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May 18, 2013

Bones: The Man in the Mud - VIDEO

by Richard Keller, posted Apr 15th 2008 11:25AM

Bones: The Man in the Mud(S03E10) Rejoice! New episodes of Bones have finally returned to the FOX schedule. And, despite what others think, this guy, this dude, this muchacho, is very glad for its return. Not happy that FOX is screwing with the schedules of this show and House, mind you, but glad there are new episodes nevertheless.

For those of you new to the series, Bones is one of those unique dramas that can mix gruesome, terrible death with humor and light-heartedness. It is really a story about relationships, friendly or romantic, and the connections that are established by two totally opposite sets of people.

Plus, you get to see maggots crawling around a person's skull. So, it's all good.

This week's episode is a good example of what makes Bones work so well. In addition to the murder investigation (which was fairly predictable, more on that later) there was also the ongoing story of FBI Special Agent Seely Booth and Temperance "Bones" Brennan and their adventures in the office of one Dr. Lance Sweets. Actually, the story wasn't about Bones and Booth all that much but the character development of Sweets himself, who was added as a regular cast member last season.

We all know Sweets is young. Incredibly young. Near the point of still being in the womb young. Yet, when he leads the therapy sessions with Bones and Booth he is the man under control. There has been more than one occurrence when the doctor has dressed down Booth for his attitude towards him or the mandatory therapy sessions he was dragged into. And, while Booth has tried to get the best of Sweets, many times it bounces off of the therapist and back to the FBI agent.

This week was different as we saw Sweets outside of his normal element. Away from his office, and together with his girlfriend April, Sweets is, well, a 23-year-old guy who really doesn't know about women. Especially if the woman is stronger than he is. In this case April was definitely the stronger of the two outside of the therapy world.

It didn't seem like it at first -- she seemed a bit ditsy at the beginning. But, as the double date between Sweets-April and Booth-Bones continued it was clear that she was the stronger person of the two in the relationship. It certainly didn't help that Sweets was trying to impress Bones and Booth with his supposed relationship prowess. Every guy knows that when they try to puff up their chest and show that they are the big man on campus they usually get deflated.

If you take a look at the ceramics scene a bit closer you could actually see that Lance and April were a younger version of Seely and Temperance. Okay, April wasn't nearly as smart as Bones was, but there was that fire in her eyes and that hatred of having someone else tell people how she feels or that she apologized for something she didn't do. But, when she began to talk about her fish she had the same passion that we have seen Bones portray when talking about her skeletons. Sweets, like Booth, had that awkward streak in him where he would tell a joke or make a statement that, either would fall flat or would be attacked by Bones on its merits. So, it wasn't surprising that Bones sided with April and Booth with Sweets in their car ride the next morning.

I think the best scene of the episode took place at the ceramics class. Not only did we see Seely and Temperance dress like way too old hippies, but the best gag of the night occurred during this time. We all know that Booth is a man's man when it comes to his life and the way he holds his cards tight to his chest. So, when we see him being so artistic, in such a short period of time, it's both interesting and funny . I mean, you would have to be a very adept sculptor to take a pile of clay and mold it to be a horse in a bout five minutes time. And, such detail on the horse!

There were other things going on this week other than Sweet's romantic life crashing around him. There was also some action involving the Squints over at the Jeffersonian. I don't know if this whole 'King of the Lab' thing was taking place last season, but it has become a prominent feature this season as Hodgins and Zack compete to find that one clue that will push the investigation ahead. Both of them thought they were King this time around; however, in reality, they didn't have anything to provide Cam with. I wonder if this whole contest has to do with Zack's new emotional stance after spending a number of months in Iraq.

Speaking about Cam, I've been thinking about the relationship between her and Zack lately. It seems that every episode this season has had one scene where she and Zack going back and forth about the current murder mystery and what the evidence may mean. I feel the reason Cam has taken the young Mr. Addy under her wing is to take the place of Bones, who was Zack's mentor and sponsor during his doctorate days. And, while Temperance gave bestowed upon him the scientific skills he needed, Cam is giving him the investigative, or speculative, skills needed when it comes to criminal acts.

