With over 200 episodes under its belt, Bones is bound to have a few episodes that leave viewers underwhelmed. For me, "The Teacher in the Books" was one of those episodes.
While I was idly amused by Brennan's adventures in social media, and I got some sweet feels during the final scene between Caroline and her two new wards, I felt like this episode was, for the most part, "business as usual".
An unlikely pair of citizens uncovered the body, Booth and Brennan get called into work, the victim is identified, her life story is explored by Booth and Aubrey while the squints squint at things, and at the end of the day, someone the victim knew did something crummy for a dumb reason. Some charming side stories provide a dose of humor and heart into the mix.
I'm going to skip the normal breakdown of the plot, and go right into the good stuff:
Here's what I loved this week:
And as I mentioned, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Caroline Julian take the two young witnesses under her wing. I don't recall her ever mentioning children, so seeing her maternal side come out added a new dimension to the character -- who is already pretty damn cool, in my book. It's probably wishful thinking, but I'd love to see those two boys, Keith and Marcellus, return to the screen in a future episode.
Here's a few more things I observed (and would love to hear your thoughts regarding):
Did anyone else immediately suspect the oft-pranked teacher, Shane, when Booth and Aubrey arrived on the victim's school campus? I watched that scene unfold and KNEW that either the teacher did it, or the kids were attempting a prank and it went horribly wrong. It was one of those scenes that absolutely screamed, "THIS IS AN IMPORTANT DETAIL" to me. Does anyone else have a good eye for those little telltale factoids? Or were you surprised by the teacher's eventual confession?
Also, who else loves it when the show plays with the Agent-Andy-Agent-Booth switcheroo? Aubrey and Booth's dialogue in the car, where Aubrey pokes fun at the drawn-out love story of Andy and Kathy, was one of those wonderful "meta" moments for the franchise. It gives us the chance to explore the following question: Do you think the Booth-and-Brennan romance took too long, not long enough, or just the right amount of time to develop?