Hello and Happy Tuesday! It’s Thanksgiving Week here in the US, so I want to take a quick moment to say thanks to each person who stops by and comments here. Gracias!
Now, on to the episode. What did you think? The scene I loved most was the B&B scene in Booth’s office at the end of the episode…it made a lot of sense to me that Brennan would be frustrated by her own gut instinct (knowing she was right, but not able to know WHY she knew) and Booth keeping his “You just know” vibe intact. I thought it was sweet when, after Brennan said she didn’t like that, that he offered up love as something that can’t be fully explained. I also loved when Brennan insisted that she knew exactly why she loved him.
Thought it was interesting that her number one reason was because he loved her, but I also thought it worked. Liked that she included Booth’s love for Christine in there and it made me laugh a lot when she couldn’t quite define a third and Booth teased her. Of course I loved when she then insisted that she loves him because his physicality is remarkable, because…yes it is.
I would have been interested in hearing Booth’s three reasons, because I kind of think he DOES have reasons, but I also totally bought it when he said he didn’t have reasons. What was the most fascinating to me was that Brennan really liked Booth’s answer of not having reasons why he loved her.
What caused that, do you think? She had just made it very clear that knowing something needs to have reasons behind it and insisted she had reasons for loving him. It’s one thing for her to accept it as his way of thinking, but she really thought it was romantic that he didn’t have reasons. Right?
Thoughts on that? What is it that makes Brennan attracted to that idea? And do you think Booth does have reasons?
Let’s discuss!
Bones Theory 
November 20, 2012 at 7:43 am
I get the feeling that if Booth started listing the reasons why he loves Brennan he’d go on and on and on; so, it’s easier to say he didn’t have reasons because he has a lot of reasons. (I hope that made sense)
I think she accepted his answer because she trusts him and trusts his natural instincts and if he instinctually loves her then that’s very romantic to her.
November 20, 2012 at 7:51 am
I agree Lenora, that there would be too many reasons. Also, he just “knew”, so its hard to explain that gut reaction. Sometimes we really can’t explain why we are with someone, it just is a matter of the heart wanting what the heart wants, and it truly can’t be verbalized. She listed reasons for loving Booth because that’s what she does, and he had no reasons beyond his heart and that is who he is. I loved that their reactions were different but completely them.
November 20, 2012 at 8:01 am
Don’t you think that the more Brennan is in this relationship with Booth, the more she’s willing to take things on faith? It’s a leap for her to do that, but when she chose to be with Booth, she chose to go all in. That’s how she does things. Mostly.
His “gut” feeling about anything is something that she has learned to accept– not always– and in this case, she understands that he’s being him. It’s one of those things that is hard to explain. She’s going with his gut on this one and it is romantic literally and figuratively.
November 20, 2012 at 9:25 am
I agree–I think the fact that she accepts Booth’s lack of reasons (and even finds it sweet) is a testament to the influence he’s had over her. She understands that “there are some things like love that just can’t be measured in your lab,” and she knows that especially for Booth, the things that seems illogical are sometimes his most important truths.
I also agree with you, Seels, that Booth does have reasons. Hundreds of them. She’s smart, she’s driven, she understands pain, she doesn’t run from his pain, she listens to him, “what you see is what you get,” “she doesn’t let anyone pressure her into doing or saying anything she doesn’t want to do.” He’s got reasons. But can he really give the Why behind those reasons? I think that’s where love comes in. Booth is dazzled by the truth of Brennan and he knows his love can’t be rationalized (“The heart chooses what it chooses, doesn’t it?”) . If it could, I think it would be lessened in Booth’s eyes. He’s the kind of guy who thinks everything can be traced back to a really deep, primal Why that can’t be answered with logic (see for example, his religion). It comes back to Brennan’s speech in Dentist: “Love comes first and then creates the reaction.” That’s what Booth believes. He’s pulled Brennan much closer to his side on that issue, but she still tries to have logical answers, which is adorable. I love that she tried to give that to Booth. But I loved even more when she liked it that Booth couldn’t do the same.
November 20, 2012 at 10:18 am
Yes, I love this.
But all those hundreds of reasons are what Booth came to know about Brennan after knowing her. But there was something he felt at the very beginning – he didn’t really know her, he just knew there was something different about her. He couldn’t categorize her, he couldn’t forget her. He confided his gambling problem and thought things could really go somewhere. So yes, I buy his sentiment about not having a reason that he can nail down.
At the same time, I also buy Brennan’s reasons. Because he showed love to her, she learned what love is. She accepted several of his views on love, or at least wished she could share them. She’s drawn to his nature even though she can’t explain it. I just love that at this point she’s just happy that he loves her and doesn’t focus on there not being an explanation. It’s almost like Booth was made to love her.
November 20, 2012 at 11:04 am
Great thoughts.
November 20, 2012 at 11:15 am
I also think that even as articulate and well-spoken as Brennan is, it would be hard for her to list emotional reasons for loving Booth because that’s an area she still has trouble with. For her, the tangible matters and so those reasons are the ones she lists.
I saw a gif someone posted on Tumblr of this moment and the look on Booth’s face, followed by the completely smitten look on Brennan’s face after, is beautiful.
