Hello! How did you like last night’s episode, The Warrior in the Wuss?
One thing I thought was interesting from the episode was all of the ‘stepmother’ talk, and the way Booth asked Brennan to talk to Parker with him—as a family. I hadn’t thought about it before, but I think I was surprised at how Brennan didn’t say she wasn’t Parker’s stepmother. Not that she doesn’t see them as a family, I thought that was sort of clear, but more that I didn’t see her as seeing herself (say that five times fast!) as a stepmother. Does that make sense? Thoughts?
I do like how having a house together has really smoothed a lot of the B&B issues away. I think they are both comfortable there, which says a lot.
There were other things that surprised me—Hodgins spending a ton of budget money on equipment (when he’s been more the MacGyver type in the past) but with no real reason too, and Sweets going off on Booth about taking him on cases just to ask for personal advice. With the Hodgins stuff, I didn’t feel like there was much of a resolution there—why did he want the stuff? And with Sweets, I am still curious too…
Of course, it’s hard to talk about foreshadowing when I also ban spoilers. I really don’t know anything much about the rest of this season (it airs on Mondays—that’s about all I know, haha), so maybe it’s a thing. But between the last episode and this one, there was a difference in the Booth and Sweets dynamic that makes me think something else will happen in the future. Of course, it could just be a result of episode order and ‘writing by committee’. Maybe last week’s writers think Sweets is annoying, and maybe this week’s writers want Sweets to man up a little—who knows?
Okay…enough from me. What do you think?
Bones Theory 
April 24, 2012 at 8:14 am
I thought as far as the Parker storyline was concerned, this episode was particularly clumsy. I loved and appreciated how Brennan responded to the ‘stepmother’ and ‘family’ comments – it really does show how far she’s come and how comfortable she is in her role in Booth’s life. But the OMG! Parker Hates Christine and He’s Going to Kill Us In Our Sleep With Scissors! thing was just bad. Just freaking ask the kid. Just ask him. I also did not like that Brennan didn’t apologize to him for her error in misjudging him, too.
(And while I’m complianing, why does it feel like we have one great episode followed by one or more meh (or downright bad) episodes? These people are professionals – if I were reading fanfic that was this uncertain, I’d stop reading it.)
I’m totally willing to overlook the Hodgins thing because (i) we got the worm autopsy out of it and (ii) it got under Cam’s skin. Win/Win
April 24, 2012 at 8:51 am
I didn’t think it was a bad episode or even a meh episode, but I do agree with you about the overly dramatic treatment of the Parker conflict, particularly by Brennan. The whole “we have a daughter to think about” line in Booth’s office stuck out as overwrought. I think time constraints played havoc with how that story line could unfold. Given the conclusion to which Brennan jumped so readily, I agree that Parker deserved an apology from her as well as Booth.
Loved Hodgins’ worm autopsy.
April 26, 2012 at 9:27 pm
Actually, what she said was: “We have to think about our daughter, too.”
“Too”, as in “in addition to thinking about Parker”.
April 24, 2012 at 11:53 am
Since Brennan did not actually say all that, I don’t think her response was all that dramatic. She also did not say that she was more concerned about Christine (even if she was), just that they have to think about her, too. But that is always the case. I could tell that Brennan didn’t know what to think about Parker’s actions. Initially, she could rationally explain them, but I think her conversations with Clark, Angela, and Booth raised her concerns. I think she could have been given different words to say, but I think it’s reasonable that she would feel a little anxious about the situation. I could see her wanting Booth or waiting until Booth was there to talk to Parker. This is Parker’s first time at their new house, and yes, even she was walking on eggshells.
I think there are explicit apologies and implicit ones. Different people will have different ideas of when they need to see an explicit one. If Parker was really hurt, then perhaps I would have needed to see an explicit one. I just saw that he was bummed that he had to spoil his surprise.
April 24, 2012 at 8:24 am
Sweets was kind of awesome. I think it was totally within character to finally blow up about Booth’s silly way of getting help or advice from Sweets…AND…I totally get Booth’s reluctance to ask, Sweets spends a LOT of time being ridiculous with Daisy and about his relationship with her. I actually like Daisy, so this won’t be a Daisy rant – but since the rest of the cast seems to be growing, it would be nice to see this relationship grow up too. Booth had no problem going straight to GGW for help, and didn’t have to dance around about it, so I think a good part of the onus for Booth’s reluctance lies with Sweets.
See how I totally flip-flopped on that issue all in one paragraph? awesome.
I think TPTB could have set up this episode in a much better way. B&B could have talked to him on the phone in the last 2 eps, so it didn’t seem like they smashed it all together, and they could have referenced earlier conversations instead of just appearing to all of a sudden talk about Parker 2 months after the baby was born. Not likely.
Mostly my response last night was “can we get back to our show now? Please?” Harsh, but I would rather have 13 kickass episodes than 23 where 10 are crappy. Just sayin.
April 24, 2012 at 8:28 am
2nd part should be:
*B&B could have talked to PARKER
sorry
April 24, 2012 at 8:26 am
I read a review of last night’s ep which said this, “Bones started with a big bang some years ago, the center not holding, people and relationships flying out in all directions. It was exciting. But now it’s all coming back together, in a nucleus of a new family. With just about every other relationship in every other television show in some kind of disrupting crisis, the mobile revolving ever closer to the center on Bones is just the thing.
