The Finger in the Nest

I found the humor in this episode so delightful that I was keen to identify the writer, Lyla Oliver, and see which other scripts she'd been responsible for (think this is the first on Bones), but then I realized it doesn't matter. No matter how good the shows are, most of them don't stand out. They just blend into one another, like largely identical hedges in a labyrinth.

Some things stand out, like Brennan and Hodgins being buried alive in that car, or two of the gormogon shows (including Zack's exposure), or Brennan's father killing that priest, but if I've seen over 60 shows so far, less than 55 of them were memorable, which is not to say they weren't enjoyable at the time. They're simply fungible. When one thing is too much like another, neither is special. I would think the problem is that Bones is a procedural. There's a crime, an investigation and a resolution. Does that format automatically give series a mechanical air? No. Cagney and Lacey has been off the air for 25 years and I still remember many of the plot points. Same with NYPD Blue. I remember Sylvia's death, Andy Jr.'s and how it made Andy, Sr. turn back to drink, Bobby Simone's death, Danny's death . . . ok there were a lot of deaths on NYPD Blue, but that's not why I remember their emotional impact. Booth recently "died" on Bones and it was annoying, rather than moving. I had no real sense of the characters' connection to each other, so their loss didn't translate into my caring, beyond the length of the episode.

They try to resonate with Brennan's orphan background, but that subplot is stupid to me and when she cries over her disappearing parents, I simply can't buy it. I also hate her brother, as I do Booth's son. So, their family moments don't appeal to me. Bottom line is this show is all gloss and no penetration. I fell in love with Buffy, which led me to Angel, which has led me to Bones. When I got here, I loved that the ride was often amusing, but I thought it would be meaningful as well. It's not. And that's ok. It's just an adjustment.

The show starts off with Booth playing in the park with his son. He's trying to teach the kid football. Isn't the football hold beautiful? Well, Parker has been told that a sunset and the Mona Lisa is beautiful, so he doesn't know about football . . . Booth gets a little impatient when he constantly hears "Mom said..." They see a bird's nest and Parker's first instinct is to throw the ball at it, but Booth tells him there's a living creature inside and he shouldn't hurt it. For all my complaints about them TELLING us stuff in the last episode, I like this one because we are left to infer so much, about Booth's parenting style (although Bones does tell us he's a good dad) and his hopes. Later on, when Sweets tells him how Parker brags about him, Booth beams. It's just David mugging a bit, but it's also touching, because Bones is touch. Booth got tired of hearing what "Mom said," but when he's not there Parker boasts a lot about what Dad says too and it's a nice way of conveying what father means to son, without giving us mushy scenes.

Booth lifts Parker up to see into the nest. There's a finger inside. The bird flew it there from some unknown murder scene. They start an investigation and Booth is afraid that Parker may be scarred for life by the digit discovery. He takes him to Sweets for a diagnosis, but Sweets resists, saying he's not some radio psychologist who dispenses advice for a dime. I don't know why he has this reaction, since he's always giving out unsolicited therapy. Why so shy now?

Bones says she found her neighbor dead when she was 5 and it didn't scar her for life did it? Well, she makes a living digging up dead people, so Booth things it might have impacted her. She says after she found the body, she played dead for weeks after that, pretending to hang herself, etc. And she really thinks she was unfazed, Booth wants to know??

The gang eventually finds the rest of the corpse, realizing that a bird would only bring things to its nest, based on a certain radius. There's an opossum by the gravesite and I realize that that's the thing I saw crossing a busy intersection (Michelson) a few weeks ago. I'm not that good on identifying critters, so I'm glad this show did it for me. When the opossum appears to die, Booth says that the corpse must have been poisoned and it died after nibbling on the body. Bones calmly points out that it is merely "playing opossum" and is alive and well. She corrects Booth's pronunciation. It's O-possum, not possum. They learn that the victim was mauled to death by a dog. They go looking for the canine, who has distinctive, filed teeth as an identifier. When they get to the dog owner's place, there's an unchained pit bull in the yard and Booth says that they'll sit in the car and wait for the owner to come out. Bones notes that he's afraid. He denies it and says that that's just common courtesy in the country. You wait in the car. Well, he was scared then, but later when he goes to arrest the owner, he has no problem getting out of the car, without a thought and I liked that. It was a nice way of showing that when there's danger in the air, he's fearless, but he was cognizant of a threat when things were normal and quiet.

