In Which We Discuss Their Common Ground Yet Again

Season 4, Episode 7
The Skull in the Sculpture



BOOTH: They'll never work. They're like complete opposites.
BRENNAN: I agree. For all her faults, she's a woman of science, Sweets bases his life on the vagaries of psychology and emotion.
(Booth scoffs)
BRENNAN: You know, there's no common ground.
BOOTH: Right.
BRENNAN: You need common ground. What else is there?
BOOTH: Absolutely.



This is like, the pinnacle of their unawareness of their feelings for each other. Oh god, I love it so much. They're basically talking about themselves, and they have no idea.



EXCEPT, though, B&B do have a common ground. That's basically what I spent most of season 1 talking about. They both not just want, but need, to catch murders. They're good in the way superheroes are good – they simply must do everything they can to solve murders.



And this, the fact that they really do have a common ground despite what is seen on the surface, the fact that they really aren't complete incompatible opposites like they think Sweets and Daisy are, is confirmed by a side-long glance by one Dr. Temperance Brennan. She looks over at him, not because she thinks they're talking about themselves, but because she thinks that she thinks they're talking about themselves, and she looks over at Booth to see what he's thinking.



And in a way, that's why they mention the common ground. Because on a certain level they know they're talking about themselves as well as Daisy and Sweets (they already accepted the whole “surrogate relationship”, remember?), and so they go “You need common ground. What else is there?” because they know that's the advantage they have over Sweets and Daisy. They know they have the common ground, despite all their differences.