April 24, 2012 at 8:38 am
(Urg, my computer messed up on me. That quote was from http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2012/04/bones-710-mobile.html)
My thoughts on the ep:
1. I was pleasantly surprised at Brennan’s role. She was, I thought, very loving to both children, but still very much the scientist (I loved her trying to explain things to Parker in the family meeting…she’s still so Brennan!). She greeted Parker at the airport, planned on family activities together, went home to go on a walk with him, etc. She even brought concerns to Booth initially in the car, but backed off, not overstepping her bounds between them. I thought it was very well done by her.
2. Sweets. Well, hm. I kind of liked that he called Booth out about it. Usually he’s scared to lose Booth’s “friendship” and he treads very lightly. It was interesting for him to just say here’s the deal, straight to his face.
3. Hodgins. I didn’t get it. I agree that there was no real explanation. Why is he buying this all of the sudden? Does he give it back? Why did he do a worm autopsy when in other episodes (Fire in the Ice) he put the fish in a blender and ran the contents in the fish goop. Easy. 🙂 I just thought the Hodgins part was a little strange.
April 24, 2012 at 9:21 am
It IS interesting that Brennan didn’t quibble about being Parker’s stepmother….technically she is not his stepmother but she did not correct that. The whole Hodgins thing is beyond weird. I just don’t get it. Not at all.
Booth does kind of have a history with Parker where he doesn’t just ask him what is wrong, right? Remember the episode with the finger? It was Sweets who found out that Parker was being bullied by a girl at school. And the episode where Parker kept asking Booth about girlfriends turned out that Parker just wanted a pool. Those didn’t bother me but last night did. Just poorly executed. I would have rather had Parker come home and be really confused about what is going on. Like just come right out and say, so….are you my stepmother? Why aren’t you guys married? Right?!! THAT would make sense. THAT is what he should be confused about but I guess they aren’t ready to play that card yet so they went this route. And, again, I think a real honest conversatin between Booth and Parker where Parker admitted that he is a little jealous about Christine having this family and having her dad every day, and Parker being concerned that he is a part of the family, would have been more realistic. Instead of B&B sitting him down at the end the way they did, I would have rather them sat him down to reassure him that he IS part of their new, unique family.
I AM spoiled about the finale. I AM looking forward to seeing how Sweets is used in the finale. We’ve seen two dynamics between him and Booth in the past two episodes and I’m curious to see which dynamic we will see in the finale. Should be interesting. I think Sweets knows Booth could beat the living day lights out of him with one hand tied behind his back.
April 24, 2012 at 9:31 am
Booth and Brennan have been together for probably about a year, much longer than the four months Parker has been away. I assume he already had time to adjust to the new situation between Booth and Brennan and staying with them wasn’t a new thing to him.
April 24, 2012 at 12:05 pm
Mar, good point about how much time has passed. This was not his first time with Booth and Brennan, just his first time with the baby. Perhaps they didn’t want to bring up more conflict than could get resolved in one episode. Who knows when Parker will be back.
Booth not wanting to be like his father will forever be a thorn in his side, I suppose. I would still love for him to be more confident in being a good dad. Brennan has her own issues that will stick with her, too.
Did someone use the word “stepmother” in this episode? I don’t recall hearing that.
People may not like it, but I think they just choose to bring up issues regarding a person when that person is around to really delve into it.
April 24, 2012 at 2:56 pm
C-Bones…Clark mentioned “the dangers of having stepchildren”, followed by Cam’s reference to Cinderella; essentially making Brennan the stepmother, which she didn’t deny.
April 24, 2012 at 3:31 pm
Hmmm. Yeah, that’s right. I wonder if she dismissed the title and focused on the similarity of the situation in her mind.
April 24, 2012 at 9:01 pm
Hmmm Come to think of it, with Booth and Brennan moving in together, Parker did sort of lose his pool didn’t he? 😉
April 24, 2012 at 9:40 am
This whole ep just left me cold. Hodgins was annoying, throwing his weight around, Sweets was immature in his conversation with Booth, while he might have been correct, the way he reacted was juvenile, Booth was torn, he knew his first child wouldnt hurt his second child but he let Bren influence him and YES, she should have apologized to both Booth and Parker for her actions. Just when I start to love Bren again, the writers pull this crap on us again. Worst ep of the season IMO
April 24, 2012 at 10:07 am
“He knew his first child wouldnt hurt his second child but he let Bren influence him”. I agree with this. That scene between Brennan and Booth in Booth’s office was SO bad. It really was like Booth had to choose between his children and I did not like that at all. It started out good with Brennan wanting to do something as a family and then turend to this. Again, if Parker was setting fire to the House or something, then I could see an overeaction but even then it was just so poorly executed.
April 24, 2012 at 10:10 am
Sort of in line with this, I saw a screen grab of that conversation with Parker and I was struck by the body language – BB&C on the sofa together while Parker sat by himself, arms crossed against his chest.
Poor kid. Ignored and never referred to and then ganged up on. Ouch.
April 24, 2012 at 11:59 am
Yes, I didn’t like that line from Brennan ‘we have to protect our daughter’. So much for waiting until all the evidence is in and way to make Booth feel like he has to choose between his kids. Not her finest moment, especially since she’s known Parker since he was 4 years old and he hadn’t exhibited any hositlity towards Christine when he met her.
I understood Booth’s reticense towards speaking up. It seems like he hardly ever sees Parker, so to have to discipline during the short amount of time he did have him, was something he wasn’t looking forward to. I know it’s getting old having to hear someone tell Booth he’s not his father, that he’s a good dad, but in another way I’m glad that’s always in the back of Booth’s head that he’s afraid he’ll over-react to a situation, so he’s extra cautious.
Also agree about where was Brennan’s apology to Parker. It wasn’t just Booth who had concerns about his behavior. Didn’t like that it ended with just Booth saying I’m sorry.
