Re: The Inkslingers - The Season 5 Showdown!

by THX1138 Fri Jan 29, 2010 5:51 pm

dawnsfire wrote:
THX1138 wrote:
dawnsfire wrote:That said, her confusion with Booth’s sudden reversal was good, and her digging for an answer was in character. He’s become her lodestone for matters of the heart and family and no doubt it would make her question a lot, starting with her relationship with Max and Russ, if he had stuck to it. Max would have killed Booth if that had happened.
Her confusion about Booth's reversal was great! And you're spot on, Brennan has absorbed so much of Booth's philosophy on love, life, and family that she truly is his lodestone for those issues now. She doesn't hesitate to call him on it when he's acting hinky (love that word) and lets be honest, the whole kick under the table was pretty funny.
It was.

It was just so...couply. I mean, when they behave like that it's hard to see what, other than the sex, would be different about them as a couple.

Booth--still the over-protective big brother. So locked into that mode, he’s not listening to anything anyone else is saying, including Brennan’s understandable confusion about why he seems to be backing away from some very long-held beliefs on love, family, and forgiveness. It takes her laying it out in plain English, making the comparison between her/Max and Jared/Padme and what he told her then and what he’s saying now, to make him think. He still struggles with it at the end, because it’s closer to him (his brother), but I think he’ll manage to overcome it.
He is still locked into that mode, and it's not just because he spent a lot of his life as the over protective big brother, it's because a large part of him resents Jared for having used and abused his good nature for years, and now, even though he's sober and growing up, Booth feels a degree of resentment that some how Jared's skating again without having to do the heavy lifting. Jared's right, if their roles were reversed Booth would have told him to fuck off or worse, but because Booth always bore the brunt for them both, because he always took the hit, paid the bill, bailed him out, he feels that Jared should have to suffer - trust me, it's a brother thing. I felt the same way about mine for three years. In the end I decided it'd be easier to just pull the plug on his death bed...I mean get over it.
Hadn't thought of it that way, but yeah, I can understand that. Of course, if Jared had any difficulty in overcoming his addiction, Booth wasn't there to see it, between prison and then India. And even then, I suppose, he still might not feel it was enough.

Yeah, it's different with brothers than sisters - brothers have a running balance sheet in their heads, I guarantee you Seeley can list each and every perceived slight he holds against Jared an what he'd consider just retribution to even the score. I know I got my list...

He may not be a prude, but there is something about the profession of prostitution that gets under his skin. You can see it even back in S2, when he complains they came to Vegas on “the word of a prostitute,” not to mention his fury at pimps and johns (Girl in a Mask). We’ve seen bookies, loan sharks, assorted murderers, etc etc, but they don’t seem to get his back up quite so far--or even automatically.
Otherwise, his casework was solid, and I do love the man in semi-casual!
I get where you're coming from, but I think you miss the mark - I can explain. When I was in college I found out an ex of mine, through no fault of her own, was reduced to prostitution. She worked two jobs and couldn't pay the bills, hooking was the only way she could make the money to pay for both rent and school. I found out when I ran into her outside a club - it's not something you forget, finding out a girl you used to date is hooking. Anyway, Booth and I have very, very similar outlooks on a lot of things and I'm pretty sure his issue with prostitution on the low end isn't the girls, it's that he feels they've been forced into that life - he hates what they do, not them. Likewise his comment in Vegas wasn't neccessarily derogatory as much as it was a factual statement that the word of a prostitute isn't going to cary weight in a case like the one they were dealing with. Yes, he was dismissive, but Brennan's umbrage was largely misplaced IMO. It becomes more clear when you see how harshly he treats pimps - pimps are exploiters, he hates them for the things they do to the women, for what they represent - meanwhile the one case they had with a madame, he was polite and respectful to her - call girls aren't happy in the life, but they don't face the same problems as hookers. I think if he'd met Padme on his own he'd have liked her just fine. Her past has nothing to do with his behaviour, his past with Jared was what that was all about.
I forgot about the LA case! Anyway, I didn't mean exactly that he had a problem with the individual girl--but I don't know if I can explain any better. I guess I just heard the same note in his voice that Brennan did that time in Vegas. Of course the issue with pimps and johns is the exploitation factor, no question there. And he can be such a chameleon at times...

I think I get it, and yes, he can be a chameleon at times. I get that though, it's a survival skill you learn as a kid when you're stuck in situations you can't run from and where fighting's not an option. You learn to blend, you learn to amuse, you learn to charm.

The Booth brothers are on better terms from the minute Jared walks in the door until Booth lets it slip that he had a background check run on Padme. And even then, it’s not a drag-down fight, as I mentioned above. Jared’s matured and Seeley has to adjust. When Booth wonders why everyone thinks he overstepped his bounds, he doesn’t see that he violated her (their?) privacy. That is one of Jared’s issues--the other is big brother’s lack of trust. But in standing his ground, he takes a page from Booth:
You would say exactly what I’m going to say. Go to Hell.
Little more insight into their youth, too--the rat/puppy confusion (and that’s got to be a heck of a story) and the joke about Jared learning how to hotwire cars and steal cable from Booth. Which was not corrected or denied. Hmmm…
It was interesting to get more insight into the boys background, and a good Catholic boy like Booth? yeah, he was probably stealing sacramental wine too - it's always the hell raisers that grow up to be good boys.
I will say some of my fellow inmates--er, classmates in high school (nice Catholic one, too) had an interesting reputation as bigger troublemakers than the public school kids in the county. No idea what they're like now...

Heh, inmates. Apt turn of phrase. I went to Catholic school too, and you're not far off. I know a few that, if we'd been in public school they'd have records I'm sure. but now they're straight arrows - lawyers, doctors, and such. Like I said, the wild ones always level out it seems. Now one of the quiet kids in my class did serve time - insider trading.

As for Padme herself, she wasn’t on screen long enough to get a really good grip on her personality, but she seems nice enough, supportive of Jared. And they’ve told each other all the questionable parts of their pasts. “No secrets.” Where have we heard these words before? Though it’s likely truer for them than B&B right now (who are also holding secrets about their respective pasts).
Spoiler:
And speaking of relationships, in the beginning of this season, the cases provided the opportunity for all these little zingers aimed at B&B; here, when relationships are such a major part (Jared & Padme, Dan & his former and current partner), there are none, except maybe for the no secrets line. But Jared wouldn’t know they’ve said that, so that was for us. And nothing about Angela and Wendell. Well, that would be too much.
The interesting thing here is what secrets they share - Jared's are going to be fairly run of the mill, as are Padme's I'd think. Jared was never held prisoner and tortured, Padme was never thrown in a dirt floored cell or locked in the trunk of a car. I think the secrets B&B aren't sharing are the ones that they most want to forget themselves.
It's all relative--I surely wouldn't want to share Jared and Padme's secrets if they were mine with someone. At least not right away. On the other hand, they admit they're in love, even after such a short time (something else that was bothering Booth on some level). That said, you're probably right about B&B wanting to forget those things, and once they're shared--there's no going back, no pretending they didn't happen.

That's my thought exactly - it's not that they want to keep them secret from each other, it's that they want to forget they ever happened and once they tell the secret, there's no putting the genie back in the bottle.

Fanfic? Brennan asking if Booth’s done background checks on her dates (if you do that sort of thing for people you care about). There’s been a wide assumption among us, the audience, that he has, bolstered when he told her he knew things about Hacker that a good little subordinate shouldn’t.
I'm sure he actually did it to Brennan at least once - we know he did it to Rebecca.
True. I don't rewatch the Rebecca ones very often, but she did accuse him of that, didn't she? Truth in the Lye?

Yep, he handled explosives but that was okay, he was a construction worker. It was a brutal arguement, I loved it - so much fic material. Actually this episode was so fic worthy it's not funny - there should be tags galore for this for the next few weeks.

king

RM

by Meegs82 Sat Jan 30, 2010 9:44 am

THX1138 wrote:
Meegs82 wrote:
THX1138 wrote:
Meegs82 wrote:Rob, as for your Inkslinger, I agree with almost everything including bowing to you on the Brennan 2.0 discussion. She most certainly surpassed 1.75 with her toast.

The ONLY thing I don't agree with you on is that it's a forgettable episode. Was the casework lacking? Absolutely. But I think that the character growth and interactions MORE than make up for the case. Totally UN-forgettable and some of THE most important developments between our dynamic duo this season. Especially with Brennan as mentioned above in the 2.0 comment
I'll amend my statement - it's a forgetable case, but the personal growth and the shift in the B&B dynamic is worth watching again and again - I know I've skipped over large sections of the 'case' to get to the scenes with Jared and Booth, and Brennan and Booth - and I've watched the ending about a dozen times so far. That part is TOTALLY memorable.

RM

Exactly what I was thinking.
Heh, well when you're right, you're right!Besides this face:

[Only admins are allowed to see this image]
I can watch that again and again and again.

RM

I know! I mean, Brennan is correcting BOOTH'S social graces?!?! Look at how far the woman has come! It's just downright adorable and SOO Brennan that she kicks Jared. Priceless.

by DBCrazy Sun Jan 31, 2010 2:57 pm

I just lost my danged post!!! Grrrrr.

The majority of it was about Booth's motives and conclusions surrounding Padme. I never did see what he called hinky in their first meeting; I figure he must've just been projecting into the conversation.

Thanks again you two. Great read and conversation!!

by dawnsfire Sun Jan 31, 2010 3:06 pm

I forget if it was the entire situation or just her (strange vibe) that gave Booth that hinky feeling. As the eldest in my family, I can see where he worries about younger siblings, and then add in all the rest of the Booth family issues and he's...over-sensitive in some ways. Some part of him may realize that Jared's matured, but it's not the part running the show!

