BONES Recap: ‘The Eye in the Sky’

Hello BONES fans — how are you doing after this episode, “The Eye in the Sky”? I have to admit that, for me, it was — to use a BONES-phrase — heart-crushing. It’s been a while since that has happened to me! I liked the opening scene about a new B&B baby, but by the time I’d finished watching this episode, I was just tremendously sad. I’m still processing it actually. And somehow, the fact that David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel (and others) played the whole thing so perfectly makes it both ache more and less at the same time. I’m not sure how, haha! More on this later, but for now let’s discuss the rest of the episode. Starting with…

THE CASE

The Scene of the Crime: The team gets word of a body found in an industrial shredder, and sure enough, when they arrive, they find pieces of human flesh. It’s enough to take back to the lab to find an identity. Hodgins finds evidence of cardboard dust, suggesting the victim worked for a moving company, and when Angela pieces together the skull and face to find matches, they are successful.

The Victim: Jeff Dover, a local employee of a moving company. There were rumors he was in a fight with a co-worker, Dustin West. When Booth and Aubrey question West, he admits they argued and that he and Jeff were both involved in poker games. Dustin tells them that Jeff recently won around $28,000, and the team realizes someone in his poker game has motive.

The Case Progression:

Immediately, Booth wants to go undercover into the poker game and root out the killer. Understandably, Brennan and Aubrey have great concerns about this. Booth insists he is strong enough to handle the pressure, is the best one to join the game, identify the tells of each player, and point out the killer. Inexplicably, the FBI appears to agree, and Booth enlists his former bookie, Jason Samuels, to get him into the game.

Booth is tremendously successful at cards and reading the room. He’s got swagger and the skills to back them up, and he also notices a security camera. With a quick call to Angela, they are able to hack into the room’s security footage to see Jeff’s big (and last) game.

At the lab, the team determines that Jeff’s body had a type of olive oil on it, and they trace it back to a Thai restaurant. Hodgins, Jessica, and Cam visit the site and find evidence to suggest it was the murder site.

Meanwhile, despite the fact that the team has enough for a warrant, Booth wants to stay in the game. Brennan and Aubrey continue to be suspicious of this, but Booth reinforces his ability to defeat the allure of gambling. He tells Brennan the people in the game are good; one is a baseball coach for his kids, and another builds houses for Habitat for Humanity.

Angela is able to check financial records, and several members of the poker game have money troubles. Brennan finds pieces of wood chips on the victim and they determine whatever struck him was cause of death. She begs the Jeffersonian team to solve the case quickly as Booth re-enters the game. He’s promised to quit as soon as there is a solid suspect, but it’s clear he’s tempted not to when he has a really good hand.

The Verdict: The team texts Booth with a result. A poker player, Nate, used a baseball bat to kill Jeff in order to pay off some debt he had to keep his house. Booth tosses his badge on the table and makes an arrest.

THE SQUINTS

The main Jeffersonian squint story revolved around Hodgins attempting to develop/invent non-breakable glass. Seems he is too frequently breaking vials, beakers, and flasks during his experiments. Cam tells him he unequivocally cannot use Jeffersonian materials or time to test his invention, so he does it on his own time — and is successful, potentially setting himself (and Angela) up to make a lot of money.

Jessica Warren is the intern working this case, and once again I think her quirk factor is too annoying. Has there been a time where she started calling Hodgins “Curly”? If so, I don’t remember it, but I found that really obnoxious in this episode too. I was not feeling it. Speaking of nicknames though, it was funny when Booth said her name was squinty. Haha!

I thought John Boyd was great as Aubrey in this episode. One series-long thread of the show is this idea that Booth doesn’t really know just how much he is admired by people. He sort of resents it (I think he chafes at the idea of disappointing people, so he doesn’t want the responsibility), but it’s clear Aubrey truly admires Booth as a leader and friend and co-worker. I liked Aubrey’s lines about different types of trauma and how he constantly tried to push Booth to not do the gambling thing.

BOOTH & BRENNAN

The pregnancy: I’m okay with another B&B baby, and I thought the opening scene was very sweet and cute. I especially liked that we saw them find out together this time around. I also thought that their subsequent good moods toward the squints were hilarious. Booth’s high on life attitude at the crime scene made me laugh a ton, especially at how much Hodgins was freaked out by it. And it was cute (if not a little fast in the “let’s keep it a secret” storyline that Angela figured out the pregnancy quickly.

