Bones 12.12 The End in the End

[skftex]

Okay last one.

So, things I liked about this one, we get a Booth and Hodgins scene at the beginning when they are trying to get out. And Hodgins was not willing to just let Booth blow up another bomb to try to get out. How much has Hodgins grown, being able to tell Booth that he was wrong about the things he said to him about killing people. I love Hodgins so much for being that kind of guy.

The scene with Angela and Brennan when they are trying to find out if the baby is okay and Brennan is having a hard time remembering things is a really sweet scene. And of course, the baby is okay.

I think it is very Bones like (the show AND the character) to have Brennan go back into the lab, and Hodgins and Angela and Cam, and the interns and just get back to work because that is what they do. They catch the bad guys and it was important to them to do that. Then they all find different things to help.

I LOVED Hodgins giving the former interns the talk about how Brennan taught them and how they all have pieces of her in them and could and would have to figure out what Brennan had been searching for without expecting her to help. And they do.

Angela bringing the X-Ray to Brennan and Brennan being confused about it really was interesting. And Angela gets to tell Brennan the same thing Hodgins told the interns. They have to do it and they CAN do it. (This may have been in the other order but still the parallels were very striking.)

Brennan going to Booth's office just because she wanted to see him, the opposite of episode 11 where Booth had to get to the lab to see Brennan. Great parallel there too and an interesting conversation between them. Brennan knowing that being a forensic anthropologist is who she is and telling Booth that she loves who he is as well. And giving him that closure about this being all about his actions in killing Kovac's father.

I can finally say how amazing it was to read Steph and Sherry picking up on previous appearances of Kovac's wife that there was something not right about her. And of course, I wanted to say something but couldn't. So now I can. YOU WERE RIGHT. An interesting twist there, posing as his wife but really his sister!

The final action scene, I'm glad that wasn't shot quite the same as it was written, because Brennan fixing Booth's hand just as the car almost hit them would have been odd. It worked much better the way they shot it.

AND...I know it was all of 10 seconds MAYBE, but the point they got me to tear up was when Hodgins goes to pack up and finds the ball of rubber bands and throws it away, then takes the rubber band off his wrist and gets rid of that too. With that wonderful Hodgins small smile. This to me is one of the BIGGEST things that happens for Hodgins, and because TJ always said he'd take it off when he felt like his life was what he wanted and no longer had the anger, that was where Hodgins got me and why I loved this scene more than anything else in the whole episode. Then he finds the photo of him and Zack and it looks like it is from The Man in the Fallout Shelter and I loved that!

The book Hodgins and Angela are writing is so cute! And then they make Hodgins KING OF THE LAB and the way TJ whips around in that wheelchair back and forth, was just brilliant and made me laugh so much. He isn't going to give up his scepter and he needs a crown. HAHAHAHA I actually thought this was fabulous too that Cam and Brennan when talking in episode 11 said "I think we both know who it should be.", that they easily knew it would be Hodgins. That says a lot.

I also like the final scene with Booth and Brennan where they just do their little verbal thing. And she found Jasper. It is just another, life will go on for these people, once the Jeffersonian lab is rebuilt and that is fitting to me.

[emi13]

I can't believe that this was the last episode.

I really loved everything that happened and felt that the writers wrapped it all up extremely well. I was so happy to see another Angela/Brennan scene before the show was over. So glad the baby is ok! I wish we could have known if the baby was going to be a girl or boy but I understand they could only fit so much into twelve episodes.

I liked how they got a lot of the Squints together- "Squinterns of the world Unite!" It was really nice to see everyone who could come back one last time. I also never saw the whole thing with Brennan coming! It was so interesting to see how she reacted to not knowing what the Bones meant. I was a little scared there that she wouldn't get it back, but I was so glad when she did! The writers really did great showing that interaction between her and Booth. I loved how supportive Booth was of her, telling her that her knowledge didn't have to completely define who she is.

That was crazy how Kovac's wife was his sister! I thought something was kind of off about her but I never expected that plot twist. I was happy with the way they ended the scene between Aubrey and Karen. I always saw them as a couple! Also, I thought it was brilliant that Cam and Arastoo had taken time off because they were adopting three siblings! That was a nice surprise that just further showed how great the writers are.