I liked the episode, but it definitely wasn’t one of their best.
April 25, 2012 at 6:41 am
@MJ – yes, that struck me too. In the episode, we don’t really have an idea how much time has passed between the time when Parker comes home and when B&B talk to him. They could’ve talked to him on the same day Brennan approached Booth in his office for all I know. Still – as a mother of a 12 y.o. myself, I know that if my husband and I approached her in that manner – with the sitdown and explaining all of the ‘transgressions’ we saw, she would absolutely think we were ganging up on her, so I was glad at least that Parker’s reaction was in line with that.
April 24, 2012 at 10:20 am
What?! I wonder why no one mentiones that the “perfect kid” Parker lied to his dad, disappeared without saying where he go (11 in a new area), took things not his without permission, etc, BUT blame Brennan overreacting, when she said what she said to Booth, after Booth already told her that Parker lied to him? No matter if he prepare a surprise, his actions should not be overlooked just because he is a nice kid.
if anything Booth should have been handling the situation after the first lie, and not dragging his leg as a father.
regardeless, the way it was handled, was too complicated to make it come through good enough in such a short time.
April 24, 2012 at 10:25 am
Speaking only for myself, my problem was that they way over-reacted and automatically assumed the worst without talking to the one person who could clear it all up. Parker is basically a good kid and hasn’t had any real behavior problems. As such, he’d earned a little consideration instead of the immediate accusation.
IMO, anyway.
April 24, 2012 at 10:40 am
Exactly, MJ. It was just so poorly executed. And Parker disappearing and taking stuff and destroying it for the project was also WTF. I get that Booth may have issues with discipline. I TOTALLY get that and it makes sense. With his past as an abused child, and the custody situation he has with Parker, it makes a lot of sense. Parker IS growing up, he’s not a baby anymore, so the parent/child relationship changes. But, again, it was just so poorly executed.
Heck, I would have rather had it so Parker was acting weird because he met a new little girl friend in the neighborhood and he was “liking her” but was confused, you know? Maybe she would have seen Brennan out walking with his little sister and she wanted to see her and, thus, Parker bonded with Christine over this.
Before this episode, I wasn’t really worried or noticing the absence of Parker that much. But this episode made it jarring. Even if they had mentioned him when they were looking for a House – A baby”s room, a man cave, and a room for Parker! – it would have been smoother than explaining he was in London. WTF?
April 24, 2012 at 10:57 am
First off, this is my first post…and I LOVE this website. I just started watching Bones over Christmas break, ( watching straight thru except for a couple of the Hannah episodes) so have been on the fast track and so excited to find this discussion group. You guys are awesome!
I agree with Bambasol’s feelings about Brennan. She is trying very hard to figure out all of her new roles in their new family. How much did the comments in the lab play into Brennan’s response. I have only watched it once at this point, but at the time, I felt like she was really analyzing Cam and Clark’s comments. Once again taking emotional cues from those around her.
April 24, 2012 at 11:47 am
What is disturbing me, that Booth get a free pass – although he is his father, and he is who ‘understand people” and Brennan is the evil.
Sorry, Booth is not perfect, and he already told Brennan before the office scene, that he is worried because of Parker behavior, but choose not act upon, but of course Brennan turns to be the ‘evil stepmother’, despite she clearly let Booth lead how to handle the situation.
April 24, 2012 at 12:13 pm
Yeah, I’m more with Bambasol. I don’t understand, did Parker not do the things they said he did? And why didn’t they just talk to him? Because they did, in the final scene of the episode. I don’t know why anyone would assume that a kid was doing those things for a really good reason. Of course they were concerned. I didn’t see that conversation as an over-reaction, they wanted to know why Parker did those things. It’s not like they had a punishment planned or anything or accused him of something he didn’t do. And when you are looking for parents to trust you, when you lie to them and they don’t know why that only implants distrust.
Booth could have been more direct with Parker from the get-go. I understand his reservations, and he shared them with Brennan, but his stalling didn’t make the situation any better.
April 24, 2012 at 12:16 pm
The difference is that Booth apologized for thinking Parker may have been doing something he shouldn’t-Brennan didn’t.
April 24, 2012 at 12:40 pm
I felt like Brennan’s main point that his behavior did need to be addressed, but she would understand if he was reacting that way to the new baby. In fact, they both felt that way. I guess in my mind, I can’t say “Brennan accused him of _____”. She said that he had stolen pictures, and he did. I think the talk was supposed to be along the lines of “Hey, we understand if you might be acting out because of the baby,” and they were willing to talk to him about it to get things cleared up. Except that wasn’t Parker’s problem, but his actions looked suspicious anyway. So I think the apology would be more like “I’m sorry that I anticipated that you could get jealous by Christine’s presence so I wasn’t going to get mad at you,” which I don’t think is anything to apologize for, it’s just being mindful of changing dynamics. Also, I would like to emphasize Brennan being influenced by others’ concerns and taking Booth’s lead for handling the situation.
Finally, this is really their first time having that kind of talk. It may not have been perfect, but it could easily have been worse, and parenting takes practice.
April 24, 2012 at 12:41 pm
…also, Parker is what now, eleven? also, from previous conversations (my daddy needs a girlfriend to sex-up, awesomeness of a decomposed finger, booth’s leaving and coming home from iraq) it is clear that Parker isn’t a dumb kid. He loves Brennan (pool, termite farts), her dad (diet soda/mentos thing) why would they even set this up as a HUGE POTENTIAL LOOMING CONFLICT? That is just silly. If the writers are going to have us assume the hot parts (B&B getting it on) could they please have us assume that booth and brennan AT SOME POINT IN THE LAST YEAR have had decent conversations with Parker?
