Wow. I was the second person to post on this site, life sucks me away for a while, and look what happens... the threads have
exploded! I'm sorry I'm terribly behind on things...
I've stared at the screen and listened to three songs on iTunes while trying to decide what to reveal about myself. I never know how much or how little to say. I guess there's nothing to be done but to dive right in. Pull me up an arm chair, will you?
I'm (*ahem*) 34 years old, will be 35 this coming Saturday the 25th (my, how time suddenly flies). I live in Illinois, USA, about 45 minutes outside of Chicago. Graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree, vocal performance emphasis, and an English minor. Unquestionably lifelong passionate interests in writing, music, film/television, and reading.
As with most things, I came to watch Bones on my own timetable. *GRIN*
I first tuned in to the pilot because I'd been a fan of David Boreanaz's performances on Buffy and Angel (interesting story how I came across those shows, but I'll save that for another time, if you're interested) and I wanted to see David's latest project.
I immediately loved the Squint characters (and wanted to see them develop), and David was his usual talented and charming self, but I admit, I didn't love the Brennan character. I suppose it's not unlike the various characters on the show who meet her and do not 'warm' to her immediately because they do not know or understand her -- I found her to be abrasive, arrogant, emotionally disconnected, and even a bit obnoxious. I struggled to relate to her. Obviously, I understood that these traits of hers were important for the writers to establish as a base from which she could grow and learn, but I needed a little bit more than what they showed me at the outset. I wanted her to show me
something human, something that would make me like her enough to commit to watching the show. I watched three episodes, and -- I don't know, work was particularly stressful during that time period, I think I was in an impatient and dark mood -- I just didn't see it in her. She kept pissing me off. (I promise this story gets better.) Even though one of my coworkers teased me that I wasn't being a very good David Boreanaz fan by not watching regularly, I just couldn't see myself watching a show in which the lead charcter routinely irritated me and kept me from liking her at all.
I'd told a friend of mine that I had planned to watch the pilot, so she watched it too, and ironically she
loved it, including the Brennan character. She became a regular watcher and every week she would tell me that I needed to give the show another chance, I needed to give Brennan another chance, that the character was developing and more sides to her were being revealed.
I was glad to hear the writers were developing the characters -- so few shows pay attention to that kind of detail these days; they want to jump right to the action and whatever will 'thrill' an audience, rather than inviting them to grow along with the characters -- but I still was hesitant. Ok, more than hesitant. At this point, I was resistant.
But I couldn't get it out of my head how much my friend Amanda kept talking about the Brennan character and how important (it seemed) it was to her that I give the character a chance. Early into the second season (and I still hadn't returned to the show yet) it dawned on me -- Amanda's very similar in personality to the Brennan character. She's brilliantly intelligent, bold, fearless, and a loyal friend. But she's also brash, able to divorce herself from emotional elements when need be (which sometimes drives me nuts because I'm unable to do that, for the most part), and like Brennan the things that come out of her mouth sometimes are cringingly uncensored.
I didn't know if she saw herself in Brennan, but I felt that somehow if I were to dismiss the show and the character so adamantly, she might feel as though I would have no problem eventually dismissing her as my friend as well (especially once I realized what traits bothered me about Brennan were similar to what caused me to struggle sometimes with our friendship). So I told her I would take another look at the show.
I watched the entire first season on DVD within a weekend, and by the final episode the words that came out of my mouth were these:
"Son of a bitch... Now I
want to know what happens with all the characters,
including Brennan. And now because I waited so damn long, I'm gonna have to wait all summer for the second season to come out on DVD. I'm such an idiot."
*laughing*
What can I say? I have to come to things on my own terms, on my own timetable. But I'm glad I did.
(And irony of ironies, now when I go back and watch the pilot episode and the early episodes that follow it, I no longer see her as irritating. Now I feel like I understand her better and can appreciate all her facets. That's to the writers' credit, and especially speaks to Emily Deschanel's talent. Though there are moments when I smack myself in the forehead and mutter, 'Geez, Brennan, have some compassion, do you hear what you just said to those people? Dial down the science a bit, will you?' LOL.)
As I mentioned earlier, from the very beginning I did see something very special in the Squint characters. Even when I was crabbing to Amanda that I detested Bones (the character), I was still pointing out that if the writers were smart, they'd develop not only Bones' character but also all the Squints who clearly had entertaining and outstanding personalities of their own and should not be ignored or left as secondary cardboard-cutout characters. Shows how little the writers of the show need me -- they were already 'on' it. *GRIN*
Jack Hodgins is my favorite character -- TJ Thyne was a standout to me from episode 1, and he continues to impress me, each and every episode. I really look forward to what's in store for him, and all the actors on the show, this upcoming third season.
Ok, that was a long-winded post. Sorry about that.
I'll shut up now, and anything else to be revealed about me will, I guess, naturally unfold as conversations continue.
Thanks for letting me sit in.
I want to thank anyone who spends part of their day creating [& sharing their experience]. I don't care if it's a book, a film, a painting, a dance, a piece of theater, a piece of music… I think this world would be unlivable without art. ~ S. Soderbergh