The Rubber Band! That was the third time I started crying... All of the scenes with Hodgins just really showed how he has grown as a character. There were so many references and parallels to earlier episodes and the pilot that I was having a hard time keeping track of them all! It was wonderful though, it was so well written and a great nod to all of the character's beginnings. I love how it ended with a positive note, everyone had something to look forward to and their lives will go on.

I am extremely sad to see Bones go but it has had a wonderful run with a beautiful ending. You will be missed and remembered forever Bones

[skftex]

I forgot to say, I'm sorry but they did NOT explain the 4:47. Saying it was when it could have all gone wrong, but didn't is a nice sound bite but it explains nothing. All that did was make me think that early on they noticed they repeated 447 in more than one show and it became a thing, but that it meant NOTHING. Because Pelant had it on a clock. Are we supposed to believe he was some sort of psychic that knew the lab was going to blow up 4 years later? The scene where Booth and Brennan say that, it was nice. But in no way do I accept it as an explanation.

[emi13]

If I remember right, I think that was the time on the clock in the season four episode where Booth is in his comatose dream. It is titled "The End in the Beginning". The time might be a reference from "The End in the Beginning", whose title is very similar to "The End in the End". When the episode first opens up in "coma dream" Booth and Brennan's room, Hodgins voice over can be heard as the clock is shown with the time before we see Brennen enter. When Booth was in his coma was the first time Brennan realized she had feelings for him and began her internal struggle of how to deal with that and how to tell Booth. I think that is why they referenced it, but that is a super obscure fact that I only know because I love that episode!

[skftex]

Yes Emi, but it shows up a lot of places. Not only on the clock when Booth is having his dream but also on the clock in The Hole in the Heart. And the clock that Pelant is holding in the episode he is in their house. Neither of which have an "END" in their name. And it is on signs, parking spaces, trucks, poles, it shows up a lot more than people realized. So, they claimed they were going to explain what it meant in season 12. But they did not. They just gave us another instance of it and a syrupy saying to try to appease people, because they have no idea what it meant I guess.

[emi13]

I don't know - I did think it was a little odd, the way that they explained it. However, i'm sure it was hard to get everything in and I thought they came up with a good solution. I guess it's up to each viewer to decide their interpretation of what was said.

[skftex]

They could have used the whole of episode 10 to explain it.

[ThyneAlone]

The reason I particularly admire this gorgeous swansong is that the writers have walked a difficult board fence which has confounded them on many past occasions. How to reward the loyal fans with past references and yet to show how far everyone has come over the period during which the show has developed. There have been issues, arcs and experiments which some have loved, some have loathed. Just to show how varied those feelings can be, I liked Stewie but disliked Brennan's Pelant dreams. Disliked not the idea, but the treatment of Sully - yet enjoyed Hannah. Hated Gormogon, adored Epps. Was impatient with the Booth/Brennan contrived UST and the very existence of Angela's previous marriage, but loved that Angela & Hodgins got married in prison! Unsure about the characters of Max and Jared. And many thought just the reverse in every case. Soooooo, hard to satisfy viewers with an appropriate ending. But I was happy. And I felt as if 12.11 and 12.12 blended together perfectly as a single entity, so you’ll have to excuse various references here to part 1.

To start with, we did get traditional excitement, with that ticking bomb, the explosions, the shoot out and the thoroughly appropriate demise of the perp. Very 24. The work in the lab had to be by a team working with their own brains and experience rather than expensive machinery and technology – again, passionately exciting in comparison with some of the Dei ex Machina we have had to endure more recently; and something that was at its best way back, done by two friends buried in a car!

It’s the first time Brennan has really lost her mojo, though she came near it in the Katrina ep, so the effect both on her and the people around her was interesting to see. The interns ‘becoming’ Brennan and deducing exactly what she had been doing when the bomb went off, and the moving conversation in which Booth convinced Brennan that she is more than her mind and her work. Brennan’s bewilderment in the face of her bones dyslexia. And there were other conversations going on which I have missed for a while; Brennan and Angela (Ange is always ‘the right woman’ to go to, isn’t she?). Angela’s pregnancy being safe and the way the women thus find life in the midst of devastation. Of course, children are inevitably the symbol of life and moving forward, so it was entirely appropriate that Christine was so prominent in the previous ep, in her interaction with both her parents, and that we learned of Cam’s and Arastoo’s adoption plans in the closing minutes of this one.

