BONES Preview: Emily Deschanel Talks ‘The Doctor in the Photo’

BONES fans, tonight’s brand new episode, “The Doctor in the Photo,” is a biggie.

Give Me My Remote has already teased the hour, but be honest — you’d rather hear what’s going down straight from Emily Deschanel (Brennan), no? (We don’t blame you.)

Deschanel called the episode “different,” “strange” and “one of her favorite scripts,” but what did she say about what’s actually happening?

“It’s very personal to Brennan,” she shared. “She’s facing her own mortality and also looking at her life, seeing what she would be leaving behind when she dies. You don’t see that side of Brennan very often. She becomes very vulnerable trying to solve this case. In case people don’t know or haven’t seen [the previews], there is a woman who is killed and she’s a doctor. When they start listing the different qualities of this person, Brennan thinks it [all] sounds very familiar — whether they’re physical or personal qualities. And then even looking at the photograph of the person who died, it looks like Brennan.”

Understandably, seeing herself as the victim unnerves Brennan in a way we’ve yet to witness before.

“It’s from Brennan’s perspective, this episode,” Deshanel explained. “So it’s very interesting, but very terrifying for Brennan. Confusing. Then she’s visited by a night watchman and we’re not really sure if he exists or not in real life. Enrico Colantoni plays [the watchman, Micah], I’ve always loved [him] as an actor,  so it was a lot of fun to work with him. [But] it was definitely hard to go through that. I was in every single scene of this episode. There were absolutely no breaks whatsoever.”

And what about that emotional breakdown the promos have teased?

“It’s one of those scenes that you know is there, and you know you prepare for it, acting-wise,” Deschanel said. “You know it’s coming up. It’s one of those things where it says that you’re crying in the scene, and then you say, ‘It’s okay if I don’t cry. I don’t have to cry.’ Then walking in, everyone’s expecting that. So there’s a lot of pressure. As an actor, you kind of dread those scenes in a way because you’d rather it just not be written in and see if your emotions go to that place or not. But at the same time, it’s good to have those markers as an actor, to know where your breaking points are for the character — where in the story are the low points.”

But what will lead Brennan to that low point?

“Basically, Brennan has to face her own life because this woman [whom she feels a connection to] has died,” Deschanel explained. “[The woman] doesn’t have much of a personal life. The only people who listed her missing are her people at work. She doesn’t have friends. She kind of had some kind of romance with a guy, but nothing ever happened. No one really missed her. Isn’t that almost every human’s worst fear — dying and no one misses you and no one notices? This effects Brennan greatly, and she starts relating to the character, believing that it’s her. She starts seeing her own life and seeing that she made a mistake when she said ‘no’ to Booth last year. She kind of goes out on a limb and says to Booth, ‘You know, I’m here.’ It forces Brennan into a place where she is bold and is kind of aware of her feelings in a way she hasn’t been before. It takes a huge, very strange experience for her to become aware of her feelings.”

Finally!

It’s okay, take a moment to squee, kids.

Okay, back to Emily…

“[BONES creator] Hart [Hanson] and I have always talked about how Brennan may have these feelings for Booth, but she’s the last person to know in a way,” she continued. “Here it takes a very strange experience for her to face her feelings and to see them.”

Yeah, it’s a big episode. So big that Give Me My Remote will be hosting a chat after the hour airs on both coasts (9 PM EST/PST), so be sure to stop by!

In the meantime, check out this amazing new video Fox has released to promote the hour…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2HKJihbiqw[/youtube]

Related:

BONES: ‘The Doctor in the Photo’ You Ask, I Answer
BONES: Stephen Nathan on the Booth-Brennan-Hannah Triangle
BONES: Stephen Nathan Previews Brennan’s ‘Emotional Upheaval,’ the Sniper’s Victim(s), a Valentine’s Day Episode and More

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