 Bones, Season
Four
Our Rating: 3 out of 5
Rated: TV14
Reviewer: Elle G.
When you end a season in such a
powerful way, it is sometimes hard to begin anew with
the same chemistry and emotion that viewers have
come to expect. So, for the fourth series of Bones, creator Hart Hanson threw many
different storylines and a few new characters at us…
yet, everything seemed to fit in just perfectly (and
that isn’t necessarily a good thing).
Instead of solving a murder in
Washington
D.C., FBI Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz)
and his partner, Forensic Anthropologist Dr. Temperance
“Bones” Brennan (Emily Deschanel), find themselves in
London. Booth
is making speeches at Scotland Yard; Bones is speaking
to students at Oxford
University. Both seem to be
enjoying themselves, although Booth is getting pretty
tired of the professor who keeps making passes at Dr.
Brennan—and the fact that she isn’t discouraging them
isn’t helping either. Yet all of that gets moved to the
side when Booth and Brennan are asked to assist in a
murder investigation involving a body in the River
Thames. Turns out the victim is an American girl who is
carrying on with a member of British aristocracy.
Of course, nothing can really be
achieved without the other members of the “Squint
Squad,” so everything progresses just as it would if the
murder were back on US soil: Angela is in charge of
facial reconstruction, Hodgins deals with the bugs,
grime, and particulates, Dr. Saroyan investigates the
flesh, Dr. Sweets, the psychologist, tries to see if he
can profile the murderer … and the new interns who have
replaced Dr. Addy do what they are told. But there is a
distraction that prevents everyone from giving full
attention to the task at hand: Angela’s first husband
has shown up, and he doesn’t want to sign the divorce
papers.
Season four had to head into different
waters after the previous finale. We lost an essential main
character and I have to be honest, it
was a character I was sad to see go. He added a comical
element I enjoyed. But in due fairness, the four
different interns we are introduced to all create their
own element and it actually works. Despite ending one of
the recurring storylines, we are reintroduced to the
Gravedigger case, in a big way. Just like we have
meet Bone’s father in the past (and do again in this
season), we discover Booth has a brother named Jared; he
plays an important part as well. Sadly, Hanson seemed to feel
compelled to make nearly episode sexual in some way. The
worst? Angela, ever our free spirit, enters into a
lesbian relationship. It starts in “The Skull in the
Sculpture” and ends in “The Salt in the Wounds.”
Granted, we only see one kiss but it is still awkward and unnecessary. More episodes involves
cases of which someone is being unfaithful to their
spouse (and we have the discussions that one might
expect from such incidents). There's a case
involving a transsexual in “The He in the She.” We see various people in bed
together -- Angela and Hodgins (“The Salt in the Wounds”),
Brennan and a boyfriend (“The Man in the Outhouse”), and
Dr. Saroyan and Angela’s first husband (“Yanks in the
UK”). Others are
engage in casual sex in “Cinderella in the
Cardboard,” “The Double Death of the Dearly Departed,”
and “The Science in the Physicist.” “The Salt in the Wounds” involves teenage
pregnancy pacts; “The Beaver in the Otter” displays
college life in its basest form. Brennan wants to have a baby yet doesn’t want to get married. She
wants Booth to be the father, so he goes to a
clinic, and gets advice from Stewie of
Family Guy.
“The Critic in the Cabaret” is bizarre in that way.
This season’s finale involves time travel; you make your own observations
(Booth and Brennan make their way to “being
together” in a manner of speaking). The usual profanities and
gruesome crime scenes are commonly dealt with. This
season was definitely watched with a remote control in
hand, but had its rays of sunshine,
particularly in the character of Booth. Whether it be
his belief in the sanctity of marriage or encouraging
people to be responsible to their kids or honoring the
memory of his fallen soldiers, you find a lot to smile
and nod your head in agreement about. But you do shake
your head in displeasure at all of the junk you have to
wade through. I do it, but should you? You decide.
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