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

Blood Ties—Blood Price

Apparently House wasn't on tonight, so that made tonight's review a no-brainer.

Vicki Nelson, ex-cop turned PI, witnesses a freaky murder on the streets and finds herself drawn into an underground world of demons and vampires, one of whom, Fitzroy, is fairly hot, and helps her out with her investigation. He also draws graphic novels. He's seen the murdering demon, Astaroth, before, in London in the 1800's, when it was drawn by members of the Hellfire Club. This time it's being drawn by Norman, a geek-gamer who's using dark magic to try to get a hot chick, Coreen, for himself. If the ritual isn't stopped, all hell will break loose--literally.

Vicky is a strong and well-drawn character, not to mention a badass. She quit the police force because of her deteriorating vision--she has retinitis pigmentosa--and I have to wonder where that might lead. It's a bit ironic that she's losing her night vision under the circumstances. All the main characters were strongly written, but some of the guest stars' dialogue was torturously cheesy. The interplay between Vicki and Mike, her ex-boyfriend, and between Vicki and Fitzroy (who, by the way, is an illegitimate son of Henry VIII), is quite good. The villains in this installment, however, were more stereotypical and annoying than truly menacing. Seriously, didn't the whole Dungeons and Dragons (or in this case Everquest) leads to demon worship storyline go out of vogue with legwarmers and big hair? In any case, the show overall was very enjoyable. I think I'll be tuning in to this one on a regular basis.

Casting Note: Gina Holden, who plays Coreen Fennel, also played Haley Collins in Wendigo, from Supernatural season 1. It looks like she's going to be a series regular.

Blood Ties is available at for download.

And don't forget to check out the books by Tanya Huff.

Coming This Week

Yesterday's lack of post was brought to you by:

1. Daylight Savings Time (Ben Franklin, you are a doofus)
2. Possible incursion of germs into my system (still not sure what's up there)
3. Heroes is on hiatus (lousy excuse, I admit)

Tonight I expect posting to resume on its regular schedule. However, I'm thinking of skipping House, since I seem to have less and less to say about it, and instead writing about Blood Ties, since I haven't had a chance to yet.

If anybody wants to weigh in on that, feel free. :-)

As for the rest of the week--yay! Bones is back! Supernatural is back! My shows return!

The Dresden Files—Walls

A woman, Raychelle, comes to Harry's office and is run down by a car right in front of him. Investigating in Raychelle's apartment, he's attacked. His attacker disappears right into a broom closet. Hm. Wonder if he has that key from The Lost Room.

Harry finds a stolen bracelet at Raychelle's place and discovers a pattern of thefts across the area. He calls in Morgan, who isn't happy to be dragged into what he sees as a minor situation. The thefts are masterminded by Raychelle's boyfriend and a couple of sorority kids who have happened into some magic that allows them to move through walls. One of them dies trying to get into a bank vault--half of him inside and half of him outside. That used to happen to me all the time back in the day when I played Avatar. The autopsy shows he's been decomposing on the inside. The kids have been using a Glory Hand. It's not just helping them steal things, but it's possessing and slowly killing them, as well, as the spirit that gives it its power drains them to increase its own strength. Harry pursues, determined to save at least one of them. His efforts lead to a showdown with the hand's original possessor.

This episode was darker and creepier than previous episodes. I actually liked that change of pace. Although we've seen that using bad magic has serious consequences, this episode really brought that point home, and I liked that they were willing to wander into more intense, gorier territory. Harry also got to use a bit more and flashier spells, which is always fun, although the magical bugs were kinda freaky. Overall, I found this to be a solid installment, and another indication of the show's gradual improvement.