You really like us... It may be because Lost is off the air for so damn long. It may be because I have so much paperwork to do and I'm always looking for a new reason to procrastinate. Or it may be because God was smiling down on me that day. For whatever reason I decided to buy Season 1 of "Bones" on Fox without having ever watched so much as one episode. Without being a fan of either of the lead actors. I mean, I'd seen pictures of David Boreanaz from "Buffy" and "Angel" but never watched either of those shows. All I knew about David was that he was pretty easy on the eyes. As for Emily Deschanel, his female counterpart on Bones, I knew nothing of her. I liked her sister in "Elf" but that's pretty much the extent of my knowledge of the Deschanel family. So why did I decide to purchase a whole season of a TV show of which I had no connection at all? Well, it's because of my fellow Jack and Kate fans. So many online fans told me that if I liked Jack and Kate than I'd like Booth and Brennan from Bones so in a moment of impulsivity I caved. And what do you know? Jaters are always right! I don't just like Booth and Brennan... I adore Booth and Brennan. Bones has easily slipped into my favorite show on air right now passing Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, The Office, and 30 Rock. I'm not making any direct Lost comparisons until January when Lost returns but I'm a little worried that I may not be able to give Jack and Kate the true focus they deserve. I feel I'm cheating on my fave OTP just a bit with my, I'll call them, 1b favorite OTP. Nice thing about B/B is that they are a sure thing baby! They have angst of a different sort than Jate. While I'll call Jate angst that of a more epic variety the bantering angst between Booth and Brennan is no less enjoyable. Lost watching with it's vehement fandom battle between the Jaters and Skaters can really be a drag at times. Makes you wish they'd just kill off one of the characters in the triangle to put us all out of our misery. For example:
I love Lost but I HATE the Internet drama between Jack and Sawyer fans. It's silly. Yet, I feel compelled to fight the good fight. With Bones EVERYONE knows that Booth and Brennan are meant-to-be and the fun comes in watching them dance around one another. After purchasing and watching S1 Bones in ONE day no less. I immediately purchased S2, S3 and than watched S4 on-line in a period of about a week. I warn you it is addictive! Here's why:
1. Begins and ends with the insane chemistry between David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel. They absolutely sizzle on and off-screen. Interviews with the actors are always a treat because the flirt, flirt, flirt like crazy. In fact, the only way I'd be able to handle watching my Boyfriend or Husband connect like this with a female was if I was, I don't know, say a Playboy Playmate. (Thankfully that's just who David married!) Check out one of my favorite fan made vids of Dave and Em.
I want you to shake out your hair and say 'Mr. Booth, Do you know what the penalty is for overdue books?'Why?
Nevermind!
I'd have a hard time categorizing it as a drama with the amount of comedy present. Boreanaz has a real gift with comedic timing bouncing wonderfully off Deschanel's "straight-guy." The writers of the show are simply brilliant. Maybe it's a dramedy with a procedural twist?
3. The supporting characters are really loveable. Zack is the straight man who completely gets Brennan since he's probably the only guy in the lab that can think at a speed anywhere near hers. Hodgins and Angela have a really nice chemistry that doesn't make me go "Aw, hell just get back to Booth and Brennan" as do non-OTP couples in other shows I watch. Cough, cough Alex and Izzie. Cam, while I should have hated her as much as I hated Ana Lucia and Juliet on Lost, is somehow likable. Maybe it's because the actress played Matthew Fox's girlfriend briefly on Party of Five, maybe it's because she's Walt's momma on Lost, or maybe it's because she is just a well-written character despite the fact she gets in Booth's pants for a coupla episodes. Speaking of that honestly, Booth really needs a hot date right about now. We've seen a lot of jealous Booth...I'm ready for some jealous Brennan that kicks some ass impulsively in a fit of envious rage. Oh, yeah, baby! Oops, tangent. Back to supporting characters. Really the only supp char I didn't like was the head of the Jeffersonian in S1. He was pompously unbelievable but thankfully he's on a very, very long sabbatical. New addition Sweets is really funny. I've mentioned him in regards to the couple's therapy with B/B but he's just all around fun to watch and is a total Booth and Brennan shipper just like Angela. I LOVE when supporting characters are openly shippers...it's just so perfect. (See Hurley and Charlie as Jaters extraordinaire)
4. Did I mention David Boreanaz? My sudden love of him has made me consider going back to watch Buffy or Angel, briefly, untill I remember it's about vampires and it's not Twilight. Then I decide I'll just rewatch a Bones episode.