I don’t think parker did anything wrong, he had a secret (and awesome!) project – of course he lied about it. that is how it is a secret. B&B could have at least acknowledged that “dude, we are all up in the FBI/Murder business and can no longer operate outside that paradigm” thing.
April 24, 2012 at 12:49 pm
But we are often kept in the dark about how much interaction Parker has with Brennan until we get an episode with Parker in it. In S5, she gave them to use the pool at her complex. We never knew that they took her up on that offer until she was talking about doing cannonballs in S6. I’ve always thought that some overstated her relationship with him. I think she had a good relationship with him, fun times and everything, but not to the point of being like a second mom.
April 24, 2012 at 12:49 pm
Lisa (Caprigirl) April 24, 2012 at 12:16 pm
The difference is that Booth apologized for thinking Parker may have been doing something he shouldn’t-Brennan didn’t.
in my eyes it’s just neat-picking. Booth said sorry, it was in the name of the two of them, as they talked to him together, as a unit.
April 24, 2012 at 12:53 pm
That’s interesting. The apology being in the name of both of them. I could see that.
April 25, 2012 at 9:28 am
Since when does Booth speak for Brennan? It isn’t nit-picking. She had her own concerns, she should have apolgized directly.
April 25, 2012 at 9:36 am
I didn’t think Brennan needed to apologise. She didn’t accuse him of anything, she had concerns about his behaviour (justifiably), but she didn’t have a go, she just said she understood. I thought they both dealt with it pretty well.
I guess I don’t think it’s something to apologise for. Parker’s intentions were good, but the way he went about it was worrying. They were fair, understanding and calm with him. As Rebecca said back in the day, he’s a lucky kid.
April 25, 2012 at 1:17 pm
I only thought she should have apologized since Booth did. He didn’t accuse Parker of anything either, yet he said he was sorry at the end.
April 24, 2012 at 1:04 pm
It’s interesting to go back through and read all the comments. I had a much more positive view of the show than many. Will it go down in history as the greatest ep ever? No. But neither was it the worst, IMO.
I thought Parker did come across as quite sneaky. He could have told his dad he was making a secret present for Christine, and Booth would have been fine. Parker also should not have stolen pictures out of frames and taken things like Brennan’s lab coat. He should also not sneak away from a sitter. It was odd for the writer’s to have written Parker like that, but they did, so I have to give Parker some blame.
Booth should have handled things better, but as I read somewhere, Booth only has a bit of custody with Parker, coupled with his past, and he doesn’t want to mess up the small time he has with Parker. Which explained his lack of initiative to me. I thought Brennan was great. She planned activities with Parker, prepared for sibling rivalry, and only got concerned when she saw the frame in pieces and her lab coat in his room. Heck, I’d freak out! That was weird! But I also think Brennan did a good job of expressing her concerns, but letting Booth be the primary parent dealing with it because she is the newcomer in the relationship. For who she used to be, I think she’s handling the whole family unit thing great!
My problem with this ep? Hodgins. His sudden need for fancy equipment? The autospy on the worm when he could’ve blended it like he’s done with dead fish was weird. And then a non-ending, where they didn’t really resolve Hodgins and his extra equipment…I didn’t get that at all. I could have done without that random storyline.
April 24, 2012 at 3:28 pm
I think you said this better than I could. Honestly, it wasn’t that huge a deal – for me or for them, really, once Parker explained himself. That type of thing happens so much. And no one was traumatized or worse for the wear after this. It’s the type of thing where they could probably look back on it and laugh. It’s not a given that every parent is going to sit down with their kid and ask them to explain themselves after stating their observations.
I still think Brennan did the best she could. I only don’t like some of the lines they gave her because of how easily it could be misconstrued. I really don’t think she thought Parker a mini-serial killer, but why is expressing concern about a kid’s aberrant behavior with a baby in the house such a problem? As I said, I would have re-worded that. Nothing she said after that even suggested she was thinking the worst of Parker. In the “family” discussion it was still concern about him lying and stealing.
In the end, I think they should have made it clear that he needs to be careful in how he plans surprises. And if he wants to cut up pictures, he needs to ask permission, or scan them first. I think someone suggested that he should have just said he was planning a surprise. Booth is an investigator, Brennan is pretty observant herself, so it would be kinda hard to get things past them. Someone, somewhere said that seeing toys in disarray really isn’t an alarming sight in a kid’s room. My question is, why would Brennan know that? We had an episode recently where we were pretty much led to believe she didn’t get into toys as much as other kids.
April 24, 2012 at 4:37 pm
Brennan got worried because Parker ‘destroyed’ the toy car he and his father made together which apparently means a lot to them both as Booth mentioned it specifically of all the toys in the room. Her lab coat, the picture of Brennan and Christine that Booth likes most. All these would make anyone worry as to what was going on. Parker did lie and was behaving wierd so evidence did point to something fishy and they were right to be concerned because they wanted to be one big, happy family.
Not a fav ep but an ok one. It could have been better.
April 24, 2012 at 5:11 pm
OK I had a really long thought out comment composed in here when I hit the touch pad in such a way that it went freaky on me and closed out this window. I lost everything I was saying and just don’t have it in me to redo the whole thing. Let’s just say I liked this episode.
Hodgins and the equipment = weird. Why would something like this just now be an issue after all these years? Weird.
