My eyes are seeing something which my brain refuses to process.” I think it may be another one of those coping mechanisms she developed in order to keep herself from getting hurt until she was ready to deal with it.
October 20, 2011 at 11:00 am
She can tell if a woman is pregnant just a few weeks in because of her “widening ilia” and her gait”. This is OT but I thought about this line when thinking about how the Jeffersonian team learned that Brennan was pregnant. I don’t know if we’ll ever find out but I don’t think Brennan would be able to hide the fact that she was pregnant for long. For one thing as soon as she told Angela the cat would be out of the bag, right? Angela would tell Hodgins and Cam…. hmm… I think even though Booth is so private that he would be bustin’ to tell someone and maybe Cam would be the member of the team he would tell. He was so barely containing some giddyness at the beginning of CITG and his goofy smile at the end of CITG… I mean really, that could not be contained for long, right? OR Booth would start hanging around more or be really obviously protective and everyone would know something was up, OR, and I need help because I thought about this:) but what if it was Daisy who discovered it first?! What if Daisy noticed Brennan’s “ilia’ or her gait being different and she told Sweets and then the chatter ensued. Or Brennan just being Brennan would have just blurted it out matter-of-fact one day and kept on doing her thing like it was no biggie. “Check the bones for signs of the weapon. Oh, I’m pregnant. Booth is the father and we are a couple”. It may be shocking to the team but at the same time I think they were all waiting for the day to come and S6 was just as WTF to them as us. It may have taken a moment to process but then the new reality just set in, all seemed right with the world, and they went back to work solving murders.
October 20, 2011 at 10:24 am
Yes to all the responses above…AND…this is the episode where HE TOUCHES HER CHIN. At the very end, something like, “there is more than one kind of family”. That 5 seconds is a the ENTIRE series in a nutshell, plus, the intimacy of that touch.
S
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October 20, 2011 at 10:43 am
Oh, love the the little clip of Brennan dancing. I wonder what that move is called, lol.
October 20, 2011 at 11:17 am
Electric slide — I believe she says.
October 20, 2011 at 11:39 am
Oh yeah, and that her classmates never appreciated her dance moves and she didn’t understand why, lol.
October 20, 2011 at 11:49 am
It looks more like some sort of Electric Chicken dance. Go Brennan! She’s just too adorable.
October 20, 2011 at 11:52 am
It’s sad to see her cuffed to the bench and Booth is torn between capturing her father and helping her. She just says his name several times. But the way she says it is so heart-wrenching. She doesn’t have to say “Don’t shoot Max” or “Help me”; just the tone of her voice says it all, including the confusion and hurt she’s feeling over what is happening.
Like when they reunited in Harbingers and Mastadon, she never said “I missed you, it’s so good to see you again,” but it was so very clear (to me) that she did, I almost literally heard the thought running through her mind.
October 20, 2011 at 12:11 pm
Those hugs say a lot. In Harbingers, she did NOT want to hug Cam and only hugged Hodgins because he didn’t give her a chance to opt out. But Booth gets a full on spontaneous “arms all the way around you hug” that goes on longer than just “hey, you’re back!” (And he hugs her back the same way).
The Mastodon hug breaks my heart because I keep thinking if she had just pulled back from that hug and planted one on him, they’d be cabbing it back to the nearest horizontal surface and a certain blonde’s photo would have been surreptitiously deleted from his phone. Sigh.
ED is so great in that scene on the steps, the way she asks if he’s met someone (pleasesaynobecauseinMalukuIrealizedIloveyou) and he’s so convinced she can’t even be thinking that way that he doesn’t even see the look on her face or hear the hopefulness in her voice so he pulls out the phone and we all wish Brennan would have just snatched it away and stomped it under her foot and said “well forget about her!”:
…..This is MJ’s fault. Her twitter rantings have reawakened my formerly resolved season 6 angst.
October 20, 2011 at 12:14 pm
………and my work here is done!
October 20, 2011 at 1:22 pm
va32h, I love your idea about doing a hug study! Because there are a lot of hugs on this show (can we count the close slow dance in Queen Bee?) between B&B, and with all the other characters that would be worth digging into a bit more I think!
October 20, 2011 at 2:54 pm
oh a hug study would be a wonderful idea!
October 20, 2011 at 3:11 pm
Me too! Me too! I’m putting my vote in for a hug study.