Now that I've thought about it a little--unless there's something to be revealed with the J/P situation, this could be part of Booth's recovery stuff (ah, so technical). I mean, his gut has failed him once or twice this season, so this could just be another example. Depends on what organ is making him suspicious!

queen

by THX1138 Sun Jan 31, 2010 4:32 pm

Meegs82 wrote:
THX1138 wrote:
Meegs82 wrote:
THX1138 wrote:
Meegs82 wrote:Rob, as for your Inkslinger, I agree with almost everything including bowing to you on the Brennan 2.0 discussion. She most certainly surpassed 1.75 with her toast.

The ONLY thing I don't agree with you on is that it's a forgettable episode. Was the casework lacking? Absolutely. But I think that the character growth and interactions MORE than make up for the case. Totally UN-forgettable and some of THE most important developments between our dynamic duo this season. Especially with Brennan as mentioned above in the 2.0 comment
I'll amend my statement - it's a forgetable case, but the personal growth and the shift in the B&B dynamic is worth watching again and again - I know I've skipped over large sections of the 'case' to get to the scenes with Jared and Booth, and Brennan and Booth - and I've watched the ending about a dozen times so far. That part is TOTALLY memorable.

RM

Exactly what I was thinking.
Heh, well when you're right, you're right!Besides this face:

[Only admins are allowed to see this image]
I can watch that again and again and again.

RM

I know! I mean, Brennan is correcting BOOTH'S social graces?!?! Look at how far the woman has come! It's just downright adorable and SOO Brennan that she kicks Jared. Priceless.

I loved it! You pegged it too, it was so adorable, so typically Brennan that she puts her whole heart into it, completely embraces the lesson learned from Booth (more so than even he does) and in her exuberance still manages to come just shy of the mark. Also, it's sort of fitting that everytime we have an episode with her and Jared she hits him at least once. Very Happy

RM

by THX1138 Sun Jan 31, 2010 4:44 pm

dawnsfire wrote:I forget if it was the entire situation or just her (strange vibe) that gave Booth that hinky feeling. As the eldest in my family, I can see where he worries about younger siblings, and then add in all the rest of the Booth family issues and he's...over-sensitive in some ways. Some part of him may realize that Jared's matured, but it's not the part running the show!

Now that I've thought about it a little--unless there's something to be revealed with the J/P situation, this could be part of Booth's recovery stuff (ah, so technical). I mean, his gut has failed him once or twice this season, so this could just be another example. Depends on what organ is making him suspicious!

I actually think it's not an organ issue (heart/brain/gut) as much as it's a conditioned response. He wasn't really in favor of Jared leaving for India in the first place, he mostly gave him his blessing because Brennan kept pushing him to let Jared grow up. When Jared comes back he's clean, sober, happy, got a good looking woman he says he's in love with and, oh yeah, met her a month ago. So what's giving Booth the "hinky" vibe? IMO, 25 plus years of Jared. Think about it, 25+ years of picking up after him, 25+ years of seeing Jared skate by on his looks and personality only to see it all blow up in his face and stick good ol' Seeley with the bill, 25+ years of that must have inured Booth to the point he has an almost Pavlovian response to his brother's "good news". From Booth's perspective, if it's Jared and it sounds too good to be true it's not just too good to be true, it's gonna bite Booth in the ass eventually. Hey, if I was Booth I'd have done a background check on her too...and probably called the US consulate in every city in India to see how many times Jared was arrested, etc., because I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him one handed.

king

RM

by dawnsfire Sun Jan 31, 2010 4:46 pm

I prefer that to Booth's gut failing him again, to be honest.

queen

by DBCrazy Sun Jan 31, 2010 4:54 pm

RM wrote:Think about it, 25+ years of picking up after him, 25+ years of seeing Jared skate by on his looks and personality only to see it all blow up in his face and stick good ol' Seeley with the bill, 25+ years of that must have inured Booth to the point he has an almost Pavlovian response to his brother's "good news". From Booth's perspective, if it's Jared and it sounds too good to be true it's not just too good to be true, it's gonna bite Booth in the ass eventually.

That's why I couldn't see it; he was projecting!!

by THX1138 Sun Jan 31, 2010 4:58 pm

dawnsfire wrote:I prefer that to Booth's gut failing him again, to be honest.

Yeah, I just think the way Booth was willing to abandon his principles re: love conquering all, etc., coupled with the "hinky" vibe, it all points to something a lot bigger, and more fundamental, than Booth's gut failing him. I saw the change in him as a way for him to justify his pre-ordained decision to find some fault with Jared, in this case his choice of gf. He was so sure that Jared was gonna screw up again that he went looking for something to support his preconceptions, and that's why he did the background check on Padme really - not because he worrie about Jared, but to prove he was right about his brother, that he hadn't changed at all. Likewise when he confronted Jared? That wasn't about helping him, that was Booth's back handed way of saying "See, you're still a screw up."

I mean I could be way off here, but if you change the names from Seeley and Jared to Robert and Richard? That's me and my brother.

king

RM

by THX1138 Sun Jan 31, 2010 4:59 pm

DBCrazy wrote:
RM wrote:Think about it, 25+ years of picking up after him, 25+ years of seeing Jared skate by on his looks and personality only to see it all blow up in his face and stick good ol' Seeley with the bill, 25+ years of that must have inured Booth to the point he has an almost Pavlovian response to his brother's "good news". From Booth's perspective, if it's Jared and it sounds too good to be true it's not just too good to be true, it's gonna bite Booth in the ass eventually.
That's why I couldn't see it; he was projecting!!

Yep, pretty much. Hey, it took me years to break myself of the habit of saying "What did you do this time?" to my brother. I mean, I still think it, but at least it's not how I start the conversation when he calls. Rolling Eyes

RM

by Meegs82 Sun Jan 31, 2010 5:23 pm

THX1138 wrote:
Meegs82 wrote:
THX1138 wrote:
Meegs82 wrote:
THX1138 wrote:
Meegs82 wrote:Rob, as for your Inkslinger, I agree with almost everything including bowing to you on the Brennan 2.0 discussion. She most certainly surpassed 1.75 with her toast.

The ONLY thing I don't agree with you on is that it's a forgettable episode. Was the casework lacking? Absolutely. But I think that the character growth and interactions MORE than make up for the case. Totally UN-forgettable and some of THE most important developments between our dynamic duo this season. Especially with Brennan as mentioned above in the 2.0 comment
I'll amend my statement - it's a forgetable case, but the personal growth and the shift in the B&B dynamic is worth watching again and again - I know I've skipped over large sections of the 'case' to get to the scenes with Jared and Booth, and Brennan and Booth - and I've watched the ending about a dozen times so far. That part is TOTALLY memorable.

RM

Exactly what I was thinking.
Heh, well when you're right, you're right!Besides this face:

[Only admins are allowed to see this image]
I can watch that again and again and again.

RM

I know! I mean, Brennan is correcting BOOTH'S social graces?!?! Look at how far the woman has come! It's just downright adorable and SOO Brennan that she kicks Jared. Priceless.
I loved it! You pegged it too, it was so adorable, so typically Brennan that she puts her whole heart into it, completely embraces the lesson learned from Booth (more so than even he does) and in her exuberance still manages to come just shy of the mark. Also, it's sort of fitting that everytime we have an episode with her and Jared she hits him at least once.

RM

Oh, SOOOO true!!!!! And I hear ya about embracing the lesson completely...SO Brennan, it's just TOO cute for words!!! Very Happy

by THX1138 Fri Feb 05, 2010 3:19 pm

InkSlinger - Season 5, Episode 14

Now with 100% fewer Spoilers!

The Devil in the Details

Our second semi-controvertial subject in as many weeks, this one touching on faith, the Church, and the true nature of evil. What I love most about this show is how they don't give faith the short shrift, though it seems as if attitudes have sharpened over time, the attitude toward Arastoo's Islamic faith for example, is distinctly less accommodating than Booth's Catholicism. They still deal with his faith respectfully and in doing so we garner an interesting insight into the nature of evil within us all. A secondary and still prominent aspect of the story, dealt with Brennan's disrespect for psychology as well as her rather narrow minded approach to dealing with people. I found their take on faith, Brennan's chastisement and Booth's own mini crisis to really add depth of understanding to the characters. For that alone this episode is one for the books.

The Case
When an altar boy and a priest notice a strange smell, they discover a body burning on the altar, but it's not just any body, it's the body of a horned demon complete with tail! Booth and Brennan show up and Brennan ascertains that the horns aren't plastic, but real, and a shaken Booth tells the techs to take the body back to the Jeffersonian. Back at the lab Booth isn't the only person who's a little freaked out. Cam and Arastoo both seem to be effected by the presence of the demonic remains, with Cam commenting on how she'd never seen a body like this before, and Arastoo explaining at length the Islamic belief in Satan. Angela, meanwhile, puts a name to the horns, one Neil Lowery who's last known place of residence was a sanitarium. The suspects include the Mom (Erica Turner), the Brother (Gabe Turner), The Angel (Neviah), The Doctor (Phillip Womack), and The Nurse (Lloyd Robertson). Booth questions the family and discovers that Neil is a schizophrenic with a childhood delusion of being the son of Satan.

Hodgins discovers a plant called Hellebore (a key ingredient in a potion that summons the devil). Neviah, the woman who believes she's an Angel, had painted a picture of Neil on the cross with herself taking the place of Longinus, thrusting the spear into his side. Under questioning Neviah is shown to be innocently crazy. The trail next leads to Lloyd the male nurse who's both a martial arts afficianado as well as a drug peddler. Though Lloyed isn't the killer his dealing in Heroine proves to be yet another clue to Neil's demise. Cam discovers gangrene between his toes, the sight of infection from his injecting the heroine that Lloyd sold him. Meanwhile a link between Lloyd's selling of drugs ties the patient Womack (The Doctor) to Neil since both were using heroine supplied by Lloyd. Eventually with Angela's help, Brennan is able to determine that Neil was elecrocuted in the basement and was barefoot a the time. Using her freakish recall of obscure facts (one that rivals VNM's really) she deduces that his shoes were put on after he died by someone who was left handed. The only suspect that fits the description is the brother. Gabe Turner went to visit his brother, Neil, in the basement and found him shooting up heroine. Unable to deal with seeing the brother who'd already cost their family so much, he struck him with a pipe, causing him to fall into the circuit box and get electrocuted. The body was dumped on the altar and lit on fire because Gabe was angry with God. A sad, sad story, and one anyone can understand.

