Bones—The Knight on the Grid

I've been waiting for a strong return to the Gormogon case, and tonight's episode was exactly that. I enjoy a good ancient religious conspiracy theory almost as much as Jack does, and this one's coming together nicely, with lots of yuckiness and, well, ancient conspiracy stuff. Also, it's great to see Russ again, and I liked the introduction of his girlfriend and her daughter, who we heard about all the way back in 1-22, The Woman in Limbo.

However, while I think the last few episodes have been the strongest of the season so far, Sweets is really getting to annoy me. I liked him as Booth and Brennan's therapist. While I preferred Stephen Fry's Dr. Gordon Gordon from last season, I don't think the dynamic between B² would have been quite as strong or as intimate as it has played out in the therapist's office this season. But the minute they let Sweets out of his office, he started to grate. I feel like he's being shoehorned into the casework. There are plenty of folks on the team who can put the psychological pieces together, particularly Booth and Cam, so why do we need his input? Also, he performed a pet TV peeve of mine tonight, which was to walk into a room and start spouting information about things that were discussed before he came in.

But here's an idea--what if Sweets is the apprentice? I'm starting to think it's a plausible theory. And while my slow-motion scan of the last scene didn't confirm anything, the guy did look just about enough like Sweets that it could be him, and if the producers are smart, they'd be sure slow-motion and freeze frames on high definition TVs wouldn't give away the secret.

Bones—The Intern in the Incinerator

A female body is found burned crispy in the incinerator at the Jeffersonian. Angela is able to ID the skull just by looking at it, because she knew the victim. She was a Jeffersonian intern, Kristen Reardon. She had been having an affair with a married man who also worked at the Jeffersonian. Kristin was involved in authenticating the artifacts from the serial killer case, which appear to be from an anti-Masonic, anti-Illuminati group called the Gormogon. Booth finds a suspect in Kyle Aldridge, the married man Kristin was having an affair with. Cam tells the gang they're trying too hard to connect the murder with the serial killer case. In the end, the murder proves not to have been related to Gormogon, but to a smuggling ring working within the Jeffersonian.

In a well-played and funny subplot, Cam asks Booth to accompany her to her dad's birthday party, as her fake boyfriend, since they don't know he and Cam broke up. Cam's sister makes moves on Booth when she thinks he and Cam might be having relationship issues. Booth goes to Hodgins for advice on what to do about Cam's sister, but all Hodgins can do is giggle at him. Finally, Booth confesses to Cam what happened. The sisters admit neither of them wants Booth, and reconcile in a sisterly alliance against him.

The case tonight was well-constructed, and the character-related subplots were really well-done. I was glad to see Cam with a larger storyline this week, as I really like her character and love the way she interacts with Booth. I also liked the interaction between Booth and Brennan. The scene involving Booth knowing Brennan's passwords, and the reflection over Dixie cup shots at the end, both displayed more bonding and intimacy than any traditionally "romantic" interaction between them ever could.

Bones—The Mummy in the Maze

Tonight, Bones has its first Halloween episode. It opens at a corn maze. I hate corn mazes. Poor little kid lost in the corn maze. And he finds an actual dead dessicated body, which makes it all even worse. Looking for the body, Booth and Bones and the coroner all get lost. Seems like if they find a dead body in a corn maze they could probably get permission to just doze down the maze to get to the body. Which Booth finally does with his body, which is kind of hot.

The body proves to have been actually mummified, with lacquer and cedar oil. Then another body is found at an amusement park, in a haunted house, just past the killer clown. The clown makes Booth squeal like a girl. The details of the deaths are extra gross tonight and involve tarantulas. Ew. Thanks to many disparate pieces put together by the Squint Squad, Booth and Bones are able to save the final victim from the killer clown. No, seriously.

Jack and Angela consult a private investigator (Azura Skye, who was the argot-afflicted Russian patient on last week's House). She finds out all kinds of interesting things about Angela. And she's found the ex-husband in the Florida Keys. He doesn't want a divorce, and he built Angela a house.

The highlight of the episode is the costume party, although it was really kind of disturbing how hot Boreanaz was done up like a geek. The private investigator was quite amusing in her attempts to be sure Angela really wanted to be with Jack and not with the apparently ridiculously good-looking and still-devoted ex-husband (although one must wonder how much of that she made up as part of her "test"). And the Halloween costumes were great. Overall, another solid outing.

Bones—The Secret in the Soil

We begin with Bones and Brennan attending therapy with Dr. Lance Sweets. Which is kind of a dorky name. And neither of them is happy with the situation, but the FBI is demanding their partnership be evaluated. On their way home from therapy, they're called to go check out a dead body. Mmmm, greasy bones. Cam and Brennan examine the body while Booth reminisces over old romantic conquests. Nice timing there, Seeley. The body temperature is abnormally high--the body was cooked before it was dumped. Okay, um... ew. I wonder if this is going to tie in to the cannibal dude from the season premiere?

