Goddamn it, y’all. One thing I’ve always kind of liked about Bones is that Booth, okay, was a sniper in the Army instead of a cook or a truck mechanic or a dentist, but he wasn’t The World’s Greatest Sniper (And Also Spy For Good Measure). He was a guy with a job, and one assumed he was good at it but they didn’t have to make him the greatest and most awesome the world has ever seen, right? Nor did they make the whole thing super-traumatic for him. As these things go, I always thought it was a fairly realistic character in that sense - hey, it’s not like he got into the FBI on the strength of his college transcript or as a lawyer, accountant, or translator, right? I’ve always assumed the guy majored in football. So fine.
So how’s come in this last episode we went from “sniper” to, five minutes in, “world class sniper” to not five minutes after that “don’t you hold the world sniper record for sniping stuff, Booth?” (Also, I think #1 and #2 on that are both Canadians, so, you know, I’m sure they appreciate that.) What the hell is wrong with just being a good sniper? Even Gibbs, stupid as that show is, hasn’t ever been remarked on as the best sniper in the world (although with that whole African prison thing where he traveled about a mile in 30 seconds from his sniper nest to the prison hallway, one could safely assume that he is in fact a figment of all the other characters’ imaginations).
On the other hand, that’s probably the most gruesome gunshot wound I’ve ever seen on TV - I’d have been a little upset about it if I didn’t suspect it was a lot more realistic than the “neat forehead hole” everybody else gets. I mean, Kennedy sure had skull parts flying around. I don’t know how Bones gets away with some of their visuals on network TV, though.
I don’t know about the record stuff, but I thought they’d already established that he was “world class” at it or whatever. At least one of the best, if not the best.
And yeah, that was a hell of a headshot effect for TV. I think they got away with it because the actual shot, though gruesome, was fast, and seen from fairly far away, then they went to aftermath/reaction shots fairly quickly.
Getting away with stuff in general, well, so long as no one complains to the FCC, you can get away with anything. I don’t know that Bones is really on the list of shows chronic complainers care about protecting the children from. Supernatural on the CW also gets away with a lot of stuff (both gore and language) for prime time network TV. Not as much as some cable shows, but that’s to be expected.
Same here, and my memory is that they established this very early in the show’s run. If forced to guess, I’d say they established him as the best, not one of the best. I’m almost certain they’ve referenced his record-setting shot at least once before, possibly several times.
Agreed with both of you on the headshot. Boreanaz made a nice camera move when Booth was watching the video by swinging the camera around behind Booth blocking the video for just the second of impact. Not showing it a second time probably helped avoid complaints. (I of course rewound and watched it in slow motion. heh.)
I’ve gotten to where I just look away during the gruesome closeups, but although I was expecting the Gravedigger to get shot when she stood up at the doors of the van, this one happened too fast to look away… yuck.
Anyone wanna bet on where the Hannah thing is going? I think she was only brought into the story to make Bones realize that SHE wants Booth. Okay, so now she realizes it- now what? Seely is a man of honor, so to paraphrase Mr. Spock in Star Trek, “Hannah* must die”?
Yeah, one thing about Bones is that you never want to be eating while watching it. I remember the last straw for me was a couple seasons ago when Brennan went to the Pacific Northwest and started rooting around in a big pile of bear shit. That was the last time I turned on Bones while eating.
While I don’t mind the gruesomeness, doesn’t House or other medical shows have a warning at the beginning of the show sometimes, about the content? Bones has definitely graduated to that level, though there is nothing about either show that would ever appeal to kids anyway; still, some adults might like to know. We need a new rating, not just ‘M for Mature’ but a ‘G for Gross’ or something.
Awesome episode, btw, although Boreanz either overplayed something early on, or…I dunno what.
When he and Bones are in the apartment and Booth is on the table checking out the shot, he makes the comment that the person making the shot set it up as a direct challenge, not just a difficult hit. It’s as if he already had someone very particular in mind and KNEW who’d must have done it. Then they spent the next part of the show fiddling around with who it might have been; either the script was off, and that bit should have been pulled out, or it should ahve been shown more clearly later just wtf Booth meant when he said that.
