Good morning!
After last week’s Clark and Brennan interactions in Male in the Mail, I thought it would be fun to take a look at a few times Brennan just…destroyed someone…without even knowing it. Be advised that this is one of the qualities I mostly like about her, so this post is meant to be complimentary. It’s what Sully described as “The sauce…the zing,” and he liked it about her too. It’s not so much that she goes out of her way to dis people; it’s just that when she is herself, the lesser awesome are sometimes left in her wake. Again, this is a compliment, haha. So without further ado, here are a few moments where Brennan has made me laugh big time…just by being herself. And…if her actions make Booth all uptight and what not, well, that’s just even better for me.
1. I don’t mean that your feelings are tiny; I mean that you have feelings about being tiny. The Girl in Suite 2013: Season Two
This is one of the first “AH, I cannot believe she just said that, but she’s kind of right, so it makes sense, and I think Booth is about to have a coronary…and surprisingly, THAT is kind of fun. Okay, this show actually makes me laugh. Good times.” moments. I was thinking the other day about Maggots in the Meathead, how Hart Hanson outright laughed at the idea that fans thought they were doing some homage to Jersey Shore. It was a total joke, was what he was saying. But…if Brennan takes Jersey Shore seriously, then…the joke is on her, right? That’s ‘the line’ for me, so to speak, in terms of what I think is funny. Is Brennan funny, or is the joke on her? In this season one instance, she was just plain funny.
2. “Amen, Monsignor, Amen”. “Thanks, Steve”: Knight on the Grid, Season Three
This is another example of her being funny without even trying. Booth wants to reverentially defer to His Holiness, but Brennan takes Steve at his word and calls him by his name. Booth shakes his head, but perhaps he actually likes that about her. Or maybe that’s just me….haha.
3. “There is intelligence, which I have. And Mr. Nigel- Murray, and Sweets, even though his is so misdirected as to be meaningless.” Science in the Physicist- Season Four
It is a backhand compliment, to be sure, as Sweets attests. But it also makes me laugh, so it makes the list!
4. “He’s quite skittish when the subject of sex comes up.” Foot in the Foreclosure, Season Five
“No, I don’t,” Booth claims right away, but neither Brennan nor Pops believes him, which is great. I love how real Brennan is with Pops—not that she is the type to be fake around people, even people she might want to impress/be nice to for Booth’s sake, but she is just herself, taking Booth’s fries and correcting Pops on his anatomic colloquialisms.
5. “You should be more observant, Dr. Edison” Male in the Mail- Season Seven
Haha, poor Clark! He can never quite catch a break, and like in Con Man in the Meth Lab, Brennan just absolutely wrecks him with the matter of fact way she is just so sexy around him. Good times.
Okay, enough from me. What are some other moments you love where Brennan is awesomely herself? The scientific greatness to Mr. White in Proof in the Pudding? Sully and basketball? I know there are more, so sound off in the comments below…they are open!
Peace, Love & Bones,
~S
Bones Theory 
December 6, 2011 at 8:00 am
“I’m not normal, I’m extraordinary!”
December 6, 2011 at 8:20 am
Oh, but you left out the best part in Number 3 – “and Angela . . . not so much . . . ”
That kills me just thinking about it. And Angela is such a good sport about it.
December 6, 2011 at 11:36 am
And don’t forget how this season Brennan said she will learn from Angela’s “inevitable mistakes” she will make while parenting. Just a smile and sarcastic, “Thanks, Sweetie.” This is why I don’t really get upset with Angela like others do. I’m pretty sure Angela has to shrug off more than Brennan does. But it’s not like it’s the sum total of their relationship; they just put up with some things because they value each other.
December 6, 2011 at 8:22 am
Since I forgot to check email, I’ll take advantage of this extra post to add that moment with MTE at the beginning of DitP when she and Booth are explaining the ‘slow clap’ and Brennan basically just ignores her. Good times.
December 6, 2011 at 8:25 am
Oh, Lordy. It actually took me a second t figure out WTH “MTE” meant 😉 Obviously I need another cup of coffee, because I snot firing on all cylinders at the moment.
December 6, 2011 at 8:28 am
I probably should have spelled out Miss Tacky Extensions anyway. Not everyone had to endure my Twitter rants. 😀
December 6, 2011 at 8:32 am
As evidenced by the fact that “I’m not” came out as “I snot.” I really need to go back to bed.
