Zach has always been a little on-edge, so I have no problem buying it (the actor had planned to leave, and the producers have said from the beginning that the killer is someone the audience knows and is fond of, so I don’t believe it was a last-minute decision). My beef is that Zach’s parents are alive, and one of the killer’s “things” is that he’s fatherless, right?
Big Whoop. We see Gormy eating his human meat, he gives an evil nightmare canine smile and Booth blows him away.
I’m pretty sure I remember that, too. No one’s said anything about his father kicking the bucket unexpectedly, have they?
Something else I don’t understand is, aren’t sociopaths (or whatever the official diagnoses here would be) people who can’t or don’t feel a connection to people around them? Zach obviously does, or his favourite things wouldn’t be items that others had given him, nor would he have ensured that he and not Hodgins conducted that little experiment.
snort Even predators need to chew, at least a little. A mouth full of nothing but incisors would be horribly ineffective.
Zach isn’t a sociopath. He wants to interact with people, he just doesn’t seem to have the skills to do so. The little items his co-workers gave to him mean so much because for one moment he felt that much needed connection. A drawing, a harmonica, a letter and a paperback book aren’t much unless they are all one has.
“When you have nothing, anything is something.” I identify with Zach.
They were canines, which would make it easy to chew meat 
Y’know, a lotta guys would say, “Because of that strike we lost too many episodes to lead up to this finale properly. The show’s been renewed. Maybe we could save some loose ends until next season. We don’t NEED the only loose end being whether Angela’s husband will agree to a divorce.”
I’m just embarassed for them.
I thought of this later and don’t want to feel the pain of seeing any of that episode ever again, but was that honor guard in Army or Marine uniforms? Because while the Marines have better dress uniforms for TV, Booth was a Ranger.
Speaking of which, did anyone else think that it was implausible for Booth to be back on the field without backup at his own funeral? The poor guy had just been shot, for pity’s sake. It’d take a few weeks to fully recover, and if you’re going to take down someone who’s a risk to national security, you had better have backup.
There’s talk on the Bones boards that this episode could just be Booth’s hallucination after he was shot. There was no mention on Booth’s shooter stalker, and the whole Zack–Gormy resolution is just too implausible.
In short, there’s enough holes in that episode to pan for gold.
Wouldn’t you almost have to be a sociopath, or psychopath, or something of the sort, in order to be willing to be or become a gormagon? I am not a psychologist/psychiatrist/other type of medical personnel, but that’s certainly the impression I’ve gotten, that you have to have a major inability to empathize with or care for others outside yourself. Zach shows that he has and exercizes that capacity.
Naw. Canines are for ripping and tearing. If you look into a dog or cat’s mouth, you’ll see that not all their teeth are pointy. Some have flat surfaces so that meat can be chewed.
So who stole the skeleton while after Zach blew himself up? I need an answer to that.
I think the implication was that the gormogan was waiting near the loading dock for things go haywire and then came in through the unlocked door and took the skeleton. I don’t believe they actually came out and said it, though.
Terrible episode. I would rather the opening scenes have been a dream - as clichèd as that would have been, it would have been better than what they did.
[QUOTE=Morgyn]
Wouldn’t you almost have to be a sociopath, or psychopath, or something of the sort, in order to be willing to be or become a gormagon? I am not a psychologist/psychiatrist/other type of medical personnel, but that’s certainly the impression I’ve gotten, that you have to have a major inability to empathize with or care for others outside yourself. Zach shows that he has and exercizes that capacity./QUOTE]
Right. That’s another hole in the story. Zach does care for his co-workers, particularly Hodges who is the closest thing he has to a “friend” and would not jeopardize them or his relationships with them. There is NOTHING in his background and psyche that would make him want to be a gormagon. Why did the gormy even approach him?. HOW did the gormy find him?
True sociopaths/psychopaths tend to get along with well with people on a superficial level. They can mimic human emotions. They just don’t feel them. Zach is very emotional on a deep level.
Unless the team that goes through Zach’s house finds a bunch of bodies in the basement or trophies of his past killings, the whole show was a bust.
Haven’t they done the Bobby Ewing bit to DEATH on “House?” Not that THAT would stop any self-respecting TV producer.* And it would explain why a federal prosecutor was processing a crime scene. And why Sweets’ dialogue and acting while he tried to wipe a red herring all over Hodgins were so stilted, though it could also be explained by bad dialogue delivered by a barely adequate actor. Ockham’s Electric Multimedia Razor is of no help deciding between lousy dialogue and a cheesy plot twist.
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- Well it might, were “self-respecting TV producer” not oxymoronic.
Wait a tic! The medical stuff was either complete gobbledy gook (“All his cartilage is gone!”) or gobbledy gook that got cut off before before it had a chance to become obviously incoherent. Just like how Booth hears medical jargon. Hmmm, those people may have something there, Annie.
This was never all that great a show in terms of plots. I think that the leads have good chemistry and that it can be entertaining and a good way to kill an hour on Monday. The premise of the show has always been a little far fetched since they aren’t a crime lab and the FBI presumably would have a good crime lab, but like I said before, the show can be fun.
However, even by their standards, this was beyond belief. The entire thing felt rushed. I just don’t buy that someone as smart as Zach is will be that easily manipulated into being a serial killer. He’s always come across as being a fairly moral person. Hell, didn’t he go to Iraq because he felt his county needed him to. Even if he did believe that secret societies were evil and needed to be destroyed, why would he eat them?
Just pure crap. The entire episode felt too rushed as if they were trying to cram in five episodes in one. I hated it.
I agree. I remember a Christmas episode where the group was quarantined in the lab, and Zach’s huge extended family came to visit. His character was clearly written that the family cared for one another very much. To then have him need an authority figure to be his master is completely out of character and more than a bit ludicrous.
What did Booth say to Saroyan as she was reading to Zach? The comment that culminated with her saying “I did not see that coming.”?
I believe it was, “We need the room.” Said seriously, Saroyan picked up that Booth and Bones knew Zach was the guy.
The more I think about it, the more I’m liking the idea of it being a coma fantasy or somesuch. The problem is that if they reveal that it was all a dream next season, they’re going to have some very pissed off viewers.
Thanks.