Since I don’t watch for the cases, but watch for characters and the relationships and the development of both. Anyway this case was fine. It might not be one I’ll remember years from now, but hey I remembered it beyond the end of the ep, and while the victim wasn’t entirely sympathetic (I mean harassing a little girl?), he wasn’t beyond caring about and the killer was definitely not someone anyone will be feeling sorry for in this case.
As for Brennan I really don’t see that she did anything wrong. She was looking forward to Parker’s visit. Wanting him to be a part of their new family dynamic and she saw only the love in his eyes for his new baby sister. It’s others, those she trusts to most for guidance in dealing with emotions and interpersonal relations (Booth & Angela) who made her start to doubt things with him. Even then she wanted to plan family activities to help him adjust.
I can understand her upset at seeing destroyed items in his room, stolen items, and cut up pictures. I can understand a feeling of fear/panic at seeing pictures of your baby cut up like that. Even then she didn’t run off to confront him herself. She did not behave rashly.. She went to both and let him know what she found and expressed her fear. She also trusted him to handle it when he said he would. When Booth said they’d talk to Parker together about what had been going on she was obviously very happy about that (at least to me she was).
They did sit down and talk to Parker about what was going on. They didn’t yell at him, they didn’t punish him, they sat down and asked what was going on, and they listened to what he said. Can I say not all kids are that lucky? I’ll tell you that’s not how things would have gone in my house hold when I was growing up. Definitely not at my Dad’s if my step-mom had found stuff like that in my room, and not at my Mom’s of the same had happened there. My step-mom would probably have demanded I be sent away, and my mom would have at the very least punished and if I tried to explain she’d have been telling me not to talk back.
So when I see people saying that Booth and Brennan should have talked to him. Well I’m stumped since that’s exactly what they did. The timeline of this episode was a bit confusing with people going back and forth from the lab to the house to the field to investigate and back again so I have no idea how many days passed, but still before they did anything they sat down as a family and discussed what was going on.
OK there really was more I said before but I don’t remember it all and I want to get it posted before my touch pad shuts this page down for the third time.
April 25, 2012 at 9:49 am
“frankie707: …They did sit down and talk to Parker about what was going on. They didn’t yell at him, they didn’t punish him, they sat down and asked what was going on, and they listened to what he said.
Can I say not all kids are that lucky? I’ll tell you that’s not how things would have gone in my house hold when I was growing up. Definitely not at my Dad’s if my step-mom had found stuff like that in my room, and not at my Mom’s of the same had happened there.
My step-mom would probably have demanded I be sent away,
and my mom would have at the very least punished
and if I tried to explain
she’d have been telling me not to talk back.”
Thank you, franklie707, for the reality check. Clearly you will be a more compassionate parent.
April 24, 2012 at 6:48 pm
All on all I thought the show was ok. The one that annoyed me was Sweets. Opening car doors while a vehicle is moving is stupid.
I could see why Booth was trying to not overreact to how Parker was behaving. His is biggest fear is his temper.
I didn’t think that Brennan overreacted. She was reacting to the evidence before her eye: a broken car, a broken planetary mobile, her smock, something from Booth’s sport bag, cut up pictures, Parket asking his Dad if he loved his baby. Parker was doing something innocent; but, it sure didn’t look like it. Booth and Brennan sat down and talked to him about it. I’m pretty sure my parents would have started yelling the second they saw me. Booth and Brennan didn’t.
Hodgins buying all that stuff was weird. He did mention he wanted to buy the stuff with his own money but they wouldn’t let him. I just think he’s used to getting things if he wants them.
I don’t think it was a bad episode. I was entertained.
April 24, 2012 at 11:45 pm
I think I could have forgiven the weird Hodgins storyline if he had a reason to become shirtless, or at least sleeveless again. That man has some serious muscles under that lab coat! 🙂 haha I came across the picture of him and Zach being decontaminated on tumblr the other day….ah, the memories!
April 25, 2012 at 12:34 am
I totally know that I’m setting myself up to get flamed, but there is just something about this season that isn’t doing it for me and I can’t put my finger on it. I’ve been watching since the beginning and often go back and watch old episodes on Netflix and there is just something from back in the old eps that I’m not feeling in this season.
I don’t think it’s the Booth/Brennan tension…In fact I was super excited that they finally got together after dancing around one another for so many years. I think it may be the overall tone of the whole show. It feels like everything is a joke now. There was plenty of humor back in earlier seasons, it was just more of a quirky kind of humor that mixed well with the darkness of the crimes and complexity of the characters. This season just feels so bland and the humor feels forced. Does anyone else feel this way??
April 25, 2012 at 6:45 am
Kind of.
I miss the intense intelligent crime solving forensics.
I’m kind of over the fluff at the end of each episode.
I love B&B together, but really don’t need the constant family references. I get it.
I look at Booth and see zany DB. I miss snarly cocky Booth from earlier seasons.
I too don’t need it all to be a joke.
I think that the show is missing angst and tension. It used to be the looks bwtween B&B…now we have nothing. other than happy fanilies.
Where’s Pllant? I want him back . AT the moemnt it feels like nothing changes from week to week, other than we have a tighter knit B&B – which is good, don’t get me wrong – but I loved the edgy tension & angst from the past.
So no, I won’t flame you. I’m kinda feeling it too. But I love the show, am spoiler free and ain’t going anywhere.
April 25, 2012 at 7:00 am
It seems like we are in the calm before the storm. I have a feeling that they might have an evil genius plan in the works. It’s so “awwww” and “lovely dovey” now that I bet they are going to mess with our minds by the end of the season. For them to introduce Pelant and then seem to drop it….I would be very surprised if they didn’t do more with him. I have no idea where they are going it with it, but I bet it’ll be good!