December 6, 2011 at 8:30 am
Oh yeah! I don’t know if that was just supposed to be a Brennan being oblivious moment, but all I saw was someone being “dismissed”!
December 6, 2011 at 12:20 pm
Also love the scene in that episode in Booth’s office with skanky blond when B&B are arguing about the dead doctor’s drug use and Brennan snaps ‘Thanks for eavesdropping’ at the sb. Good times indeed.
December 6, 2011 at 12:44 pm
How could I forget that! That was great! I don’t know if Brennan was just being factual or if there was something behind that, but that was great!
December 6, 2011 at 8:26 am
“I feel how people of average of intelligence must feel all the time.” – to Avalon in The Harbingers in the Fountain
When Booth was worried he ruined things between Jared and Padme: “I imagine you would never forgive yourself. On the bright side, he might totally ignore you.” That was the funny part. At least she ended by sweetly saying “Perhaps Jared will think for himself. Isn’t that all you ever really wanted for him?”
Then, “I suspect that Jared is implying that he already knew of Padme’s past as an escort.” And “Jared is an alcoholic, Booth.” Then proceeded to make her toast to love, haha.
“It seems to me that someone like you could benefit hugely from an association with someone like me.” – while Booth is trying to convince her to help him catch the judge
December 6, 2011 at 8:37 am
This is interesting because it highlights what I find to be both the best and worst of Brennan’s character.
There is a fine line for me between Brennan unconsciously showing off her awesome and the way I cringe if I think she’s been cruel.
So, with regards to the points above:
1. Brennan and the tiny feelings was funny because it was so innocent, just the way she used the words. Also hilarious in that moment was ‘baby steps – and the way she laughs and follows it up with ‘that’s probably offensive’ ha.
2. ‘Thanks Steve’ I love because it’s not offensive because he literally has just let her know she can call him Steve. And the delivery is perfect, as is Booth’s reaction ha.
3. ‘so misdirected to be meaningless’. Hate this. It’s SO rude to say that to Sweets and totally wrong. But I pretty much hated the way she treated Sweets for seasons, it annoys me how dismissive she was of his remarkable talents. Also, this is an extremely rude (and untrue) thing to say about Angela as well.
4. ‘Skittish’ – don’t mind this one, but I don’t find it particularly funny either.
5. ‘be more observant’ – I can’t decide what I think about this yet.
You know a moment I absolutely LOVE? In Intern in the Incinerator when she’s interrogating the suspect who works at the Jeffersonian and is super-duper smart. She says to him that she knows he uses the fact he’s cleverer than people to make them feel inferior to him, but that won’t work on her. He asks her why, and she smiles and says ‘because I’m smarter than you are’. It’s a brilliant moment, she kicks ass.
Another moment I love is in Boy with the Answer when someone (I can’t remember who) insinuates that she can’t do her job properly because she is traumatised by being buried alive and she says something like, ‘are you questioning my judgement? Because you will not find a more experienced or respected forensic anthropologist, anywhere in the world!’
Those two are moments where I love that she’s fiery and feisty, but doesn’t hurt anyone in the process.
December 6, 2011 at 12:31 pm
As to #3 I loathed the Bride in the Cardboard episode when she thinks Daisy is two-timing Sweets and can hardly wait to rub his nose in it. Everyone tells her to shut up and let them work it out but she is just so eager to prove that being a psychologist is useless if you can’t even see your girlfriend is two-timing you. That was truly nasty Brennan. Another example is when Wendall loses his scholarship and she blithely tells him about it. Even though she eventually throws money in the pot to reinstate it, if Wendall had gone and jumped off a bridge in the meantime, it would have been on her head.
A recent Brennanism I loved was her asking Finn if his interest in forensics came from planning a way to murder his abusive stepfather. That whole scene just resonated because Finn had suffered in the same way Booth had as a child as well as enduring what Brennan had in high school because people believed that she murdered her classmate Evelyn and people believed Finn murdered his stepfather. This is Brennan as Brennan at her best, forthright, uncompromising but incredibly insightful with someone who has suffered similar traumas. The John Wayne bit at the end was terrific.
December 6, 2011 at 2:59 pm
I don’t agree with you. I don’t think she was trying to prove anything about psychology at all. Brennan is just obsessed with knowing the truth, and she cannot see how other people woudn’t feel the same. And she doesn’t have the emotional filter that tells ‘normal’ people when to lie or keep silent about thruths that could be hurtful . Just like when Wendell lost his scolarship and she couldn’t see why no one wanted to tell him. This is an ongoing theme that is sometimes handled by some writers with the subtlety of a sledgehammer (like more aspects of Brennan’s caracter), but it’s not Brennan being calculatingly nasty. At least that’s how I see it.