Dazzling, even. 😀
November 20, 2012 at 11:25 am
You mean, like this?
http://chanoeys.tumblr.com/post/36135993869
Yes, I love their looks (and I just love their faces.) Brennan sooo loves her man. He can charm her in almost any way: he can be sentimental, he can be squinty about it, or he can be silly. She just loves him, so it doesn’t matter.
November 20, 2012 at 11:34 am
It was this one:
http://wellsbones.tumblr.com/post/36139556823/tardis-of-bones-booth-what-brennan-i-think
Just lovely.
November 20, 2012 at 11:53 am
Oh, yes!
That captures it very well.
November 20, 2012 at 11:51 am
Can you imagine years later Hodgins will turn to Angela and say you are my carburetor, Angela will smile and Michael will say “you guys are so weird”.
November 21, 2012 at 12:03 am
Oh, you know it! 🙂
November 20, 2012 at 8:42 pm
Seriously, this! check out the pics, scroll down & read the post!
http://wellsbones.tumblr.com/post/36171032645/447am-proofandpudding-choebe
November 21, 2012 at 12:25 am
Since I can’t reply, I’d like to quote and agree with what C-bones said:
“all those hundreds of reasons are what Booth came to know about Brennan after knowing her. But there was something he felt at the very beginning ”
Just like what he said in the 100th episode — it’s the guy who knows and he just knew… right from the beginning.
November 21, 2012 at 6:43 am
I so loved that scene. Definitely the highlight of the episode for me. It also brought me back to the sister wives episode in season 6 when Brennan asked Booth how you know who you love the most. His response was you just know. Kind of like why he loves her.
November 21, 2012 at 7:49 am
Oh dear, it looks like I’m going against the grain with what I thought when I saw that scene (I do need to rewatch it though). Please don’t throw tomatoes at me *ducks*
Personally, I liked all the romance in the episode, but was a bit sad that B&B were the least romantic couple in it, compared to H&A and C&A.
‘I don’t have reasons’ isn’t that romantic to me. And it’s not true, he has 1000’s of reasons. I’d rather he’d just picked three tiny things, things that only he knows, as his reasons. They didn’t have to be the ultimate three reasons, just an indication that he’s thought about it and loves many, many things about her.
I didn’t find either ‘wine dine candle time’ or ‘I don’t have reasons’ particularly romantic. Booth has been known to be super romantic in the past (in his own way) – bringing the Christmas tree to the prison, buying her Jasper, the talk about breaking the laws of physics. The Booth who showed up in New Orleans and leant on people to talk to a judge so Russ wouldn’t go back to prison. The Booth who showed up at the pier and told her ‘I know who you are’. That was a thoughtful, eloquent, loving, mature Booth. That’s the character that made me adore him.
I felt like ‘I don’t have reasons’ was a cop out on the same level as ‘there are some things that don’t need talking about’. And just because they have Brennan say ‘I find that romantic’ doesn’t mean I’m going to be manipulated into agreeing. That’s what I felt like, that the writers were being lazy and were conning me into thinking it had depth or liking it by having Brennan like it.
Don’t get me wrong, B&B are a great couple and I love them together. My favourite scenes were them in the house with Sweets – a proper little family, B&B playfully teasing and ganging up on him like older siblings, Sweets in the younger-brother-but-better-than-Jared role. But, for me, they missed an opportunity this episode to have B&B express properly meaningful sentiments to each other – like they did for each of the other couples. I came out of it feeling like Hodgins and Arastoo were swoon-worthy leading males and Booth, well, not so much. And that’s a first. 😦
I guess in answer to the original question ‘who needs reasons’, the answer is ‘not Brennan apparently, but it would have been nice, as a viewer, to hear some’
November 21, 2012 at 10:54 am
No tomatoes, but yeah, I am definitely not reading all that you did into it. I don’t really think that Booth always says the most romantic things, so it wouldn’t have been a first for me.
I almost felt that way, too, but I believe Booth is sincere in his belief in fate, magic, and just knowing. Booth doesn’t really feel the need to quantify what he feels – it’s existence is enough (see 100th episode). Does Brennan really need or want to hear all the reasons why? I guess, yes, I was manipulated by Brennan’s response. I think on the one hand, he can list things that made him fall deeper in love with her, but on the other hand he can’t really list what made him feel that “spark” in the first place. Like in the the 4th episode, we heard him tell her that she was beautiful and rare like a tiger, and in a loving voice say that she can be very persuasive when she puts her mind to it. And just in this episode, it’s just as clear as can be that he respects and loves the brilliance of his partner (because if getting woken up at 3 am and agreeing to go to a crime scene for over an hour isn’t love, I don’t know what is.) For me, there were undertones to what he was saying especially because of how I felt he said it, so in my mind Brennan had picked up on the same undertones. He probably gives her more compliments than she gives him, anyway.
I guess your point, though, is that you wanted to hear him say it, anyway, so it ended up looking like a missed opportunity.
I hope I didn’t come across as trying to change your mind or anything. Just putting out there a little bit more of my thought process.