IIRC, the network I watch it on (in Canada), has a warning at the beginning of the show and/or after commercial breaks that’s something like “Warning: the following show contains graphic forensic content”. I haven’t noticed if they use the warning during every episode, or just the grosser ones.
As for Booth being the best - the episode they had where the team was 'restrained" by the agency - they had him recreate the 3 shots from the kennedy assasination to show it ‘could’ be done by a single shooter.
Dunno… I’ve already suspended belief a long time ago (what with the total Mary Sue that Temperance Brennan’s character already is). Booth is the best of the best.
Accept this and the fact that Tempe is the most beautiful, most brilliant, sexiest scientist-woman E-VAH, then the rest…like the fact that Angela does not look pregnant and the fact that Dr. Sweets already abandoned the whole “I’m a worthless therapist thing” to go play piano (fucking well, just like the way I fuck Daisy) last year… Yeah, it’s really all made up.
The best thing that the writers did was to affirm Booth’s love for Hannah. When Bones confronted him he explicitly told her that Hannah wasn’t some consolation prize, but rather the woman he loved. That was cool and rare in these writing scenarios.
So, if it plays out like you speculate, then that would suck.
(Hannah is a completely stupid character…but, through her, Booth has achieved some depth.)
That one didn’t bother me - but the one where they cut open the large chocolate bar and all that goo came pouring out - that was more than I needed to see.
I agree with the others that even though he’s portrayed as a mid-level FBI agent with no future (because he won’t kowtow to politicians and his superiors), he was known from Day 1 for being an expert sniper. In fact, his character growth involves him dealing with the aftermath of being a killer-for-hire (like Tempe’s dad). While he’s morally okay with it, because he’s protecting innocents, he’s starting to see the world more in shades of gray vs. black and white.
Of course in the beginning, they also had Bones performing ridiculous martial arts stunts, with her single-handedly taking down testosterone-hyped criminals twice her body weight. Either she hurt her back sometime after S1 or the writers realized that these scenes were too implausible even for a body-in-the chocolate-bar kind of show.
The thing that I find most improbable about Hannah is that she’d still be friends with Tempe even after Booth spilled the beans about Bones throwing herself at Booth. Sorry, I don’t care how nice you are, you try to take my man and you’re not my friend anymore.
I confess that I did not see that twist. I expected the Grave Digger plot to be extended with a release and further nonsense. I like that they wrap up some plots and move on.
Having said that:Would the judge *really *allowed a witness to ride with The Grave Digger? And Lance was so easily rattled - I know he is supposed to be young, but I would not have thought he’d be thrown off his game so easily.
Also, although I only watch a few of these types of shows, this one seems especially egregious on the science. Castle is often bad, but that is a lighter show.
Bones hasn’t been accurate on the science since about, and this is just an approximation here, about episode two. Maybe episode three. Okay, maybe longer, but they are making it out that forensic science is the only thing solving the murder when there are so many other aspects to solving a murder.
I don’t find Tempe, the actress, hawt and her insistence on it always throws me out of the moment. I think Hannah is better looking but don’t know that I would say hawt so much as girl next door cute.
I got cured of eating and bad stuff on TV when I watched Predator as a 16 year old back in the day and was eating my pizza when they found some of the bodies. I’m getting squeamish again as I get older, though, so it could happen again. I certainly understand it, though!
I was also shocked at the violence in the head shot on network TV and also had to rewind it.
A friend of mine doesn’t have a TV (well, she has one but she can’t afford to pay for satellite and doesn’t get a signal where she lives) so she comes over and watches shows that I record for her. Fortunately we have similar tastes in a lot of things. We’ve learned not to watch Bones while we’re eating, just in case.
My friend told me that she hasn’t been able to eat a chocolate bar since we watched that episode.
Are there any characters left on this show that are even remotely believable? You have Bones, the Wonder Genius; Booth, the Super Sniper; Angela, the art student turned Super Computer Genius; Hodgins, the Billionaire orphan Super Genius with 2 Zillion degrees; Zach, the Psychopath that every one loves and wants back; the rotating intern corps who all have wierd quirks and on the opposite spectrum, Cam, the bestest Medical Examiner in the World who, inexplicably, had the whole thing fall apart without her little team all together.