December 6, 2011 at 4:24 pm
I’m with Botjes. I don’t think she was trying to be mean at all. I think she felt like if she was in Sweets’ position she would want one of her friends to tell her. Also, Brennan likes to make decisions with as many facts as possible and assumes others do too. I actually think she had the best of intentions. Ironically, she didn’t have all the facts herself. But I wonder if she would have jumped to the conclusion of Daisy’s actions constituting of cheating if it wasn’t for Booth’s insistence. I think both positions have good points. It’s hard for me to say who’s wrong.
As far as the Wendell thing, I don’t think that was mean-spirited, either. Nobody had told him because everyone else was too chicken to tell him. As if avoiding the issue was going to make it go away. I know they felt bad because I would too, but is it really nice to let him stay in a state of ignorance to avoid being the bad guy? Someone (Cam) should have told him. I actually do like Cam, so I’m really not trying to vilify her here. But she is the boss, as she likes to say, and those unpleasant tasks are her responsibility.
December 6, 2011 at 5:50 pm
I don’t agree about Wendells’ scholarship. I think she really did think he knew about it, and was upset that she had been the one to spill the beans.
The Cinderella in the Cardboard episode though-she couldn’t wait to run and tell Sweets even though everybody told her not to. It wasn’t her business if Daisy was cheating. Sweets needed to find out on his own. She made a nasty comment to him about psychology being useless since he couldn’t even tell his girlfriend was cheating on him. That was mean. I could have excused her telling him in the name of the whole truth, but that crack about psychology was totally out of line. Especially considering she was wrong about what she had seen.
December 6, 2011 at 6:09 pm
Lisa, I’m not sure which one of us you were replying to. But I do agree with you. She didn’t know that he hadn’t been told. I wasn’t trying to say Brennan was trying to take responsibility for telling him. She did assume he had been told (everyone but Wendell knew), because he honestly should have been told by that point. My point was that she got put in that situation because somebody else didn’t do what they were supposed to do because they were avoiding the issue.
December 6, 2011 at 8:42 am
“We don’t need DNA, do we, Mr. Bray?”, followed with his own classic line saying she’s having that baby so the next generation will have someone to make them feel dumb, lol.
December 6, 2011 at 10:03 am
OK I swear I’ve heard that line before. I guess I need to go back and watch. Did Fisher use that line (Or one almost like it) in Critic?
December 6, 2011 at 8:51 am
BRENNAN: So has Gordon Wyatt helped you at all with your shooting problem?
BOOTH: He doesn’t see it as a problem.
BRENNAN: Then maybe you don’t have one. Have you ever considered the possibility that you might simply be getting older? I – men do tend to decline physically past the age of thirty-five.
BOOTH: (sarcastically) Remind me again how great I feel after talking to you.
🙂 One of my favorite B&B moments.
December 6, 2011 at 8:56 am
How about that one time when Booth’s mentor said he must tolerate Brennan because she is good in bed and Brennan replied, “Yes, I am but Agent Booth has no knowledge of that.” Ha!
I agree with the comment that Pops and Brennan just seem so natural. I think Brennan has a fondness for Pops because she knows he is a good man who took care of his family. I do think Brennan puts a premium on that because of her own past experience. Pops likes her too, likes her honesty and admires her for all her accomplishments.
December 6, 2011 at 9:09 am
I like the part in Foot in the Foreclosure when Pops tells her he likes her because she has “balls” and she corrects him with the “steel ovaries.” I know it’s mentioned, and she’s not really annihilating anyone and it’s not overtly funny, it’s just Brennan’s matter-of-factness that makes her kind of fun to watch. (I get a kick out of poor Clark trying to deal with Brennan’s breasts throughout Male in the Mail. Then she just punts him when she IDs the bone shard. His face is just classic.He might do all the grunt work, but she’s still the brains of the outfit.)
I like it when she laughs at Vincent when he confesses he’s told others they are lovers. Both Cam and Angela under-reacted and Brennan, I thought, let him have it by reacting as she did. He was befuddled by her reaction, but he should have been booted from the lab for what he said and did. (They have issues with the new intern, but not an alcoholic who spreads rumors?)
