Bones 12.03 The New Tricks in the Old Dogs

[skftex]

Okay, not much to say about this one either. It is a perfectly enjoyable episode and of course it is always nice to see actors like Hal Holbrook and Ed Asner. Ed Asner's Rufus was funny, as was the Barbara character and I loved it when she was beating Rufus with the cane. LOL

The guy that worked in the old folks home, Sam, had an amazing voice! Isaac C. Singleton Jr. I looked him up and someone else thinks so too because he does a lot of voice work. Niiiiiiice.

The whole baby thing coming up just makes me roll my eyes, and it always bothers me when they have male characters balk at having vasectomies, when it is a much safer alternative to a woman having invasive surgery, but TV holds on to that idea that men aren't men if they are "shooting blanks" as Booth put it. Though I did think the line was funny when Booth said he wanted to talk about his "sniper" and Brennan talks about not being sure if she wants to close that door, that she said "We'll be bagging your sniper and I'm staying on the pill."

Hodgins actually imagined how he wants to die and it is by being shoved into a vat of acid and have sugar pored on it to make a black snake firework? Our Hodgins is one creepy dude sometimes! But I still love him. His wheelchair issue so he wasn't at the crime scene. HA. Interesting issue there. BEST MORNING!

Oh and at the beginning in the car, Aubrey's breath and Booths comments were funny. And Aubrey's drink sounded GROSS. Black kale and chia is that what they said? EWWW

Okay I think that is it.

I do like that they've been referencing things through these 3 episodes that happened in early seasons. This time the Norwegian black metal band skalle. Though I'm not sure I'm buying that Brennan knows who Iron Maiden is, I would have believed that she knew about the torture device but not the group.

Next week the season gets cooking a bit. WOO HOO.

[stargazer]

This is going to be a quick one.
I loved how Hodgins broke his wheelchair! Maybe Hodgins and Angela will have another baby after all!

This episode was fine, but I have one big question. If the frail, little old man was the murderer, then how did he get the body in the barrel and get the barrel out to where it was dumped? Especially with a fractured clavicle. He needed help to do that and the show never really addressed it. Hmmm...

[skftex]

Yeah I have no clue how he got the body there. You should ask Ted Peterson that on Twitter since he wrote the episode. He often answers people.

[stargazer]

Done! We'll see if he replies.

[tjadmin]

Yeah. He probably didn't have an idea about it so he was just was hoping no one would notice they didn't mention it.

[Sinkwriter72]

Oh no, Hal Holbrook, say it isn't so...

Like Sharon said, it was nice to see these older actors. I've been a fan of Hal's, especially since his work on Designing Women and his guest role on The West Wing, and always wished I could have seen him on stage playing Mark Twain.

Again, just a "fine" episode, generally entertaining, not a terribly exciting case considering the bizarre way the victim ended up. And I would have liked more background about the woman's daughter; otherwise, why do I care all that much that they get together in the end? It was nice in a general sense, but more weight was given to Booth's relationship with Red, so that was what I cared about and why I was sad about how the case ended.

Two things that annoyed me. 1) Brennan's behavior toward the older people at the facility. Even if death is a fact of life, her flippant remarks about the guy she thought was two steps from death, with the guy standing right there, was beyond rude. Surely as an anthropologist she knows well enough about how many cultures consider the elders of the community to be sacred and to be respected; her attitude and callousness was offensive, and not in keeping with her education or her experiences. Yet another example of the writers forcing certain behaviors on her character just for "humor." Not funny. And... 2) I was annoyed by the vasectomy discussion, for the reasons Sharon already pointed out. Get over yourself, Booth. You've been a soldier, even withstood torture, but you won't even entertain the discussion of a procedure that's noninvasive (compared to what Brennan would have to go through)? Seriously?

In contrast, I was really moved by the end conversation between Cam and Arastoo. She's right to point out that at this point her age can make things more challenging when it comes to getting pregnant and having a safe pregnancy, so I was glad that Arastoo had already thought things through and was open to alternatives. (Learn from his thoughtful consideration and maturity, BOOTH.)

