After months of waiting, Bones is finally back with new episodes to round out its eleventh season on the air.
As devotees of the show probably know, it looks like we'll bid farewell to the Jeffersonian crew and their FBI colleagues in 2017. But in the roughly 30 episodes we have left, I think we should all brace ourselves for some major highs and lows.
Last season started with a big death. This midseason finale left us unsure of Hodgins's future. And now that we've seen "The Death in the Defense", I think it's safe to say that the showrunners have no intention of pulling their punches on the way to the final episode.
RECAP
Of course there was a murder to solve, and I'll talk about that, but the bulk of this episode was all about Hodgins. The midseason finale ended with some dire news for our favorite entomologist: a hematoma crushed the nerves in his spine, causing paralysis in his lower half.
Still, Hodgins's return to work brings up a lot of emotion among his colleagues. Angela's a great big ball of worry, Cam and Audrey feel guilty, Wendall and Booth are hopeful, and Brennan is sticking to the facts - which don't fall in Hodgins's favor. While it was an absolute delight watching Hodgins as Wendall did field work on his behalf, there were a lot of tense moments in this episode as Hodgins navigated his newfound handicaps in the lab.
However, the team did pull together (helped immensely by Hodgins) and solve the murder of a successful young public defender named Drea Torres. Although the evidence cast suspicion on a former client's husband, a drug dealer, a childhood friend, and a multitasking intern down at the office, it turned out that Drea's boss was the one to take her life; when she spurned his advances, he got a little too violent with her.
DISCUSSION
Hope versus pragmatism was a major theme throughout this episode. As a longterm pragmatist, I found Brennan's approach to the whole situation of Hodgins's return most balanced, but of course I hate to squash the hope of Booth, Wendall, and Hodgins himself. And while I certainly wish that a dude like Hodgins gets lucky as he puts his mind and body to the task of recovery, I also keep thinking about the haunting question Angela posed near the beginning of the previous episode: "Why are we always the lucky ones?" In coming episodes, I think I'd rather see Hodgins learn to cope in a healthy way with the challenges of wheelchair living, as opposed to some magical cure. How about you, fellow Boneheads? What do you think is in the cards for Hodgins?
On a somewhat related note, the episode ended with Hodgins hiding the bad news of his nerve damage from Angela and putting on a brave face. How long do you think it'll take for Angela to see through that? I'm going to go ahead and guess not very long at all.
I was super focused on the Hodgins storyline this week. Anyone see other noteworthy moments in the episode? Tell me what I missed in the comments section!