Is she cruel sometimes? Over-reaching in her assessment? Oblivious? Yes. But I think it is balanced out in the show by something else she says or does beyond the endless search to give closure to some family.
December 6, 2011 at 9:25 am
I agree with you. It’s true that that was very inappropriate for Vincent, and he was lucky that Brennan was amused instead of horrified or offended. Mostly, Brennan just gets offended if you insult her intelligence. I like that she’s not one of those super-sensitive types. I love how Brennan is a rock star in her field, and I still find it amusing how much her interns/lab assistants crave her attention and approval, not to mention admiration. But at the same time, I think she’s a really great teacher, and I think that is an unlikely but pleasant characteristic of Brennan. She’s a genius, and she doesn’t have the best social skills, but she does have the ability to teach the next generation. Having the smarts does not always give you the ability to do that well.
December 6, 2011 at 11:01 am
She gets abused a bit last season by both Arastoo and Wendell and she doesn’t hold that against them. Nor does she hold Vincent’s actions against him. That’s a rare gift. I think she succeeds because she has a few rules in the lab– no guesswork, base everything on the evidence; and know everything about the body and the context of the find.
December 6, 2011 at 3:05 pm
I think the brilliance of Brennan’s character is that the show can have her be cruel sometimes without having her be evil, because she doesn’t have the intent to hurt people.
December 6, 2011 at 9:20 am
I love when Booth gets out of the bathtub and she says “I find your puritanical lack of modesty to be very refreshing”. The matter of fact way she looks at him and makes the comment only makes the moment more embarrassing for him.
Also, at the fat girls club with Pops and Booth when Booth says something like “they look happy” and she replies “they obviously haven’t seen their blood sugar levels.”
December 6, 2011 at 10:09 am
“I find your puritanical lack of modesty to be very refreshing”. That’s good because sounds like nudity happens in that household:) Omelet cooking and sleeping nude both appear to be approved by Booth.
December 6, 2011 at 10:21 am
Good point :).
December 6, 2011 at 1:15 pm
it is “lack of puritanical modesty” not “puritanical lack of modesty” sorry…just trying to be precise (going along with the brennan theme here)
December 6, 2011 at 9:24 am
Actually, I think the best line in that discussion in “Science in the Physicist” is “I know how stupid you are.” And, of course, Booth’s reaction. And, then her reaction.
It’s so Brennan — and so-o wrong, but it cracks me up every time.
Will have to spend some time reviewing eps later for this. Right now got 100 miles to drive. Lunch date in Boston at 1:00.
December 6, 2011 at 11:21 am
Right! Just saw “Science in the Physicist” the other night and that whole conversation is very funny. After “I know how stupid you are”, she realizes how that sounded, but then tries to “correct” it by saying, “I don’t care how stupid you are.” lol. And love Booth’s reaction – he doesn’t get all huffy or offended, he just looks sort…blank, deadpan.
December 6, 2011 at 11:13 am
My fave, fave Brennan smackdown moment is season 1, Samantha Pickering NSA wonk . Brennan won’t answer her questions and then makes one phone call and Ms. Pickering is shut down completely.
I also love Man in the Bear when she smacks the guy with the bedpan because no one wants to hear the rambling serial killer speech.
December 6, 2011 at 11:31 am
That was funny. And she had to destroy any notes she had already gathered. I guess the person who sent her wasn’t in the loop.
December 6, 2011 at 3:10 pm
Camcat mentioned this awesome moment before:
“I am. VERY good, but Booth has no direct knowledge of that.”
It’s my favorite, but I don’t remember what episode it is. Does anyone know? It’s the one that ends with tipsy Booth leaning into Brennan when they are sitting on the stairs I think.
December 6, 2011 at 3:14 pm
The Soccer Mom in the Mini-van, I believe.
December 6, 2011 at 9:25 pm
“Thanks, Steve” will always be one of my favorite Brennan lines ever. 😀
This is fresh in my mind since this was on TNT tonight – in The Woman in the Sand when they first go into the casino and Brennan says, “You can’t be here, Booth. You’re a degenerate gambler!”
December 6, 2011 at 9:35 pm
FIrefly! I just finished watching that episode too! 🙂 I just came on to comment, a little OT, about how AMAZING B&B’s chemistry was in the episode! And how Brennan needs to dress like Roxie a little more often, just for Booth’s sake 🙂
But yeah, even though she is commenting a bit rudely about his problem, she is doing it out of complete care and concern for his well being, and its so sweet! 🙂