While distinctly less awesome than the first two episodes of the season, last night's Bones adventure, "El Carnicero en el Coche," had some strong moments. Here's the breakdown:
Sweets' thwarted attempts to take time off: Understandably burned out at the FBI, Sweets took some vacation time and decided to use it helping children at the local community center. Naturally, none of his work colleagues are eager to give Lance some space. That entire concept just isn't in any of their vocabularies until they are the ones desiring to be left alone. I adore Booth, but he's so ridiculously nosy, hunting Lance down in the streets, outing him as cop-affiliated to his community center charges, and bringing him on a case so soon into his "off time." Of course, it's Booth's bromantic concern for Sweets that makes him so intrusive, so you kind of have to love it.
As soon as Sweets is back in the FBI building, everyone is down his throat about the Pelant issue, reminding him that it isn't his fault the super-villain used Sweets' psychoanalytical findings to advance his evil plans. Personally, if I were Sweets, I wouldn't choose a staycation...I'd be hopping on a plane somewhere far away if I really wanted some space. Of course, perhaps Sweets doesn't want time away as much as he protests he does, and that's why he acquiesces with Booth in this episode.
Booth and Brennan's cute diner scene: To me, the only part of this episode that was special or particularly memorable was the scene where Brennan confronted Booth about his not telling her he had been shot at earlier that day. This showed that Temperance is seeking reassurances about pretty much everything now that she's stuck in limbo regarding the engagement and not knowing Seeley's reasons for calling it off. I mean, how many times a week does Booth get shot at? Still, it's completely understandable that Brennan has an increased need for security and being kept in the loop in her relationship with Booth - after all, she knows something's not quite right and that her boyfriend's keeping it a secret. And we have to wonder if he'd previously been more in the habit of telling her about such incidents, but he's starting to withdraw more due to his overall anxiety.
When Booth apologized after promising to always tell Brennan when shots are fired, he gave her the sweetest smile ever. I mean, seriously, what a heart-melter! Too adorable.
The predictable case solution in the episode? Okay, this week's murder mystery didn't exactly set my world on fire. I knew the killer was the young boy, Javier, as soon as his character was introduced. It stood to reason that the writers would go there given the Sweets-centric structure of the episode and his passion for helping children in horrible circumstances. As admirable a job as the gang did solving this case, it was hard to believe it would take them that long to draw the right conclusion once Angela confirmed that the killer shot from below the victim.
On a side note, this episode featured one of the worst fictional mothers I've ever seen. Maria's reaction to learning that Javier had killed her abusive lover in self defense and to protect her was awful. This harrowing scene was powerful, at least, as opposed to some of the other random and vague scenes we had.
Poor Wendell had very little to do or say in the episode, which seems a bit unfair since most squinterns basically take over every Jeffersonian-set scene in their guest-starring hour. I know he's not as over-the-top as Daisy, Fisher, and Finn, or as personally linked to the staff as Arastoo, but I like Wendell, and it would be nice to see him get more to do. By the way, does anyone else miss Clark? He might be the best of the squinterns now that Vincent Nigel-Murray is - sob! - no more.
And how about that random scene with Cam peeling back the skin on the dead woman's head? It seemed like this gross-out scene was just there filling in space the writers had nothing else planned for. Obviously, this is something Cam does all the time, and I didn't really learn anything from watching her do it in this case except that my threshold for the disgusting was being violated. As a Bones fan, that's really saying something! I kind of felt as though Angela was standing in for the viewer in this scene...she was basically lingering for no particular reason (like the scene was, too) and watching while cringing and looking confused.
Next week looks amazing! Wow, the preview for next week is quite intriguing. I had not previously entertained the theory that Pelant might have a romantic fixation on Brennan, but it looks as if the show is going in that direction. Frankly, I thought the Booth/Brennan engagement bothered Pelant because he was equally obsessed with being the center of both of their attentions. But now Sweets is revealing that "replacing" Booth is Pelant's "endgame"! Scary! "The Sense in the Sacrifice" should be a suspenseful episode - and is that title ominous enough for you?
What did you think of "El Carnicero en el Coche"? Are you looking forward to next week's return of the Pelant plotline? Share your thoughts in the comments!