Booth was somewhat different in this episode, frantic, much more vulnerable and impulsive, because he was so caught up in the safety of his family. Although Brennan would probably argue that a Roman Catholic might be more sensitive to superstition, it had struck a sour chord that in episode 11 he had worried so much about Avalon’s cards, the bird at the window, the obscured face on the photo. He is usually instinctive, but reasonable. At the start of this episode I found the confrontation between him and Hodgins far more believable – a desperate man wanting to blow up a wall calmed down by an analytical scientist who reminded him of the military training that needed to be brought back to the fore. And it was intriguing that Hodgins was initially shouting at Booth and then was able to control himself. Anger management has finally triumphed, after his brief flash of rage at what was happening to Zach. TJ has developed this character fantastically and so credibly, even in the face of some dubious arcs and difficult dialogue (I don’t mean the science stuff, I mean words or views we wouldn’t have expected from him) and his eventual acceptance of his paralysis has been realistic for me personally, though I know there are people out there on the Net who have been dismissive, anticipating either a soap-style miracle cure or a rather too light acceptance that belittled the struggles of those who have genuinely been disabled in this way. IMHO TJ has shown a deep respect for such sufferers and endeavoured to be true to the portrayal. That the experience has helped Hodgins to grow is evident in the casting aside of the elastic band, which I too found especially moving!

In the end, horrendous as the first look at the rubble-strewn Jeffersonian lab was, with that huge pile of bones that recalled mass burial sites visited by Brennan in the past, it was firmly hit home that this lab is not about the building, but about the people. The family. And the people become more and more evident towards the end, as, subsequent to Kovac’s removal and his sister’s incarceration (there was, I think, a moment when her vengeful viciousness did convey some genuine twisted grief for her father, though there was a world of difference between hers and Brennan’s), our team began to take away from their ruined home the bits of them that had survived. And they were the significant bits. Hodgins’ photo of Zach - yes, definitely from Man in the Fallout Shelter - little Jasper, Brennan’s dolphin necklace, Cam’s keepsake book from Arastoo, Angela’s and Jack’s book – again, a feel for kids and the future. And other things whose presence we appreciated. Absent friends – Parker’s drawing, Sweets’ book, Vincent’s portrait, Max’s photo.

Maybe one last sidelong, slightly disbelieving glance – how did anyone survive that blast, or even come out of it without severe maiming? How did Hodgins cope in a wheelchair?

But still my abiding memory will be of Hodgins swinging round and round in that wheelchair, finally King of the Lab. Brennan’s and Booth’s exit in traditional, friendly bickering style was a very suitable low-key ending – life goes on. But, for me, this show finishes on Hodgins triumphant. Well done indeed, TJ Thyne.

[ThyneAlone]

PS I agree with Sharon on 4.47. They could never have explained the unwieldy significance which it had acquired by the end. Buffy did some similar juggling with 7.30, I seem to remember - never a satisfactory resolution, though fans had their own ingenious ideas.

Incidentally, I've just noticed that review was my 2600th post! Queen of the Board!

[emi13]

Well said and congratulations on your 2,600th post! I really liked what you said about the Jeffersonian: It's not about the building, it's about the people. I think the writers really did an exceptional job at getting this message through to the viewers. I honestly can't say enough good things about this episode but I do understand where you are coming from with how they survived the blast. I really loved how the episode ended with typical banter between B&B and Hodgins' final proclamation that he is the undeniable King of the Lab! TJ really did phenomenal, it was a great way to go out.

[Sculder1013]

I really enjoyed the last episode. I wasn't a fan of how parts of it were directed towards to the end of the ep, but the entire ep was superb.

I love that Zack's sentence was overturned, and I'm glad that they kept that he has to serve his final 18 months. Much better that way.

The rubber band thing totally got me too. As soon as he took it off and threw it down I was so happy and so sad at the same time. He has grown so much and come so far. And I'm glad that the baby is ok and they are happy to have the baby no matter what.

And aaaaaw he was made official King Of The Lab. I loved his reaction to that so much.

Booth and Brennan were great in this episode too. Their love for each other is amazing. I loved how Booth was saying he loves her no matter what. And her saying her intelligence is what makes her who she is. It was so sad but I'm so glad she got her brain back in the end.

The Squints. Aaaaaw I love them all. I am going to miss them all so much!

All in all a great end. I love a good happy ending.