Jack has the same thought I did. Which means either I'm really smart or I'm a freaky conspiracy theorist type. Considering I watched The X-Files all the way through to the series finale (every single freakin' episode, people), I'll go for the latter. The victim is a Franklin Curtis, an organic grocery mogul. Mr. Organic's body is covered in pesticides. Denise Crosby plays his wife. Hm... where did I see her last? X-Files? Seems like she popped up somewhere else since she was Scully's gynecologist. Ah, it was Dexter. Thank God for imdb. Apparently Curtis was a bit heavy-handed in his pursuit of organic farming, thus giving us a potentially huge list of suspects, since he drove other farmers out of business. Brennan comes up with an argument in favor of organic farming that seems to affect Booth--pesticides can make your genitals shrink. The interaction here is priceless.

The first suspect, Andy, is a tobacco farmer--they think Curtis might have been cooked in the tobacco curing barn, but apparently somebody else was cooked along with him. Gracie from Jericho is the suspect's wife. Curtis made passes at her, apparently, trying to get his hands on Andy's farm. Curtis seems to have been a bit of a horndog.

While they're investigating the next suspect, another organic farmer growing pineapples in a hothouse, a waft from the compost compound nearby initiates an amusing "Who farted?" exchange between Booth and Brennan. The compost smell, though, constitutes another clue. They go to search the compost facility for more dead bodies. Of course they find one--a female body that's been dead about the same amount of time as Curtis. The assumption is that they're lovers, but later evidence shows they're father and daughter.

The case this week had some nice twists, with the final reveal both logical and emotionally fraught. The environmentalist theme seemed like it was going to be heavy-handed at first, but after the first act or so it began to fade more into the storyline, as it should be. While there wasn't a great deal of screentime for the Squint Squad, everybody had at least one good moment. Jack's enthusiasm over bugs and compost, Angela's observations regarding Booth and Brennan's bickering, Zack's observation that he's occasionally wrong--all these were welcome, enjoyable, and spot-on moments for them.

I've been hearing about the "couples counselling" plotline for a while, and had my doubts about it. Seeing it play out, though, I think the writers have found a sneaky way to explore the depths and breadths of Booth and Brennan's relationship without tossing them into bed. If they do this right, it could verge on genius in that respect, and so far so good. The moments toward the end with the two of them in Sweets' office were very revealing without being treacly or corny or treading too close to that deadly romance line. My only disappointment is that they have a new doctor, rather than Gordon Gordon, but the dynamic would have been vastly different with him, and possibly not as revealing as it's been with the considerably younger and less dominant Sweets. Kudos so far for this twist--I'm looking forward to seeing more of this plotline.

Bones—Death in the Saddle

In a charming opening to tonight's episode, a boy scout sort goes to take a leak and finds a dead body swarming with maggots. Fortunately I remembered not to have snacks tonight. Mr. Dead Guy has no feet--they find them buried a short distance away. Brennan fusses because there's still lots of meat on the bones, which means it's not her job. This leads to some clunky exposition between her and Cam to catch us up with previous episodes.

Angela is planning to be hypnotized to remember her ex-husband's name. The name she remembers was a nickname that means "little flute." This makes everyone smirk and also makes Hodgins very happy.

The body has sunscreen on it that's meant for horses, and the teeth show evidence of usage of a bit. Plus Mr. Dead Guy's stomach is full of raw oats and things horses would like to eat. And his name is Ed, so of course they start calling him Mr. Ed. Which turns out to be his pony play name.

Ed's wife says he was a fine, upstanding sort of person and doesn't seem to know anything about the horse connections, which leads to a rather awkward bout of questioning for Booth, who is also regaled with terrible horse jokes by Brennan, who of course hasn't heard any of them before.

Angela is skeptical about the hypnotism, since she worked for a magician once. That sounds like a very Angela-type job. Cam gives her a pep talk.

Booth and Brennan follow Ed's credit card trail to a pony play resort, where Ed was a pony. One of the women there is Annie Oakley (her fetish community name), played by Christina Cox--Vicky from Blood Ties. I guess she got tired of vampires. Although if she's tired of vampires why is she hanging with Boreanaz? Anyway, she was Mr. Ed's last "rider." Booth engages in more awkward questioning peppered with sarcasm, which Annie Oakley finds offensive. Annie says Ed's wife showed up at the resort and Ed disappeared the next day.

On the return trip, Brennan delivers a history of pony play. Typically, she's accepting of it from an anthropological point of view, while Booth is appalled.

They question the wife, who is also appalled by Ed's fetish. She was tipped off by a phone call from a man with an accent, but she says she went straight home after catching Ed and Annie together. Brennan doesn't think the wife did it because of the condition of the body--everything about the murder fits into the pony culture, and the wife wasn't involved in that.

Zack works on identifying the murder weapon by making casts of the head wound that killed Ed. Booth and Brennan return to the pony play resort to find the mystery caller. They question Calvin, the caller, who admits to making the call but not to killing Ed.

