Bones 9.03 Review: Giving Back to Grow Up

Any readers that have yet to watch the episode of Bones that aired last night, entitled ‘El Carnicero en el Coche’, that hope to do so devoid of spoilers, then now would be the time to exit this blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

This was a very Sweets centric episode, involving gangs in the DC area. The way they approached his character in this episode was very well done. We can see he’s feeling guilt about his unintentional involvement in the Pelant case, and that getting back to what he really wanted to do, helping people, has appeared to mature his character in just a few short weeks. I’m all for the comically dorky Sweets, but this side to him is something I’d very much like to see more of, from time to time. Plus, seeing him in something other than a suit was a refreshing change.

It’s been a long time since I can remember this series delving into a gang related case. The last time I remember it happening, Booth had to step in when a certain gang member had his sights set on Brennan, and not in a good way. This has been a better episode than this series has had in a long time. I know they can’t revolve this show around gang life every week, but it’d be nice to have it crop up a little more often. Though I might come to bite my tongue if they actually did that if the magic went away because of that.

I don’t know, there’s just something about this episode that I really liked. Maybe it was the gang related subject matter, or the development of a character that hasn’t been developed passed one long-term relationship (read Daisy). Or it could even be that it didn’t focus on the rest of the Jeffersonian crew as heavily as it has it the past. I do think part of it had to do with the fact it didn’t appear to try and push this huge lesson across. It was about this story, and these people related to that story, but not about this big message like last week’s PSA.

A few funny moments really stuck out with me in this episode. First was the point in which Cam is stumped for once. She’s caught speechless for what feels like the first time when it comes to Hodgins. It was funny to see her just fuddle through her words like that. Another moment was the shot when I think Cam and Brennan start discussing something, and Hodgins just glides down on that rig. I know he was searching through the car for bones and particulates, but it was such a random moment to just throw him on screen for a few seconds. It made me chuckle a little bit. And the last moment in the episode was the point in which they’re all in the conference room, and someone says something about the murder being about revenge. The camera circles the room, and when it lands on Caroline she’s about to take a bite of her food, and she just looks at it and puts it down. The way she glances at her food was just comical.

In a way this episode was an improvement for the series, a step in the right direction. While I enjoyed last week’s undercover episode, particularly more than the last undercover episode, I think this week there was a much better story. The very idea of what kind of family comes first, and what can be ingrained in a person that is trapped in a gang is interesting territory. And also how much a person (see Sweets) can want to help people in order to kind of alleviate the guilt they feel, and just give back to a community in need is a warming concept. Particularly for such a clinical based series. It’s almost like Bones is getting back to more of it’s character based storylines, rather than case storylines that improve characters slightly.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Best Lines:

“Unless one of us is already dead.” – Brennan says to Booth, after he promises that if one of them is ever shot at, they’ll immediately tell each other. Just goes to show logic comes first with this lady, at least most of the time.

“Clink!” – Brennan, almost like a child demanding their parent do what they say when she demands it from Booth.

All right ladies and gents, I’m off to go watch The Blacklist and review it, then try and get in another type of writing in, work on one of my ongoing novel or script concepts. Otherwise, I’m going to bed. No Sleepy Hollow tonight, I’m not feeling it, so expect that first thing tomorrow. And for me, that’s about fiveish, being that it’s my day off.