The Characters
There was a lot of character interaction here, a lot to build on and a lot of development that begs dissection so let's begin:

Angela - Limited interaction this episode, and all of it was case oriented. However when it came to the Squintwerk (like Kraftwerk only less electronica) she was aces. First using her art skills to decipher Neviah's painting as well as the painting beneath the painting. Then her simulations helped point them to the key clue, namely that Neil was barefoot when he was killed via electrocution, and his shoes were put on after he died. She also used her skills to go over the building plans and help locate Neil's hiding spot.

Hodgins - Jack was excellent as far as the Squintwerk went, identifying the "bone" horns as actually being coral which clued Brennan in that the bone had actually remodelled over the coral implants. Locating the Hellebore flowers that tied him to the Sanitarium. Finally he was able to perform a side splitting experiment with this week's squintern, Arastoo, that resulted him in getting conked in the head to comic effect. Side note, his interaction with Cam, again more than just work aquaintances, definite friend vibe there, could be more?

Cam - As always, she does an excellent job being Cam, that is handling the disparate personalities at the lab while being a top notch pathologist. Cam is able to discover cause of death, albeit indirectly, by determining the intestines ruptured. That said, what was most interesting was her display of religious...intolerance? oversensitivity? Maybe it was cultural cross-wiring, as a New Yorker who lived throw 9-11 that would certainly explain her reticence in addressing Arastoo's comments. In any case Cam manages to tack carefully between bigotry and righteous concern, and the situation is resolved with aplomb but mostly do to Vaziri's own understanding nature.

Sweets - We got to see Sweets flex his psychological muscle as well as play to the crowd. With Booth and Brennan he was solicitous toward both, but clearly was more attentive to Booth's concerns about demonic possession, dismissing his worries but doing so in a very compassionate manner. His interrogation of Neviah, as well as Womack, was first rate, and his handling of the mother while her son was being booked, showed compassion as well as emotional maturity. He's young physically, but he's matured and grown into the job quite nicely.

Arastoo Vaziri - Another layer peeled back from the onion that is Mr Vaziri as we find out he served with US forces in Iraq as a translator. Though his commentary on Satan and evil was a little off putting for his fellow squints, he proved to be more interesting now and more of a true character, than he has since he first came on board. Vaziri now moves into third, bumping Daisy, as my favorite Squintern.

Booth
On the cop side, Booth 2.0 was a real cop, his comment to Lloyd "It doesn't matter what I believe, it matters what I can prove." may not sound like the Booth you expect but it's definitely the Cop in Booth flexing his muscle. Booth's interrogation of Lloyd was textbook, his control of the situation was impeccable, and when Booth worked through the evidence he peiced together the leads that Gabe's motive - the heroine, or more exactly, Neil's use of heroine. Otherwise the man is definitely a complex character. Especially when it comes to Faith.

His faith is such a large part of who he is it has to be a genuine concern in any relationship with Brennan. It's something that's not always dealt with seriously in ficdom, and when it is it's usually done with the thought that Brennan would either come around or modify her attitude but tonight we saw that neither could be true and the partners could still find common ground. Booth showed real concern about the religious implications of their case, not just that but he was adamant that the evil not be dismissed out of hand, that Brennan acknowledge the very real nature of it. It was interesting to see the interplay of his fastly held beliefs play off against Brennan's rational dismissal of his religion as "superstition", but what was most telling as to how enured they both are to each other's positions, was that Booth never took offense and Brennan never needled or pushed.

Brennan
Brennan left me with so many mixed emotions this time. She was fearless as a forensic investigator, never wavering from her dedication to rationality or her committment to discovering the truth of Neil's death. She was the one who ultimately put together the forensic evidence that supported Booth's conclusion that it was Gabe who killed Neil. While Brennan the forensic anthroplogist was amazing, it was Brennan the woman who left me wondering.

First she had to deal with her own personal demon in the form of psychology, and she got a dressing down from Dr Copeland, the psychiatrist, when she disrespected his profession in the day room. The fact that he challenged her in a way few ever had (few with their teeth still that is) speaks to his conviction, the fact that she eventually aplogized speaks to how effected by both his commentary and his display of professional ability she was. Second came her flirting with "Dr Womack", and yes kiddies, she was flirting with him. Brennan is supposed to love Booth, so why the goo goo eyes at Hacker? Why flirt with a man she's just met? I'm very, very dissapointed in her for this reason and yet at the end of the episode, her interaction with Booth, the intimacy of the moment, it wasn't B&B fluff, it was more B&B friendship and that has me wondering just what the hell is going on inside that head of hers.

Scene of Note
Cam and Hodgins having a JELLY moment discussing Arastoo's comments about Satan and whether he meant America/Americans or not. It was interesting to see how easily two "friends" fell into conversation over this, and how Cam's initial response to Jack's question was to say yes, and let him handle things. Even though she took it on herself to do it, it was her job afterall, the fact that Cam was even willing to entertain the idea of letting Hodgins talk to Vaziri speaks volumes about her trust in him as well as her comfort in dealing with him. Or to put it another way, the last man Cam was willing to entrust something of this magnitude with was Booth.

Dr. Adam Copeland telling off Brennan, it wasn't exactly something you see everyday, in fact it's the first time I've ever seen Brennan stand down when someone other than Booth confronted her. Seeing the man she'd briefly flirted with reduced to the level of a distressed patient, and seeing Copeland moving instantly to comfort him, may have done more to remey Psychology's shortcomings in her eyes than anything Gordon Wyatt or Sweets could ever do.

Hodgins knocking himself out with the Nunchucks. C'mon, that was funny and TJ is one hell of a comedic actor. Kudos to him and bonus points for our Presian Ninja, Pej Vahdat.

Brennan and Booth at the diner - it was a vintage B&B moment, with the partners sharing something intimate but not in the romantic way. Each let their guard down and exposed their insecurities to the other, each offered comfort and support in the sharing. It was pure B&B but more friendship than anything else, but still it was there.

End In The Beginning Moments:

Vaziri served with US forces in Iraq working as a translator, Zack served with US forces in Iraq ID'ng human remains.
Booth and Brennan discussing God and Faith at the end of the case harkens back to B&B sitting in Church after the first Gravedigger case.
Hodgins getting hit in the head during one of his experiments goes back to Angela getting hit with a turkey last season.

Quotable Quotes - The HellBoy Edition

Booth: Well listen, I brought Sweets along so he could sift through all the crazy asses at the looney bin and see if any of them are homicidal.
Sweets: I'm an excellent crazy ass looney bin sifter.

Booth: Why don't we start with the dorky martial arts stuff.
Lloyd: Numchucks and Shuriken aren't dorky, alright? They're weapons of a true master.
Booth: See the fact that you just called it shuriken proves my dorky theory.

Fun Facts
The odds of being born with a vestigial tail are 1 in 27,000, about the same odds as winning the jackpot on a 3-wheel slot machine.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The GOOD - The whole B&B interaction over religion, this episode dealt with one of the partners major issues at length and it did so in a respectful manner that did nothing to diminish either's views.

The BAD - Brennan flirting with another man, AGAIN. I'm sorry but her talking to Womack when they first met? She was flirting with him. Sure he's not physically attractive compared to Booth, but it's becoming pretty obvious that Brennan is as attracted to intelligence as she is physical attributes. First Hacker, now Womack. I don't like this at all.

The UGLY - I actually found the corpse disturbing this time, and that really, really hasn't happened in a long time on this show but this season we've had at least three corpses that have given me the wiggins. This one was #3.

The case work was solid, the partners dealt with their demons, and there was a hint of Jelly:
[Only admins are allowed to see this image]

Continuity was decent, no major gaffes and several prior season references:
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Overall watchability? Primo, my fourth favorite episode of the season, bumping Bond to #5:
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This was a great character based episode with some intresting developments between Booth and Brennan, but at the same time it raises as many questions for me as it settles. It's definitely a watchable episode, one I'll be watching again and again for some time because it's the first real indepth look at the inner workings of faith and what it means to Booth and Brennan.

king

RM

by dawnsfire Fri Feb 05, 2010 3:31 pm

Devil in the Details

My sadness over this being the winter finale is somewhat assuaged by some yummy cookies…the cinnamon ones are especially tasty! Very Happy

Religion and evil are the themes--fairly heavy stuff, and yet…the episode’s lighter than might be expected. Demons, angels, and yeah, Nevaeh’s creepy despite her (dare I say) near-angelic face. And for the record, to paraphrase a favorite author: there’s a reason the first thing an angel says is “Fear Not!” They’re scary and awe-inspiring beings, not sweet-faced young women.

Case

A burning devil is found in a Catholic church, on the alter (just wouldn’t have as much impact in any other church would it? Rolling Eyes

). Can’t blame the priest and alter boy for freaking out, though it was perhaps it was a little overdone. Turns out the dead man (Neal) had been born with a vestigial tail, which he refused to have removed, had coral implants in the shape of horns put in while still in his teens (wonder who he got to do that! Legally that is), and called himself the Son of Satan. Turns out he is schizophrenic and a patient at Havenhurst, a mental hospital, and not the one Zack’s confined in, by the way.

Family confirms Neal’s always had a problem, and BBS (Brennan, Booth, & Sweets) head out to talk to people at the hospital. There’s the head of the place, a patient who fools Brennan into believing he’s an actual doctor, a sweet faced woman who thinks she’s the archangel Uriel, and a nurse exchanging the hospital’s meds for heroin, dosing at least two patients with the latter, and smuggling out the former to help the homeless.