And I cracked up at learning how Hodgins broke his wheelchair. Go, Hodgins and Angela! (LOL.) Though on a nitpicky note I would have liked Booth to say "is he okay?" when Cam told them Hodgins wouldn't be at the crime scene because he had a wheelchair accident. For a normal human being who's friends with the person having the accident, the standard thing is to ask if they're okay! That's real, believable dialogue, people. Not to just hear that and ignore it and keep talking about the crime scene. All it would have taken was two seconds - "He okay?" Cam: "He'll be fine." Or, "Is he okay? What happened?" Cam: "I'm not sure, he wouldn't say. But Angela says he'll be fine."

Random thought: I'm surprised the episode didn't conjure up more conversation amongst everyone about if they've ever thought about how they'd like to "go." Especially given how many deaths and murders they've seen. Surely, like Hodgins, the others have thought about it. Or, if not how they'd want to go, then how they'd like to be buried when they die. Or have they had this conversation before? I vaguely remember Brennan saying something about how she wanted to be handled after her death. Does anyone else remember this?

[skftex]

With Brennan they had her writing her will and in it she had very specific instructions about what she wanted done with her body, and I think there was a cliff involved. I don't remember all of it but it wasn't something simple!

Ah I found it, it was in the Season 8 episode The Twist in the Plot. Brennan and Booth talking about it.

Brennan: I've planned for a Celestial Funeral. Also known as a Tibetan Sky Funeral. The deceased is carried to a mountain plateau where a lama burial master breaks the body.
Booth: Breaks the body?
Brennan: Dismembers. Then pulverizes with a hammer, which allows for optimum scavenging by vultures.

So sort of a cliff, a mountain plateau!

[Sinkwriter72]

Yes, that's it! And from what I recall, Booth was not too pleased about the idea. It is pretty gruesome, even if it's probably "environmentally friendly." Sort of. (LOL).

[ThyneAlone]

Well, yeah, I quite liked this one last night, mainly because of the delightful acting of the elderly experienced actors who could clearly cover the range from comic slapstick to poignant. Though I guessed who the perp was very early, as soon as Booth started to bond with him (I too had problems with him getting a body into a barrel etc, but I let it go this time!). Booth's been disappointed and disillusioned about people quite a lot over the years, hasn't he?

It isn't often we get to look at an older demographic and remind ourselves that they have the same drives, flaws, desires and contradictions in them as the rest of us. Especially from television, we often receive a caricature of the elderly, and I was annoyed that Brennan kind of nodded to that caricature by speaking as she did in front of the older characters. Yes, I know she is rude and blunt to everybody, but I found it heavy-handed in this case.

Interesting the amount of sex that somehow found its way into a somewhat convoluted but ultimately believable case. It was great that the old couple had become intimate as part of the man's scam, but that this had turned into a genuine love. People are complicated, and they do change, and it was good to see that represented. As for Hodgins and Angela, well, I have to say I'm not surprised that they found a way to overcome difficulties and carry on having a physical relationship. They've always been a bit wild and had fun together in occasionally unexpected ways and places, so this is totally in character and shows that they are coping with their own change in their own way (though I do hope it doesn't mean they are going to return to static light relief roles). However, like Sharon, I am becoming over-saturated with the baby thing. And the old vasectomy trope - really? Am I to believe that most men resist this procedure because of a macho need to stay in control of their own fertility? To watch TV, you'd think so. It would have been more thoughtful to bring the Catholic angle to the fore and to have a reasonable discussion about that - although that horse has probably bolted by now, given that Booth should logically have at least objected to Brennan being on the pill! By contrast, I thought that the scene between Cam and Arastoo was a moving and credible one.

Overall this was a good ep, I felt. I had one or two issues but not enough to spoil it for me. It was a case of the kind I prefer - focused on three-dimensional people and followed through logically and painstakingly without any of those irritating dei ex machina that have bothered me in the past.