Ed was murdered with a hoof knife, and the wound inflicted in the forehead parallels the way horses are normally slaughtered. Hodgins proposes to find the killer by tracing the baling twine used to tie Ed's hands.

Angela's hypnotism doesn't work because she wasn't relaxed enough. She obviously has issues about the husband.

Booth interrogates Lucky, who runs the resort, as regards the twine, as it was traced to his ranch. Lucky's ex-wife is Annie Oakley, thus providing motive, but it's only twenty till so I don't think it's him. Booth seems skeptical of Lucky's story. The feet were severed with the hoof knife. Hodgins is bummed because Zack figured this out at the same time he did. Booth and Brennan follow another suspect to a butcher shop. He runs. That's suspicious, I think, but he doesn't seem to know anything about Ed's death, either. In fact, he was a fan. Also a National Guard deserter (thus the fleeing) and a proponent of eating horsemeat as an extension of the pony play fetish.

Angela tries the hypnosis again. This time it works, but instead of seeing her husband she's attacked by a giant dream wasp. This makes her peevish.

Brennan determines Ed's eyes were gouged out. Okay, now we're doing Equus. They go to question Lucky and Annie Oakley, who apparently is a doctor in her day job. Annie turns out to be the killer/jealous lover. A bit predictable, that.

Angela makes a connection between the wasp and the book where she left the Polaroid from her wedding, which has her husband's first name written on it, and she remembers his last name. Hodgela smoochies ensue.
Brennan and Booth have a heartfelt conversation about vegetarianism and lovemaking. No, seriously.

This episode seemed to be trying to walk that line between over-the-top and serious forensics. I don't think it quite succeeded, because it landed a bit too far on the over-the-top side. And yeah, Bones is generally a bit OTT, but the presentation here seemed a little too tongue-in-cheek to quite work the way they seemed to want it to work. Angela and Hodgins had some nice scenes, but Zack seemed flat, almost a caricature of himself. The two scenes at the resort rehashed basically the same conversation between Booth and Brennan, which in many ways was a rehash of their conversation regarding BDSM in "The Girl in the Fridge." The best part, I thought, was Booth's closing monologue about crappy sex versus lovemaking. It was a bit poetic and heartfelt and yeah, kinda hot...

Anyway, overall not the strongest episode, but amusing.

Bones—The Soccer Mom in the Minivan

Okay, first of all, I am on occasion a soccer mom in a minivan, and frankly my minivan is way cooler than the one on this show. It's never blown up in a huge fireball, either.

Arriving on the scene, Bones and Booth bicker about Bones' impending prison visit with her father, then Bones gets snippy with the explosives experts about the disposition of the remains, which are seared all over the inside of the van. Eww. Thankfully, I remembered not to eat through the first part of the show this week. So, Soccer Mom is blown into bitty pieces which are being sorted at the Smithsonian. The explosives experts person is boobalicious and catches Hodgins' attention a bit too thoroughly.

Brennan goes to visit her dad in prison, during which visit they discuss a bunch of exposition so new viewers understand what's going on. Smack me with that exposition stick, baby.

Booth interrogates Mr. Nash. Zack gets to use his chewy bugs again to clean up the burned body bits. Angela works on the iconography from last week's case and Hodgins grovels to her because he's way too interested in Agent Frost with the big boobs. Angela is remarkably understanding, lucky for Hodgins.

Angela identifies Mrs. Nash as a long-missing NLA type, June Harris, from a homemade tattoo on her back. She was about to turn herself in in a deal made with the lawyers. Sam, who's been working on the June Harris case, was Booth's mentor, and doesn't like the deal, especially since nobody bothered to tell him about it. Caroline gives him the what for. We like Caroline, yes we do.

As the case unwinds, several suspects come to the fore, including Booth's old mentor, but in the end the killer proves unexpected. Well, unexpected to me. I found the case to be nicely twisty, though many of the "subtexty" parallels, especially involving Brennan's father, were fairly anvilicious. And again the episode ends with a nice moment between Booth and Brennan. Some nice character interactions here, and I liked the brief visit to last week's continuing case.

Bones—The Widow's Son in the Windshield

Tonight's mystery involves a skull which bounces off (or is thrown from) an overpass into a windshield. The skull turns out to belong to a concert violinist who liked to sleep with older women. I like him already. Well, except he's dead, and he's been cooked and had his face eaten off by cannibals. Which really is not what you want to be watching while you're eating a grilled chicken sandwich, let me tell you. Obviously during hiatus I forgot the cardinal Bones rule, which is never to eat while watching.

Anyway. The skull contains stone particles that lead the team to a bank vault filled with museum pieces that seem to be related to various occult subjects. Among these is a silver skeleton with various parts replaced by real bones, one of which is also from the dead violinist. Other parts, though, are from other people. It looks like someone is assembling the skeleton with each bone coming from a different body. After they're cooked and chewed on by the cannibal, of course. Which turns out to be cannibals, one of whom is a really creepy kid with a diamond tooth. Hodgins makes connections to the Illuminati, and as the evidence mounts, it seems he might be on the right track, after all, as there are many parallels to secret societies.

