- Dr. Brennan reciting the scientist's credo with Professor Bunsen Jude the Science Dude: "We get the facts and say what's true, because that is what scientists do."
BONES supports the contention that a guy and a girl, especially if they're both hotties, cannot be friends without eventually becoming more than friends. And, yes, this applies even to someone as detached and clinical as the world's foremost forensic anthropologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan. It's BONES' sixth season and, as ever, the sparks fly between our two leads. How cool is that?
As we saw in the Season 5 closer, our crime-solving squints have scattered to the winds. FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth has been recalled to active military duty. Dr. Brennan is traipsing thru Indonesia in search of man's true origins. Hodgins and Angela are in France. And the heart-broken Sweets had gone on sabbatical and become a goateed piano player in some bar. It would take seven months and Dr. Cam Saroyan's dire straits at the Jeffersonian Institute to reunite the old gang. The Season Six opener ("The Mastodon in the Room") reminds us that Bones can still deliver a smackdown as she wipes the jungle floor with a crew of armed guerrilas.
Six seasons into it, BONES is still my favorite show on television. I'm still savoring that blend of police procedural, slightly futuristic forensics, terrific humor, and addictive relationship drama. I don't know how the showmakers keep coming up with interesting ways to present the icky corpse. Agent Booth and the squints from the Jeffersonian Institute take on challenging cases, whether it's a homicide victim found in a giant chocolate bar ("The Babe in the Bar") or one mauled by the mythical chupacabra ("The Truth in the Myth") or one grounded up in the pin setting machine of a bowling alley ("The Change in the Game") or melted into the dashboard of an exploded truck ("The Twisted Bones in the Melted Truck").
There are several pivotal episodes. In "The Mastodon in the Room," Booth confesses to Brennan he's in love with a lovely investigative reporter he met during his recent Army tour. This new relationship dynamics would have Brennan reassessing her own feelings for Booth. In "The Doctor in the Photo," Brennan is strangely affected by a murdered cardiac surgeon who resembles Brennan in uncanny ways. This episode would also give us the half-Latin, half-gibberish phrase "Ipso facto Columbo Oreo," which I love. "The Bullet in the Brain" features the return of the Gravedigger and introduces this season's recurring big bad, a vigilante sniper from Booth's military past. In the bottle episode "The Blackout in the Blizzard" a blizzard cuts off power city-wide and confines Booth and Brennan in an elevator and the squints at the lab while still having to investigate a case involving a potential viral outbreak. "The Hole in the Heart" offers the resolution (for now) of Booth's pursuit of the vigilante sniper. "The Change in the Game" is the season finale and drops one of those awesome reveals that makes you go "What the what?!!" Meanwhile, "The Signs in the Silence" may be the most emotional, tearjerky episode of this season as the squints attempt to dig into the past of an abused deaf/mute teenaged girl who may have committed a fatal stabbing.
Less pivotal but very fun are "The Shallow in the Deep," which has Booth, Bones, and Sweets ending up on a cougar cruise while following leads to a murder, and "The Body in the Bounty" guest-stars David Alan Grier as the "amazing" Professor Bunsen Jude "The Science Dude" who asks Bones to go on his kid's television science show if he acquits himself well as the intern in her current case. Speaking of which, the oddball cast of rotating "squinterns" is back, and it's neat that the show's writers have given them even more back story. I also appreciated that Booth's new girlfriend, Hannah, is treated as a believable character instead of, say, being stereotyped as the predictable witch. I like that Hannah and Bones - and, for that matter, Hannah and Booth's young son - are good friends.
In Emily Deschanel's hands, Dr. Temperance Brennan continues to be a wonderful character. Bones is still socially awkward, still unfailingly blunt, is at all times literal. But she's still trying. And she's progressed far enough that she's even trying to crack jokes (bad jokes, excruciatingly unfunny jokes, but that's not the point). Deschanel allows you to see the painful vulnerability in Bones and the heart beneath the icy, abrasive surface. Deschanel and Boreanaz's chemistry continues to be unbeatable. For those who've been keening for progress in the "Will they, won't they?" department, several episodes address this concern.
Six discs to this complete Season 6 Collection containing all 23 episodes. Bonus stuff as follows:
- Audio Commentary on 2 episodes: "The Doctor in the Photo" (with Hart Hanson, Stephen Nathan and Jan Toynton) and "The Blackout in the Blizzard" (with David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel)
- Two Extended Episodes ("The Daredevil in the Mold" & "The Bikini in the Soup")
- "Breaking Down: The Blackout in the Blizzard," an episode directed by David Boreanaz (00:08:12 minutes long)
- The Visual Effects of BONES (00:11:39 minutes)
- Gag Reel (00:04:23 minutes)
- THE KILLING pilot episode