Bones 1/27/10 (spoilers)

The bigger issue for me is that it was an appeal. There are no witnesses in an appeal. Lance wouldn’t be a witness.

No.

Seriously, none are. The problem seems to be that in television, you either don’t focus on the characters (L&O but I am not an expert on all of it) and focus on the case, or you focus on the characters and the case and then the characters change over time, sometimes hugely so.

It’s still mostly fun but they are different from when they started. And this last episode had the intern change! And how long do they have to be interns before they graduate or go to something else? Zach has been gone for three years now? Four?

Usually characters are supposed to change and develop over time, except sometimes I guess they’re terrified that change would mean people didn’t watch the show anymore, so instead of changing they make them caricatures instead. Remember when Bones was actually getting better at this human being thing? Or at the very beginning when Booth almost never got to see his son, and it was a big deal? Or when Hodgins wasn’t cuddly and there was some back and forth? Or when there were other people at the FBI and Booth didn’t evidently run the whole bureau with no oversight?

I have a little fantasy in my head where they improve the whole thing by putting Skinner in charge of the FBI. Oh, and bring back Original Recipe Cam, who used to be a bit of a ballbuster.

Or bring back the older black guy who used to run the place before Cam took over to suds the place up with more soapy storylines.

Agreed with everyone here that the show is a giant smorgasborg of Mary Sue ridiculousness. At least they got rid of the crowning piece of stupidity, Angela’s magical hologram machine. It’s still ridiculous on a flatscreen, but not nearly as bad as it started out.

Seriously, when the hell did art students get to be experts in computer programming and ballistics?

Same here, although it doesn’t kick me out as I’ve always taken it is another symptom of her general social cluelessness. She measures attractiveness (relationships, sex, and other social interactions) in anthropological terms, so as long as she has symmetrical facial features, she’s “hot,” with no further understanding in how it can be a lot more subtle and gut-level than that. Tempe thinks she’s got an awesome sense of humor, too, after all. :smiley:

Yes, Tempe thinking herself hot is clearly a sign of her social cluelessness. Whatever you say, guys.

Actually, it’s all part of the over-tendency to portray brilliant or successful people as great big whopping MarySues on TV. Temperance knows multiple languages, multiple martial arts, world master at forensics, superb shot, blah blah blah. Booth is the best sniper in the world and this and that and the other thing. Angela is the best at this that and the other thing. The one guy is a multi-billionaire who slums as a bug guy. NO ONE is normal or even top flight, they ARE the top people 3var!

Next week she’ll casually wave at her mantle covered in Nobel Prizes in the background while simultaneously speaking three languages at the same time and shooting a rabid pedophile rapist necrophiliac kidnapper with her off-hand.

Funny thing is, the squinterns are fairly realistic - very bright hardworking young people who have a great internship opportunity and are stuck working with this band of yahoos to get their names on papers.

Okay, while we’re nitpicking – I think the security on this show is horrible!

  1. Just this past week, a former FBI Most-Wanted assassin mosied into the Jeffersonian, unescorted, looking for his daughter.

  2. A news reporter is given free reign to visit Booth in the middle of FBI headquarters and Brennan in the Jeffersonian. Again, unescorted.

  3. Let’s talk about that open-air lab in the middle of the Jeffersonian.

They need to swipe their badges when they go up the stairs, or, presumably a guard will come and (what?) stun gun them or something. Yet Booth, who doesn’t even work at the Jeffersonian, and has no forensic expertise, frequently enters this area without a badge. Frequently we see two people walk up side by side, with only one person swiping their badge. What kind of lame security is that?

Are we to believe that the entire perimeter is secured via some sort of James Bond laser surveillance? Wouldn’t it make more sense, security-wise and cost-wise, to simply move the lab to an enclosed room?

Besides, anyone walking around the area (especially from above) can see and hear exactly what’s going on, because it’s right in the middle of everything. So there’s no visual or audial security. So…what exactly is the purpose of the badge reader again?

We work with SHAMPOO components in our labs, yet we’re required to have exhaust hoods and ventilation. They work with oozing human corpses, yet there is no visible means of contaminant containment.

Yeah, yeah, I know, it looks cool.

Hey, one time there was a contamination issue. It was just to have a Christmas episode where everybody got stuck at work, of course.

ETA - by the way, how do you think that lab would SMELL? And they hang out on the upper deck eating Thai takeout all the time.

Oh, by the way, remember when they used to at least try to come up with reasons a crime is in the FBI’s jurisdiction (or they were asked in on it?) What do local police departments do, see a nasty-ass body in a chocolate bar and say “Shit, dog. I’m going home. Call those crazy-ass people with the sniper and the magic holotank, 'cause I’m not touching that.” (Law enforcement departments do send things to the FBI crime lab. Which is not the thinly veiled Smithsonian Institute.)