Zack's newest temporary replacement is Brennan's oldest grad student, Scott Starret. He's held every job known to man and is versed on every subject. Hodgins finds that it's the same man who sold him a bum car when he was a kid and he lashes out at Scott every chance he gets. I'm surprised that no one tells him not to keep letting a 15 year old car transaction interfere with their current case, but they just ignore his fuming. When Hodgins finds a pivotal clue he says that he would call "King of the Lab" but that would just bring back painful memories. Scott looks quizzical. Finally, after Hodgins and Angela rejoice over a break through, both compliment each other and then feel very awkward and withdraw, Hodgins admits to Scott (then Sweets) that he hates everyone, because his best friend got himself into trouble (well, Zack did a lot more than that) and then Hodgins lost Angela and feels that it was his fault. I can predict that Angela and Hodgins reunite, but if it's because he apologizes to her, I won't be happy. It wasn't his fault. Her behavior with her ex was wrong and if it pinpointed any problem in their relationship, that problem wasn't Hodgins' lack of trust. My opinion is that Angela is not such a prize. Sweets actually thinks that Hodgins' feelings of "hate" are a good thing. He's independently wealthy and he's still coming to work isn't he. So, his anger is not crippling him. He's working through it. Now that they've talked, does this mean that Hodgins is Sweets' patient, Hodgins wonders self-consciously? Nope. They're just co-workers. Hodgins is relieved. I wish Sweets would just be co-workers with Bones and Booth too.

Cam still has to remind someone she's the boss every single episode. Why IS this? Last week it was Daisy. This week, when Scott's presence is bugging Hodgins, he calls Cam over. She sends Scott away. Hodgins then reveals he has nothing to tell him, he just wanted her to get rid of Scott. Well, that's not a wise way to use your boss, she cautions. But it worked, he answers.

As they move closer to the killer, Bones and Booth uncover a dog-fighting ring. Bones can hardly bare to look at the remains of the dogs who died. This is just maddening, since she has no qualms about dead people. I think that those who torture animals are more mentally depraved than other criminals, but it's because it's not even really a power trip with them. It's not about dominating. It's just the pure joy of inflicting pain. That's frightening, but I'm not one who is more moved by the suffering of animals than I am the suffering of human beings. Bones' tears over the dogs are designed to show her tender heart underneath the analytical exterior, but the vulnerability now only makes me resent her clinical detachment at other times.

Cesar Millan, the real life Dog Whisperer, comes and helps them tame the canines used in dog fights, so they can find the one who was used to attack and kill the victim. It's somewhat humorous when Bones recognizes him, he says thank you and she retorts that just because she knows him from television doesn't mean she was giving him a compliment. Television exposure itself is no sign of achievement. But then he is able to quiet the dogs, when she can't, even when she tries to mimic exactly what he did, so that must have been humbling for her. She must have realized that he wasn't just famous for being famous, at that point.

Booth leaves an unwilling Sweets alone with Parker long enough to discover that the kid has been exhibiting symptoms of trauma because he's being bullied by a large girl, not because of the finger. He thought finding the finger was cool and wishes Booth had let him keep it. The girl is another story. Booth told him never to hit girls (Booth says he told him not to hit anyone, with some qualifications) and he doesn't run away from her because his father never ran away from anything. Booth is happy to hear, from Sweets, what Parker actually thinks of him. But clarifies that unlike his son, he was never carried around by a girl. Boreanaz's comical facial expressions never fail to steal a scene. In the end, he tells Parker that it's ok to walk away, when it's for himself, but when it's for anyone else, then that's when he should stand his ground.

Booth and Bones find the dog that killed the man, Ripley. Ripley's trainer sicced the dog on a vet who was about to expose the dog fighting ring and made the canine a killer. Cesar is full of compassion, telling the dog, Ripley, "I'm sorry buddy. I'm so sorry." The dead man wasn't the killer's only victim. Brennan goes out and buys the dog a collar and a "Ripley Brennan" tag, planning to adopt him. Booth stops her, saying that the dog had to be put down, since he attacked a human. "You killed him?" Brennan asks? Booth nods. Is he the one who gave the order? I guess. I doubt it would come directly from him, but the fact that it did -- or Brennan takes it that way -- and she doesn't blame him personally for it, knowing that he was only doing his job, reminds me of how he had to turn her father in. Trust in the implicit fairness of his character, even when it hurts her personally, is the best thing I can say about their relationship so far, in that it's a fundamental relationship building block and a more complicated bond to express for the writers than their so-called sexual tension is. So, I respect it more.

