In Which We Have Some Trouble in Paradise

Season 1, Episode 17

The Priest in the Churchyard

As Angela says, in this episode, we have some trouble in paradise.

WYATT: Yes, yes, I was... uh, I was aware of that. So, if you’re so uncomfortable here, why come?

BRENNAN: Because something goes on in here. He does something.

WYATT: And you want to find out what it is, dissect it, so that you can do it yourself.

BRENNAN: Yes!

WYATT: So that you can do it without Booth. So that you won’t need him anymore.

BRENNAN: No.

WYATT: No?

BRENNAN: No! I just want to observe.

WYATT: Surely if you want to observe, you can do that on the other side of the mirror there; instead of insisting on being in this room, with him, out of your element.

BRENNAN: Observation isn’t just seeing, Dr Wyatt, it’s experiencing. Ideally I prefer being inside Booth’s head. You know, seeing and feeling things the way he does. Then maybe I’d understand.

WYATT: Be one with him.

BRENNAN: In a scientific sense.

Oh hey, I've been saying this for like, what, a season and a half now? Booth always gets threatened when she wants to do his things because he sees it has getting closer to her not needing him anymore. But really, she just wants to understand, so that in their complementary nature they don't just fit each other like puzzle pieces, but that they essentially morph together. And, finally, this is the point where we start to get into how they complement each other not just work-wise, but personality-wise, emotion-wise. She feels this connection with him, she feels that they complement each other. She wants to understand what he does; she wants to understand him, as to make this “connection” she feels not something abstract, but something she can pick apart, dissect, because that is how her brain works.

She wants to be one with him, and more than in a scientific sense.

ANGELA: Alright, listen up, Monty Python. You got it right with Hodgins and I, that’s fine. But we both know that you are full of it on the other thing.

WYATT: I have no idea to what you refer.

ANGELA: Brennan didn’t run off with Sully because she cannot live a life without focus. She stayed because of Booth.

WYATT: Ah, now you’re projecting, Ms Montenegro. Agent Booth and Dr Brennan are not you and Dr Hodgins. I stand by my diagnosis.

ANGELA: You stand by the FBI. Your first priority is to get agents back into the field, solving murders.

WYATT: Mmm. Your romanticism is endearing, but as the Bard says, “lovers and madmen have such seething brains, such shaking fantasies, that apprehend more than cool reason ever comprehends.”

ANGELA: He also says “journeys end in lovers meeting, every wise man’s son doth know.”

OH, SNAP!

First, I would normally take the “journeys end in lovers meeting, every wise man’s son doth know” quote as a devastating omen that B&B won't get together until the end of the show... if Hart Hanson hasn't already said multiple times that he doesn't think that.

Angela's right, though. His first priority is getting them back to a functional work relationship. And the fact of the matter is, she essentially did not go with Sully because of Booth. Both she and Booth know it on some level, and deep down, she's resentful of Booth for that, and he feels guilty for it as well. But they can't deal with that now. She's not close to ready emotionally, and really, neither is he, despite the fact that he is epically more developed emotionally than she is, because... this is Bones we're talking about. This is a whole new, different story for him. Wyatt knows that they cannot deal with the implications of the reason of her actions right now, and they certainly can't go on working like this, so he puts the matter to bed, knowing it'll come up again someday, when they're ready.

Wyatt ships Booth and Brennan, without a doubt. Most every character on the show does, in some way. It's just, the ways are different.

Like Sweets, for example, is the in-it-to-win-it, dramatic fanboy, who can't for a second hide the fact that he thinks they belong together, who analyzes every little thing to try to prove it (so, essentially... he's me. Or, I'm him. Haha.)

Angela is the super-enthusiastic fangirl who's shipped them from the start who goes “OMG, SQUEE!!!1!!” at everything they do.

Wyatt... Wyatt is the more subdued one, the one who only occasionally gets really into it, because he just knows that if it's meant to, everything will work out in the end.

...and now, I've just realized for the first time, that the whole thing can be taken as a metaphor to the fans, Angela representing all the fans who insist it's oh-so-obvious that she didn't leave because of Booth, and Wyatt representing the showrunners, letting us know, yes, our “romanticism is endearing”, but really, her not leaving isn't a B&B situation, it's just a Brennan thing.

Still, I don't think that's it. I stick by my first analysis. But I recognize the possibility of the second.

I think it's bullshit if it is true, but still, I recognize it.