Moving on to this week's criminal act...it was pretty standard as mysteries go on Bones: a body, or part of a body, is found, Bones and Booth tell the family, they investigate, they may or may not pull in the wrong person, and then they finally get the right one. Many times the interest level of the mystery depends on the suspects, and this time around the suspects were a bit flat. The only one who wasn't was the lawyer of the family. As he appeared on screen more and more I thought that it was going to be him who murdered the two motorcycle racers. Turns out, it was the daughter of the racing team owner who ended up killing their top racer and her own twin brother.

Next time -- Bones and Booth go back to school to solve the murder of a college athlete.

Do you think Bones returned with a strong episode?
Yes. Especially since we got to see character development with Sweets.180 (68.2%)
Well, it could have been better, but it was good.73 (27.7%)
No. This was not the Bones I remember.11 (4.2%)

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Tess Capra

Her character Delia had a crush on Brian, who was straight, in *My So-Called Life.* But when he abandoned her for Angela at a school dance, Rickie -- who was gay, and whose crush had been poached by Rayanne -- asked her to dance, and they wow-ed it up on the dance floor. Great episode: "Life of Brian."

Side note: She's also in *Life After Tomorrow,* the documentary about girls who appeared on Broadway or in the national tours of *Annie.*

April 16 2008 at 7:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Molly D.

Not only did Senta Moses, "April" serve on "Greek", she also was the awkward best-friend-in-love-with-the-gay-boy on "My So-Called Life." There were a few memorable scenes from that show that highlighted her. She has lost a lot of weight since that time, but I'd recognize her anywhere. She was also the assistant on "Bill Nye, the Science Guy!"

April 15 2008 at 10:52 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
GL

With less than an hour to work with and a crime an episode, that's the way it goes, as it does for shows of similar nature.

It was a solid episode. The pottery class was great.

April 15 2008 at 9:29 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bruce

I've gotten so good at predicting "who did it" with Bones (and also which seemingly insignificant clue will solve the case for House) that 10 seconds in to this episode, as soon as the daughter said she "was the one with the money" (or whatever she said, the deep pockets, the funding... I forget), I immediately said "she did it!" and sadly I was right. When she was in the car at the track when the bike exploded, that confirmed it for me.

It's not that it's predictable, per se, just that there is always some extraneous character in each episode who says something unnecessary that will establish motive and usually opportunity later on in the episode, once all the facts are known. I can do this for any bones episode.

April 15 2008 at 7:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
rtms

I was sure Dr Sweets was introduced this year/season to help the two agents along. Last year Booth was with a different doctor for the shooting incident.

April 15 2008 at 6:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Hank

Judging from the preview, it looks like next week's episode is the one they pulled last season because of the events at Virginia Tech. I wouldn't be surprised to see it pulled again, since the anniversary of that event is right around the corner.

April 15 2008 at 12:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Hank's comment
Oreo

It's actually tomorrow.

And they won't pull it again, pulling it the first time was lame, but they need the episode because of the strike.

If it is last years episode I fear for the episode. They had to re-edit parts and such and I hope it goes well. I wish they just left the episode as is and just called it a "Lost Episode".

April 15 2008 at 3:29 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dragulf

The "family lawyer" was Mr. Friendly (fake beard) on LOST.

April 15 2008 at 11:42 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Oreo

The actress who played April also play(ed) on Greek for a few episodes. A wonderful show that for some reason no one reviews here.

The clay horse was great! I loved the detail that was added in 2 minutes.

And the murder was hugely predicable, even for Bones, but the episode still worked well.

There are rumors that Zack will not be back full time next year, which scares me as I enjoy all the cast.

April 15 2008 at 11:35 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Oreo's comment
Jennifer

I didn't give a crap about the murder, but the ceramics class, with Booth in hippiewear and actually knowing how to sculpt a horse, was fabulous. Also the expression on Bones's face as she was trying to understand the whole fish thing.

April 15 2008 at 1:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
raiden

Hey!!

We are a new website that's been launched exclusively for Bones fanfiction.We would be delighted if you would come and join or community - Read, write and have fun!. We currently have over 850 members and are growing daily!

Do visit us at http://www.bonesfiction.com

Raiden

April 26 2008 at 3:03 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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