In the meantime, Hodgins and Angela search for Angela's mystery husband so they can have her previous marriage annulled. Booth, disturbed by Brennan's sudden habit of not calling him in on cases, tries to get to the bottom of her withdrawal. Brennan blames it on Zack's absence, while Angela feels it has to do with Brennan's unacknowledged feelings for Booth. Booth thinks it has to do with his not telling Zack not to go to Iraq. Brennan refuses to hire anyone to replace Zack, which turns out to be fortunate, because Zack comes back mid-episode, with a buzz-cut and something of a mystery behind why he was sent home from Iraq.

In atypical fashion, tonight's episode ends without a resolution. Jason, aka creepy cannibal diamond tooth guy, is murdered in his cell (or perhaps committed suicide, but the death is ritualistic enough I'm betting on murdered), but the bones bear the marks of another person's teeth, so the underlying cabal or whatever it turns out to be remains to be discovered. It's my understanding this case will play itself out through the entire season, which is a neat twist to add to the show. I'm looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

Overall, I really enjoyed this premiere. The show picked up the loose threads from last season nicely, and the multi-season arc with the silver skeleton looks like it's going to be fun. The character interplay continues to be fun, with some new undercurrents between Booth and Cam, and a sightly elevated level of sexual tension between Booth and Brennan. The latter could be too cloying if played too hard, but in this episode it's cute and fun to watch. Hopefully the rest of the season will be as engaging as this very enjoyable premiere.

DVD News

	Supernatural Season 2 is available for pre-order at Amazon.com. It'll be released on 9-11. Season 2 of Bones will be available 9-11 as well, but isn't up for pre-order yet.
	Season 1 of Dexter is also available for pre-order, releasing 8-21.
	Season 1 of Heroes releases 8-28, in standardand HD formats.

Bones—Stargazer in a Puddle.

Tonight's season finale of Bones is, coincidentally, airing on David Boreanaz's birthday. Happy birthday, David. Have some cake.

Booth and Brennan's case for the week involves a child's body found in a shopping cart in a drained sewer.

Angela and Hodgins discuss their upcoming nuptials. Max Keenan shows up and Booth arrests him under Brennan's protest. Our favorite lawyer Caroline points out that it'll be hard to charge Max with anything because his concocted identity is practically bulletproof. Booth checks out his prints and attempts to rile him up to justify keeping him in jail, but fails.

Angela's reconstruction of the victim's face is an old woman, rather than the expected ten-year-old girl. It's not entirely clear to me why Angela came to this conclusion, though she said the markers "felt wrong." I think that was just a way to get to the line about art making science her bitch, which was funny, but I could have used a bit more forensics here. Anyway, she asks Brennan to be her Maid of Honor. Brennan agrees. There is hugging.

Max came to bring Brennan a ring that belonged to her grandmother. Brennan invites him to stay at her apartment. Booth is unable to trace Max in any way, not even with his fingerprints. He's apparently been disappeared by the FBI. Caroline says they need DNA to prove his identity.

The victim continues to be mysterious--some markers say she's ten, others say she's 80. Brennan postulates progyria, while Angela has found a 22 year old, Chelsea Cole, on the NCIC database that matches her reconstruction. Hodgins asks Zack to be best man. Booth and Brennan notify Chelsea's mother Cynthia. Chelsea had Werner's disease. She appeared to be elderly, but had the mental capacity of a six-year-old. The mother suspects a man who was Chelsea's caretaker, who had been under investigation when Chelsea disappeared. Booth questions the caretaker, who insists he's innocent. He says things weren't going well for Cynthia at the time of Chelsea's disappearance.

Brennan and her dad have more bonding time. Max says the ring will help Brennan find her mother's three sisters, and that her mother wanted her to have it, but Brennan is still prickly because of that fifteen years of abandonment thing. Booth shows up with an order for a DNA sample.

Hodgins asks Zack to be his best man, but the president has asked Zack to go to Iraq, so Zack declines for various Zack-like reasons related to that. Hodgins asks Booth, instead.

During questioning, Cynthia gets worked up and, while taking her AIDS medication, says stuff she probably shouldn't. This is leading toward the mother as the killer, so I hope it doesn't end up there.

Hodgins suddenly realizes he forgot about Angela's father, and goes to talk to him. I still haven't figured out if he's supposed to really be the guy from ZZ Top, or if it's just a big coincidence. Although they did play a lot of ZZ Top tonight... Either way, he's amusing, and obviously understands his daughter.