5. Character driven. The backstories were not immediately spoon-fed to the audience. Instead, first our interest was peaked. We were made to care about these characters and then we were shown more. First of Brennan's family then of Booth's. I'm hearing we may learn more about the Squints *Booth's nickname for the lab folk* next. I love character-driven shows. Don't tell Mythology Shippers but....shhhhh, Lost is a character-driven show too!
6. Cool Cases. Touching cases. Scary cases. They have them all. I loved the Gravedigger episode en total (Two Aliens in a Spaceship.) My favorite Temperance Brennan episode was The Verdict in the Story. Santa in the Slush was a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e. from start to finish. Possibly my favorite first kiss ever on TV occured in this episode (shown below) and it wasn't even a "real kiss." The Gormagon episodes were pretty scary as was the Blair Witch Knockoff episode. How about Romance? You get that thrown in pretty much every episode! The most romantic in my opinion have been the end of Girl with a Curl (hmmm, somebody chose paperwork with their partner over wild sex with their girlfriend!!!) and this season's 6 episode which saw Booth tell Bren that she did have someone "out there" for her all the while looking meaningfully in her eyes and screaming subliminally "IT'S ME, BONES, IT'S ME!!"
7. One episode story arcs are my friends. I can't believe how much I've missed mysteries being resolved in short order. Lost has warped my TV sensibilities because at first when watching Bones I found myself thinking at the end of the episode that "no way is this that easily solved" and expecting the murderer to turn out to be the victim, or for one of the cops to be evil, or for someone to unexpectedly die, or be reincarnated!... only to find that this case was over and a new one was to begin in the next episode. I found this very, very refreshing. Lost watching is fabulous but exhausting. I have to take notes while watching Lost. With Bones I can just enjoy. I had forgotten what that was like!
8. Tempe Brennan. Is she clueless about all things pop culture? Absolutely! Yet she is brilliant and capable and absolutely gorgeous. Emily Deschanel's eyes are just mesmerizing. The pop culture flubs make Tempe human--otherwise she'd come off as just too perfect and cold. As the series has progressed she has been humanized likely by association with Booth. He wants her to feel for others and is critical of her dispassion in the beginning but once he realizes where she's coming from he sees that she is not cold at all. Emily delivers Bones' naivety in such a way that it is always funny and very endearing. With Booth in the beginning he would make fun of her faux pas and was incredulous that she was just so oblivious to all things current but now he corrects her kindly with a slight smile and jumps all over anyone who dares criticize her in his presence. Just a really fun dynamic.
9. Have I mentioned David Boreanaz?
10. Booth and Brennan two minute drill. Generally to end every episode we get an "extended moment" between the two. Just like the 2 minute drill in football when everything is perfectly executed to bring the "win" to the team possessing the ball, in Bones Booth and Brennan's two minute drill is generally my favorite moment of every show. The show runners know just what we want to see. We want to see how the events of the episode affected our OTP. Voila! The 2 minute drill! Their interaction has grown more and more enjoyable as the series has gone. Their bantering has remained a constant but now it seems as if they both are charged by it. They are SO insanely compatible that they can practically read one another's mind and yet on the surface they could not be more different. The 2 minute drill ALWAYS serves to bring them back to common ground regardless of where they've been. It's the moment they comfort one another, or laugh together, or smoulder together, etc...
11. Have I mentioned...um, you know who?
12. The witty repartee. (A work in progress!)
