BONES Season 8 Finale: Stephen Nathan Previews That ‘The Rules Have Changed’ for Pelant’s Attacks

The BONES characters have had a rough go of it lately, but things had been fairly quiet on the Pelant front over the last few months…until this Monday’s season finale.

I spoke with BONES executive producer Stephen Nathan to see what he could tease about why Pelant’s return is so much more dangerous now, what that means for our guys, and a little season 9 talk…

We’ve seen quite a bit of Pelant over the past few years, so what can you say about how this finale appearance is different?
Stephen Nathan: Pelant up until this point has kind of viewed our people, the FBI, Caroline, and the Justice Department and everyone at the Jeffersonian as pawns in a chess game; as people he actually has an intimate relationship with. Pelant’s actions — even though people die —  it’s a game to him. And he loves playing with these people.

So this intimacy that has grown in his mind between him and our people was shattered somewhat, because Booth took a shot at him and hit him [in the last time we saw him]. So in Pelant’s mind, he’s never hurt any of them; he’s hurt other people. He might have scared them, but he’s never hurt them. And because of this — what he views as — betrayal, the rules have changed. And he’s bringing home and closer to their lives, the danger that he has inflicted on other people. So they’re in a threatening situation unlike any they’ve had in the past with Pelant.

And what this has done for everyone — but especially Brennan, really…because the danger has been brought home, quite specifically to Booth, it’s made Brennan reexamine what’s important to her. And we have a character in Brennan, someone who is supremely confident that she knows who she is, how her life is progressing and where she wants it to go. In the past three episodes, even starting with Booth’s mom coming back, she’s been forced, often against her will, to examine the vulnerability she feels and how unpredictable her life actually is.

Given that some of the Pelant arc shifted because you guys knew about the season 9 renewal fairly early, did any of Brennan’s emotional shifts get pushed up or delayed because you had the knowledge of having at least one more year to play with? Or did you stick to the arc with her that was planned pre-renewal?
SN: Clearly things change when you know you have a ninth season, you know you don’t have to wrap the series up. But we have to wrap up different aspects of their relationship as it progresses. Not wrap it up, but we have to deal with things true to the character.

I know for many years, people were saying with the “will they or won’t they,” how long can they keep this going? And I think we did keep it going until we couldn’t keep it going any longer. And now we’re in an entirely different open-ended situation that has to be dealt with. That’s what we’ve been doing with the second half of this season, and that’s what we’re going to be doing in season 9.

There’s also a fairly large action sequence in the finale. How was it filming that?
SN: Really, this was the biggest episode of BONES we’ve ever done. And we threw it at David [Boreanaz (Booth), who directed the finale]. And rather than be apprehensive in any way, he accepts it like an 8-year-old at Christmas getting the present that he wished for. So he just dove into this episode and had a phenomenal time.

And he’s a great director, so we’re very, very lucky. I’m sure a lot of shows have their stars direct episodes, and people go, “Oh, we’ll try and make it easy on them because it’s not primarily their thing.” It’s the exact opposite with David. There’s absolutely nothing you can’t throw at him in a circumstance like this.

And the end sequence, this chase to save one of our character’s lives, it’s like a feature…this season has come down to the wire in many different ways.

Looking at the other characters for a moment, how will the return of Pelant impact Hodgins and Angela?
SN: It does impact them because they were the last victims, even peripherally, of Pelant’s handiwork. In this episode, Hodgins is forced to confront the fact that he could have prevented this latest situation with Pelant.

Will we be finding out the real agenda of Reed Diamond’s Flynn in the finale?
SN: Reed was not available for this episode. I hate to be so crass, but that’s why he’s not in the episode. We actually had him in the episode and when we found he wasn’t available, we had to do a substantial rewrite to take part of the finale in a different direction. But we certainly hope he comes back next year.

Good to know. Looking ahead a little, things went over fairly neatly with Booth and his mother. Will we see any fallout from that reunion in season 9?
SN: Definitely.

Will Booth be getting to know that side of the family more?
SN: He will be getting to know [them]…I think the mom came back and we saw Booth as a man that had justified what happened in his life and made assumptions about his mother that proved to be incorrect. And I think there are many more assumptions that will be destroyed in the future. I think that happens to anyone who is learning about their family history. And we will be dealing with that next year. And next year, we might be able to get the families together in a way we haven’t been able to in the past. There’s more immediate members of these families than we’ve ever seen before: we have the grandfather, we have brothers, we have the mother now, we have the father on Brennan’s side. There are a lot of people we can bring home next season. And next season is ripe for that.

Do you see the Pelant arc lasting throughout the next season as well?
SN: We’re not sure. Pelant’s been pretty smart up until this point, but I’m pretty sure we now have motivation enough at the end of the finale to believe that Booth is going to take care of this once and for all.

Anything else you want to tease before I let you go?
SN: For those of you who might shed a tear at BONES, I would just prepare yourself for the finale.

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BONES’ season finale airs Monday, April 29th at 8 PM on Fox.

 

Related:

BONES’ Emily Deschanel: The Return of Pelant Makes Brennan ‘Question Some of Her Core Beliefs’
BONES: Stephen Nathan Teases What’s to Come in Season 9
BONES: Stephen Nathan Teases the ‘Incredibly Difficult Balancing Act’ for Cam in ‘The Pathos in the Pathogens’

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