Hodgins and Zack use sea chimps and spam to determine the cause of death. Chelsea was killed by an overdose of AIDS medication. Suspicion of course falls on the mother, and she's arrested. If she had AIDS, and the daughter died from a medication overdose, why did she spread her meds all over the table earlier? Not very smart. Booth finds enough evidence to arrest Max, and does so, but not after a bit of fisticuffs. In the end, Max goes willingly, knowing if he leaves Brennan again, she'll never forgive him. As an aside, Boreanaz really knows how to hit people hotly. And the segue from hot to dork who's just been clocked in the nuts can't fail to amuse.

Brennan watches a video from her mom. Good thing she still has a VCR. It's all a bit cheesy, but seems to provide Brennan with some closure regarding her mother. I think it's nice that they closed this season with an episode about Brennan's parents, mirroring last year's finale.

Brennan talks to Cynthia. Cynthia is, indeed, the killer, but her motives weren't quite what we'd assume. The parallel between Brennan's mother's abandonment and Cynthia's decision to kill her daughter rather than leave her a ward of the state after her own impending death is somehow strained and poignant at the same time. While the mother-as-killer is far too obvious, and disappointing in that I once again guessed the killer, this scene made up for it in a lot of ways, because the mother's motive added a twist I wasn't expecting. Also, this episode is really focused more on Brennan's issues with her father and the impending wedding, so a thinner plot for the murder case makes sense.

The wedding commences. Booth shoves his foot down his throat regarding Brennan's dress, but he looks so hot in a tuxedo that nobody cares. Angela's middle name is "Pearly Gates." Zack asks Booth what he should do about going to Iraq, and Booth tells Brennan about Max's decision to allow himself to be arrested.

But at the last minute, the ceremony is interrupted by somebody from the state department. Turns out Angela's first marriage was actually valid. Hey, at least she doesn't have her syphilitic husband hidden in the tower room back at the Grange (literary joke!). Caroline tells them to run away, and they do, after sending everybody off to the reception.

And that's the end of Season Two. Season Three starts... um.... sometime next fall, presumably dependent on the baseball schedule. And hopefully at some point they'll go ahead and air "Player Under Pressure," the episode pulled due to the VA Tech shootings, but the network hasn't released any definite information on that yet.

ZZ Top--Give Me All Your Lovin'



ZZ Top--Blue Jean Blues

Dexter on DVD, Bones in a Book

The first season of Dexter is now available for pre-order on DVD. This is a very good series and I highly recommend it. Not for the faint of heart, though. Lots of blood and gore. And really good writing, acting and character development. And Julie Benz!

Also newly available for pre-order is the Bones Season One and Two companion book. It includes interviews with the cast and crew, an episode guide, and background on real-life forensics. Looks like a must for Bones fans.

Bones—The Glowing Bones in the Old Stone House

An interesting note to tonight's episode--it was directed by Caleb Deschanel, Emily Deschanel's dad.

Booth and Brennan go to investigate some glowing bones in an old stone house. Wow. Imagine that. I never would have guessed that from the episode title. Booth is wearing a (tight) T-shirt that says "Killer" on it. This amuses me for no really good reason. The team takes precautions against radiation, but in spite of the glowy bones, there is none. The victim was stabbed to death.

While reconstituting a dead finger with fabric softener, Cam and Booth discuss relationship issues and whether ot not Jack is okay after Angela shot down his marriage proposal. They are very cute in this scene. I wish they'd get back together. The victim turns out to be Carly Victor, celebrity chef. Brennan knew her--Carly was going to teach her how to cook. And apparently she made extra fabulous mac and cheese. A series of restaurant robberies provides a possible explanation. Then there are Carly's husband and their business partners, Dan and his girlfriend Abby. As it turns out, Abby is missing, as well.

Hodgins thinks the glowing is due to a phosphorescent bacteria that could be traced to sushi--sea urchin specifically. That seems like an awful lot of phosphorescence. How much of that stuff did she eat? Oh, it got into her bloodstream. Still seems a little fishy to me. (I'm really sorry I just said that.) The sushi clue takes them to Ernie, Carly's ex, who was teaching her to make sushi. But his knives don't match the wounds.

The next series of clues lead back to Dan, the husband, who took out a huge life insurance policy on his wife. Dan makes a bad move by attacking Booth when Booth confronts him with the evidence. Or maybe it was a good move, since it gave Booth the chance to be all badass and hot.

Hodgins goes to Booth again for advice about Angela, in a scene that ends with an awkward man hug. Booth decides he'd rather shoot things than discuss emotional issues with Hodgins.

Abby is found in the trunk of her own car, barely alive. She wakes up and says whoever attacked them was hiding in the back seat wearing a mask. The evidence on the body and in the car, however, doesn't add up. Carly suffered whiplash, and there is evidence of a sexual encounter in the back seat involving Carly and Ben. The murder, as it turns out, was a setup by Abby, because Carly was having an affair with Ben in the back seat of Abby's car. Dude, that's harsh. Also kind of obvious. That's two weeks in a row I've figured out the killer, and I'm generally kind of stupid that way.

