temperancebrennan

(S03E02) I've noticed something new about the opening sequences to Bones this season. Rather than starting the scene with Booth and Bones walking into the middle of the investigation we actually see how it all happens. This week we got to see the soccer mom's mini-van blow up. And, what an explosion it was! Did anyone catch the leg that came flying out of of the smoke and flame? How about the fact that her hands were melted onto the steering wheel while the rest of her body went in various directions?

The charred body itself didn't make me queasy. I've watched enough episodes of the series that one charred body is like another charred body. However, when Bones (or was it Cam? I can't remember) pulled out the piece of the victim's tongue as well as a bit of brain matter for additional evidence I got a bit ooged out. All of the insects eating the charred flesh off of the victim's bones to clean them off didn't make me feel too hot either.

This, of course, means that Bones was in fine form this week.

(S03E01) Now that I gave you an early look about this episode, and you had a chance to watch it yourself, let's talk about what happened during the season premiere of Bones.

The main thing is that we are introduced to a serial killer storyline that will probably last throughout the entire season. This isn't your run-of-mill serial killer, though. If it was, then we wouldn't be seeing him or her on this very television show. This killer actually seems to, um, gnaw on some of the bones of his victims a bit after he kills them. That's right, not only is he a serial killer, but a cannibal as well. A perfect fit for Booth, Bones and the other Squints at the Jeffersonian!

I know, I know, all of you Boneheads (and I mean that in the most affectionate way) want some answers after last season's finale. Did Jack and Angela stay together? Did Zack really go to Iraq? Is Bones' father still in jail? What did Bones mean when she said 'What do we do now?' while standing at the altar with Booth? Did Buffy leave Sunnydale to pursue Angel in Washington D.C.?

To answer your questions: Yes. Yes. Yes. I have no idea. Whoops, wrong show.

Welcome to season three of Bones!

(S02E21) I am giving you all fair warning: Spoilers Ahead!!!!!

Great orbs of rapid oxidation that create heat, light and smoke! I go away for one week and all of a sudden everyone is jumping into these shotgun weddings. Last week Luka and Abby got hitched in a last-minute ceremony on ER, and now it seems like Hodgins and Angela are going to be tying the knot very quickly as well. Yes, you read right. Angela finally accepted Jack's proposal for marriage. Funny thing is Jack wasn't even trying to ask her. He was just being his quirky, romantic self. But, it hit the right chord in the lovely Ms. Montenegro. So, a wedding is afoot.

(S02E18) Organized crime in West Virginia? Who'd of thunk it! Oh, and cement is actually an ingredient in concrete. That's good to know.

A satisfying episode all around, especially after some of the soap opera that seeped into last week's show. It was Booth's turn to be abducted this time (Bones was kidnapped way back in 'Aliens in a Spaceship', which aired earlier this season.). Nothing as drastic as being buried alive, like Bones and Jack were. Just your normal, everyday abduction and torture. It was good to get away from the usual 'mystery of the week' format, particularly when many of you out there were solving the crimes halfway through the program.

(S02E17) It was forced. The tension that Booth and Bones exhibited during the episode didn't seem natural at all. Yes, it was explained that their differences had increased since Sully hopped a yacht down to the warm oceans of the Caribbean, but it just didn't seem convincing to me. Especially when Booth kept saying to Temperance that they should go talk to Seely's shrink about this all. It was like he was stirring the pot just to get Bones to come along with him.

With that being said, there were some real tension-filled moments. The one that stands out for me is during one of the interrogation scenes with Bones, Booth and Father William. Bones being Bones she mentioned something about not worshiping Loki anymore or something like that, and then chuckled. Not only did the Father glare at her, but Booth gave her one of the angriest looks I've seen him give her on this show.

Now, the scenes with our two detectives speaking with Gordon Wyatt made up for that real and imaginary tension. I particularly liked how he spoke to both of them away from their natural habitats -- Booth in the labs of the Jeffersonian Institution and Bones in the interrogation room at the FBI offices. Those scenes helped add a layer of depth onto Bones and Booth that we hadn't noticed before, or hadn't realized until Gordon mentioned it. I point out Temperance in this because Wyatt hit the nail on the head about Bones' frustration that she couldn't capture the essence of Booth's 'sixth sense'

(S02E16) Here's the first thing I thought of when Seely Booth was chasing down that potential suspect, the one who paid for the Chinese bride whose skeleton was forcibly removed from her skin: 'Gee, Angel would have caught him in a second!' This came to mind because the scene was so reminiscent of something you would have seen on Angel, with people running, flipping and jumping across buildings. The difference here is that Booth isn't as agile as Angel was. Well that, and the fact that Booth isn't an immortal vampire with a soul. Still it would have been cool to see.

Good episode this week, with a lighter tone than normal. Not too light, though, because it's fairly hard to be light-hearted when your show features as much gore as this show does. It just seemed that everyone was a bit more amusing than normal. .

