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« Roush Dispatch
No Bones About It: My Favorite Procedural
In this week's episode of Bones, we learn there's a community of "Brennanites," avid followers of Temperance "Bones" Brennan, that fictional triple-threat forensic anthropologist, crime-solver and best-selling mystery novelist. Add me to the fan base.
As this second season has progressed, I've found myself getting more and more attached to this prickly "squint," her engagingly quirky lab mates and her FBI partner Seeley Booth. With clever writing, appealing casting and just enough of the "ick" factor — decomposed victims are the norm that helped put CSI on the map — Bones has slowly but surely become the most purely entertaining procedural crime drama on TV. (My top five, after Bones: TNT's The Closer, when it's on; the original and still champion of Thursdays CSI; and the twofer of Cold Case and Without a Trace, in part because the formula of these Sunday dramas invites a more emotional connection to the victims.)
Having just watched this week and next week's Bones episodes, more than ever I'm enjoying the chemistry between Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz as Bones and Booth. Their relationship has been strained a bit lately because of her passionate fling with the more laid-back FBI guy Sully (an unusually agreeable Eddie McClintock). In classic crime-team tradition, Bones and Booth needle and complement each other with banter that only barely masks a mutual (but usually unspoken) attraction. Both are damaged goods. Her family past is a nightmare; his sniper past haunts him and led him to therapy (with the droll Stephen Fry) this season.
Those factors alone would almost be enough to recommend this series, but there's more. The interplay in the Jeffersonian lab is priceless among the lab "squints," and this season, throwing together good-time girl Angela (the terrifically funny Michaela Conlin) and buggy bug expert Hodgins (T.J. Thyne) in a relationship has added some nice emotional resonance to the workplace camaraderie, fleshing out many a scene played out over a bunch of bones. Even at its grisliest, there are light touches, like Angela confronting her coworkers next week to declare, "You know what you people lack? Whimsy. It's a genuine deficiency." Thankfully, Angela more than makes up for it. She's good enough to deserve her own show. But I hope and imagine she'll stay put.
The mysteries are usually pretty good as well, especially this week's, in which Bones' latest best-selling thriller appears to have inspired a serial killer who's copycatting her gross-out plot. (Which involves victims being chewed up by animals, and it isn't pretty. The squeamish get plenty of warning so they can hide their eyes.) Speaking of her books, there's a neat in-joke tonight. Listen for a throwaway line in which Brennan refers to her books' fictional heroine. Still, her career does bring up one thing that strikes me as false about Bones, and Bones. If Brennan is such a successful pop-culture writer, you'd think she'd know more about the culture at large. (She often says, "I don't know what that means" when someone brings up a popular movie or TV show.) Next week, she continually turns colloquialisms into malapropisms, at one point referring to a "switcha-macallit." It's funny, but she really should be smarter than that.
But that's a small detail. Next week's episode, which forces Bones to confront her happy fling with Sully — "There's more to life than corpses and murderers," she's told (oh really?) — offers up another Bones specialty, one shared by the best procedurals: using forensics to introduce us to unknown, exotic customs. Here, that's an ancient Asian ritual involving the burial of a man's and woman's bones together for symbolic afterlife purposes. We enter the case with the discovery of a young mail-order bride's body, which has been boiled so the skeleton could be complete removed (and the skin is sewn back together).
Ewww? You bet. Wouldn't have it any other way.
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Mar 14, 2007 5:31 PM
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Hi Matt!
Glad you're loving Bones too. It is also one of my favorite procedurals.
I just wish it didn't air opposite Friday Night Lights.
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Mar 14, 2007 6:12 PM
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I too enjoy this procedural more than at lest two of the CSI's - and it's a no-bainer when compared to CSI: Miami. It's a great blend of humor, and drama that carries a terrific cast.
I do compare it to my other favorite procedural - NCIS which also blends humor with drama.
If you could only get Horatio Caine to at least smile I might start enjoying that other show too!
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Mar 14, 2007 7:33 PM
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Thanks for this dispatch, Matt. I also LOVE Bones and have really missed it. The reason I love it so much is that it always makes me laugh. Every single episode. It's got more gross out scenes than other shows, like csi (I learned early last season not to eat while watching Bones) but they always make up for the gross out parts because it always makes me laugh. I didn't like angela and hodgins together at first, but they've grown on me. I never really disliked Cam, like most people. And I also love booth and zach's relationship. Zack seems to really look up to booth and he knows it but he doesn't care. Zack does get some good shots at booth once in awhile.
And I'm probably one of the few people who don't want booth and bones together. I don't understand why on every single show, viewers expect that to happen.
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Mar 14, 2007 8:21 PM
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Having a ball with this one! Fun episode! Loved the poke at the fans - some of the fans of the show earned this! And as David loves to say: "What procedural?"
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Mar 15, 2007 12:28 AM
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Sorry to see Numbers omitted from the "best of" procedurals list... I'd say it's at least the third best one out there (ahead of Cold Case and Without A Trace for sure).
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Mar 15, 2007 9:36 AM
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This is my favorite procedural too. I love the Booth/Bones banter and the overall chemistry of the cast. I was so happy to have a new episode last night! 
Like Nick, I'd include Numb3rs on my list of favorites. I was only introduced to it a few weeks ago, but I've really been enjoying it. That's probably my number 2, followed by the original CSI (which I watch on Fridays because Supernatural gets watched first, then Grey's, then CSI).
Those are the only three I watch regularly, though from what I've heard, I think I'd like Cold Case and Without a Trace too.
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Mar 15, 2007 10:17 AM
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Matt - we're waiting for a "Dispatch" on Supernatural!
I know you're working through Season 1 DVDs and I hope you're enjoying them - it's not a perfect show by any means, but like Bones, it wraps humor, procedural elements, and a great story into one package. And Season 2 is much better than Season 1 - the writers have really hit their stride, alternating between Monster-of-the-Week episodes and the continuing story arc that began in the pilot.
Thanks!
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Mar 15, 2007 12:03 PM
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Notice how Matt mentioned nothing about Cam. She's the most superfluous character on TV.
Come on, Grave Digger... get to work!
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Mar 15, 2007 2:05 PM
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Actually, this season has been missing I don't know what that means" moments. Those, and the psychic Chinese restaurant are sorrily missed.
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Mar 15, 2007 3:58 PM
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No love for any of the Law & Orders? Sure, I love Bones too, but don't count the L&W franchise out just yet.
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Mar 15, 2007 4:34 PM
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One of the things that always felt wrong to me about Bones was the idea that Brennan even read fiction, let alone wrote it. I agree that the "I don't know what that means" line pretty much defines the character's take on pop culture, or even culture in general; I imagine Brennan would be just as clueless about high culture as pop culture.
However, it's one of those absurdities on this show that you just accept because the characters are so engaging and entertaining. The science and law enforcement aspects of the show are so unrealistic that it shouldn't even qualify as a procedural, and would make the show entirely unwatchable if the cast and characters weren't so enjoyable.
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Mar 15, 2007 5:43 PM
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I've seen every episode of Bones (except for last night's-it's taped though!) and it gets better every week. Have you watched recently? It's a lot better now than the first season.
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Mar 15, 2007 7:45 PM
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I only watched two episodes of Bones, and I found the characters to be stereotypes and the plots to be dull. I don't understand why the show gets so much praise. Then again, I'm not really much of a fan of procedurals in the first place. The only ones I really like are Without a Trace and Law and Order:Special Victims Unit, and even those I don't watch much anymore.
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Mar 15, 2007 7:46 PM
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Stereotypes in what way?
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Mar 15, 2007 7:53 PM
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