In a charming coda, Hodgins uses phosphorescent fish-bacteria to not-propose to Angela. In response, Angela proposes to him. Hodgins accepts. In the meantime, Brennan cooks dinner for Booth--gourmet mac and cheese. Booth has an uncomfortably intimate moment with his dinner.

This was a pleasant episode, if a bit too predictable. I didn't have time to look at all the online clues, though I thought it was a cool idea. Did anybody guess the killer from the website information? If so, brag. If not, lie about it and brag anyway.

Damien Rice--Cannonball

Bones—Spaceman in a Crater

Tonight's episode was fun but not stellar (no pun intended). The highlight for me was recognizing several of the guest stars from other favorite shows. The story itself was well-served by the unusual occupation of the victim, but I felt the ending was a bit too obvious. And if they're going to have an obvious ending, they should at least have Booth take his shirt off to distract us so we don't notice.

Anyway. A body lands in a cow pasture and makes a crater. I'm not sure what it says about me that that quick opening scene made me laugh myself right off the chaise. Seriously. Hysterical.

The body is really smushed. I mean extremely smushed. Luckily for me, I remembered not to start snacking during the show this week.

Back at the Jeffersonian, everybody feels the need to razz Hodgins about his conspiracy theories involving space people. And then Brennan discovers significant demineralization on this body--enough to indicate the body is either 130 years old, or came from outer space. Hodgins is all over that, but Zack thinks the victim was an astronaut. Since that makes a little more sense than a space alien, Cam decides to go with that theory.

The body's identified as a Colonel Calvin Howard, who spent six months on the International Space Station. Howard had been training other astronauts. They think he might have been tossed out of his own plane. And when they go to look at the plane, PsiCorps shows up--no, wait, wrong show. But it is Andrea Thompson (Talia Winters of Babylon 5) as Equivalent-to-a-General Sandborn.

Booth consults Hodgins as a conspiracy nut expert, while Hodgins asks Booth for advice on proposing to Angela. Apparently he tried this before and it didn't work. Maybe in the episode that was pulled from the schedule, because I don't remember it. Either that or I'm having short-term memory problems again. Booth takes on a straight-to-business attitude when approached with this question--also hysterical.

Hodgins suggests they question Commander Adams (Ian Anthony Dale, Day Break), the astronaut Howard was training to be his replacement. Booth and Brennan interview him on board the Vomit Comet, the zero gee testing plane. Adams insists nobody would want to kill Howard. Booth and Brennan get to be weightless for a while. It strikes me as highly unlikely they'd be blithely allowed on that plane, but Booth looked kinda funny trying to catch his pen.

More strange evidence rolls in. Cal had been planning to fly for the Space Tourism Coalition, an organization made up of alien abductees who want to return to space. Cal had previously sighted something unusual when he was in space, and refused to withdraw a formal report, providing a nice red herring to send us off into government conspiracy land. Then we discover he was undergoing experimental surgery to correct bone loss, and that he was going to attempt to go back into space, taking the mission Adams was being trained for. In the end, it proves to be Adams and his wife who killed Cal, to keep him from supplanting Adams on the mission. See? Kinda too obvious. Maybe we were supposed to not notice because Ian Anthony Dale is hot?

But after that, we're treated to a sweet denouement in which Hodgins proposes to Angela. And she says no. Angela, sweetie, STOP THAT!

Another guest star of note: Lisa Waltz--Cal's wife--played Lauren Kyte in "Shadows," a first season episode of The X-Files.

Next week, the interactive episode, clues to which can be found at fox.com.


Shane Alexander--Shipwrecked

News

Some news this morning.

Rumor has it Jericho has been picked up for a second season. Please note--rumor. SyFy Portal is reporting this here, again with disclaimers that CBS has still not made an official announcement.

A similar rumor is floating around that Supernatural has earned a season three. While this would not surprise me, and the Magic 8 Ball says, "All signs point to yes," it's still unofficial.

If you'd like to make your voice heard regarding renewal of your favorite shows, drop by USA Today and participate in their SOS survey. It's much more comprehensive than other similar efforts being presented on the net, and also gives voters a chance to talk about why they've voted for their favorite shows, and a chance to be interviewed in a follow-up.

In other news, the new episode of Bones that was supposed to air this Wednesday has been pulled from the schedule because of the horrible shootings yesterday at Virginia Tech. The storyline involved a murder on a college campus, so it was probably the right thing to do. No word yet on when the episode will re-air.

Of Interest to Bones/Boreanaz Fans

David Boreanaz is apparently writing a blog on the NHL site about the Buffalo Sabres. Which I find odd because I really thought he'd said multiple times that he was a Flyers fan. Either team makes sense though, given his background. Anyway, the link is here:

http://fans.nhl.com/david_boreanaz/home/

Also, as advertised during Bones tonight, Fox is doing an online mystery thing in conjunction with the May 9th episode. Info on that can be found here:

http://fox.com/bones/mystery/index.htm

I haven't looked yet other than to grab the link. Honestly, it looks like something I could get all obsessy with and then I wouldn't get enough sleep and I'd be all cranky...