Skipping over the process of elimination for the suspects, Neal’s cause of death is ultimately shown to be electrocution, though there aren’t any places in the main grounds that provide the correct strength. Old blueprints indicate a place that was closed off, with a small access to an old generator. This turns out to be both the site of Neal’s death and also where the heroin is made. Of course, dressed as he was, he shouldn’t have died, so Brennan suggests he was barefoot and someone put his boots back on post-mortem. Through a weird discussion of shoe-tying, and Sweets actually trying to retie his to understand what she was talking about, they work out the killer is the victim's brother.

Characters

Brennan--haven’t seen the fiercely rational and dismissive side of Brennan (religion or psych) in a while or the major religious debate. However, I found her concern about Booth losing or being shaken in his faith touching and just another step forward for her. Before, she would have applauded his becoming more rational. I did like her take on her own faith and their comparisons of how they restore equilibrium to their lives. On the other hand, her firm beliefs give us the amusing little scene with Philip, the patient who thinks he’s a doctor--and who incidentally holds to the importance of empiricism, even within a psychological framework. (the fact that he’s dressed nicely doesn’t hurt, either) “I thought we had a lot in common”--and yes, I caught Copeland’s look. She’s getting better at accepting criticism, too.
I find it interesting that she can cite Christian tradition as well as reference Greek and Indian deities (Zeus and Hanuman)--and with apparently the same level of respect, even while scorning outright faith in them (which makes her conversation with Booth all the more interesting).
Like the Brennan of S1, she still has to be shown things, but once she sees, her reactions are genuine. Here, her apology, having seen what Dr. Copeland has to deal with, is as real as it gets.

Booth--light on the detecting. I’m of two minds about how they handle his religious mindset sometimes. Though perhaps his reaction to the stained cardboard last season makes a little more sense.
He is sounding more like Brennan, isn’t he? “It doesn’t matter what I believe; it matters what I can prove.” Yeah, I know, he has to have the proof as a lawman, but the way he said it, the phrasing, is very Brennan. And I enjoyed how he wrangled searched the nurse’s car, too. Very clever.
I’ve decided that while he's gotten to the point where he can handle her regular comments about religion and even God, when it relates to Catholicism, he gets downright defensive. Know how that goes.

And I swear, any more of that eyesex without follow-up and I will scream!

Cam--I’m trying to remember if we’ve ever seen her so creeped out before (other than last week’s spiders). Well, everyone’s got their limits and I guess we’re brushing against her. Rounds out the character, though, which is all to the good. An aspect of herding cats that we rarely seem to discuss is her intern-wrangling. She puts out a lot of effort to salve their pride after Brennan flattens them (I’d really like to see how she treated Zack when he was brand-new, btw--is she harder on this lot because of him? And I can’t see Goodman putting forth the same effort as Cam does). And she tries to keep potentially dangerous/fraught situations from blowing up--though perhaps tonight it was as much to show herself in an innocent and tolerant light, what with the Muslim concerns. Guess she and I don’t read the same books, though; I figured he was talking about himself when he said he saw Satan everyday.
And that blue dress more than makes up for the too-tight white shirt last week.

Angela--strong presence, though I am still waiting to see how the triangle works out. Guess we’ll have to wait for April for that! Like in a Night at the Bones Museum, Angela actually uses her art background for something besides sketches and reconstructions. She’s up on the latest techniques to examine under the paint, knows how to evaluate styles and color in a painting as well as the basics of art therapy, plus the snippet of actual art history regarding Van Gogh. While it’s well-established that she’s an artist, we don’t see the in-depth stuff much.
Interesting that she questioned Brennan about the boots--she doesn’t often do that, either.

Hodgins--he, too, had a light presence. Pulled the rug on them about the coral, ID’d the usual items, ran an experiment. Personally I found the scene with the nunchaku to be funny, if a trifle predictable--but they’re classics for a reason. And the camera effects showing how his vision was blurry was a nice touch. I was wondering, considering how he opened that scene, if he was supposed to have had some training and either let it slide or never handled nunchaku very often.
And of course he would own a T-short that states he’s with the Great Satan--or state that all he aspires to is to be a minor demon. Why, oh, why couldn’t Booth have heard that last statement, completely out of context?

Arastoo--sweet moves! He’s a self-effacing man, but having dropped his accent, he now seems a little more at ease in his skin. He’s also almost as hag-ridden as Booth about death, but then, would he have gotten much training in that sort of thing? I’d guess his head knows he did the right thing, but his heart doesn’t. His past is proving to be quite interesting, making me wonder if he’s moved up the potentials list. We know more about him than, say, VNM, or even Fisher.

Sweets--age comments again. Apparently, that’s a joke that never grows old. Fortunately, they don’t use it every episode, and despite some only-to-be-expected frustration over it, he handles it well. In 30 years, he’ll appreciate it. Anyway, he had a greater part of the investigation, perhaps because so much of it dealt with his profession. But when he’s strong in a case, Booth tends to be less of a presence. Frankly, I’d prefer the other way around.
Having re-watched some older episodes this week, I’ve been thinking that Sweets needed to see some of the bad side of closing cases. What was it Booth said back in Secret in the Soil? Something about ending up with someone else’s screwed-up life and pain after solving a case and that Sweets should know that/learn that, since he works for the FBI? I think he’s learned a little about that tonight, talking to the mother. A growth experience.

Random Impressions

The coral implants used to create the horns are reminiscent of the implants in Spaceman in the Crater; coral being of a material that cannot be differentiated from bone on an x-ray.

It occurs to me that we don’t see it rain very much on the show--if ever (snows every Christmas, though). So of course, when heading out to a potentially creepy mental institution, cue the waterworks. At least they didn’t have a loon (as in the bird, people!) crying for additional atmosphere.

The GPS made another appearance, and it was almost as bad as in Hero. That’s Brennan’s third car, if I’m not totally mistaken--or possibly fourth. She had the silver sports car, the silver hybrid SUV, and now this blue one…did I miss any?

And did they ever explain why she was driving him around?

It strikes me as amusing and accurate how people (some of them, anyway) worry about inadvertently giving offense--here, Muslims, which has come up before. I’ve been on the wrong side of a few of those types of discussions and completely recognize the symptoms. Cam is the one stuck with it most often (possibly because she’s the boss and must try to keep tension--and lawsuits--at a minimum), with Angela and Hodgins right behind. Occasionally, one of the interns suffers from it, but Brennan rarely, and Booth, surprisingly, almost as little as Brennan.

Halos & Pitchforks (yes, copying Rob’s style tonight)
I’m curious how they spelled angel-girl’s name. It might be Heaven spelled backwards, but while I’ve seen it written down, I’ve never heard it pronounced. Some people have named their kids this.

(Uriel, by the way, is the least-known of the archangels. In many traditions, he’s commonly referred to as the Angel of Death, and some mystic rites call upon his protection in the northern part of the wards. Many times, that is the ward called upon by the senior member, either by ability or age. St. Michael, who the priest includes in his prayers at the beginning, is another archangel, and probably the best-known, and he is the patron of police and warriors. In terms of the mystic circles I mentioned before, he is often placed in the south.)

I thought the under painting was a lot like a warped Pieta (the Virgin Mary holding Jesus’ body after it was removed from the cross), with a demon holding the devil.

“The Devil lost, as he always must.” That’s actually a fairly standard belief in many religions. Or if you prefer, Good always wins.

The Son of Satan and Hellboy are comic book characters. Sonny is also known as Daimon Hellstrom of Marvel Comics, and Hellboy is usually published by Dark Horse.

Havenhurst--Heaven? Or is that pushing it?

Good
The end scenes really are their strengths. Best part of the show again, talking about how they regain faith in the world, settle their minds after difficult cases. Booth trusts and Brennan takes solace in certain facts that never change. Each viewpoint is uniquely their own and yet they share a great deal here, including the sunrise as one of their respective reassurances.

Bad
Weak case, weak case, weak case. A lot was never explained--the writing on the wall (and why it was only visible under red light), how angel-girl got some of those details right-- And I don’t know if I like the brother as the killer. It doesn’t sit quite right, somehow--I thought Copeland might be the one; almost any of the others would have been better. Perhaps because it’s yet another case where the killer is once again someone we see for five minutes at the beginning, and while the logic leading to him is decent, it’s not as strong as it could be (please--how the shoes were tied?). How about someone who shows up later or has a bigger part?

This is definitely one where the personal aspect was of more importance than the case, even if there wasn’t a lot of B&B advancement, and nothing whatsoever on the A-H-W front.

I give it (barely)

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See you in April!

queen

by Meegs82 Fri Feb 05, 2010 3:42 pm

I was a bit irked by the whole car thing myself. I mean, OBVIOUSLY, it was just a blatant advertisement for their sponsor, Toyota and the Prius, but they could have AT LEAST explained why she was driving him around. He ALWAYS does the driving.

And that is THE car that I want! Color and all! I bet you anything Emily made the decision to give Brennan a Prius...since she has one.

by THX1138 Fri Feb 05, 2010 4:44 pm

dawnsfire wrote:Devil in the Details

My sadness over this being the winter finale is somewhat assuaged by some yummy cookies…the cinnamon ones are especially tasty!

Religion and evil are the themes--fairly heavy stuff, and yet…the episode’s lighter than might be expected. Demons, angels, and yeah, Nevaeh’s creepy despite her (dare I say) near-angelic face. And for the record, to paraphrase a favorite author: there’s a reason the first thing an angel says is “Fear Not!” They’re scary and awe-inspiring beings, not sweet-faced young women.

Thank you! Too often in popular culture we've seen Angel's portrayed as the sweet faced or even beautiful beings, when in fact they're fearsome, imposing creatures who exist to do God's will.

