Post by Ash Kingston on Jan 5, 2021 2:19:37 GMT -5
Hey guys, guess who went and watched a marathon of another procedural drama series over the holidays because the alternative was an endless deluge of holiday movies/specials? (Me. I did.) This year, in addition to another complete series marathon of House on CTV Drama (which is still a terrible name), CTV Life (formerly Gusto, and another contender for 'why did you change the branding?') decided to air all of Bones, with the marathon ending yesterday (Sunday). Now, unlike House - a series I hadn't watched since it first aired, and which I dropped on the final season - I had been watching Bones on and off over the years, and it still airs (or aired) pretty regularly late at night because... I guess they don't have much else to show. And unlike last year, I am not even gonna try to do a complete recap of it, but I do wanna talk about a few things because... I have nothing better to do at 11:30 PM on a Monday?
So.
I really like most of the characters in Bones, even if some of them ended up suffering from flanderization by the end (including Brennan herself). I don't think there is a single main cast member who wasn't at least somewhat likable, and even the more insufferable interns (mostly Oliver) at least had a few redeeming qualities. I like the way they handled Booth and Brennan's relationship, how it clearly developed over the seasons until they finally got together, and just how much they meant to one another. I think they did an amazing job of humanizing the interns from their base personalities, fleshed them out and gave them goals and aspirations that were believable, and how they became connected to the main cast through their relatively limited screen time. I think they also did fairly well with Hodgins after they put him in the wheelchair, and how he handled everything.
The one problem I have is that... a lot of supporting characters just dropped off the face of the earth with no warning. Brennan's brother disappeared after season three, for example, and while he did get mentioned on occasion, he never appeared again. The same goes for Booth's brother, Jared, to the point where they just decided to kill him off. And Finn Abernathy, one of the interns, just disappeared without a trace or real mention of him again... but then, it's entirely possible most of these were due to the actors not being available. The one replacement I do kinda understand was Doctor Goodman (Brennan's "boss" in Season One), and that's just because he was replaced by Cam, and she was the one piece that really felt missing from the early cast. You can only find so many skeletons before it gets kinda silly, and having someone to deal with the more gooey and fleshy parts in a forensic team was a good call.
Oh, and Pelant was an awful villain, mostly because the writers seemed determined to make him the smartest person ever by making everyone else a freaking idiot. The fact that fans apparently revolted over the fact that he was still around at the end of season 8, and wanted him G-O-N-E, tickles me to no end.
The other main thing I wanna touch on is the final season. Because I honestly think it's one of the better final seasons for a show I've seen in a while. The writers did everything they could to tie up as many loose ends and dangling plot lines as they could, and ensure that every character got an ending that at least made sense, if not exactly what they deserved. They prove Zack's innocence in the murder he went to prison for (even if he still has time to serve), Brennan's dad dies after protecting his family once again (which honestly makes the most amount of sense for him)... hell, they brought Sully back for an episode, and he hadn't been seen since season two! Plus, while the Jeffersonian gets damaged and has to be rebuilt, they still manage to reassure the fans that these characters, that they've been watching for 12 years, are still gonna be solving crimes and doing what they've been doing, even though the show is over.
So... yeah. Once again, thank you for attending my yearlythread TED Talk.
So.
I really like most of the characters in Bones, even if some of them ended up suffering from flanderization by the end (including Brennan herself). I don't think there is a single main cast member who wasn't at least somewhat likable, and even the more insufferable interns (mostly Oliver) at least had a few redeeming qualities. I like the way they handled Booth and Brennan's relationship, how it clearly developed over the seasons until they finally got together, and just how much they meant to one another. I think they did an amazing job of humanizing the interns from their base personalities, fleshed them out and gave them goals and aspirations that were believable, and how they became connected to the main cast through their relatively limited screen time. I think they also did fairly well with Hodgins after they put him in the wheelchair, and how he handled everything.
The one problem I have is that... a lot of supporting characters just dropped off the face of the earth with no warning. Brennan's brother disappeared after season three, for example, and while he did get mentioned on occasion, he never appeared again. The same goes for Booth's brother, Jared, to the point where they just decided to kill him off. And Finn Abernathy, one of the interns, just disappeared without a trace or real mention of him again... but then, it's entirely possible most of these were due to the actors not being available. The one replacement I do kinda understand was Doctor Goodman (Brennan's "boss" in Season One), and that's just because he was replaced by Cam, and she was the one piece that really felt missing from the early cast. You can only find so many skeletons before it gets kinda silly, and having someone to deal with the more gooey and fleshy parts in a forensic team was a good call.
Oh, and Pelant was an awful villain, mostly because the writers seemed determined to make him the smartest person ever by making everyone else a freaking idiot. The fact that fans apparently revolted over the fact that he was still around at the end of season 8, and wanted him G-O-N-E, tickles me to no end.
The other main thing I wanna touch on is the final season. Because I honestly think it's one of the better final seasons for a show I've seen in a while. The writers did everything they could to tie up as many loose ends and dangling plot lines as they could, and ensure that every character got an ending that at least made sense, if not exactly what they deserved. They prove Zack's innocence in the murder he went to prison for (even if he still has time to serve), Brennan's dad dies after protecting his family once again (which honestly makes the most amount of sense for him)... hell, they brought Sully back for an episode, and he hadn't been seen since season two! Plus, while the Jeffersonian gets damaged and has to be rebuilt, they still manage to reassure the fans that these characters, that they've been watching for 12 years, are still gonna be solving crimes and doing what they've been doing, even though the show is over.
So... yeah. Once again, thank you for attending my yearly
