BONES Recap: ‘The Partners in the Divorce’

Hey BONES fans! You know, I was thinking after the premiere that Booth has a tendency to use sex/affection to gloss over tough situations. Of course, in season 6, I happily attributed it to the fact that his relationship with Hannah was mostly physical…but now in season “washing machine sex” 8, I want it to be because he loves Brennan a lot. Hypocritical, I know, but there it is! This isn’t a knock on Booth at all — I think touch is one of his “love languages,” so he’s being genuine with his affection. Likewise, I thought his “I was hoping it would be [okay] in the future” line spoke volumes about his normal way of processing tough stuff, yeah? And Brennan’s fierce passion for truth vs. politeness there also rang true. But…I’m getting ahead of myself. First, let’s talk about the rest of the episode!

THE CASE:

The Scene of the Crime: Two homeless men smell “meat” cooking in a barrel under a bridge. But it’s not chicken or pork…it’s a dead body.

The Victim: Richard Barnett — a divorce lawyer known for his high profile clientele and ruthless business practices. Note: There’s been discussion about how this season will be “darker,” and while that is possible (technically darker doesn’t have to mean “dark” — it could just mean “not bubblegum music/lighting and hijinks with cartoonish characters”), one thing I have noticed this season is more respect toward victims. Yay!

Potential Suspects/Motives: Having said that, Richard wasn’t exactly loved by the people in his life, creating many suspects for Booth, Brennan and Sweets to question. Richard’s wife, Pamela, inherited a lot of money. His assistant, Margo, was having an affair with Pamela. A chef/former, disgruntled client, thought Richard was his savior…until he got his sky-high lawyer bill. A construction foreman in Richard’s office building was being sued by Richard, and a couple whose divorce papers’ ink was barely dry, Gavin and Melanie, had an appointment to undo their divorce right near the time Richard was killed.

The Lab Results: Cam takes the lead on examining Richard’s charred remains, while Hodgins tries to figure out why he had an alloyed material on his body. Finn is grossed out by the body — he’s a bones guy, not a barbeque guy. Cam takes pity on him and lets him examine the skeleton.

When B&B check out Richard’s law firm and office, they find heavy construction going on and Richard’s former assistant, Margo, shredding important documents. Brennan commissions Angela to put the confetti-sized pieces back together for clues, and Angela’s able to piece together a photo of Pamela and Margo in bed together.

Hodgins finds “gourmet rat burger” in Richard’s stomach, but this is not cause of death. And Angela and Finn work together to determine the bone breaks in Richard’s body. He needed to quickly fall down some incredibly steep stairs, and then down a cliff, but also avoid serious head trauma. It looks impossible until Finn suggests perhaps he fell at great speed and distance at the same time. Brennan considers the long plastic construction disposal shoot at the law firm’s office as possible location of death.

The Interrogation Room: Booth and Brennan question Pamela, who is subdued but hardly sad. She points them toward Margo (which doesn’t say much for their relationship!), and B&B investigate further. They also question Gavin and Melanie and are surprised when the couple professes their reunification (and pregnancy). The implications that a baby on the way changes things also reflect Booth and Brennan’s situation with Christine.

Sweets questions the chef, who admits to feeding Richard rat burgers for two years. His motive wasn’t to kill him at all, and now he’s only sorry he’ll never get to see Richard’s face when he finds out he’s been eating (and raving over) rats.

The Verdict: The team finds Melanie’s fingernail DNA in Richard’s remains, caused when she stabbed him with a pen. An accelerant on the body also points to Gavin. When B&B question them for a second time, they rush to pin Richard’s murder on one another and make deals for themselves, making it clear they worked together and that their un-divorce was likely an act or not going to last.