Characters

Brennan--haven’t seen the fiercely rational and dismissive side of Brennan (religion or psych) in a while or the major religious debate. However, I found her concern about Booth losing or being shaken in his faith touching and just another step forward for her. Before, she would have applauded his becoming more rational. I did like her take on her own faith and their comparisons of how they restore equilibrium to their lives. On the other hand, her firm beliefs give us the amusing little scene with Philip, the patient who thinks he’s a doctor--and who incidentally holds to the importance of empiricism, even within a psychological framework. (the fact that he’s dressed nicely doesn’t hurt, either) “I thought we had a lot in common”--and yes, I caught Copeland’s look. She’s getting better at accepting criticism, too.
I find it interesting that she can cite Christian tradition as well as reference Greek and Indian deities (Zeus and Hanuman)--and with apparently the same level of respect, even while scorning outright faith in them (which makes her conversation with Booth all the more interesting).
Like the Brennan of S1, she still has to be shown things, but once she sees, her reactions are genuine. Here, her apology, having seen what Dr. Copeland has to deal with, is as real as it gets.

I think it's interesting how she's mellowed - she still vocally embraces empiricism over faith, but she's no longer so pushy about it. S1 or S2 Brennan would have ridden her hobby horse of reason around until Booth was ready to strangle her. Here she addressed his concerns with concerns of her own. Yes she maintained the pre-eminence of reason, but she was much less acerbic in dealing with Booth's faith this time. Even her comments about God's aim not being as good as Zeus' were more comedic than anything. You can tell now when she's pushing his buttons just to push them. Also, she's catching on to his humor now when in the past she would have needed him to explain things (like his voice activation joke about the car going faster). Still the most amazing thing to me was her facing her own demons in acknowledging the efficacy and importance of psychology. That was an eye opener for her.

Booth--light on the detecting. I’m of two minds about how they handle his religious mindset sometimes. Though perhaps his reaction to the stained cardboard last season makes a little more sense.
He is sounding more like Brennan, isn’t he? “It doesn’t matter what I believe; it matters what I can prove.” Yeah, I know, he has to have the proof as a lawman, but the way he said it, the phrasing, is very Brennan. And I enjoyed how he wrangled searched the nurse’s car, too. Very clever.
I’ve decided that while he's gotten to the point where he can handle her regular comments about religion and even God, when it relates to Catholicism, he gets downright defensive. Know how that goes.

I did like Booth's comment about what he could prove being important, and yes that was very Brennan-esque, but it was also very true for a cop. It's not what he thinks. it's what he can prove that' counts. Likewise at the end we see the similarities they share despite the fact that their belief systems are diametrically opposed. She has long maintained she doesn't believe in faith (the 1st Gravedigger Episode) and yet here she admits that when her faith in reason is shaken she reacts in a very, human, way:

Brennan: "When I see effects and I'm unable to discern the cause, my faith in reason and consequences is shaken.
Booth: "Then what happens?"
Brennan: "2+2=4, I put sugar in my coffee and it tastes sweet. The sun comes up because the world turns. These things are beautiful to me. There are mysteries I will never understand, but everywhere I look I see proof that for every effect there is a corresponding cause even if I can't see it. I find that reassuring."

That's the second time in as many weeks where Brennan has literally stolen my breath. Her take on faith may not be conventional but what she describes is faith. She has faith in reason. For her it is as much a religion as the Catholic faith is to Booth, an the sharing of that aspect of herself with him was more intimate than anything we've seen on the show in some time.

And I swear, any more of that eyesex without follow-up and I will scream!

Amen sister, how he can get that look from her and not jump her is beyond me. Seriously, maybe they damaged something in there when they took out the tumor.

Cam--I’m trying to remember if we’ve ever seen her so creeped out before (other than last week’s spiders). Well, everyone’s got their limits and I guess we’re brushing against her. Rounds out the character, though, which is all to the good. An aspect of herding cats that we rarely seem to discuss is her intern-wrangling. She puts out a lot of effort to salve their pride after Brennan flattens them (I’d really like to see how she treated Zack when he was brand-new, btw--is she harder on this lot because of him? And I can’t see Goodman putting forth the same effort as Cam does). And she tries to keep potentially dangerous/fraught situations from blowing up--though perhaps tonight it was as much to show herself in an innocent and tolerant light, what with the Muslim concerns. Guess she and I don’t read the same books, though; I figured he was talking about himself when he said he saw Satan everyday.
And that blue dress more than makes up for the too-tight white shirt last week.

Loved Cam this episode but I found her line of reasoning with Arastoo to be walking the line between bigotry and rightful concern. It's a line I imagine she has to walk as a supervisor, and yet I thought she handled it amazingly well. Also, her interaction with Hodgins? JELLY Time!

Sweets--age comments again. Apparently, that’s a joke that never grows old. Fortunately, they don’t use it every episode, and despite some only-to-be-expected frustration over it, he handles it well. In 30 years, he’ll appreciate it. Anyway, he had a greater part of the investigation, perhaps because so much of it dealt with his profession. But when he’s strong in a case, Booth tends to be less of a presence. Frankly, I’d prefer the other way around.
Having re-watched some older episodes this week, I’ve been thinking that Sweets needed to see some of the bad side of closing cases. What was it Booth said back in Secret in the Soil? Something about ending up with someone else’s screwed-up life and pain after solving a case and that Sweets should know that/learn that, since he works for the FBI? I think he’s learned a little about that tonight, talking to the mother. A growth experience.

Very much a growth episode for Sweets and he really flexed his psychologist muscle tonight too. I can't help but think the primary beneficiary of Copeland's tongue lashing will be Sweets.

Random Impressions

The coral implants used to create the horns are reminiscent of the implants in Spaceman in the Crater; coral being of a material that cannot be differentiated from bone on an x-ray.

It occurs to me that we don’t see it rain very much on the show--if ever (snows every Christmas, though). So of course, when heading out to a potentially creepy mental institution, cue the waterworks. At least they didn’t have a loon (as in the bird, people!) crying for additional atmosphere.

The GPS made another appearance, and it was almost as bad as in Hero. That’s Brennan’s third car, if I’m not totally mistaken--or possibly fourth. She had the silver sports car, the silver hybrid SUV, and now this blue one…did I miss any?

And did they ever explain why she was driving him around?

It strikes me as amusing and accurate how people (some of them, anyway) worry about inadvertently giving offense--here, Muslims, which has come up before. I’ve been on the wrong side of a few of those types of discussions and completely recognize the symptoms. Cam is the one stuck with it most often (possibly because she’s the boss and must try to keep tension--and lawsuits--at a minimum), with Angela and Hodgins right behind. Occasionally, one of the interns suffers from it, but Brennan rarely, and Booth, surprisingly, almost as little as Brennan.

I missed the coral implants! Bah! And we don't see a lot of rain, do we? Loved the GPS moment, she always acts like a goof with technology - the GPS, the hidden microphone in the Gormogon vault, always such a goof. Also no explanation as to why she was driving, the impression I got was "new car".

With regard to the Muslim thing, that was my take too though I recall Hodgins outright questioning of Arastoo's faith and his comments regarding 9/11 when he came on board, and I can't help but pity Cam for having to handle the disparate personalities in that lab. Not just herding cats, herding cats with ADHD sometimes.

Halos & Pitchforks (yes, copying Rob’s style tonight)
I’m curious how they spelled angel-girl’s name. It might be Heaven spelled backwards, but while I’ve seen it written down, I’ve never heard it pronounced. Some people have named their kids this.

(Uriel, by the way, is the least-known of the archangels. In many traditions, he’s commonly referred to as the Angel of Death, and some mystic rites call upon his protection in the northern part of the wards. Many times, that is the ward called upon by the senior member, either by ability or age. St. Michael, who the priest includes in his prayers at the beginning, is another archangel, and probably the best-known, and he is the patron of police and warriors. In terms of the mystic circles I mentioned before, he is often placed in the south.)

I thought the under painting was a lot like a warped Pieta (the Virgin Mary holding Jesus’ body after it was removed from the cross), with a demon holding the devil.

“The Devil lost, as he always must.” That’s actually a fairly standard belief in many religions. Or if you prefer, Good always wins.

The Son of Satan and Hellboy are comic book characters. Sonny is also known as Daimon Hellstrom of Marvel Comics, and Hellboy is usually published by Dark Horse.

Havenhurst--Heaven? Or is that pushing it?

Amazing notes and I must add I'm flattered to be emulated. I missed Neveah (I was spelling it Neviah, duh) as "Heaven" spelt backwards. Nice catch.

You got Uriel and Michael, of course Gabriel and Raphael round out the four "compass point" archangels. I have an old book of Christian white magic, it's a reprint of an older gnostic text that was the foundation of Christianity's version of the Kabbalah in the early days of Christendom, that spoke of the ritual calling of the archangels and their binding. Interesting read from time to time, this episode makes me want to dig it out.

I think I really enjoyed this episode more than you did, in fact I rate it above Bond in the Boot. It was definitely more a character building epi than a case epi, and honestly I think Booth could have solved this one on his own - he was already on the right track after questioning Lloyd (he knew that Gabe was the last one to see Neil alive, that he came to visit him that night after he left). The thing that bothered me most was Brennan flirting with Womack. And she was flirting, no doubt about it. Can the woman not see that Booth is RIGHT THERE!?

yeesh.

king

RM

by dawnsfire Fri Feb 05, 2010 6:15 pm

THX1138 wrote:Our second semi-controvertial subject in as many weeks, this one touching on faith, the Church, and the true nature of evil. What I love most about this show is how they don't give faith the short shrift, though it seems as if attitudes have sharpened over time, the attitude toward Arastoo's Islamic faith for example, is distinctly less accommodating than Booth's Catholicism. They still deal with his faith respectfully and in doing so we garner an interesting insight into the nature of evil within us all. A secondary and still prominent aspect of the story, dealt with Brennan's disrespect for psychology as well as her rather narrow minded approach to dealing with people. I found their take on faith, Brennan's chastisement and Booth's own mini crisis to really add depth of understanding to the characters. For that alone this episode is one for the books.