October 20, 2011 at 4:03 pm
Oh yes – all the hugs are definitely important. Man, the look on Booth’s face during that hug in Mastodon? And then, there wasn’t another one until Hole, right? And we all know what came out of that one…
True enough – as so many have said in the past, almost none (if any at all) of their hugs were really “guy” hugs. Not from Booth…
October 20, 2011 at 7:18 pm
Totally agree that a top hug study would be excellent. Could anyone keep it to five? Or is this another one where even 5/season would be hard?
I’d want to separate it into 2 studies B with B and then anyone with anyone. You gotta have Booth kissing Caroline in the Gremlin in Harbingers.
Or, maybe refused hugs like Brennan to Cam in Harbingers or Caroline to Brennan in Mastodon (?). And, of course, Booth refusing to hug Sweets in Cinderella in the Cardboard. Booth channeling Sweets is perfect when they’re discussing Sweets’ problem with Daisy. Then Booth explaining that real men don’t hug it out, they just punch each other on the shoulder. And, Sweets wants another one and then rubs his shoulder. I love the end of that ep too.
October 20, 2011 at 7:27 pm
Yes! Yes! A hug study! I was just watching Harbingers and saw the hug and said to my husband “Look how little he makes her look!”. It’s nice to have a hug from someone larger than yourself and feel all tiny and protected… I’m projecting onto ED/Brennan here because she is not a little person and I never feel like a little person (just short) but I think a DB hug might make me feel little. Swoon is right! Sorry tangent. 🙂
October 20, 2011 at 12:17 pm
I really like this episode, but I always want to kick Russ in the bum at the end of that scene there. Because she loves him, and she was so afraid she lost him when she saw the blood, but he betrayes her trust and then just takes off without so much as a goodbye. Grrr.
Emily is just awesome in this scene. Look at her face at the end when she looks at Booth. You can tell Brennan hasn’t processed what has happenend, and her expression is just a mask of shock and sadness, sort of holding on to booth with her eyes. It’s painfull and awesome.
October 20, 2011 at 1:28 pm
Absolutely love this episode. I think it’s been said, but nearly every line of dialogue is quotable!
One of my favorite moments it’s when “Father Coulter” first shows up to say that he has info. Brennan says “let’s talk in my office.” Booth and Russ follow and Max is going to close the door before Booth can get into the office and Russ turns and says. “Might as well let him listen. She’ll juts tell him everything, anyway.” And Max gives this little shrug and gestures for Booth to come in.
Love it. Just freaking love it 🙂
October 20, 2011 at 5:10 pm
Awesome scene study Sarah. So many good posts recently and so little time to comment (I loved, loved, loved Sophia’s post yesterday). But since I actually have a minute or two to type at the moment instead of just read, let me say that I love Judas on a Pole. I love how fierce Booth is on Brennan’s behalf, I love his chin-tip-there’s-more-than-one-kind-of-family reassurance, and I love how the team steps up to help Booth after Deputy Director Kirby cans him…it’s just…ahhhhhh. Awesome. And I love the way Placebo’s “Runnin’ Up that Hill” is used in this episode. The way that whole sequence plays is just flawless. That’s part of the reason why it’s the first Bones song I ever downloaded.
Anywho, probably the only thing I DON’T like about it is the big honkin’ monster truck Russ drives up in. It’s just so over the top it’s ridiculous. Every time I see it I’m like “what the heck?” What is he compensating for?
October 20, 2011 at 7:23 pm
Just jumping in quickly to say that I love this episode. Interesting case that you have to pay attention and think about to understand, great acting all around, beautiful ED and DB scenes, filmed and directed beautifully. One of my all time faves. Also, I love Caroline’s Gremiln! My aunt had one when I was little and I loved it. The doors were SO heavy on it that if no one was sitting in it (or only tiny little me was sitting in it), and you opened one door the car would tip to that side. No joke! 🙂
October 20, 2011 at 8:43 pm
All things considered, Brennan did pretty well for herself. If what had happened to her happened to me, it probably would have broken me. But she pulled herself up by her own bootstraps and became the best at what she does. Of course, the emotional walls she built was evidence that she didn’t escape unscathed, but I still have to give her her props for being so being a survivor.
October 20, 2011 at 8:44 pm
The last part should red “I still have to give her her props for being a survivor.”
October 20, 2011 at 9:04 pm
Max made it a point to identify himself to her – I never realized that before. Brennan had to be devastated that her father chooses to be without her because he thinks she is better off without him — how sad is that! Shouldn’t he try a little to be a better person so he can have a relationship with her? I do think he has been watching her from afar and studying her career and life. He knows her well enough to know that she trusts Booth and that he is good for her. The fact that he goes out of his way to entrust her to Booth does show that he does have her best interest at heart.