Bones - The Loyalty in the Lie - Review

Hello, gentle reader. Did you have a good summer? Are you ready for fall, and everything that goes with it?

I sure hope so, because suddenly it's October, and our favorite procedural, Bones, is back on the air with a fresh season of intrigue, intellect, and...interesting plot developments. Let's start off with the really big question I've got after watching the premier episode of season 11: What is going on with Booth lately?!

RECAP

If you'll remember from last season, Booth spent a little time in prison. When he came out, he lost one of his closest friends and colleagues, Agent Sweets. About halfway through season 10, he stumbled back into his gambling addiction. And although Brennan eventually forgave him, he never seemed to have the same energy about his work, so much so that he and Brennan concluded the season by quitting their crime-solving positions and moved on to unspecified new occupations.

Season 11 picks up about 6 months after that. Brennan's had their second child, a boy. She's completed two books, and works as a consultant for a museum. Booth is a freelance trainer at the FBI, which ostensibly gives him more time to be with his family, but in the opening scene we learn that he's been working awfully long hours. As he bids farewell to his family in the opening scene, he casts a lingering look from the doorway, and we immediately know that something isn't quite right.

Over at the Jeffersonian, Cam is (after 6 months) still struggling to find a replacement for Brennan. Her newest candidate is none other than Arastoo, her main squeeze and former squintern. Hodgins and Angela express support for the hiring decision, and we even get a little glimpse into the ongoing goodness of their relationship...but then they get a call from Agent Aubrey.

The latest case involves a burnt body, and as the team attempts to identify the victim, we start to hear some familiar descriptions: white male, mid forties, professionally armed and outfitted. Then the bomb is dropped: the gun found on the body belongs to Booth.

Now I'm going to stop relaying the plot for a moment to make a potentially bold statement; there was no freaking way that body was going to end up being Booth's. Booth and Brennan lay at the creamy center of this show, and without one (or both) of them, this show will die.

However, the episode does a stellar job of maintaining the "is it Booth?" tension as the Jeffersonian team approaches Brennan, and they discover some unsettling clues. Booth's not answering his phone. His locked gun case is empty, except for his wedding band. Many bone markers on the victim's body correspond to injuries that Booth sustained over the years.

As Brennan dives into the task of refuting Arastoo's claim that the body is Booth's, Aubrey and Caroline launch an FBI manhunt for their comrade. Although they hope the best of Booth's intentions, they worry that Booth has been hiding something big from them...something that might have gotten him killed.

Luckily, we learn that the victim was an alcoholic, and bears injuries that prove it ISN'T Booth on the slab. Phew! Instead, it's Booth's brother Jared. While still a mournful discovery, it does mean we can still hope that Booth's out there, alive!

However, we are then introduced to an FBI Internal Investigations agent named Miller, brought in to learn more about the suspicious circumstances regarding the body. She quickly manages to aggravate Caroline, Aubrey, and especially Brennan, by casting aspersions on his character and suggesting he has been up to no good.

And she may be right. As the episode progresses, Angela and Aubrey discover the code word "GO" hidden in Booth's call logs. Jared turns out to have bought and regularly activated sets of burner phones for unknown-and-likely-nefarious purposes. Clues lead Aubrey and Miller to the home of a crook whose office is spattered with blood (Booth's blood, among others'), a trio of dead bodies, and and empty safe. And most damning of all, near the end of the episode we discover that Booth is alive, but suffering from a gunshot wound to the gut.

The episode ends with a "To be continued" message, which was nice to see but also totally unecessary; of COURSE the show is to be continued! We're just getting started!

DISCUSSION

So back to my question, What is going on with Booth lately? Multiple characters in this episode wonder aloud what Booth got into that was so bad, he didn't feel he could share with his closest colleagues/friends. But then again, Booth's always been pretty reserved; it's what made his relationship with Sweets so compelling, watching the young psychologist tease out the mystery of Booth's scarred psyche. Booth hid his hallucinations when he had his tumor several seasons ago, took YEARS to realize his affection for Brennan, and most recently put his family in danger by secretly gambling thousands of dollars away.

It seems that the show has taken this character off of the heroic, quirky pedestal he once occupied. I'm not sure why, or what their ultimate goal is; I certainly enjoy that Booth is multi-dimensional and sometimes flawed, but on the other hand, I don't watch this show in hopes of watching people fail or put their loved ones in danger. This season may be a make-or-break one for me. I hope they have a compelling reason for sending Booth over to shady moral territory. What do you all think his reason is?

Brennan expressed some major frustration with Cam and Arastoo for their botched identification of the body. We learn early on that Brennan has been helping Cam screen applicants for her replacement, and Brennan has found all of them lacking in some way. While the conclusion of last season suggested that Brennan was moving away from her Jeffersonian position, the mystery surrounding Booth and his brother has landed her right back where she's always been - in the lab. Do you think they'll explore her new, old role? Or is it kind of understood that she's just resuming her post?

In lighter news, we learned that Arastoo intends to ask Cam to marry him. I was not ready for a proposal in the very first episode, so I was delighted by Cam's accidental discovery of the ring, and Arastoo's sheepish offer to show it to her. That they were interrupted by Hodgins, who made the moment even more comedically awkward, was also a delight. Anyone with me? Anyone wish he'd just gone ahead and popped the question?

All in all, I thought this episode was a strong start to the season. They have begun to explore new character developments, introduced a different kind of antagonist with Agent Miller, and DIDN'T make me weep like they did last year. I'm already eager for the next episode to air.

Did I miss anything? Do you agree or disagree with the above review? Let me know in the comments section!

About the Author - entropyki

Ki (aka entropyki) is a UX Researcher, roller derby enthusiast, Star Wars nerd, and road tripper. When she's not at a computer, she's driving, singing, watching TV, and generally being a badass, plus-sized twentysomething.

Favorite shows include Supernatural, Bones, Party Down, Futurama, Orange is the New Black, and the Big Bang Theory.