Season 5, Episode 21
The Boy With The Answer
BRENNAN: She was laughing at me, I - I can't let her win.
BOOTH: She won't.
BRENNAN: You hope. She may be amoral, but she is brilliant.
BOOTH: Well, you're more brilliant.
BRENNAN: What if her dispassion makes her more logical. What if that gives her and advantage over me?
BOOTH: Wait a minute. Now you're upset because you're not more like a psychopath?
BRENNAN: I just think...maybe I've lost my advantage because of all the people I've involved with now. All of the relationships, they complicate logical thought.
BOOTH: You don't mean that.
BRENNAN: Could we please just work.
BOOTH: Sure.
Now, see, I don't like this. Not because I think it's not believable, though. Quite the opposite. It is entirely believable, and I hate that it is. Because after all this emotional progress Bones has made, for her to think it not a good thing is just painful to hear, because we have literally been sitting on our asses and watching it all happen for five years. But, it makes perfect sense. At her core she is still, and will always be, Rational!Brennan. Her world has been flipped all around in the last few episodes, and shit is crazy. That rational part in her is now coming out again and saying “you know, if you had never pushed me aside, none of this would have ever happened!” And unfortunately, she's listening to it.
BRENNAN: I have nightmares, Booth. Hodgins is bleeding, you're drowning. I-I can't help anyone.
BOOTH: Alright, you know what? She's never gonna get the better of you, alright? Just know that. Alright? I promise. Okay?
(He hugs her - she hugs him back)
OH, HUG. Say it with me now: Some things never change. He will always be the one to comfort her.
BRENNAN: It's not just the case. I'm tired of...of all of it. I'm tired of dealing with murders and victims and sadness and pain.
BOOTH: Well, Bones, that's what we do. Alright? We catch the bad people and we make the world a better place.
BRENNAN: No, Booth. That's what you do and somehow I got caught up into it.
This part pisses me off slightly, because SHE WAS THE ONE who wanted to go out into the field and be all involved. Yes, he was the one who got her solving murders, but she would not have been nearly as emotionally involved had she not insisted she go out into the field.
It doesn't piss me off to stay on it too long, though, because what happens next is so much more notable:
BRENNAN: I have this sense that everything's changing, Booth.
Oh, hey, look who's finally catching on. Yes, Bones, things are changing. Things can't be entirely the same after what happened. And even with this “sense”, she doesn't entirely realize just how much things are changed; she won't for awhile. I believe that once she does realize it, and once she realizes that she can't live with things not being like they were, that's when she'll have the realization that there is no other option for her than Booth, that she can and does love him.
BOOTH: Well, not everything. Look, we're still partners. Right? And-and Taffet. She's-she's put away. I mean, you're feeling good about that, right?
BRENNAN: You almost died, Booth. That can happen again. What if, next time, I can't get to you?
And this “It would hurt me too much to have you be hurt” situation, one of the main reasons I believe Bones did what she did in 5.16, just with a different aspect. She turned him down then because she was afraid of her hurting him emotionally because she thinks she's not able to love him the way he loves her. She turned him away even though it hurt her, because it would hurt her even more if she hurt him. In this instance, it's the same thing, except she's afraid of him getting physically hurt. She'd rather they not be working together than have him get killed because the pain of them being apart wouldn't be as bad for her as the pain she'd feel if he died.
BOOTH: You know when a dentist gives you anesthetic and tells you not to operate any heavy machinery or make any important decisions within 24 hours? Alright, this case was bigger than a root canal. Come on, let's just go back inside and have one more drink. Come on. Just one.
(He reaches for her hand but she pulls away and goes to hail a cab.)
BRENNAN: No. I'm tired, Booth. I-I-I'm going to go home.
BOOTH: Alright. Come on. Let's-we'll get you in the cab. (the cab pulls up) I know, it's-it's been a long, long day. Alright, get in there, alright? (she gets into the cab) Hey. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?
(She doesn't respond. He closes the door and watches as the taxi drives away. She turns around and looks at him. It's like deja vu. They're back at the beginning.)
OH, SNAP. SEE WHAT THEY DID THERE?!
You remember what happened when the whole Bones-waving-goodbye-from-a-cab thing happened the first time? In the general, things with them took a turn. They changed.
In the specific, they didn't work together for a year.
OH, SNAP.
i wanted to say that i believe a whole lot of that stuff at the start with bones questioning relationships and stuff, thats not her going backwards, thats just Brennans version of a major FREAK OUT!! well thats what i always thought. i mean everything is weird with booth, and then everything is topsy turvy at work, and there is no even ground upon which she can rest and depend on, so her searching for Booth's reasoning is like finding even ground.. Booth and what he says is one of the only things that she has been able to depend on in the past so thats what she searching for... also she felt the actual emotional pain of losing someone she loved in her dream at the beginning, so i really think she is questioning the connections thing because it has recently been drawn to her attention even more then usual...
ReplyDeleteBTW huge fan of the fan written script and directions that you have and agree with the whole thing, as soon as i saw the scene i was like *gasp* OH NO!! cos i knew what it meant (although at the time i was also terrified that the cab driver was going to be the gravediggers apprentice person who was going to get back a brennan, but you know...)
also, just thought of somthing and thought youd b interested (altho you may have mentioned it above so if you have just dont bother answering) but what do you think about the fact that they show Brennan dreaming in this episode and they also mention that she dreams in 6.01? i mean it may be nothing (because you're not going to mention every time a character dreams) but i think the fact that they mentioned it in both eps draws a connection between the eps, meaning that maybe she doesnt usually remeber dreams unless they are really distracting(eg nightmare in which the love of your life dies or in 6.01 when she apprently dreamt about casses with Booth) maybe the idea of returning to how things used to be when she was in maluku, was just SOO distracting that she again dreamt about it...
i dono, not fully formed argument yet cos i just thought of it... but maybe
Great post tho!
@bones62442: Good catch about the dream thing. But I have another train of thoughts: Nothing happens unless first a dream. Booth had his dream about being with Brennan in 4x26. In 6x02 it's Bones who dreams about being with Booth. They had both their dreams now. Means what? In my opinion it's kind of obvious. We're getting THERE.
ReplyDeletebones62442, I hadn't caught the dream thing before, nice pointing that out! I'm not sure there's a connection between the dream in this episode and then the mentions of her other dreams in 6.01, since the one in this episode was basically just there to show us how truly freaked out she was about the Gravedigger. filledusoleil86, I definitely see that, and hadn't thought about it until now. But that fits pretty much perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI don't think she was implying that Booth dragged her into it (i.e. Solving Murders). I think that was an extension of her questioning her choices. She got caught up in it, so she has to take a step back.
ReplyDeleteUnknown: Ahhhh that makes a lot of sense. Looking at the episode and that part now, that's exactly it, an extension of her questioning everything.
ReplyDelete