In Which We Have More Than It Seems At First

Season 4, Episode 5
The Crank in the Shaft



A slightly slow one for our beloved couple, which falls perfectly in line with the general pattern since the last two were decently eventful for them.



BRENNAN:  I’m not a medical doctor. 

(Booth looks to Sweets.)

SWEETS:  The answer’s no.  You’re obviously trying to enhance your status with your coworkers by acquiring something that they all covet.

BRENNAN:  You want a throne.

BOOTH:  Back support, okay?  I’m just looking for a little back support.

This is another one of the “gain for Bones' emotional development AND their relationship!” things. The fact that she uses metaphor shows that her ability to gain psychological insight has improved, even in the slightest of ways, and the fact that she uses metaphor in relation to Booth shows that she continues to pay more and more attention to him, his actions, to who he is, how he reacts to things, etc., and as their knowledge of each other gets deeper, their connection gets deeper.



BRENNAN:  No, because of how important you are to them.  I mentioned your dedication and courage and sensitivity.

BOOTH:  Sensitivity?

BRENNAN:  Yes, Booth.  I mean, even today with that young woman who killed her boss, it’s very impressive.  Anyway, I said that a chair is a good way to show the other employees in the office how much those qualities are valued.

BOOTH:  Hmmm, well, it worked.

BRENNAN:  I’ll never understand why you felt you had to lie to get the chair.  I mean, you could have just told them about yourself on your own.

BOOTH:  Well, because that would have been bragging, even though it was true. 

Oh, I just love when she says things like this about him. And even though she uses professional terminology, “impressive” being the most formal of them all, they both still know that this is an emotional thing, that she's complimenting him, hence the look, and her laugh before going “anyway”. She knows he knows. And, she's ok with it. She just lets him revel in it, as opposed to a season or two earlier, when she might have kept insisting that it was a purely professional evaluation of his traits.



She's starting to accept the emotional implications of their relationship. Which, frankly, is huge.



Huh. So much for this episode not having all that much for them.