THE SQUINTS:

I really liked most of the squint action in this episode. Finn is not my favorite, but for the most part, he wasn’t too bad, and I liked the way Cam instructed him to approach the victim’s remains scientifically and as detached as possible. It was a good teaching moment between them. Angela and Hodgins both did a great job, and I thought the scene with Sweets and Booth at the firing range worked pretty well. Speaking of Sweets, while I love B&B together in the field, I do like when he questions suspects. I think that is a good use of character.

Other high notes:

• The shared looks between Cam and Hodgins at the crime scene when B&B were fighting
• Angela threatening to burn Hodgins with the blowtorch when he was “encouraging” her on how to remove the pen piece from Richard’s body
• Sweets saying “glad you got to have that talk with yourself” to Booth after Booth brought up that he and Brennan were “fine” and then insisted, even when Sweets said he hadn’t even mentioned it. HAHA!

BOOTH and BRENNAN:

Well, I loved the intensity in this episode. I loved that Booth and Brennan had such a huge fight and that both of them were right and wrong at the same time. I liked at the beginning of the episode when it was awkward, but they both were trying to make it work, and I liked how they infringed on one another’s territory at the crime scene. Emily Deschanel (Brennan) and David Boreanaz (Booth) were just fantastic throughout the entire episode.

Brennan doesn’t like ever being lesser than with anyone — and Booth is one of the only people she’s even willing to consider it with. So where he saw making breakfast every day as his “thing” (aka showing love, taking care of his family), once she learned how to do it herself, there was no question in her mind–she would make breakfast. She can, so she does. And she also irrationally (sometimes) passes acceptance of her own actions, i.e. when she insisted Christine loved sleeping under an overpass. Justification much, Brennan? It made me laugh when she said it, but I can see where Booth doesn’t even want to fight those statements. For me, she doesn’t have to naturally see things from Booth’s POV — but…when presented with it, how does she handle his thoughts/views?

So it was interesting when later in the episode, he wanted her to see things from his point of view. I liked that he didn’t back down when she said she would talk when he was being rational. Normally, that reasoning is valid, but in this case it wasn’t — I think she really was trying to avoid the conversation, and Booth was being pretty rational, even if his voice was raised.

It’s not that I *want* Booth and Brennan to fight, but yeah, that “stop hiding behind rationalism/don’t tell me what to do” fight feels like it’s been a long time coming. I know it’s what I’ve wanted to see since at least season 6.

But I also loved the fierce persistence each one had and the way it threaded through their interactions. Booth admitting he wants everything to be okay, and Brennan insisting she doesn’t want polite was so perfectly in character, I thought. And neither one of them is giving up on this, on them, and that is what makes the difference in this relationship from other romantic relationships they’ve each been in, and it’s been a staple of their working relationship too.  Very, very good stuff, and hopefully they keep it up.

Other overall thoughts:

What didn’t work for me:

• Sweets and his breakfast-y “Eggzactly” pun. Groan-worthy, haha.
• Finn’s Finn-isms, but I think I just have to accept they will happen!
• For as much as Angela (rightly) complained that her task of piecing together the confetti-sized shredded documents, she sure was able to do some of it (coincidentally, a case-breaking doc!) pretty quickly in one afternoon!

What I loved:

• I adored the way Booth watched Brennan work for a minute or so — the look on his face reminded me of season one when he was impressed with her/falling in love with her
• I really liked Finn’s incredulity that the small peck between B&B was them making up. He hasn’t even known them that long and still he was able to be like, “Seriously?”
•  Loved, loved, loved the way B&B couldn’t help but move physically closer toward one another and into each other’s arms, despite their tough conversation at the end of the episode. It reminded me of the end scene of “Truth in the Lye,” where their bodies were just pulled toward one another.
• In that same note, I like that even though Booth and Sweets talked about how sex is the solution, there was no indication that even though B&B are working through stuff that their sex life is in trouble

How about you — what worked for you and what didn’t? Do you agree that this fight was a long time coming? Did you like the way the case steered B&B through it all? And are you digging the new opening theme sequence? The comments are open — let’s discuss!