April 25, 2012 at 7:36 am
Just an honest question, did anything change from one episode to the next during the earlier seasons? This show has never been serialized, it’s mostly stand alone episodes, which is why it works so well in syndication. Just think of the grave digger story. It was first introduced in season 2, then nothing until season 4 for one episode, another episode at the end of season 5 and the end came on season 6.
I agree that the show’s tone has changed, it happens a lot as shows age and I see that as a progression that reflects the network and the ratings. Apparently, people like the funny, silly aspect of the show. As for the references to Booth and Brennan being a family, I like those, they are a family and I like seeing them adjusting to the change. Their entire dynamic and lives have changed and if in earlier seasons we had them ending the episodes always at the Founding Fathers or each others’ apartments sharing a drink, a talk, Thai Food or ice cream over longing looks, we now have the same sort of scenes but at their house.
April 25, 2012 at 8:05 am
bb I’m with you. They’re giving us all of these lovely family moments (About time too) and I get the horrible feeling that the primrose lane is going to turn into Nightmare on Elm Street. I don’t know what they have planned for the season ending; but, I get a feeling that it is going to be a cliffhanger and that is going to have us all biting our finger nails. I worry that they are going to kill off someone. The only one I wouldn’t mind seeing leave is Daisy; so, I’m pretty sure it won’t be her. I’m not sure why I feel they’re going to do the cliffhanger; but, I just do. It sure would give us a lot to talk about during the summer and make us all anxious for season 8 and that would be a good reason to do it. You’re right, I don’t think they are going to ignore Pelant. He’s too good of an evil genius to ignore. The creeps me out and I’m sure he’ll be back.
April 25, 2012 at 9:18 am
I quite liked this episode. I definitely feel that the last 3 episodes are the ‘calm before the storm’.
We are heading into the final three episodes of the season, and traditionally – those are always good, dramatic and important. There will probably be a change in tone to what we’ve enjoyed the last few weeks.
With regards to this episode in particular – I thought Brennan was understanding, thoughtful and kind about the Parker situation. He was behaving a bit creepily. It was another situation where the Bones writers try and avoid ‘obvious’ topics and story lines. It would be too obvious for Parker to have jealousy issues towards Christine, so they avoid the storyline. It’s how they keep things fresh, by telling the stories people don’t expect. Sometimes it works, sometimes it backfires because the obvious story is actually the more interesting relevant one.
Re Sweets and Booth – loved it. I said last week that it was starting to annoy me how they kept doing the same dynamic between them over and over (Sweets knows something is up, Booth is cagey, Sweets pesters until he opens up). So I was really pleased to see Sweets actually call him on it for once. Booth treats Sweets pretty badly most of the time, which doesn’t reflect well on him. So to see Sweets stand up to him and say ‘hey, quit messing me around, I know what you’re doing, acknowledge that you respect and need my help’ was a great moment for him and I was glad to see a bit of a shake up there.
Re Hodgins and the equipment, it goes under my ever-increasing folder of stuff that doesn’t make much sense = ‘TWTIF’ (The writers think it’s funny) It was fun to see Hodgins and Cam interacting though, and the way Michaela delivered the ‘open, close, open close’ line was hilarious.
April 25, 2012 at 9:33 am
When you think about it, Booth treats anyone not named Brennan not so nicely. It was good that Sweets called him out on his behavior, but I still don’t like what Sweets did in last week’s episode. I feel like Booth wants to keep his relationship with Brennan away from Sweets psychoanalysis as much as he can. He seems very protective of their private, personal life. Parker issues on the other hand and personal issues related to himself, that’s something he has actively sought out Sweets’ advice for.
April 25, 2012 at 9:41 am
Yes, I agree that Booth isn’t actually very nice to most people ha. We see the best of him because we see how he treats Brennan, but he can be pretty snarky to other people – even Angela and Cam on occasion.
I said the same thing when we saw the scene with him and Agent Shaw a couple of weeks ago where they were swapping stories about their kids – it was nice to see him so gentle and understanding with someone other than Brennan.
I always give Sweets some slack because I like him so much, and because I think the writers really like the to-and-fro tension between him and Booth and so over-do it all the time. I try not to consider that Sweets’ fault 🙂
April 25, 2012 at 1:08 pm
I agree with you, Mar. Though some of their interactions are just guys ribbing each other, what he said wasn’t just an accusation of Booth, it was also an accusation of Brennan.
April 25, 2012 at 10:00 am
On the one hand, yes, to the folks voting that we’re getting the calm before the storm of the season finale. On the other hand, probably it’s also that HH & SN got so much grief from the fans during Season 6 and they knew that Season 7 was going to be really, really short, so they decided to make Season 7 a gift to the shippers with all of the B&B ‘making it work’ rather handily, and a relief to the rest of the fans (from the tension/hatefulness of Season 6) by giving us a fluffy, light Season 7.
I’ll bet that Season 8, particularly with the Pelant storyline carrying over for several episodes, will be back to a more normal mix of light vs. dark, silly vs. serious selection of episodes.
April 25, 2012 at 10:09 am
I hope you’re right about next season being more “normal” (as that word is defined on Bones!). I think this season has been very up and down and while I appreciate that we all see things differently, I like it when the gap is a little less severe.
Plus, I’m anxious to see “my” episode next season. Yes, I’m calling it “mine.” So there.
April 25, 2012 at 10:12 am
Which one is your one MJ?