Booth takes her to dig a grave for Ripley. He makes the whole and she wants to close it up. An equal division of chores. He tells her to say a few words for Ripley. She speaks to him and he says it's not his fault. She says, but he's the only one there. He tells her to speak to God or to Ripley. Well, she's not spiritual and she says there's not much she can say to Ripley since he was a DOG and there was a limit to what he could understand -- but she says he had to suffer for the wrongfulness of others and that it's not right. Did she say enough? He said her words were a fitting tribute for anyone, Ripley too. They hug.

The Man in the Outhouse

Three seasons down and this show hasn't grown any more organic. Maybe that's what you get when you watch a Fox drama instead of HBO, but then again The X-Files was on Fox, so . . . Still, Bones and Booth often act more like Peg and Ed than Mulder and Scully.

I don't understand it, when you have actors who are talented enough to convey a lot through subtlety and are appealing, why do you need so much mugging and exposition? Sometimes, it seems that this show is written both to be performed by nitwits and watched by them.

Booth shows up at Brennan's apartment to take her to their latest case and she is entertaining a gentleman caller. Of course, Brennan, ever logical, isn't exactly discomfited by his presence, but she does think he should call first. Booth wonders why. He didn't even know she was dating. Booth enjoys making Mark, her toweled date, feel awkward and, suggesting that things are not as big of a deal as they should be, Booth wonders if Mark is chilly. Of course, he can only be joking because Brennan assures us that Mark is well-endowed and an excellent lover. He's a deep sea diver and an expert bobber, traits she praises so excessively that Booth has to clarify that she is actually talking about Mark's talents below the water.

Now, this is cute, but once they had "bobber" in the script, we could have imagined the rest. We would have implied a double meaning to all of Brennan's comments on our own. Booth didn't have to rub the joke in by actually asking if they were still talking about deep sea diving. 1) It might be funnier if they never said whether they were or not. Brennan could mean one thing and the audience could think another. 2) If Booth needed to ask, David Boreanaz could have easily have done so with a raised brow. No dialogue necessary.

Just as too much kneading removes the air and makes dough heavy, too many words explaining the obvious leaden a show.

Brennan says that Mark is a way on dives for a long time and that absence sharpens his sexual needs. So, he's very exciting to be with physically. But she sees (she fines the word "dates" too confine by traditional expectations) another man, Jason, for mental stimulation.

Booth says he believes in monogamy, the way God intended. Bones counters that monogamy is unnatural. I don't mind this discussion because I haven't seen the show in a long time, BUT I know they've had this conversation many times before. I don't know that they should write the series expecting that people will watch episodes months apart on DVD like I did. If you are actually watching week to week in real time, I think that Booth and Bones conversations became repetitive a long time ago and I'm only on the 4th season. There are 5 seasons of identical character-defining proclamations to go.

Their case ties into Brennan's personal contretemps. A reality tv host, Bill, has been found dead. He framed cheating spouses by having a beautiful woman lure them into a hotel room, video-taping them as they became amorous and then "busting" them on camera, revealing that the whole thing had been a set up and their infidelity was now proven. Bill's murder contained so much malice (he ended up having his body dumped in an outhouse) that his killer was probably one of the angry men he entrapped. Sweets watches tapes from Bill's show to see which one of them fits the profile of a savage killer.

As Sweets describes the mentality of a cheater, Brennan objects. She doesn't think the urge to have more than one lover is wrong or unnatural. Sweets wonders how Booth feels about Brennan dating. Even looking at Sweets as their therapist, considering all the past sessions they have had and the many times he has asked this same question in a different form, I simply don't understand why we're still getting scenes like this. If Sweets had never been created -- and he's growing on me now, but sometimes I still wish he never existed -- the audience would have asked what Booth's true feelings were without prompting from a psychiatrist. It's best just to have Sweets working on their cases and to stop have him commenting on Booth and Brennan because his doing so is just a reminder of how dumb the show thinks it's audience is. Moreover, presenting their relationship as something to be analyzed week in and week out, is a barrier to its being something that viewers simply enjoy.