I thought Islam was handled respectfully; to be honest, most of the time they do handle these touchy issues pretty well, as we haven't heard about major-league defamation suits. (right?) Sad that that's the standard

Angela - Limited interaction this episode, and all of it was case oriented. However when it came to the Squintwerk (like Kraftwerk only less electronica) she was aces. First using her art skills to decipher Neviah's painting as well as the painting beneath the painting. Then her simulations helped point them to the key clue, namely that Neil was barefoot when he was killed via electrocution, and his shoes were put on after he died. She also used her skills to go over the building plans and help locate Neil's hiding spot.

It was limited interaction for all of them this week, for the most part. Nothing very deep until the end.

Hodgins - Jack was excellent as far as the Squintwerk went, identifying the "bone" horns as actually being coral which clued Brennan in that the bone had actually remodelled over the coral implants. Locating the Hellebore flowers that tied him to the Sanitarium. Finally he was able to perform a side splitting experiment with this week's squintern, Arastoo, that resulted him in getting conked in the head to comic effect. Side note, his interaction with Cam, again more than just work aquaintances, definite friend vibe there, could be more?

We can only hope. If for nothing more than yanking everyone out of this holding pattern...

Cam - As always, she does an excellent job being Cam, that is handling the disparate personalities at the lab while being a top notch pathologist. Cam is able to discover cause of death, albeit indirectly, by determining the intestines ruptured. That said, what was most interesting was her display of religious...intolerance? oversensitivity? Maybe it was cultural cross-wiring, as a New Yorker who lived throw 9-11 that would certainly explain her reticence in addressing Arastoo's comments. In any case Cam manages to tack carefully between bigotry and righteous concern, and the situation is resolved with aplomb but mostly do to Vaziri's own understanding nature.

Oversensitivity seems a reasonable explanation. She doesn't want to judge, but remembering some of my reactions from 9/11 and other events which seem to cast a cloud over an entire group, it's hard not to. So she thinks it, starts to open her mouth, then realizes that she doesn't want to say that, doesn't want to even think that, and does that flurry of backtracking. And Arastoo is a most considerate and understanding person, no doubt, which allows him to accept the weirdness that is the Medico-Legal Lab.

Arastoo Vaziri - Another layer peeled back from the onion that is Mr Vaziri as we find out he served with US forces in Iraq as a translator. Though his commentary on Satan and evil was a little off putting for his fellow squints, he proved to be more interesting now and more of a true character, than he has since he first came on board. Vaziri now moves into third, bumping Daisy, as my favorite Squintern.

Despite not being on Brennan's short list, he may be a keeper, which is not what I thought at all last season. He's not a favorite for me, but given the details being added to his background (and he seems to have more layers than most of the other interns), he has been better fleshed out.

His faith is such a large part of who he is it has to be a genuine concern in any relationship with Brennan. It's something that's not always dealt with seriously in ficdom, and when it is it's usually done with the thought that Brennan would either come around or modify her attitude but tonight we saw that neither could be true and the partners could still find common ground. Booth showed real concern about the religious implications of their case, not just that but he was adamant that the evil not be dismissed out of hand, that Brennan acknowledge the very real nature of it. It was interesting to see the interplay of his fastly held beliefs play off against Brennan's rational dismissal of his religion as "superstition", but what was most telling as to how enured they both are to each other's positions, was that Booth never took offense and Brennan never needled or pushed.

Well, I would say he was bothered at the beginning, and she was more strident than she has been, but some of that could have been from her little speech to the priest. It would have put my back up; I've been called superstitious and pagan and God knows what for being Catholic and I grit my teeth and vacate whatever board I'm on. I'm Catholic, not a masochist!
I agree--have always agreed, actually--about Brennan coming around to a religion. I don't see it happening, and for a while, there was a rash of stories where she completely changed her mind. I tend to back out of those pretty hastily unless they're superlative otherwise. The best Booth can hope for is for her to let no further criticism pass her lips in his hearing and not argue about exposing any potential children to the faith.
I would also like to point you towards a car conversation they had in Mummy--after they saw the fundamentalist pastor and she talks about having faith in what she sees, hears, etc. Tonight's conversation was an advanced (better thought out?) version of that.

First she had to deal with her own personal demon in the form of psychology, and she got a dressing down from Dr Copeland, the psychiatrist, when she disrespected his profession in the day room. The fact that he challenged her in a way few ever had (few with their teeth still that is) speaks to his conviction, the fact that she eventually aplogized speaks to how effected by both his commentary and his display of professional ability she was. Second came her flirting with "Dr Womack", and yes kiddies, she was flirting with him. Brennan is supposed to love Booth, so why the goo goo eyes at Hacker? Why flirt with a man she's just met? I'm very, very dissapointed in her for this reason and yet at the end of the episode, her interaction with Booth, the intimacy of the moment, it wasn't B&B fluff, it was more B&B friendship and that has me wondering just what the hell is going on inside that head of hers.

I didn't quite see that as flirting with Philip Womack. Filling time, talking with someone who was surprisingly rational (hah!) She was upset about not being able to stay even though she knew it was for the best and looking for something to distract her. What does everyone else think?
She didn't start off by being impressed by Copeland's lecture--except maybe for his nerve in delivering it; others have given her grief for her attitudes, but none quite like this--but when she saw him in action (the old empirical evidence), she got the point. It had to hit her like a 2x4 to the back of the head, but she's honest enough to realize when she's wrong and generally when it's time to back down.

Dr. Adam Copeland telling off Brennan, it wasn't exactly something you see everyday, in fact it's the first time I've ever seen Brennan stand down when someone other than Booth confronted her. Seeing the man she'd briefly flirted with reduced to the level of a distressed patient, and seeing Copeland moving instantly to comfort him, may have done more to remey Psychology's shortcomings in her eyes than anything Gordon Wyatt or Sweets could ever do.

And Sweets will undoubtedly pout about it! Very Happy

End In The Beginning Moments:
Vaziri served with US forces in Iraq working as a translator, Zack served with US forces in Iraq ID'ng human remains.
Booth and Brennan discussing God and Faith at the end of the case harkens back to B&B sitting in Church after the first Gravedigger case.
Hodgins getting hit in the head during one of his experiments goes back to Angela getting hit with a turkey last season.

And as I pointed out on another thread, the stuff at the very beginning with the alter boy complaining about the smell and the priest saying it's the candles is also right out of Aliens, same scene as you list..."What's that smell?" "Candles."

The UGLY - I actually found the corpse disturbing this time, and that really, really hasn't happened in a long time on this show but this season we've had at least three corpses that have given me the wiggins. This one was #3.

This one didn't bother me--no flying eyeballs or maggots in eyesockets, or even flesh dripping off the skeleton. I will admit the horns gave it a creepy look, but not disgusting-creepy.

queen

by THX1138 Fri Feb 05, 2010 7:08 pm

dawnsfire wrote:I thought Islam was handled respectfully; to be honest, most of the time they do handle these touchy issues pretty well, as we haven't heard about major-league defamation suits. (right?) Sad that that's the standard

They do don't they? Handle the touchy stuff quite well without actually shying away from it. What I find interesting is that from a character perspective attitudes seem to have sharpened somewhat - recall The Man in the Fallout Shelter? All of the squints, sans Brennan, had some religious beliefs (Zack was the exception, though if his mom aske he's Lutheran) and yet now I get the feeling from Hodgins that he's shifting toward Brennan's old "religion and science are enemies" line. It's just a feeling, but I detected a distinct note there.

It was limited interaction for all of them this week, for the most part. Nothing very deep until the end.

True enough, I think that's the fallout from having a more involved Vaziri storyline as well as the inclusion of Sweets expaned role, just not enough air time.

Hodgins - Jack was excellent as far as the Squintwerk went, identifying the "bone" horns as actually being coral which clued Brennan in that the bone had actually remodelled over the coral implants. Locating the Hellebore flowers that tied him to the Sanitarium. Finally he was able to perform a side splitting experiment with this week's squintern, Arastoo, that resulted him in getting conked in the head to comic effect. Side note, his interaction with Cam, again more than just work aquaintances, definite friend vibe there, could be more?
We can only hope. If for nothing more than yanking everyone out of this holding pattern...

Amen. I'm tired of B&B circling each other with no end in sight, but hopefully we'll see some resolution in the 100th episode and real movement by the end of the year.

Oversensitivity seems a reasonable explanation. She doesn't want to judge, but remembering some of my reactions from 9/11 and other events which seem to cast a cloud over an entire group, it's hard not to. So she thinks it, starts to open her mouth, then realizes that she doesn't want to say that, doesn't want to even think that, and does that flurry of backtracking. And Arastoo is a most considerate and understanding person, no doubt, which allows him to accept the weirdness that is the Medico-Legal Lab.

Agree that it's oversensitivity, I think I'm oversensitive to all this since I complete my annual diversity training this week. I'll be back to my normal insensitive self in no time, I promise! Very Happy

Despite not being on Brennan's short list, he may be a keeper, which is not what I thought at all last season. He's not a favorite for me, but given the details being added to his background (and he seems to have more layers than most of the other interns), he has been better fleshed out.

I really didn't like him last season, but this season, since he lost the accent, I really am starting to like the guy. He keeps this up and Wendell will have competition.

Well, I would say he was bothered at the beginning, and she was more strident than she has been, but some of that could have been from her little speech to the priest. It would have put my back up; I've been called superstitious and pagan and God knows what for being Catholic and I grit my teeth and vacate whatever board I'm on. I'm Catholic, not a masochist!