April 25, 2012 at 10:14 am
Sophie, I’ll tweet you so Sarah doesn’t give me her disapproving face for posting spoilers. *lol*
April 25, 2012 at 10:21 am
Yay, please do. I’m all intrigued … 🙂
April 25, 2012 at 3:31 pm
That’s not fair I don’t tweet. Message me, please.
April 25, 2012 at 5:06 pm
So glad you asked! I did enjoy it and felt it cute …but not astounding in comparison to the previous two episodes which I enjoyed much more. I was entertained by the murder. I relished in the humor. And I was happy there was good stuff going on between Brennan and Booth. She looks fantastic, by the way. I loved Sweets threatening to get out of the car while Booth was driving. Also, the subtle – or, perhaps, not so subtle – references in the case regarding how a manly man doesn’t share things with others so as not to look weak or not in control. Booth learned from that … which is evident in the fact that he told Brennan he wanted them together to approach Parker about his activities.
I had a suspicion that he might have been doing something that wasn’t so bad … and, yeah, it was cute. However, as a parent I would still have discussed the lying, the covert pilfering of B&B’s belongings, and not notifying the sitter of his whereabouts.
At the end, it was sweet how Booth kept looking at Parker … as if he couldn’t believe how well it had turned out – – and how proud he was of him. I could just see him saying to Bones … “This is the family I always wanted and never really believed I would have. I’m blown away by that. IT’s almost as if it’s a bubble you blow in the breeze … you watch the soap sud rainbows dance around the delicate orb of the bubble and you want it not to pop for as long as possible. Then Brennan reminds him, as Sweets did, that he is a good man, a good father, and that these things he has are all because of that. Maybe Booth will start to believe – truly believe – that he is NOT like his father, nor is he defined by his own relationship with his father — that he is his own man, and his own kind of father. She, of course, would assure him that this is exactly the kind of father she expected him to be … because she knows him – she sees him for who he is … not his past experiences … but what they, and his life choices have made him to be. Another opportunity for an Ah hah, moment for Booth. His awe at the end of this episode reminded me of his facial expression while and after he was staring at the stadium seats when he opened the box his father had left for him.
There’s my 35 cents. I hope you saw similar to what I saw. Ever since last week, I have had much more hope for the future of this show. I have not seen the previews for the season finale. I try very hard not to watch the spoilers. We don’t get previews in real life – I don’t want them for myself in the Bones Universe either.
*claps hands* I’ll give this episode a thumbs up. – – – not TWO thumbs up, but at least a 7 on a scale of 1-10 … Unfortunately, part of my grade comes from relief that at least B&B are not longer unpleasant to each other. That’s terrible, I know. But that’s my reality. *shrugs* lets hope for a continuation of the upward trajectory.
April 25, 2012 at 5:53 pm
I join the opinion of others who liked the episode; no one on Bones is ever shown to be perfect, and Brennan’s gowing concern as everyone and everything around her starts to make her worry about Parker and Booth’s hesitancy in dealing with a child that he rearely gets to see seemed pretty normal to me. Parker’s secretive, chip on the shoulder behavior is also pretty typical of a tween torn between pleasing his family and carving a little independence for himself. At this point, I’m thinking there wasn’t a single Parker-meets-sister storyline that would have made everyone happy, as shown by the conflicting reviews where some felt it was not dramatic enough and others thought it was good the way it was. In the end Booth apologized for their doubts and Parker didn’t hold a grudge because there is an awful lot of love in that family, enough to overcome the petty problems that plague everyday life. This is akin to all the times viewers have taken sides in a conflict between B/B when they themselves have happily moved on.
April 25, 2012 at 5:58 pm
I agree totally, mariu100!
April 26, 2012 at 12:36 pm
I refuse to say that any episode filled with B&B happily together was “bad.” I do, however, agree with Bri and Linda that this season is much more light-hearted. I’ve always thought Bones did angst (excluding the Hannah junk) amazingly well, especially when they throw in touches of humor here and there. Recently it seems like they’re going more for overall humor with touches of angst. I would love to see Booth and Brennan stand strong as a family when faced with serious threats. They seem to only bring the serious danger with the serial baddies lately…Broadsky and Pelant brought back images of awesome episodes with the Gravedigger or Epps. Yes, most of the serial baddies carried over several seasons , but each episode was a story in itself and by the end of the night we knew B&B were safe and solid and determined to keep fighting together. Bring more of that on with Pelant or whomever. Also, I don’t think this type of drama has to be limited to the serial killers. They used to resolve highly dangerous cases within the 42 minute episode–“Two Bodies in the Lab” style. I’m not asking for it every week, but more often than we’re getting it. I feel like I’m watching case after case in the style of “Double Death of the Dearly Departed” and that is very likely my least favorite episode of all (again, discounting the Hannah junk.)
As for the Parker stuff, IMHO if Brennan owed Parker and apology for thinking he may be up to trouble, then he also owed an apology to both Booth and Brennan for lying and taking their things without asking. Yes, his motives were cute and all, but he’s still guilty. I read too many spoilers to really be concerned with his actions, so that whole storyline fell a bit flat for me, but that’s entirely my own fault. It was a sweet idea.
As a side note, I wanted Parker to refer to Brennan as “Bones” like his dad rather than “Temperance.” Maybe it’s not respectful enough and maybe it’s just something I’ve picked up from fanfiction that I can’t let go, but it’s a personal preference.
My HUGE gripe with the episode was the whole idea that Brennan wanted to gather dead animals and assemble their skeletons as a family project. It brought back memories of “Morticia” from “Death of the Queen Bee” and I really don’t like that portrayal of Brennan. Yes, she works with death daily, but she’s not obsessed with it. There are several other much more “normal” science projects the writers could have had her suggest. Just a personal pet peeve. I hate it when Brennan strikes me as “weird” or “clueless.” Yes, the woman has her quirks, but she doesn’t have to be a social pariah.