Ironically, the writers realize this in a subplot. They bring in Daisy, Brennan's newest assistant. It would be comical if Brennan continued to get a new one each week, just like having Murphy Brown's secretarial temp change each week became a running gag on that sitcom, 25 years ago. Anyway, Daisy is so eager to please Brennan, her hero, that she can't stop preening and emphasizing her own skills, to make herself more attractive to Temp, who barely notices her -- or would have it appear so. Daisy chatters aimlessly to Jack and Cam trying to convince them how alike she and Brennan are and what a good fit they will make. The fact that she has to say it, proves that her conclusions is entirely wrong. Camille dryly advises Daisy not to talk so much and to leave an air of mystery. Daisy is intelligent, but tries too hard, lacks perception and cannot see that the very traits she boasts of so often, along with the boasting itself, are the ones Brennan will find the least attractive.

Although, she definitely helps them break the case, Daisy is summarily fired. But not onscreen. We learn that Daisy's a done deal casually, in passing at the end of the show, making it all the funnier. Bones, Hodgins and Cam never discussed Daisy together. They never talked about how their residual feelings for Zack may have motivated them to give Daisy a harder time either. Daisy rubbed them all the wrong way, for reasons the audience can consider on it's own. We didn't have Sweets analyzing why the squints rejected her (although he doesn't, not after she flatters him). We know enough about them and their past and Daisy's obnoxiousness is so patent, that the inherent conflict between them does not need to be voiced. I wish this was true in the main plot as well.

Many of the problems in Daisy's pushy, perky personality are symbolic of the show's flaws in general.

Booth and Brennan get Noel, a stalker from a past episode, to help them track a suspect. It's strange because since this guy has focused on Brennan before, you'd think they'd want to steer clear of him, rather than encourage his perverted tendencies. I mean, I guess in the past they made him seem more dangerous than he actually was, just so we'd suspect him as the villain, but even so, his obsession is not exactly harmless. Why wouldn't they just put a detective on the trail, rather than paying a weirdo 50 to follow someone? Booth cautions him not to zero in on Brennan again, but actually a cautionary word is not enough to deter a true psycho. It's funny, but too screwy for a show that is actually supposed to be a drama with humorous elements and not a surreal comedy.

Talking with Cam and Angela, Brennan and the women discuss how men think they're the only ones who can be interested in seeing more than one person at a time. They always have to sympathize with male feelings and Angela notes that you end up cradling them and telling them, "don't worry, it happens to everyone". That makes me wonder how she and Hodgins are coping since her ex came to town. They don't seem awkward when they are in scenes together. On the other, they don't interact and seem at ease either.

Learning that Brennan is going to meet her platonic suitor for dinner, Booth leaps at a chance to interrupt their meal. He takes Sweets with him to the diner to interrupt them. Of course, Sweets has to ask if Booth knew Brennan would be there. Not only is the question unnecessary, but I think Booth already told Sweets that Bones had a date back at work. So, Sweets should have had express knowledge of the rendezvous, if not implied.

Booth grills Jason lightly. Has he ever been married? No. Does he have children? Well, Jason said he'd never been married, how can he have children, he asks of Booth? Sweets interjects that Booth has a child and has never been married. Of course, Booth doesn't seem self-conscious about this fact and maybe it would have been funnier if he was. Hard to say. The people on this show often say invasive things to each other that get no reaction and you wonder if the "joke" was supposed to be that they don't respond. For instance, when the squints get too personal with Booth and Brennan. The thing is, if they don't care, then it's not really too personal is it? But sometimes they will care. They'll say, "mind your own business" one week and spill all of their pillow talk the next. Sometimes, they're embarrassed. Sometimes, they're completely indifferent.

After meeting him, both Booth and Sweets quickly conclude that the reason that Jason is satisfied with only a platonic relationship with Brennan is because he is gay. He consumes fruit tarts, mint tea and listens to Coldplay. Does Brennan need any more proof that Jason is a homosexual they wonder. Coldplay. The mens' jocularity combined with the effortless way Bones both ignores their taunting, while providing seriously responses to comments which don't deserve them is quite charming. Emily plays several layers at once. She's nerdy and unaware one second, sexy and vain, the other. Over-confident, insecure. The transitions are quick and seamless and when an actress can do that, then you don't need to broadcast them.

Why does the fact that Jason enjoys her company without sex so strange, Brennan wonders. How can it not be, Booth counters and looks to Sweets for affirmation. 'Well, you are very hot,' Sweets comments. He is embarrassed by his schoolboy candor. Booth gives a look that says, "I wanted back up, but not that kind. Way to expose yourself, buddy." Brennan changes the subject. It's so smooth and enjoyable you wish all the scenes could work like that.

