Bones 11.13 The Monster in the Closet

[Sinkwriter72]

I just watched this past week's Bones episode. I'd say that was sufficiently creepy, more than your average Bones episode. Even though I knew what Booth was doing before they strung up the body, the way they lingered on it was pretty creepy. As was the final scene in Booth and Brennan's house, with Christine going toward her closet. Every young kid's nightmare. *shudder*

What I didn't like was how they barely used Hodgins. It felt a little like, "Here's Hodgins' token crabby scenes, to further show that he's being a jerk and pushing Angela and everyone else away." And then we never see him again the rest of the episode. What kind of storytelling is that?

I know it's supposed to be months of physical therapy gone by, so Angela has lost her compassion for him, especially when he keeps making everything about being paraplegic. But I feel like because we didn't get to see those initial months after he first got injured and found out about his paralysis, we aren't getting to see his struggle. Instead they're just treating him like, oh, that's Hodgins, such a jerk, everyone be mad at him, Angela's such a victim being yelled at by her jerk husband, let's all feel sorry for her, not him. I just wish we'd see at least one person - if not Angela, because it's too complicated for her, then someone else on the team - trying to reach out to him, speak up to him without sarcasm or attitude like he should just get over it already. Even if Hodgins still pushes back and isn't ready to be receptive, I just wish we'd see someone trying to be on his side. But once again, it's more about Angela and her pain. And Hodgins is just "being a jerk." I don't like that. I want to see more of TJ. And I want to see his character's story. Not these brief snippets. It feels like something's missing. They're not focusing on him, even though it's his story.

It's not enough focus on Hodgins!

(But then that's nothing new. It's never enough Hodgins for me. *GRIN*)

[ThyneAlone]

Hi Sherry, lovely to hear your well-reasoned, well-expressed opinions again.
I have similarly mixed feelings here, and on roughly similar grounds. Firstly, I did enjoy the episode. There was a decent balance of personal and procedural and Christine's fear of the monster in the closet fitted neatly with the general scary atmosphere - what lies beneath external appearances, what terrors hide in our personal mental cupboards and behind the closed doors and dark corners of our cosy homes and psyches? The ambiance was carefully created, both visually and in terms of the soundtrack - nicely redolent of a horror film, as unease penetrated into the team's personal spaces. Arastoo having to drive Cam home reminded me of Angela supporting Hodgins in Aliens in a Spaceship. And those cameras set up round the house in the Pelant all-seeing manner were extremely creepy.
That said, we were only about halfway through when I was steeling myself for the arrival of another serial killer who does weird and perverse things to bodies. Please can we have a credible one this time? Please!
The problem with the Hodgins situation is that writers seem to portray him in a kind of lazy shorthand, counting on TJ's amazing acting to convey what is not expressed in their words, which isn't really fair. OK, they are giving him a lot more to do in that he is no longer the comic relief, but we are really only seeing the snarky side of his suffering. They're trying to give Angela a reason to seek solace with Sebastian, I get that, but it all feels, as you say, a bit one-dimensional.
I am certainly feeling the lack of Hodgins' work. His contribution has been so significant in nearly every recent ep that I am uncomfortable without details about particulates and insect development. But because he is in a wheelchair and uncommunicative we are not seeing him working within the team - and that worries me a bit. Cases are less convincing!