As the title of this review might imply, there was a lot of geeking out on Bones this week. In case this term is unfamiliar to you, "geeking out" is what someone does when they get really giddy about something they're passionate about, often something with an intellectual or pop cultural theme.
I found myself geeking out a bit just by proximity, but also because this is the kind of episode that the Bones producers do particularly well; a mystery to solve, as well as a more prominent theme that gets the characters talking, thinking, and connecting to each other.
Let's start with a quick recap of this week's mystery: the body of Hayes Robertson, a video game creator, washes up on the Potomac River shore with his arms missing. The team concludes that because the arms were torn off, his murderer weighed down his body by attaching his arms to weighted objects and dropping him off of a bridge. While Booth and Aubrey check out Immersion Games (the victim's company), they run into a sweet programmer and a irritable CFO. Booth and Brennan also check out the victim's friend and roommate, a shut-in named Noah. Noah turns out to have a girlfriend named Chloe - but when Aubrey checks out her apartment, it's like no one has ever lived there. Using social media, they find Chloe one town over - using an entirely different name, and having no idea who Noah is at all.
Through some thorough investigation and a bit of squinting, the Jeffersonian team discovers that the sweet programmer at Immersion Games was behind the murder. It turns out that Hayes (the victim) created a fake persona (Chloe) to split up his best friend and best programmer. To him, they were more like characters in a video game than actual people.
So that's the mystery of the week; now let's talk about the prominent theme. The episode starts with Brennan wading through educational options for Christine, who is approaching kindergarten age. (Side note: it seems like just yesterday that Brennan threatened to squat on a lawn and give birth to her right in front of a quaint inn - where does the time go?)
Education is then brought up repeatedly through the episode: in a conversation between Booth and Aubrey; on the platform with Brennan, Hodgins, Cam, and Jessica Warren (this week's intern, the snappy redhead); between Hodgins and Angela; and while Booth and Brennan dine.
She and Booth discuss how hard it was to be shuffled around to so many schools when they were kids, and Brennan has focused on a structured education for Christine. We discover that Jessica was raised in a cooperative environment, where nearly every member is a protege in some artistic or academic setting. Brennan's curiosity is piqued, especially when she discovers how effective the cooperative environment has been on her intern.
In the spirit of cooperation, Brennan eventually turns the decision of Christine's education over to Booth. While Booth's decision isn't revealed in the episode, her behavior with both the intern and with Booth reveal that Brennan is more open than ever to sharing in the decisions that will shape her daughter. It's a flexibility that this character wouldn't have shown just a few years ago, and a terrific example of the showrunners' aptitude for character development.
So, where does geeking out enter into all of this?
Well, like I said, it was great to see Brennan cooperate with her intern, instead of cutting her down and bossing her around. She's done less of that to her interns in recent seasons, but Brennan honestly looks happy to cooperate in this episode. When Brennan is happy, everyone is happy - myself included.
I also geeked out during Hodgins's latest experiment - one of the many reasons he is King of the Lab. This week, he was using a downward-facing slingshot that propelled test dummies into the water, thus determining the height from which the victim was dropped and locating the information they needed to find the killer.
Another great geeking-out moment happens when Booth and Aubrey visited the offices of Immersion Games. Being around the gaming memorabilia in their lobby turns Aubrey into a selfie-shooting fanboy, a character revelation that I didn't see coming.
Even though I enjoyed seeing him geek out (because it adds dimension to his character), I'm really struggling to take Agent Aubrey seriously. While quirkiness is not a crime, and he's hardly the first Bones character to show it, I'm used to a slower reveal than this; for example, Sweets had several guest appearances before his love of "The Coconut Song" and his former metal/goth phases was revealed. With Aubrey, I feel like I'm getting his quirks dumped on me, whether I'm ready for them or not, and it's been a difficult adjustment.
Finally, the show references a humorous scene from wayyyyy back in Season 3, when Brennan visits Booth's apartment and discovers him soaking in a tub and drinking from a hat that dispenses beer. Turns out that Booth and Brennan enjoy getting a little frisky in the tub, and Booth likes to bring the hat with him. The final shot of the episode is of Booth grabbing the hat on the way to the bathroom, Brennan following behind.
So what made you geek out this week?
Discussion topics:
What did you think of Christine? This is only the second time we've heard her speak, and I can already see a delightful blend of Brennan-level brilliance and Booth-level whimsy.
The intern, Jessica, has a great moment of emotion near the end of the episode, during which Angela and Hodgins console her over the loss of her cooperative family and invite her to their own home for drinks. Do you think she's going to become a more permanent fixture of the Jeffersonian team?
Who else really enjoyed the scene where the video game fighter got schooled by Booth and Aubrey?
Did anyone else get a kick out of the scene between Noah and Alice, the girl who Hayes used to create Chloe? I thought there were some sweet sparks flying in that scene, and loved that it was between two characters who aren't part of the main cast. I'm sad I can't see any more of that little romance.