When the case is solved we learn that the killer was not a stranger that Bill busted. It's a jealous co-worker who wanted to get back at Bill for dating the guy's old girlfriend. Brennan too feels the sting of jealous lovers.

Mark and Jason run into each other at work. Mark wonders why Brennan never wanted to do anything with him outside of bed. Jason wishes they had a more intimate relationship and is insulted when he meets the brawny Mark, because Temp never gave him the chance to stimulate more than her mind. And what is Booth in all of this, both of them demand to know. Booth insists that he is just the business partner, nothing more. "Gay Jason" dumps her and after a failed "outside" date between Mark and Brennan, Mark breaks it off too.

In their therapy session with Sweets, Brennan says that maybe monogamy isn't so bad at all, if it reduces the frequency and pain of being dumped. Booth consoles her and Sweets wonders if they often discuss their private lives with one another, again a question he's already asked. Are we supposed to forget all the discussions Sweets had with them last year?? Booth says he just has to counsel her, because she has bad taste in men. True, she does. Brennan says that she sees nothing wrong with being open about her sexual life. (Not this week anyway. Next week, she'll be complaining that her privacy is invaded). Sex is a natural physical urge. She wonders why should she be as secretive as Booth is? He never discusses his lovers, but she assumes that he has them. Booth replies that he does ok. Sweets says that they use each other as surrogates and that makes it harder for them to form outside relationships with third parties.

Booth asks Brennan if she'd like to go to dinner to cheer up. She agrees. Sweets wants to go too. They retort that they use each other as surrogates and that makes it hard for them to form outside attachments, so he's out in the cold. Nice.

Left alone, he calls Daisy and says that now that she's no longer working with them, would she be interesting in going out on a date. Well-played.

There's some nice blocking when Booth and Bones go through doorways. They both try to go at the same time (meaning he's not letting her through first as a woman and she doesn't expect to get through first as a woman, but demands immediate entry as his equal -- or better). The door frame can't fit them both and they end up almost colliding. This happens twice during the episode and will give me cause to watch their entrances more closely in the future.

The Yanks in the U.K.

If the Tower Bridge opens and you're present, but not paying attention, does it still bring good luck? Technically, probably not, but I don't think that will hurt Brennan and Booth any.

These were my first episodes watching on Blu-ray dvd and the English scenery was breathtaking.

Having Booth and Brennan work with theie London counterparts, Wexler and Pritchard was amusing. Since Brennan usually falls pretty quickly for jerks, I was glad she didn't succumb to Wexler, but not for the reason she gave: that Booth wouldn't like it. When does he get a say in her sex life? He can have one, if he admits an emotional commitment that would make him feel bad about her romantic dalliance with someone else, but that paternalistic nonsense about him not wanting her to be a notch on someone's belt was ridiculous. When Brennan thought his tense driving could be due to the fact that he thought she slept with Wexler and she tells Ian that one hour of pleasure with him is not worth upsetting her partner, I think she felt that Booth's objections were more deep-seated than what he stated: that she's special and Ian is not.

However, Brenann is usually embarassingly good at blurting out exactly what she thinks. If she thought that Booth was jealous, she would normally say so. She didn't. So, it irks me that she did what he wanted for reasons he had no right to feel. It could be that she did not want to sleep with Wexler herself and used Booth as an excuse, because he's the reason she declined -- not because he told her not to, but because she wanted him not to want her to do it. Even if that's the case, I would think Brennan would be more self-aware about her true motives. I hate to admit it, but maybe I needed Sweets there to analyze them. I'm happy to have Brennan make a choice in her personal life simply to avoid hurting Booth, but I want them both to be honest about why he would have been hurt.

As for the case, Booth's insistence upon having a gun reminded me of Brennan's back home. Although she investigated with Booth (something that Ian did not do with Pritchard), she didn't ask for a gun herself, until almost the end. She pointed out that she was responsible with a weapon and found out that killing didn't bother her as much as she'd thought it would. Booth, not really wanting her to have a gun, said it bothered her some. But Brennan said not that much!

Pritchard told Booth if he did something reckless, she'd be the one who would hang, not him. That's how Brennan's reckless use of her gun gets Booth in trouble, back at home.

