I really do think it's a bit strained to make a body of water turn purple when peed in, not to serve plot but merely to assist alliteration! Still, there we are, and the purple gave TJ a chance to identify the particular algae that were causing the colour, so no complaints here.
And at last they've had to recant a bit, then. So Zack didn't actually do the deed *gleeful malicious grin*. So it was done by the previous apprentice who was murdered by the Master to make room for Zack! How does that fit with the supposed timescale of all this, I wonder, but then disbelief has not been suspended exactly here, more like dangled from a noose by a short cord from a high branch. Disbelief's neck is definitely broken.
But it was great to see and hear Zack again (though he is going back to being robot boy a bit, that'll be from being on his own too much), and to realise that we miss him as much as the team does. Poor Wendell Bray, the new intern, didn't have a chance, did he? Though he lent some joviality to the proceedings with his understandable misinterpretation of one of Brennan's blunt remarks as implying that she wanted sex with him! Again, Michaela talking to him about it ... great. Great character continuity; Angela remains the convenient shoulder and advisor. Though I wish she were showing as plain a reaction to the break-up as Hodgins is. I wish she would talk to her best friend Brennan. TJ carried through superbly from last week with his snappiness towards Cam (and anyone else who came near him, but Cam got it in the neck, I feel, for daring to suggest that Jack took over Zack's lab space), but his spiky attitude at work (if you don't like it, fire me, otherwise let me do this the way I want) convincingly melted away when he visited Zack - so like the old days with the jokes and the genuine warmth and understanding. A King of the Lab reference! Wonderful. TJ is definitely still the best thing on the show, especially since the writing has become more plodding and less credible as genuine conversation; he seems able to inspire belief in his character all the time.
Plots do remain somewhat inconsequential - this one centred round OCD and its ramifications and again there was the weekly nod to grossness, this time in the therapy - licking things that had been in a toilet bowl, etc. This theme was of course a good way of bringing in Zack, who would clearly understand the mind of an obsessive compulsive, but I thought the motive was feather light and didn't convince. Would this particular obsessive murder another? Wouldn't it all be worryingly messy, emotionally and physically? Certainly an undesirable gap in routine, I'd have thought. Signs of reaction in the murderer would surely have shown up early on. And big cheer for Zack, but for goodness' sake, how can a supposed killer just walk out of a psychiatric institution unhindered (not that it wasn't an absolute delight to see them all laughing together in the diner, and indeed working together in the lab)? On the other hand, comparable to Brennan talking about the dog (read -Zack) last week was the very funny scene with the OCD guy who owned up to the murder because he was certain that if he sat beside someone at the wrong time that person would die. Really nice parallel with the way Zack felt himself to be guilty of that other killing because he had joined with its originator and was thinking in a particular way. Kudos to whomever wrote that!
I have to say that the BB relationship worked far better this week. One more step in learning to trust and lean on one another, as Booth stops trying to be macho and allows Temperance to deal with his backache. They didn't have any more of those awful 'meaningful moments', and they didn't have much physical intimacy except when aforementioned back was straightened, but they did bicker gently and naturally; and suddenly there was a lighter feel to everything.
I quite liked this one, but it's still not up to S1, it's not balanced enough. Sometimes cases are weird rather than strongly plotted; the emphasis on the BB relationship is still overshadowing the squints' rapport, thus diminishing the team performance; and for a show that always puts character development over procedural, it is showing us remarkably little about individuals, their histories and families (though of course Brendan Fehr is on the horizon as Jared Booth and Angela's Roxie should be turning up soon). But I am at least getting a feel for themes again. This did feel as if it were dealing to some degree with obsession, Zack's and Jack's in particular. Because Jack is still all about Angela and dirt!
PS Got Sky digital today. And Yanks In The UK is showing on Sky1 at 9. Cup pretty much running over even though the heavy cold is still in evidence!