The gambling: This storyline has several major issues. They’re not completely impossible to overcome, but the show has dug itself into a hole and historically does not always do a good job recovering from that.

• The FBI cannot approve Booth gambling like this for a case. And it shouldn’t be Aubrey (Booth’s subordinate) and Brennan (his partner/wife) being the ones to have misgivings about it. If Booth gambles during a case against the FBI’s insistence, he should be fired. It’s a weird vibe from the show: it’s not unrealistic that a gambling addict would be attracted to a poker game, but it is unrealistic that his organization would allow it—and even encourage it.
• In the 100th episode, the show suggested that Booth stopped gambling like WITHIN A DAY of meeting Brennan, and this (and their continuing relationship) is what has kept him clean. I’ve seen various reactions to this storyline online, and a lot of sentiments echo mine, which is that it’s a bummer to see Booth relapse now, after all this time, but it’s also really, really, unfair to pin any of the responsibility of that on Brennan. What was incredibly (literally) sad in this episode was that the show delved into that wound a bit, with Booth making it clear a few times that the reason he’s not going to gamble again is because of his life with Brennan, Christine, etc. Yes, it’s a classic maneuver by an addict, to overpromise, but still, by doing that, and then positing the final scene with him watching his family as he calls up his bookie, it was just awfully sad. Like, so unfairly uncool to their relationship.
• Now, all of a sudden, Brennan is basically in a horrible situation, which is insane. INSANE. This isn’t like the coma dream or being arrested or being shot or even Pelant manipulating them or whatever. This is a major issue, a major break between them, and like in real life, it’s hard to come back from those. Most (but not all) of those other issues have been B&B against the world, even if they were separated physically or through misunderstanding — and at the very least were before they were married. I don’t have a problem with Booth going through tough situations in order to grow as a character; I do have a problem with Booth going through tough situations so Brennan can grow as a character (which has happened most of the time). And this is such a major thing, in my opinion, that at this point, unless he comes clean and confesses in like the first 0.2 seconds of the next episode, I am not sure how they can ever get back to 50/50 (or 100/100—however you view relationship dynamics). It’s not like Booth being tempted to gamble is awful or out of character (or that Brennan would judge him for it), it’s that his word isn’t reliable… at least right now. This is just so upsetting to me. It’s a basic tenet of the show that B&B are trustworthy and reliable people.
• Obviously, that’s also part of the point—addictions are a big deal and take good, upstanding, reliable people and turn them into less reliable (putting it nicely) versions of themselves. But also like in real life, working with people to redeem difficult situations (like relapses or affairs or whatever) shifts the balance of power and responsibility/authority. Is that really how the show wants to take the B&B relationship — even possibly to the end of the series? Will Brennan take over his finances? His phone bill? All of the difficult but necessary parts of a road to recovery is what is needed to make this plotline worth it…but is the show willing to go there? If so, they have to hurry. If not, then shame on them for going down this path in the first place. Addictions are not a joke or throw-away plots. I don’t think the show portrayed it as a joke, but if they resolve it flimsily or too quickly, then it’s a very similar thing.

On a more positive note, David Boreanaz completely blew me away with his performance representing the glowing, all-encompassing vivacity that comes when someone is absolutely in their element — even if that very thing could destroy him or her — that controlling, but out-of-control confidence of being in the zone, and also the sharp resentments when someone tries to interfere with those highs. We’ve seen flashes of it for different things, but this was an electricity in Booth at a higher level. Bravo.

And Emily Deschanel was just as dynamic in her subtle nuance as Brennan, feeling in her gut that it wasn’t right and balancing that against wanting to trust Booth…and recognizing that she’s not necessarily the ‘gut person’ in the relationship, but also willing to do anything to fix it. It’s dangerous territory for a character, but also very realistic.  I loved, loved, loved every scene they were in together—they were incredibly moving and compelling.

So yes, this episode was tremendous. It was happy, sad, intense, and good, but it also left me feeling very unsettled. While I love the depth in the episode, I am still nervous, I admit. AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, enough from me—what did you like or not like about this one? What are your thoughts on the pregnancy storyline, the gambling storyline, and Hodgins’ new invention? The comments are open—speak up.

And be sure to stop by on Sunday! Marisa and I have a fun project about next week’s BONES episode—the 206th episode ever!

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