Since the deceased heiress' mother had died 21 years ago, I'm not sure how Brennan knew she hadn't inherited the generic bone disease from her. Maybe she looked at the mother's medical records, but I didn't hear that part. It seems like she found out about the genetic defect, had observed the American billionaire didn't have it (just by looking at him), deduced the aristocratic family did have it (because the father used a cane and the grandmother was in a wheelchair, which looks like normal aging to me, not a birth defect) and assumed that the Duke was the heiress' real father. When she confronted the family with this news, the Duke's wife didn't seem too upset one way or another. Didn't care that her husband had cheated on her, that the truth had been revealed or that her son had slept with his half sister. Also, whether the Duke or their butler killed the girl, how come no one seemed that sad that someone who turned out to be a blood relative was murdered. Wouldn't the grandmother care more about the lost granddaughter than about getting the butler the best defense team money could buy?


The fact that we didn't know whether the Butler really did it or was just protecting the Duke and they were happy to leave that story ambiguous was a bit troublesome. If you care enough to write a mystery, at least wrap it up for the audience. I thought that would be explored more in the second part of the episode, but instead we got another murder. Considering that the last one was so scandalous, Duke's family implicated in murder and incest, you'd think we'd hear about fallout from that investigation in the 2nd part of the opener, but not a peep.

When Ian died, it sort of annoyed me that Brennan was rattled. She didn't know him enough to be almost as upset as Pritchard was. The most upsetting thing, which no one mentioned is that she could have been in bed with him. She was thinking of going home with him that night.

As for Pritchard and Wexler, they illustrate something about our lead couple, just as the other agents in Detour informed us about Mulder and Scully. Even though Wexler and Pritchard were sleeping together, they didn't come close to having the bond that Bones and Booth did, because theirs is based on so much more than sexual attraction. For Mulder and Scully the sex was quite an afterthought, way down at the bottom of the things that bound them together. With Bones and Booth it's rather higher up in the mix. Since Booth was just "killed" in the last episode (which surely must have been on Bones' mind when she talked to Pritchard about Ian's lost) and Bones didn't show that much emotion, it's hard to argue that she would be much less objective about Booth's death than Pritchard is, but I think she would.

The distinction Bones makes between her and Pritchard -- that Bones is not sleeping with her partner -- is meaningless. Bones and Booth are obviously closer friends and more respectful than their doppelgangers were to each other.

Odd that they get a call about something being wrong with Ian and when they get to his burned abode, Brennan still has to ask if a shellshocked Pritchard thinks its his body inside. Well, duh? Why else would they be there in the first place? Why would Pritchard be looking like that? Maybe Brennan was just in denial. Booth didn't seem in doubt.

Back at home in the lab, the romantic denials are 10 times more frustrating. If the writers just wanted to break Angela and Hodgins up for plot purposes, I could have found 50 more believable ways for them to do it than this. As it is, I don't like Angela any more. She jumps up into her ex's arms and kisses him lingeringly on the mouth. We don't see her lower torso, but in order to bring herself level with Grayson, she must have wrapped her legs around him. Can't get more sexual than that. She doesn't even do it with quick, eager "Oh, I'm so happy to see you after all of this time," squeals. Those would have told me she was acting on pure impulse. No, she moves with a slower, "you're so delicious" swagger, which makes me think she's hot for him. Then, she doesn't tell Hodgins that she kissed him that way. THEN, she does get mad at Cam for sleeping with Grayson. Not only was she divorced from Grayson at the time, but she hadn't seen him in years and it had never been a real marriage in the first place.

She slept with a guy on vacation, got high and married him in a ceremony she can barely remember. It wasn't like they had a shared life or had been together long enough to feel possessive -- or hadn't been apart long enough to both sleep with many, many others. Why would she care about Cam? Yet, she does and has kissed him with desire, yet feels it's a dealbreaker that Hodgins is eager for Grayson to leave, because it means he doesn't trust her. What is there to trust? He can trust that she wants another man, but has decided to spend her life with him, anyway. That means they can probably have a happy stable life together, even if it doesn't compare to the primal excitement she shared with Grayson. So, I can see why he'd still want to marry her, but not why he'd be happy to find out that Grayson is still in town. Why should Angela be telling him he has no right to feel uncomfortable about (if not threatened by) that, after the way she's acted?? Brennan said she had physical reactions to Ian that let her know she was attracted to him. Why couldn't Angela just say this and then talk about whether or not Hodgins had a right to be threatened by that attraction, rather than not addressing her own reactions at all and telling him he was wrong to have his.