(S02E15) I just want to thank FOX and the producers of American Idol for interrupting their 80 hours of programming to slip in a new episode of Bones. I know that it's hard to do this when the ratings and advertising revenues are just skyrocketing, so I appreciate it. Perhaps, in the near future, you'll consider putting shows like House and Bones on starting in the summer so their season's end by Christmas. That way you'll have the 2nd half of the season to air nothing but 24 and Idol.

And yes, I am angry at FOX's idiotic programming schedule.

Enough of this! Let's plow ahead with a review of this week's episode.

(S02E14) A bottle of fine wine. A candlelit dinner. A three-week old decomposing body surrounded by flies. What better way to conclude another St. Valentine's Day? Don't get me wrong, I love a decomposing body, but this one was particularly gruesome. I can usually handle Bones' corps de la semaine (that's 'body of the week' in French, you Anglophiles), but I actually had to look away this time. Luckily, the body was stripped of all its needless soft tissue at the Jeffersonian Institution and we were left the usual broken down skeletal structure that Bones and her squints use for their investigations.

Moving on now. I liked this episode . . . kind of. I say this because the episode had a different tone to it, almost like an episode of Law & Order (the original, not the ones with all of the letters.). Being one who didn't watch a single episode of the show last year I don't know if this was something unique or if it appeared early in the show's run. I enjoyed it, I just wasn't used to it.

(S02E13) That was not good. -- Bones to Booth after he shoots an innocent clown head.

Hey, it's Bill!

Did you recognize the actor who portrayed sleazebag Monte Gold? It was none other than Alex Winter, the man who played Bill S. Preston, Esq. in the Bill and Ted movie duology (is it a word? I don't know, but I'm using it anyway). You don't remember him? Let's see if this jogs your memory . . . he was the friend of Ted Logan, played by the much more successful Keanu Reeves. Ah, now you remember! Nice bit of casting there by the producers of Bones.

(S02E12) Forty-nine days. That's how long we've waited for Bones to return to the schedule with new episodes. It would have been 42 days, but that big bully known as American Idol pushed the show out of last week's schedule so viewers could watch Simon berate another bunch of poor singers. Hopefully, FOX is done with that little stunt; however, as we are now entering February sweeps I highly doubt it. So, let's just be happy that we get to see the return of FBI Agent Seely Booth, forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, and the squints of the Jeffersonian Institution. At least for this week, that is.

All right, enough griping! Time to get to the review.

Hiya, kids! Schedule Boy here, nearly fully recovered after a bout of stomach virus that hit the S.B. home. Thanks for all the flowers, candy, and $100 bills.

Anyway, I just stopped by the TV Squad offices (in the palatial studios that once housed the Krofft Supershow) to let you all know about the return of a number of fan favorite shows to the prime time line-up. Most of these have not had a first-run episode since the beginning of December. So, their return is eagerly anticipated (or feared, in some cases).

It begins tonight with the return of Prison Break on FOX, Everybody Hates Chris on the CW, and Heroes on NBC. Out of all three of these Heroes is probably the most anticipated. This has been the surprise hit of the season and has already been renewed for a second by the network. Also returning to the NBC schedule tonight is the love-it-or-hate-it Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. This show seemed to pick up a bit of steam right before it took its holiday break. Here's hoping that it continues in the upcoming weeks.

(S02E11) Whenever a show features a guest writer or director it sometimes distracts from the story. For example, when Quentin Tarantino directed an early episode of ER you could tell it was being done differently from what we had seen previously that season. Same thing can be said when Ricky Gervais wrote an episode of NBC's The Office (which I didn't think was funny, but I digress). So, when I read that former X-Files and Red Shoe Diaries star David Duchovny was directing this week's episode of Bones I became a bit leery because I knew some things would be different.

And they were. Just by watching the first minute of the episode you could tell. The camera angles were slightly different, there were more close-ups of the actors, we actually got to see the actual murder of the victim. Even some of the characterizations were different. Heck, this is most human I've seen Bones act in awhile, which I will discuss in a bit. Luckily, Duchovny's directing stint didn't distract me too much because I was hooked into the story. If anything, Duchovny's style helped move the story along a bit more.

No Bones again this week, folks. So, once again I'd like to dip into the speculation bowl for a bit of discussion.

In last week's episode Jack and Bones were buried alive by the Grave Digger, a serial killer who would kidnap his victims and give them enough air to survive until a ransom was collected. This time around, his victims were saved by their own intelligence and ingenuity. At the end of the episode, rather than revealing who the Grave Digger was, as they usually do with each week's murderer, it was left up in the air for, hopefully, a future episode.

So, my friends, the question I pose to you is: Who is the Grave Digger? I have three theories myself. Read on and see if I match what you think.

(S02E09) Now, before you get excited, this was not a X-Files themed show where Booth and Bones discover an alien skeletons and then go all Mulder and Scully to find the spaceship that they came in. No sir, the spaceship in this episode is a beer vat that holds the skeletons of two twins who died at the hands of the Grave Digger. This is where this week's very well done episode of Bones begins.