Enjoy!!

Bones—The Killer in the Concrete

Ryan O'Neal returns as a guest star tonight, as Brennan's estranged criminal father, last seen in "Judas on a Pole."

Booth and Brennan are called in on a case where a body has been found encased in concrete. And Booth has a toothache so he's cranky, but he doesn't want to go to the dentist.

Angela goes with Brennan to Christine Brennan's grave to mark the anniversary of her burial. Her father arrives. Brennan refuses to speak to him and instead calls the cops. Later he breaks into her house to see her, and remains persistent, trying to reconnect with her.

The concrete body, aka Cement Head per Booth, turns out to be a known criminal with a long and heinous rap sheet. Booth makes up fun names for the folks involved in the case. The body is Cement Head (although it's really concrete), and the suspected killer is Ice Pick. Their boss, though, is just Gallagher, as Booth doesn't seem to see the point in a nickname there. Ice Pick died in a car accident, but Booth wants some evidence from that case re-examined--namely Ice Pick's severed leg from the car accident. Booth interrogates the bounty hunter who saw Ice Pick burn in the crash. She comes on to him, then scats when Brennan calls to report evidence the bounty hunter was involved in a cover-up regarding Ice Pick's death. For the record, Booth seems to have a thing for sassy women of color. And blondes. He's a man of varied tastes. I wonder if he likes short brunettes? Ahem.

Ice Pick apparently amputated his own leg and killed somebody else in the car crash to throw the cops off, and has been retired and playing with model airplanes ever since. Booth tracks him down, but is outwitted, tied up, and smacked around. By a guy with one leg. I think the toothache has put Booth off his game. Gallagher then arrives, dragging Booth off to torture him for information about Ice Pick. He also does Booth the favor of knocking out his infected tooth. Of course Brennan, Brennan and Co. come through to rescue him, but not until he's been through rather a hard time.

The case this week was pretty straightforward, with few surprises, but there was a lot of good character interaction to balance it out. Brennan's gradual acceptance of her persistent father was nicely done. I like Booth's attitude toward Max Keenan--"In the Old West, they would have called him a hero." This is consistent with his comments from "Judas on a Pole," when he said he'd rather deal with a straight criminal than a crooked cop. At the same time, he's perfectly willing to arrest the man, and acts a bit miffed when Brennan lets Max go. Booth had some great comedic moments tonight, too. I loved the scene where Brennan was looking at his tooth. Once again, David Boreanaz is fearless when it comes to looking like an idiot on camera, to hysterical effect. And on the other side of the acting equation came the torture scene, also very well played. It reminded me a lot of the torture scene from "In the Dark," when Spike's torturer-for-hire pokes Angel through with hot pokers. It also reminded me a bit of the torture scene from Casino Royale, though Boreanaz was, unfortunately, not nearly as naked as Daniel Craig was.

One quibble--while the repetition of the Poco song made for a nice bonding bit between Brennan and her father, and later Brennan and Booth, I don't think it worked very well as a backdrop for the scene where it was used. It seemed a bit too perky to accompany Booth being stabbed with hot screwdrivers.

Bones on iTunes:



Keep on Tryin'--Poco

News From Fox TV

In their infinite wisdom, Fox has decided to air the first six episodes of Drive in a block, then the next 7 at some undetermined later date. Wow. That's a really good way to build a show's audience and get it lots of good ratings. Tim Minear must be thrilled!!

In another odd move, they're moving Bones to Fridays for the summer reruns. It's beign paired with Standoff, which has struggled in the ratings when it's been on, so I'm hoping this is a vote of confidence for Bones, with the idea that its strong audience will pull in viewers for Standoff. But if they leave it on Fridays for Season 3, I can't see how that'll help Bones much. It's been pulling great ratings in the Wednesday night slot. A word to Fox--if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

Bones—The Priest in the Churchyard

A water main break forces numerous bodies out of the ground in a parish churchyard, leaving Brennan to work out who's who. Brennan, of course, finds bones that indicate a murder. Her flip attitude about things religious causes immediate friction between her and Booth, not to mention her and and the parish priest, Father Donlin. And there's already friction between the parish priest and the new, younger priest, Father Matt, who wants to bring a more modern feel to the church. Suspicion falls on Father Donlin, who doesn't seem happy with the younger priests he's had to work with, then on a parish youth who was robbing graves to pay for his drug habit, but the truth is a bit less obvious.

In the meantime, Booth, frustrated by the friction between himself and Brennan, suggests they go see Dr. Wyatt together to help them work out their issues. Elsewhere in the Jeffersonian, Jack asks Angela to move in with him.

