It's that time again, Boneheads! Time to bid farewell to the Jeffersonian team for the summer, and eagerly await their return in season 11.
Season 10 has brought us so much; Bones engaging in blackmail to save Booth from wrongful imprisonment, Sweets's death, Agent Aubrey's introduction, Angela and Hodgins return to wealth, Wendell's return to romance after kicking cancer's ass, Jessica teaching Brennan about Twitter, Arastoo returning to his homeland and Cam following him, ANGELA'S REAL NAME, and so much more!
If you've been following the show for all ten of its seasons, then you know that it can pack a wallop of a cliffhanger: Booth and Brennan bidding each other farewell at an airport, Brennan going into hiding, or Booth going to prison. It's often an intense experience, and leaves you itching for the show to start back up in the fall.
But the conclusion of episode 22, "The Next in the Last," was lackluster. I'll have more to say on that topic at the end of this piece, but for now, let's recap.
Change was in the air all throughout this episode. We already knew that Hodgins and Angela were planning to leave for Paris, and the episode starts with Booth and Brennan discussing a lifestyle change, too - perhaps in a new city, or occupying different jobs.
Yet the murder of the week was eerily familiar, hearkening back to the days of cyber-terrorist Christopher Pelant. To refresh everyone's memory, Pelant was a technically-inclined genius who threatened the team on several occasions between seasons 7 and 9. He framed Brennan for murder, destroyed the Angela-tron, murdered multiple people, and stole more than 4 billion dollars from Hodgins before Booth killed him with his sharpshooting skills.
Although the money that Pelant stole was untraceable, it turned out that this week's victim had discovered it in the accounts of his shady employer, Dunlop Investments. With the help of a coworker, he was attempting to take the $4 billion for himself...but his girlfriend/Call of Duty buddy wanted the money for herself.
As Brennan and Booth revealed their plans to leave the team, we also got to see Cam unravel a little bit. Cam's had a rough year, between stressing Arastoo's safety and dealing with so many of her team members departing. When she defeatedly wondered aloud, "What is happening?", I totally related; it left me wondering just how the next season would progress.
Unless I missed it (which is totally possible, because I've been binge-watching the new season of Orange is the New Black), the show left Brennan and Booth's next steps pretty vague. They're just going away for a change of scenery. That was the part that felt lackluster to me; the show had some really fertile areas of conflict that could have kept us in thrall over the summer, like another relapse in Booth's fight against his gambling addiction, health complications with the birth of their second child, or even the threat of Pelant - who hid a posthumous message in some data that Angela was decrypting. But instead, Brennan turns off the message and walks out the door with Booth.
I guess there's something to be said for a tranquil season ending, but I've always been more of a fan of the bated-breath cliffhanger. For example, this season of Supernatural ended with the Winchester brothers getting their Impala stuck in the mud as they attempted to escape a massive cloud of evil black smoke called "The Darkness" - it left my adrenaline pumping, and made my cry out in excited frustration, antsy to know what happened next. That seems like an important experience to provide viewers, especially viewers of a show that's been on for ten years (as both Bones and Supernatural have been)!
What did you think of the ending? What do you think Booth and Brennan will get up to while we aren't watching? And what, if anything, will bring them back to the Jeffersonian next season? Comment below...and have an awesome summer, Boneheads!
Apparently you missed something else. The show ended as it did because at the time of writing and filming this episode the show had not been renewed. They had to try to do it in a way that could be either a season finale or a series finale. In fact the producers were told to film it as a series end, so this is why it ended as it did. Now they have to figure out how to write B&b bacl into crime fighting somehow. It will be interesting to watch
ReplyDeleteYou also missed that Brennan and Booth were hardly on at least together. If this was meant to be series finale it was not good. Booth and Brennan had two early scene together and then nothing until end when they were saying goodbye to everyone else. Their partnership sure wasn't on display in this episode and neither was any real emotion about their decision. Everyone can claim that Bones is an ensemble show but the center is Booth and Brennan and they didn't get justice in this episode. You can also talk about Emily's pregnancy being an issue but that doesn't wash with me. Half of this seasons episodes had hardly any Booth and Brennan, partners or otherwise, most in first half.. Beyond that Hodgins just giving all that money away, Aubry looking like a buffoon in train scene and a case that given Pelant was involved just didn't seem to make sense at all. The couple of things I did like were Brennan's scenes with her interns and actually yes her turning off that tape of Pelant. That showed how much she has changed from being consumed by work to knowing there is much more to life than that. And I did like Booth's goodbye with Caroline. It will be interesting to see how they go back to their jobs but I hope a better balance between stories and characters happen. Normally I can watch Bones episodes a lot after season ends but this season really did not have very many good ones. Hope next season is better
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. If it had been the series finale, it would have been a sucky ending. What a letdown!!! Very little Bones and Booth, and whoever will be in charge at the Jeffersonian will be crappy next season. I dislike Aristoo and Daisy, and while I like Edison he's no Brennan. This show has always revolved around Booth and Brennan, and unless they come back in some kind of central roles, I'm done. And Aubrey is a very unexciting back up to Booth. I love Angela and Hodgins, but they aren't enough to keep me watching. This season was the crummiest season ending ever! I cried with frustration after the episode ended. It was worse than the time with Katherine Winnick with Booth--and that was a series low point....
ReplyDeleteLuckily whoever is in charge wont be there for long. Assuming anyone believes Nathan, Booth and Brennan should be back at their jobs at end of season opener. Aubry is ok in small doses but NOT as Booth's partner. This season was such a letdown.
ReplyDelete