I'm a Polish Catholic, we're practically masochistic sometimes, but that's about it. I do get where you're coming from. Though I've studied eastern mysticism, other religions, an even the early history of the Church (mostly the first heretical schisms) and I can get into a polite discussion with anyone about those things, but something about the Church draws the ire of some folks and the arguing and ignorance do get tiresome. Anyway I think he was bothered, yes, but not like he used to be. I honestly didn't get that vibe this time, not like the other times, say the 1st Gravedigger episode, where he'd correct her harshly for blaspheming in Church. Now IMO he's either become accustomed to her heathen ways or he's just in shock at what he's seeing so it's not registering, but that's just my take.

I agree--have always agreed, actually--about Brennan coming around to a religion. I don't see it happening, and for a while, there was a rash of stories where she completely changed her mind. I tend to back out of those pretty hastily unless they're superlative otherwise. The best Booth can hope for is for her to let no further criticism pass her lips in his hearing and not argue about exposing any potential children to the faith.

I agree, it's the one thing that I find hardest to reconcile in fics. I have no issue with writing a scene where she utters the exclamation "Oh God!" because to her it's just a figure of speech like, "Oh Shit!" but with a different connotation, but just because she's shouting "Oh God!" it doesn't mean she's got religion. In fact maybe I need to write a scene where they have that discussion. It could be interesting to play with, Hmm?

I would also like to point you towards a car conversation they had in Mummy--after they saw the fundamentalist pastor and she talks about having faith in what she sees, hears, etc. Tonight's conversation was an advanced (better thought out?) version of that.

Excellent point, and I'd forgotten about that, but you're right. Her closing talk about faith was simply a much more eloquent restatement of her earlier held position on the subject of reason. Though I still maintain that her belief in reason borders on a religious faith.

I didn't quite see that as flirting with Philip Womack. Filling time, talking with someone who was surprisingly rational (hah!) She was upset about not being able to stay even though she knew it was for the best and looking for something to distract her. What does everyone else think?
She didn't start off by being impressed by Copeland's lecture--except maybe for his nerve in delivering it; others have given her grief for her attitudes, but none quite like this--but when she saw him in action (the old empirical evidence), she got the point. It had to hit her like a 2x4 to the back of the head, but she's honest enough to realize when she's wrong and generally when it's time to back down.

I totally got a flirt vibe from her and Womack. Maybe it's a guy thing but I've asked out women who've shown less interest in me that she showed Womack, but maybe that's just me. Or I could be projecting, I do find her fetching in an overcoat. And I'm agreed that she didn't start out impressed with Copeland's lecture, I think her initial non-apology was more of a professional "I'm sorry for disrespecting a fellow degreed individual" than anything, but seeing him in action made her really appreciate what he does and what he has to contend with.

Dr. Adam Copeland telling off Brennan, it wasn't exactly something you see everyday, in fact it's the first time I've ever seen Brennan stand down when someone other than Booth confronted her. Seeing the man she'd briefly flirted with reduced to the level of a distressed patient, and seeing Copeland moving instantly to comfort him, may have done more to remey Psychology's shortcomings in her eyes than anything Gordon Wyatt or Sweets could ever do.
And Sweets will undoubtedly pout about it!

Undoubtedly, and Booth will make fun of him for pouting. Very Happy

The UGLY - I actually found the corpse disturbing this time, and that really, really hasn't happened in a long time on this show but this season we've had at least three corpses that have given me the wiggins. This one was #3.
This one didn't bother me--no flying eyeballs or maggots in eyesockets, or even flesh dripping off the skeleton. I will admit the horns gave it a creepy look, but not disgusting-creepy.

It wasn't the horns so much as the vestigial tail, that really just makes me...ugh, ya' know?

king

RM

by dawnsfire Fri Feb 05, 2010 7:37 pm

THX1138 wrote:I did like Booth's comment about what he could prove being important, and yes that was very Brennan-esque, but it was also very true for a cop. It's not what he thinks. it's what he can prove that' counts. Likewise at the end we see the similarities they share despite the fact that their belief systems are diametrically opposed. She has long maintained she doesn't believe in faith (the 1st Gravedigger Episode) and yet here she admits that when her faith in reason is shaken she reacts in a very, human, way:

Brennan: "When I see effects and I'm unable to discern the cause, my faith in reason and consequences is shaken.
Booth: "Then what happens?"
Brennan: "2+2=4, I put sugar in my coffee and it tastes sweet. The sun comes up because the world turns. These things are beautiful to me. There are mysteries I will never understand, but everywhere I look I see proof that for every effect there is a corresponding cause even if I can't see it. I find that reassuring."

That's the second time in as many weeks where Brennan has literally stolen my breath. Her take on faith may not be conventional but what she describes is faith. She has faith in reason. For her it is as much a religion as the Catholic faith is to Booth, an the sharing of that aspect of herself with him was more intimate than anything we've seen on the show in some time.

Would you believe me if I said I had been working a faith vignette that says something very similar for about a week now? This ep just gives me a little more to work with, something she's building towards. Convenient, no? Smile

Loved the GPS moment, she always acts like a goof with technology - the GPS, the hidden microphone in the Gormogon vault, always such a goof. Also no explanation as to why she was driving, the impression I got was "new car".

Personal or small technology would be the operative phrase here, since we've never seen her get all goofy with any of the lab stuff. And I don't know about the "new car" aspect. I would think he'd have taken over the driving at some point, especially once Sweets joined them. And do you suppose he put bulletproof vests and so on in the trunk? "Why don't we ever take my car to a crime scene?" "Does your car have bulletproof vests?" Woman in a Car, perhaps?

With regard to the Muslim thing, that was my take too though I recall Hodgins outright questioning of Arastoo's faith and his comments regarding 9/11 when he came on board, and I can't help but pity Cam for having to handle the disparate personalities in that lab. Not just herding cats, herding cats with ADHD sometimes.

I remember thinking how odd that was, since Hodgins getting snarky like that was in Arastoo's 2nd appearance. I would have expected it in his 1st appearance, but I suppose they had to get Brennan's irritation with his prayer breaks out 1st.

Halos & Pitchforks (yes, copying Rob’s style tonight)
I’m curious how they spelled angel-girl’s name. It might be Heaven spelled backwards, but while I’ve seen it written down, I’ve never heard it pronounced. Some people have named their kids this.

(Uriel, by the way, is the least-known of the archangels. In many traditions, he’s commonly referred to as the Angel of Death, and some mystic rites call upon his protection in the northern part of the wards. Many times, that is the ward called upon by the senior member, either by ability or age. St. Michael, who the priest includes in his prayers at the beginning, is another archangel, and probably the best-known, and he is the patron of police and warriors. In terms of the mystic circles I mentioned before, he is often placed in the south.)

I thought the under painting was a lot like a warped Pieta (the Virgin Mary holding Jesus’ body after it was removed from the cross), with a demon holding the devil.

“The Devil lost, as he always must.” That’s actually a fairly standard belief in many religions. Or if you prefer, Good always wins.

The Son of Satan and Hellboy are comic book characters. Sonny is also known as Daimon Hellstrom of Marvel Comics, and Hellboy is usually published by Dark Horse.

Havenhurst--Heaven? Or is that pushing it?
Amazing notes and I must add I'm flattered to be emulated. I missed Neveah (I was spelling it Neviah, duh) as "Heaven" spelt backwards. Nice catch.

You got Uriel and Michael, of course Gabriel and Raphael round out the four "compass point" archangels. I have an old book of Christian white magic, it's a reprint of an older gnostic text that was the foundation of Christianity's version of the Kabbalah in the early days of Christendom, that spoke of the ritual calling of the archangels and their binding. Interesting read from time to time, this episode makes me want to dig it out.

That would be an interesting book. I got some of this from novels, and then lo and behold, I found that there were rituals and beliefs in this world that had similar if not identical details. As for the name, I think one of the sides suggested it to me, so I'm just guessing myself.

I think I really enjoyed this episode more than you did, in fact I rate it above Bond in the Boot. It was definitely more a character building epi than a case epi, and honestly I think Booth could have solved this one on his own - he was already on the right track after questioning Lloyd (he knew that Gabe was the last one to see Neil alive, that he came to visit him that night after he left). The thing that bothered me most was Brennan flirting with Womack. And she was flirting, no doubt about it. Can the woman not see that Booth is RIGHT THERE!?

yeesh.

But he wasn't. He was in the other room talking with Nevaeh. *smirks*

queen

by dawnsfire Fri Feb 05, 2010 7:39 pm

By the way--I'm not sure it's blasphemy if it's not her faith... I know it's not heresy, no matter what the Inquisition would have said.

queen

by DBCrazy Fri Feb 05, 2010 7:45 pm

I know you guys must get tired of hearing me say this, but I so loove to come in here and read these reviews! It magnifies the story for me, illuminating so much that I didn't get at all, didn't fully get, or just don't have the background knowledge to put in perspective.

As far as my reaction to the show itself - I didn't really care for it. It all felt canned. Truly, in my mind I'm wondering who directed this episode, and has he done any before, and did I like any of those? First thought in my mind is DDotDD - and that one didn't really bother me because it was supposed to be campy, whereas this epi wasn't trying. I mean seriously, we had to use flames at a few of the breaks! Rolling Eyes

Booth and Brennan both felt like caricatures of themselves. Weird.

Rob, love the new word: Squintwerk! I think rolling them out in small doses is the trick. Have you applied for the necessary Trademark rights yet?

I'm with Dawn on the flirting. In my book that was maybe "hitting it off with somebody" but it didn't make me think flirting at all.

"End in the Beginning Moments" - ha! all this time I've been trying to see the rest of the episodes in this ONE EPISODE. And now I see you have it with the END of the series in the BEGINNING of the series! Cool! But now that's just going to really scatter my thoughts all over tarnation.

