In Which The Early Tone is Set

Season 1, Episode 2

The Man In The SUV

Here we have the first actual discussion they have of their basic conflicting issue: how they do their work.

Booth: She was having an affair!
Bones: I’m sorry, but that’s an offensive assumption!
Booth: Well, all the signs are there.
Bones: You can’t make wild accusations about somebody’s personal life based on a feeling.
Booth: It’s more then a feeling. Okay, that photograph is evidence just as solid as the markers you squints pick up looking at your little bones.
Bones: The evidence that I find isn’t empirical. What you consider evidence is merely conviction.

It speaks for itself, really. I just wanted to note it as the first time they really discuss it.

Also worthy of mentioning, it's the first scene in Wong Foo's! I love the diner now, but there was just something so awesome about Wong Foo's.

And later, after a car ride in which they can't find anything to discuss (God? Booth isn't in the mood to get mocked by Bones. Bones brings up Tessa. Tessa? No. Not over Booth's dead body. Oh, well what about that then, dead bodies? Sure, you killed a lot of people when you were a sniper Booth, says Bones), the fact that the main thing they have in common, that is also the most important thing, is that they both have their ultimate desire to catch murders, when she says, after a silence, “We’ll find out who killed him, Booth.” When their differences become too annoying at the moment to deal with, they have their common goal.

And then, nothing too worthy of noting happens, until their last scene together. Something pretty great happens then.

Bones comforts Booth.

Booth:  There’s no pleasure in taking someone’s life. (he takes a drink, obviously upset) Nothing to celebrate.
Bones:  You saved so many people, Booth.  Don’t forget that.

There a couple things to say about this. 1) But, wait! Bones is emotionally stunted and socially inept! She wouldn't know to do this so early on in the show! But see, everyone, I don't care how socially inept you are, everyone has a basic level of social skills. It's instructional. And it's especially easy to react in an appropriate way when another person is obviously upset, as Booth is. It goes back to their common goal, to catch bad guys, to solve murders, to save lives. And she reminds him of that fact.

And, 2) it's interesting, because one can guess that this is probably the first time Brennan has been in a situation like this, where she has had someone needing her emotional support this way. And whenever the one who needs the emotional support is the one teaching her how to give this emotional support, she has to fly solo. But the thing with that, is that since he is the one teaching her, the fact that she tries, even if she doesn't do the best job, is more than enough.

After he sees her do this, you can see from the look on his face, he realizes she's not entirely what he thought she was. He sees, somewhere, down deep in her, an actual, sensitive, person. So he asks if she wants another drink, and she pauses for a second, and you can tell she wants to, but instead, she reminds him that Tessa's at home. So they part ways, he has dinner with Tessa, she identifies a soldier, and they are separate.

For now.