That said, I don’t want to end on a negative note. I really liked the diner scene with Booth and Brennan…how he insisted she be with him when he talked to Parker (though he should have done that the first time when she came to his office), how touched she was that he wanted to include her, and then how proud she seemed of Booth when he figured out the murder weapon. Good stuff.
And man, the adorableness of the baby they have for Christine. I wasn’t sure they could top Michael Vincent or even baby Andy, but they did in spades.
April 26, 2012 at 12:48 pm
I think we need to wait till the finale before we weigh in on the season as a whole. Remember, they’ve teased us with Pelant, who is verrrrrrry creepy. I’m guessing we’ll see him again. Also, remember last season, we got Hannah and the shock of poor VNM, and so I’m enjoying the lightness of this season. It was pretty dark there in Bones-land for a while, so this is nice. But it is still Bones, and we still have evil geniuses running the show…so I’m guessing this is just the calm before the storm. I’m enjoying seeing two usually angsty characters enjoying a happy time for once…but it is Bones after all, so I would say that there is something in store for us, I just don’t know what!
April 26, 2012 at 12:56 pm
I completely agree with bb – a little happiness in between the storms makes everything that much sweeter. HH and SN are ground-breakers … nothing is safe and we are guaranteed a thrilling ride. So, pop the pop corn, buckle in, and prepare to be amazed.
April 26, 2012 at 2:22 pm
I did not think Brennan’s idea to look for carrion and mount them was wierd because Cam did exactly that in the lab with the worm they autopsied and it did not sound wierd to Hodgins or freak him out.
I think it was just Brennan’s way of involving her whole family in her world in a fun way. Of the whole team, only Booth and Angela would have thought it wierd IMO. Sweets is not a member of the team – he is too attached to the FBI still.
April 26, 2012 at 2:37 pm
Tonia! I fully agree about the carrion. Of course, I had to look it up at first, finding that it was, indeed what I suspected – animal carcusses. ANd I would hope it would mostly be bones rather than insect and larvae-infested matter. Children are natural scientists and Parker would have loved that. I did appreciate that Bones didn’t belabor her point by going into a deeper discussion. I felt that showed that she’s learning that there is more to making group decisions than basic facts or logic. So – this time she lets him choose. Most likely, the next time she will have the opportunity to choose. THis discussion wasn’t about who is right or who wins – it’s about agreeing together. Being that Booth is his father, it also made sense to me that his choice should have a little more weight in this first “family decision.”
April 26, 2012 at 4:35 pm
“if Brennan owed Parker and apology for thinking he may be up to trouble, then he also owed an apology to both Booth and Brennan for lying and taking their things without asking. Yes, his motives were cute and all, but he’s still guilty.”
My thoughts exactly. 🙂 I love Parker but he did cross some sort of line there for which he needed to apologize.
April 30, 2012 at 8:31 am
Happy Bones-day, BT friends! Booth and Brennan hope you watch! https://bonestheory.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/so-close.jpg
It’s an old post , but there are some GREAT pictures and B&B memories on it: (https://bonestheory.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/top-five-tuesday/) 🙂
April 30, 2012 at 3:52 pm
Wow. That was a lovely little vacation for the amygdala:
The amygdala is an almond shaped mass of nuclei located deep within the temporal lobe of the brain. It is a limbic system structure that is involved in many of our emotions and motivations, particularly those that are related to survival. The amygdala is involved in the processing of emotions such as fear, anger and pleasure. The amygdala is also responsible for determining what memories are stored and where the memories are stored in the brain. It is thought that this determination is based on how huge an emotional response an event invokes.
My amygdala thanks you, bb! Xo
April 30, 2012 at 8:32 am
https://bonestheory.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/top-five-tuesday/ Happy Bones Day!
April 30, 2012 at 9:33 am
Wo – that woke me right up lol. What a wonderful feelgood post that was. Thanks for the link-back bb. I sorely miss those daily doses of BT!!
April 30, 2012 at 12:36 pm
You’re welcome! 🙂 I originally went on the interwebs just to find one B&B picture…and it just so happened to be from that post! Well then I had a hard time deciding which picture….so I just included them all! I miss the daily BT posts too! We have so much to talk about this season! At least we’ll have a post ep discussion to squee over! And I’m in Spoilerland so I’ll have to stop there 🙂
April 30, 2012 at 3:48 pm
Bones Theory used to post daily???????? What happened? Has it slowed down because of the hiatus? : (
April 30, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Yes, moxiegirl44, not so long ago there were new posts every day, just about. I can only speculate, but I kinda get the feeling that Sarah is maybe focused on other things, at least for now. Could be she’s just taking a break – that’s a LOT of work, coming up with new material every day!
In the meantime, at least we’re getting weekly post-episode threads to enjoy. And there’s always the treasure-trove of all the older BT posts, months and months of them. That link bb posted is just a small sample…
April 30, 2012 at 4:50 pm
Wow – that amazes me that she wrote every day. I can understand the Bones obsession, though, having a huge yen for it myself! I was laid off a while ago and have been writing like a fiend – yeah, you guessed it, Bones FanFiction. I can’t help it! I’m addicted! Some of my latest are post episode chapters that provide what I think might have happened once the camera stopped rolling. Conversations, fluff, that kind of stuff. Does Sara have an area for that kind of stuff? Looking forward to tonight!!!!