"Fear Not!" - Dawn, this is a perfect example of illuminating so much. I knew that, but we get beraged(sp?) daily with cute, sweet images of angels that we forget stuff like this, and if it's a Bones Inkslinger to remind me, then so be it. I love to be reminded of these things.

About Cam's reaction to Arastoo. I think I would have been a little weirded out too by him saying he faced Satan daily. Trying to figure it out myself I had the thought that someone in his surroundings was a radicalized Muslim. I never suspected him thinking of the evil Americans, or himself. I also never thought about the "cultural cross-wiring, as a New Yorker who lived through 9/11" either. Seriously, I'd love to rent one of y'all's brains to watch one of these shows. It would have to be something akin to watching my first Imax-filmed Imax movie!

"Scene of Note" with Brennan/Copeland - I'm liable to go off on a tangent here, so I'll try to stay on point. I rather enjoyed the dressing down Brennan got this evening from Dr. Copeland <snip>. On the other hand, I thought her real apology was lame. Maybe I need to go back and re-watch that, but was that crisis really done so big and dramatically that wrestling him to the ground and immediately sedating him was something to bring Brennan to some great realization that this was a harrowing profession?? What? Copeland's motivations for what he said - I got it. Brennan's motivations for what she said - I don't get it.

...and I'm stopping because honestly I need a little more rest before I start my tomorrow. Totally serious on the rent-to-buy offer (see how I snuck in the "to-buy" part!) Smile

Thanks y'all!!

by dawnsfire Sat Feb 06, 2010 8:00 am

DBCrazy wrote:As far as my reaction to the show itself - I didn't really care for it. It all felt canned. Truly, in my mind I'm wondering who directed this episode, and has he done any before, and did I like any of those? First thought in my mind is DDotDD - and that one didn't really bother me because it was supposed to be campy, whereas this epi wasn't trying. I mean seriously, we had to use flames at a few of the breaks! Booth and Brennan both felt like caricatures of themselves. Weird.

That's what I was thinking roughly when I said it felt light despite the weight of the themes. Some good scenes, but otherwise...*shrugs*
Didn't mind the flames--they have used such breaks before (Intern--smoke; the gamblling motifs in Woman/Sand; some odd fade-outs scattered about in other eps)

I'm with Dawn on the flirting. In my book that was maybe "hitting it off with somebody" but it didn't make me think flirting at all.

Thank you. Smile

Actually, according to some behavior type researchers, men see flirting in situations where women don't mean it, that they're just being friendly. (can't give you the citation for that; already packed that book up!)

"Fear Not!" - Dawn, this is a perfect example of illuminating so much. I knew that, but we get beraged(sp?) daily with cute, sweet images of angels that we forget stuff like this, and if it's a Bones Inkslinger to remind me, then so be it. I love to be reminded of these things.

Compendium of useless and arcane information, that's me! To briefly divert--I think angels among other things are "cutsified" to make them more...accessible sometimes. Bring them closer to human understanding, or possibly just to make them more comfortable concepts.

Seriously, I'd love to rent one of y'all's brains to watch one of these shows. It would have to be something akin to watching my first Imax-filmed Imax movie!

Too bad you don't live closer to one of us--you could at least watch with us and get some of this firsthand.

"Scene of Note" with Brennan/Copeland - I'm liable to go off on a tangent here, so I'll try to stay on point. I rather enjoyed the dressing down Brennan got this evening from Dr. Copeland <snip>. On the other hand, I thought her real apology was lame. Maybe I need to go back and re-watch that, but was that crisis really done so big and dramatically that wrestling him to the ground and immediately sedating him was something to bring Brennan to some great realization that this was a harrowing profession?? What? Copeland's motivations for what he said - I got it. Brennan's motivations for what she said - I don't get it.

Philip's attack/withdrawal/?? was moderately dramatic to my mind because of the relative peace of the moments right before. I would say in terms of the hospital that it was not minor, but something they were familiar with and knew how to handle. But to the outsiders, it was probably a shock. The thing about Brennan's apology is that, as Copeland said, her 1st attempt really wasn't an apology and he's good enough to understand why, thus taking no additional offense. But then she sees him in action and it changes her perspective. I'll have to watch that scene again myself, but something in there definitely impressed her.
I think I agree with Rob that Sweets may come out the best, that she may choke off a few of those comments--at least the general ones. Psychology specifically applied to her and possibly Booth will remain suspect.

...and I'm stopping because honestly I need a little more rest before I start my tomorrow. Totally serious on the rent-to-buy offer (see how I snuck in the "to-buy" part!) Thanks y'all!!

Sorry. I need my brain too much just to function (not to mention writing stories) to sell it!

queen

by THX1138 Sat Feb 06, 2010 1:41 pm

DBCrazy wrote:I know you guys must get tired of hearing me say this, but I so loove to come in here and read these reviews! It magnifies the story for me, illuminating so much that I didn't get at all, didn't fully get, or just don't have the background knowledge to put in perspective.

I can't speak for my Queen, but I'm not tired of it at all. In fact bill board space wouldn't bother me. Smile

As far as my reaction to the show itself - I didn't really care for it. It all felt canned. Truly, in my mind I'm wondering who directed this episode, and has he done any before, and did I like any of those? First thought in my mind is DDotDD - and that one didn't really bother me because it was supposed to be campy, whereas this epi wasn't trying. I mean seriously, we had to use flames at a few of the breaks! Booth and Brennan both felt like caricatures of themselves. Weird.

Interesting, this is one of the few where I'm wildly divergent from everyone else and I'm okay with that. I think it's like Foot. Everyone liked Foot and I thought it was crap. Although I think the comparison to DDotDD is harsh, for all it's flaws (and I'm not blind to this epi's flaws) this wasn't THAT bad. The flames didn't bother me at all, in fact I found them less obnoxious than the poker chip shennanigans.

Rob, love the new word: Squintwerk! I think rolling them out in small doses is the trick. Have you applied for the necessary Trademark rights yet?

I agree, I need to job them out one at a time over time, then before you know it I'll be able to do an entire review in Squintanese. Twisted Evil

Move over Papa Smurf, the King is here! Squintastic!

I'm with Dawn on the flirting. In my book that was maybe "hitting it off with somebody" but it didn't make me think flirting at all.

Well with both my Chancellor and Queen disagreeing with me I want to be wrong, but I called up my brother (who's history with women is such that I'll refer to him as "Expert Witness" from now on) and Expert Witness's verdict was flirting. Now Expert Witness's wife say he's full of crap, likewise gf says I'm imaging things. What I need is Pimp here to give another impartial judgement because it's shaping up as a girl/guy thing.

"End in the Beginning Moments" - ha! all this time I've been trying to see the rest of the episodes in this ONE EPISODE. And now I see you have it with the END of the series in the BEGINNING of the series! Cool! But now that's just going to really scatter my thoughts all over tarnation.

We live to scatter. Wink

"Scene of Note" with Brennan/Copeland - I'm liable to go off on a tangent here, so I'll try to stay on point. I rather enjoyed the dressing down Brennan got this evening from Dr. Copeland <snip>. On the other hand, I thought her real apology was lame. Maybe I need to go back and re-watch that, but was that crisis really done so big and dramatically that wrestling him to the ground and immediately sedating him was something to bring Brennan to some great realization that this was a harrowing profession?? What? Copeland's motivations for what he said - I got it. Brennan's motivations for what she said - I don't get it.

My take on that is that Brennan seeing it happen to a man like Womack, whom she saw as a rational empiricist even if he was somewhat delusional, hammered home to her the dire straights these people were in. Call it flirting, or simply that she found him engaging, what have you, but there was a clear connection there, an intellectual connection at least, and I think that served to make it more real for Brennan. Hence her heartfelt apology at the end.

Anyhoo, I'm out for now. See you all on the flip side, and I shall be getting these ancient 109 year old bones to bed soon...well, not really, but you get the idea.

king

RM

by Meegs82 Sat Feb 06, 2010 2:27 pm

My first take on Brennan and Womack: flirting. I literally said out loud, "oh, he did it 'cuz she's interested in him" since we all know Brennan's taste in men (David the cult recruiter and Will the decapitating fiend). But now that I've thought about it (even though I haven't rewatched yet), I'm gonna have to go with Brennan simply being interested in his intellect. They connected on that level and she can't help but be intrigued. Now, IMO, she IS still flirting with Hacker, which has just GOT to stop...I mean, like yesterday.

by THX1138 Sat Feb 06, 2010 6:44 pm

Meegs82 wrote:My first take on Brennan and Womack: flirting. I literally said out loud, "oh, he did it 'cuz she's interested in him" since we all know Brennan's taste in men (David the cult recruiter and Will the decapitating fiend). But now that I've thought about it (even though I haven't rewatched yet), I'm gonna have to go with Brennan simply being interested in his intellect. They connected on that level and she can't help but be intrigued. Now, IMO, she IS still flirting with Hacker, which has just GOT to stop...I mean, like yesterday.

I'm taking the first impression and running with it - between you, Expert Witness, and myself that's enough for me. Maybe the Queen is right, and I'm seeing flirtation where there is none - in which case you're second take is probably correct, she was just interested in his intellect and they connected because his rational refutation of Psychology fed her own prejudices.

Oh, and yes Brennan has GOT to STOP flirting with Hacker. It's just sad that the she keeps encouraging him when Booth's right there for the taking. It's even worse when she does it and he's LITERALLY right there. I swear, I just don't get that woman sometimes.

king

RM

by Shelly Sun Feb 07, 2010 11:18 am

Thanks as always for the great reviews that fuel the fires of our commentary!

I just wanted to mention that while I liked this episode, I feel like Booth delt with the issue of mental illness with far less cooth and finesse than he did with homosexuality. Using phrases like "crazy asses," and asking why they all aren't in straight jackets came across to me as brash, disrespectful, and downright ignorant at times. Huge contrast from the week before. Does Booth maybe have issues with the mentally ill that we don't know about? What do you guys think?

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