In Which That's What They Are: Coffee.

Season 3, Episode 4

The Secret in the Soil

This episode has one of my favorite scenes EVER with them. I know I say that a lot, but I really mean it. Probably my favorite non-physical scene with them, and if I really thought about it and chose my favorite scenes, it'd definitely end up in the top five.

But more on that later.

SWEETS: Agent Booth, you've been trying to intimidate me since the moment you stepped in here. And you've succeeded.

And we meet Dr. Lance Sweets. Booth and Brennan fanboy extraordinaire. I mean, come on. He writes a mother flipping book about them. You don't get more fanboy than that.

BOOTH: Yeah, you know what, you're right. So what do you say we go check... Bones, was that you?

BRENNAN: Was what me?
BOOTH: That smell.
BRENNAN: I don't know what you're talking about.
BOOTH: Come on. Why don't girls just admit it? It's a natural bodily function. You're a scientist.
BRENNAN: Booth, I don't...That had to be you.
BOOTH:: It wasn't me!
BRENNAN: "He who smelt it, dealt it."
BOOTH: How do you even know that phrase?

Heeheeheeheeheeheehee.

And that is all I have to say on that matter.

SWEETS: Yeah, that's good, Agent Booth. Now let the anger lead you to the fear. You can't be whole, you can't do your job to its fullest, unless you get in touch with that fear you feel. Now Dr. Brennan and I are going to close our eyes. Follow the anger, all right? Feel it? Feel it softening. You feel that?

(BOOTH and BRENNAN both snicker, as BOOTH gets his text.)
SWEETS: Very mature, guys.

This part of why I love Sweets so much – especially in these early episodes, he acts as a sort of common “enemy” (although not so much “enemy” as “mocking target”) for them, a thing they can agree on when they can't seem to agree on much else.

Nothing to do with anything, but I just kind of love what the transcriber put in the action comments for this part:

(BRENNAN and BOOTH walk in the door as BOOTH complains about the latex gloves. Alas! Booth wears gloves like a squint instead of poking at things with his pen! Success!)

Hahahaha.

SWEETS: You don't seem too happy.
BOOTH: Well, because sometimes, if you win, you end up with somebody else's pain and screwed-up life. You work for the FBI, you should know that.
SWEETS: Must be a challenge for you to access those feelings.
BRENNAN: Okay, stop. You don't know Booth. You don't know me, you have a limited view of us based on superficial data you've accumulated on a standardized questionnaire, and a subjective analysis from talking to us that is not at all scientific, so back off.



Oh, Bones. <3 We see Booth be protective quite a bit, and it's so refershing to see Bones reciprocate that.



SWEETS: You complement each other.
BOOTH: No, she never compliments me. Did you compliment me in the questionnaire?
BRENNAN: "Complement," not "compliment." "Ple." He means that we complete each other, as a team.



And I love this, I love the way she explains it to him. Not condescending, but much like a mentor to a student. A lot like when he explains emotional situations to her or when he helps her with her own emotional situations.



But, this, this is my favorite part of the whole thing, the part that makes it one of my favorite scenes ever:
SWEETS: There's clearly a very deep emotional attachment between you two.
BOOTH: We're just partners.
SWEETS: And why do you think I would have thought otherwise?
BOOTH: 'Cause you're 12.
BRENNAN: Don't read into anything that Booth said. We're professionals. There's a line that doesn't even need to be there.
BOOTH: Not at all, I mean, if there were no more murders, I would probably not even, you know, see her.
BRENNAN: That's very true.
BOOTH: Might have coffee.
BRENNAN: Probably not.
BOOTH: What?
BRENNAN: What?
BOOTH: You wouldn't even have coffee with me?
BRENNAN: Well, in your scenario, we wouldn't even know each other because there are no murders.
BOOTH: “Were”. I said "no more murders."
BRENNAN: Then fine. I mean, we could have a coffee. So that's clear, then? I mean, we'd have coffee and that's our relationship? Coffee.
BOOTH: Yeah, let's move on.

Oh my god, the way he says “What?” and “You wouldn't even have coffee with me?” breaks my damn heart EVERY TIME. He is so obviously hurt when he thinks she means that she wouldn't have coffee with him after all they've been through. And the way they struggle to get the other one to understand what exactly they meant.

AND LOOK AT SWEETS' FACE. LOOK AT IT. HE IS SO SHIPPING THEM, ALREADY.

And how intent Booth is to move on once he realizes Bones doesn't completely hate him and his heart isn't shattered.

And those little sidelong awkward glances they throw towards each other afterward.

DO YOU SEE WHY I LOVE IT SO MUCH?!

The conversation becomes a meaningful thing so quickly and unexpectedly that they're unable to avoid it like they normally do, and once it's over, they realize, “Oh shit, it was a thing. And it was meaningful.” And so they just try to move on and forget it and are all awkward about it.

And there sits Sweets the Fanboy, completely aware of what has just happened.