The fact that she uses that as an excuse to break up with him, tells me her feelings for him are not that deep and also makes me resent her for trying to put the blame on him. "All you had to do was trust me." Well, all you had to do was be trustworthy. She's a free spirit, free love kind of woman (they tell us as part of her backstory). So, she's decided to be monogamous. I understand that she wouldn't have slept with Grayson, but she should understand that it doesn't feel good for Hodgins (and the audience) to know that she wanted to. She tells Brennan that she broke up with Hodgins and she won't be able to understand why until she talks to Temp. That gives me hope that maybe Brennan will make her see that she was the problem, not Hodgins, but if she doesn't, then I can't root for them to be together. Instead of Hodgins sitting there saying nothing as she walked out of the restaurant (I'm glad he didn't stop her, which is what she said he would have done if he trusted her), he should have TOLD her exactly why Grayson still being around gave him no reason to celebrate and turned it back on her, instead of accepting her, "you've betrayed me" rant. He proved he could push all his doubts aside and trust that she wanted a future with him, when he kissed her and the bells rang (bells on passing bicycles), oblivous to Grayson on the other side of the street. He didn't have to prove that he's ok having her continue to be courted by someone she has the hots for.

As for her feminist claim that her heart was not his to claim, but hers to give, give me a break. When that fraud made a play for Hodgins last season, Angela was quick to tell her he was taken. If Hodgins has the same urge, it's human, not misogyny.

I don't know why people think a kiss is not a betrayal or why they don't take responsibility for compounding a loved ones insecurity through their own less than loyal actions. It's my Twilight problem all over again.


As for Cam, it bothered me that she slept with a guy she'd known for 15 minutes who was in love with someone else. I don't understand how the need for recreational sex can be that strong. Of course, her reactions were very humorous. Even the speedy way she offered to drive him to the airport was funny -- which made it strange when he asked for a ride from the airport and she walked in and coldly told him that she thinks that his "code." Well, it's not like he hoodwinked her. When she offered him a ride, she had sexual intentions in the first place. He did not seduce her. Why chide him, as if that's his modus operandi later? Hilarious when Hodgins asked her if she made sure Grayson got off and she's like, "I'm sorry??"

As much as I have hated her bossiness over the last seasons, Angela and Hodgins telling her off was really maddening. I understand that they were only angry over Grayson, but it's bothersome because there have been times in the past when they needed to stand up to her micromanagement of highly skilled adults and they have said nothing. This time, when she was not even doing anything and was giving them utmost professional respect and had not really insulted them personally either by sleeping with an ex Angela hardly even knew, for them to go off like that was infuriating. They would have been suspended had I been in her place. She needed to be told to go regulate herself 2 years ago.

Kind of amusing that Clark wanted to work and not get involved in everyone's personal life, since the Smithsonian group does like to entangle themselves in the other's business. At least the writers realize that this is not the norm and gave us an outsider's perspective. Since they do do that regularly, it always puts me off when one of them tells the other they have done something off limits or wandered into territory that is none of their business.

In England, loved it when the guy told Booth off, reminded him the FBI had no authority there and head-butted him. Booth barely flinched, but his attacker got hurt and remarked on Booth's hard noggin. Booth just crooked his neck to the side as his only response. DB was cute. Also talking to the Buckingham Palace guard whose sister Ian had slept with was fun.

Nice moment when Pritchard reminded Booth that she was in charge and, because he knew that she was distraught, he accepted it, but Bones took up for him and said Pritchard shouldn't talk to him like that, since he was staying for her benefit. Her power play was a way to keep control of her emotions and Booth realized it.

She made a pass at him in the end, but he didn't seem interested. Bones had to point out that Pritchard liked him and she did so without jealousy. He just didn't have eyes for her and hadn't been flirting back. Hadn't bothered to notice anything but her pain in losing a partner.

Nice when Brennan was taking home all of those packages, gifts she'd received and Booth was satisfied with his one goofy bobby bobblehead.

As a season opener, this two parter had looks and laughs, even if it did not probe very deeply into the characters. Well, it probed Angela and I didn't like the results. Other than that, fun romp over the pond. It did not feel like just a location shoot for ratings. Although the juxtaposition of all the London monuments with our own Washington D.C. landmarks told the story of how what Booth and Brennan share is constant on both continents as are the relationship problems of those who surround them.