First, a complaint. The cliche that intelligent, scientific people can't believe in God is unbelievably tiresome and I'm frankly disappointed they keep going there with this show. While Brennan's abrasiveness is often mildly annoying to me, usually it's just amusing, but this was the first time I really disliked her. Pet peeve, I suppose. Anyway, with that rant out of the way there was plenty to like. Booth's man-crush on Dr. Wyatt cracks me up, and although the sessions with the doctor seemed rather contrived, they were nicely scripted and fun to watch. I especially liked his solution to Angela's dilemma.

Everyone in this episode seemed to be making assumptions--jumping to conclusions, projecting their own issues onto other people, etc. This theme played into the solution of the case as well as the character bits going on all around it. The Jack and Angela developments were fun, too. I mean, what good is it to work in the Jeffersonian if you can't get busy in Cleopatra's bed once in a while? I was also relieved that, although the issue of pedophilia in the Catholic church was a major part of the plot, it wasn't the solution to the crime. That would have been tiresome, as well. Instead, they went in a less obvious direction, that worked with the show's theme and wasn't immediately obvious.

Bones at iTunes:



Tonight's Music:
The Time Comes--Nina Gordon

Bones--Info on Minghun Ceremony

Thanks to an anonymous commenter from last night, I got a correct spelling for the Chinese tradition featured in last night's Bones. Here are some references, for those who might be interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minghun
http://jfh.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/27/3/207 (Abstract only)
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/04/news/bride.php (long and more informative than the other two references)

Bones—The Boneless Bride in the River

Although Brennan is attempting to be on vacation with Sully, Booth calls her in on a case--a body that was boiled, and its entire skeleton removed, before being dumped in a river. Yes, this is as gross as it sounds and why am I still trying to eat ice cream? I should know better by now. Zack and Hodgins try to inflate the skull-less head to reconstruct the woman's face--also gross but funny, too.

Angela manages to ID the body as an Asian woman who's in the country to visit her fiance. He claims they had called off the wedding, and then flees from the scene. Nice way to not look suspicious. The victim proves to be a mail order bride. Brennan suspects the body was treated as it was as part of a traditional Chinese ritual in which the bones of a woman are buried with a man to provide company for the man in the afterlife, although generally the woman isn't murdered to provide the bones. While suspicion of course focuses on the fiance, the final resolution leads the investigation in another direction.

In the meantime, Sully buys a boat and invites Brennan to take a year off to cruise to the Caribbean with him. Angela encourages her to go. Surprisingly, so does Booth, although most of his other behavior indicates he's not crazy about the idea.

This episode had an interesting premise, although my google-fu failed as far as verifying the supposed Chinese tradition that drove the plot. Not that it doesn't exist--I just wasn't able to confirm it. The writers certainly seem to be coming up with crazier and crazier ways for people to die. The humor in this episode was good, as well--I particularly liked the scenes contrasting Harper's graceful martial arts gymnastics with Booth's clumsy barreling along and falling over himself. I've always liked the way David Boreanaz doesn't seem to worry about humiliating himself on camera, and this was no exception. Of course, it led up to that great fist-in-the-face moment--we can't have our stalwart FBI hero humiliated for the entire episode, after all. His mixed reactions to Brennan's dilemma with Sully were equally well-played. While I rather enjoyed the addition of Sully to the cast, I'm kind of glad they didn't drag it out too long, because it could have gotten tiresome. This handful of episodes was just about right.

Bones on iTunes:

Bones—The Bodies in the Book

Yay!! Bones is back. It's been off the air a whole month because of American Idol. Have I mentioned I deeply dislike American Idol?

Anyway.

We open with Brennan having a lot of fun with Sully, then getting a call from her publicist. She needs to do interviews and signings for her new book. But somebody else has a publicity plan--he's reenacting the murders she wrote about. The killer is shooting his victims, then wrapping them up in red tape and feeding them to animals--crabs, then rats, then fire ants. There seems to be no connection between the victims, and each case seems to have a different major suspect. The only thing tying them together, apparently, is Brennan's book.

On the romance side of the story, while things look peachy between Hodgins and Angela, Brennan and Sully have hit some bumpy terrain. Sully seems to be getting pretty serious. Brennan is concerned about this--she's seeing their relationship as a fling, and is disconcerted by the idea of anything more than that. Booth counsels them both, seeming to help them move toward each other. Booth is by turns smug, sweet, and charming, as David Boreanaz pulls off the shifting moods with aplomb.

The case proves convoluted enough to be entertaining, but not too convoluted to make sense. I liked the slightly-different-than-usual resolution. The character interplay in this episode is superb--even more fun than usual, if that's possible. The bodies, however, were particularly gross. I'm glad I wasn't eating dinner. All in all, a great return from hiatus...again.

Some notes:
Cam mentions the name of Tempe's fictional heroine--it's Kathy Reichs. Although they've talked about this since the show premiered, this is the first time it's been said on-air. Kathy Reichs is, of course, the author of the books featuring Temperance Brennan. She appeared briefly in "Judas on a Pole."

Featured songs:
Fault Line--Black Rebel Motorcycle Club


Jesse Harris and the Ferdinandos--The Secret Sun