As a fan of the series Bones, I have an odd way of gauging my gut reaction to an episode on first viewing. I check the cadence of Emily Deschanel's vocal delivery during the first ten minutes of the episode. If she hasn't fallen into the stilted stereotypical "Bones"-speak and taken a few other co-workers with her, I think it's going to be an interesting hour of drama.
This episode passes my litmus gut-check and I'm proud to give it eight of ten stars on IMDb. The acting is excellent, and in terms of the overall story of "Bones," it explores some interesting aspects of the protagonist's life and views.
The atheism-agnosticism of Temperance Brennan presented in this series is more than a character trait, it almost qualifies for its own line in the show credits. We KNOW she has no logical path to a personal concept of God and doesn't spend time calling her own materialist worldview into question. Yet when she is mortally wounded by an assailant in her own lab, Brennan has the classic out-of-body experience described by others who have died and been revived; the vision where the subject is met by a previously-departed loved one, with bright lights and all that. Brennan has the vision of meeting her own mother, whose absence and presumed death has been a psychic scar for most of Brennan's life.
We eventually uncover the identity and motives of the assailant, through the usual diligence and processes employed by the Jeffersonian staff. Of course the science is a little dodgy (Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel has debunked the myth of an ice-bullet two different times now) Of course the whole metaphysical story isn't one that is normal or expected in the storyline of this series. But that's what is nice about it for me.
I have found that there are different levels of Bones fandom; I don't connect with the fans who crave the Bones-speak, or having the first interview subject in each investigation be the perpetrator, no matter how many red herrings crop up. I like character-driven explorations, and the best episodes of this series for me, have stretched Brennan and Booth as people in ways we couldn't expect but could feel and understand. I'm thinking of "Doctor In The Photo" and a dozen other true high-water marks in the episodes of this series. This one is a good one.
Kudos to the excellent Dave Thomas as well, the veteran entertainer and writer who wrote this episode. AWESOME JOB.
This episode passes my litmus gut-check and I'm proud to give it eight of ten stars on IMDb. The acting is excellent, and in terms of the overall story of "Bones," it explores some interesting aspects of the protagonist's life and views.
The atheism-agnosticism of Temperance Brennan presented in this series is more than a character trait, it almost qualifies for its own line in the show credits. We KNOW she has no logical path to a personal concept of God and doesn't spend time calling her own materialist worldview into question. Yet when she is mortally wounded by an assailant in her own lab, Brennan has the classic out-of-body experience described by others who have died and been revived; the vision where the subject is met by a previously-departed loved one, with bright lights and all that. Brennan has the vision of meeting her own mother, whose absence and presumed death has been a psychic scar for most of Brennan's life.
We eventually uncover the identity and motives of the assailant, through the usual diligence and processes employed by the Jeffersonian staff. Of course the science is a little dodgy (Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel has debunked the myth of an ice-bullet two different times now) Of course the whole metaphysical story isn't one that is normal or expected in the storyline of this series. But that's what is nice about it for me.
I have found that there are different levels of Bones fandom; I don't connect with the fans who crave the Bones-speak, or having the first interview subject in each investigation be the perpetrator, no matter how many red herrings crop up. I like character-driven explorations, and the best episodes of this series for me, have stretched Brennan and Booth as people in ways we couldn't expect but could feel and understand. I'm thinking of "Doctor In The Photo" and a dozen other true high-water marks in the episodes of this series. This one is a good one.
Kudos to the excellent Dave Thomas as well, the veteran entertainer and writer who wrote this episode. AWESOME JOB.