Wednesday, January 5, 2011

In Which We Have a Mid-Hiatus Note About Brennan and Booth

Here's the thing:

I believe Booth is honestly in love with Hannah. I believe he has “moved on” in the sense that he has allowed himself to love someone else. Do I believe he is not in love with Bones anymore? Of course not. Do I believe he's suppressed his feelings for Bones to the extreme? Hell yeah.

I think that no matter what he does, no matter who he is with, he will always love Bones, no matter how much he allows himself to acknowledge it or not acknowledge it. I don't believe in the bullshit of “you never fall out of love with anyone, either you always love them or you never did at all”, but in this case, there's a certain truth to it. She'd have to do something truly awful and horrendous for him to fall out of love with her completely, and of course she'd never do anything of the sort, because she loves him too much.

That all, however, is beside the point. Because despite it, despite the fact that he still does and always will love her, even if it's hidden so far down he can't consciously realize it, he's in love with someone else as well. Yes, he still loves Bones, but 1) he doesn't fully know it, and 2) he loves someone else, too, something that has never happened in the time he's loved her. Until now.

For the past five years of the series, their game has been in place. The objective was for them to admit that they loved each other, or in more general terms, for there to be some admittance of feelings. There were unspoken rules and limitations in place (as there always are). There was an assumed outcome for when the game ended.

But he loves someone else.
Even though logically, that has been a perfectly plausible possibility throughout this series, let's face it – none of us, before the 100th episode, really thought it would ever happen.

So, yeah. Of course we're crushed. Of course we're angry and upset. This isn't right, this goes against the rules of the game, the game we've always known thus far. Booth's cheating (how could he love someone other than her?), Hart's cheating (how could he LET Booth love someone else?), Hannah's an intruder that shouldn't even be in the game. It's a violation. Make it stop.

And it feels like this to all of us because we're in the mindset of the first game, the only game we've known so far. Because we assume the first game is all there ever is, we think it's not over until the series is over.

Wrong.

The first game is done.

This is an ENTIRELY different game.

They've both admitted that they've had feelings for each other. They've more or less admitted that they love(d) each other. And now he loves someone else. That was never a possibility in the previous game. The previous game ended when he wanted to give them a shot in the 100th episode. We just always assumed that when that game ended, they'd be together. We never thought there was another ending to that game. And we haven't really realized that game was over until recently, until Hannah came along, until he really went through with his decision to “move on”, until that fact wasn't solidified in our minds until she broke down in front of him, admitted she made a mistake, and he said it was too late.

The game is done.

Now, that's a very scary, saddening thought right there. Which is precisely why I think so many people are having such a difficult time accepting this Hannah storyline for what it is – a storyline. People are taking it as a broken rule, a game violation.

The thing is, all these people also assume that that first game is all there is, and all there ever could be.

Wrong again.

What we need to realize is, yes, that game might be done, but that doesn't mean a new game can't be and isn't in place. So what if it's not the same situation with which we started? There's one thing we forget: it doesn't mean this new game can't have the same ending we thought the first game would have. Nowhere in the unspoken rules does it say that.

Color me trite, but I just realized how painfully romantic their situation is. No, not Hannah and all this, I just mean, just them. How painfully romantic they are, together. He is intuitive and feeling. She is inductive and thinking. They both offer what the other one lacks, and the fact that they love each other so strongly is pure poetry. The one who has the intelligence to put this idea into a concrete idea, Brennan, doesn't realize it, because she doesn't understand romanticism and feelings and everything (I just mean this in a very general sense), and the one who actually has the capability to realize it, the one who can think in romantic and feeling terms, doesn't have the “intelligence” and reasoning skills to put it into a concrete, communicable idea. He can feel it, but he can't communicate it. She could communicate it, but she can't feel it.

And see, something like that, something as tragic as that, it doesn't end after one game. And, guess what? In this game, they know more than before. Both of them do. They also have to deal with new things they know nothing about, which makes it difficult still, but regardless, they know things now.

Once they do get together (yeah, I'm talking in definite terms, what of it?), it'll be different than if they got together at the end of the first game. It's not going to be what we imagined for those five years. But, think about it; now, it'll be even more fulfilling, even more satisfying, even more emotional, even more EVERYTHING, because they've been through more. They'll have trudged through more storms, barred more scars, whatever metaphor you want to use, and so their getting together will be a bigger deal for them and therefore, for us. Yes, it will lack some of things it would have had had it happened at the end of the first game. But it'll also have things it never could have had at the end of the first game.

There is no better way or time for them to get together. The means are all equal in value. They all have different things they offer and different things they lack. What matters is that they get together, because the alternatives to that are NOT equal in value, not to the viewer and nor to them.

So, in short: It's a different game now, and it would be a really great idea, since we can't change it, just to go with the flow of this new game, instead of stomping around complaining that they're not following the rules of a game that isn't even being played anymore. Don't complain that they're not following the rules of “Go Fish” when they stopped playing that an hour ago and now they're playing poker, and even if you're unfamiliar with poker or you don't like it, watch, learn, stick with it, and you'll end up winning just like you would have if you were still playing “Go Fish”.

Well, damn, that wasn't as short an “in short” typically should be.
But, this is a rather complicated situation. So I think “short” has a different definition here.

But, anyway. Just some mid-hiatus thoughts maybe to ponder over for the second half of this ridiculous-ass season.



10 comments:

  1. Thank you, as always, for your thoughts. I was going to re-watch the Doctor in the Photo and have comments to respond to your comments, but I haven't gotten around to re-watching, and I think you're right in that no one is reading the comments on the Doctor in the Photo anymore. The Doctor in the Photo did give me a sense of peace after watching it, and I am ready to see what happens next. (As a side note, I also think the Doctor in the Photo is an instant Bones classic, like the Man in the Fallout Shelter.)

    I believe, now that they both know the other's feelings, that it's all downhill from here in terms of them getting together. I'm ready to sit back and see how it all unfolds.

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  2. I just found the promos for episodes 11 and 12 (or what were originally going to be 11 and 12, but I think they changed episodes around again). bonesspoilers.blogspot.com Looks like shit's going to start hitting the fan, and I can't wait!

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  3. Leila - once again, I completely, utterly, absolutely, unquestionably agree with you.

    You must be able to read my mind.

    I'm generally spoiler free and am so happy to sit back and watch the new game begin. How B&B manage to deal with this new revelation is going to make VERY interesting viewing.
    *rubs hands together with evil grin*

    Linda

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  4. Ashley: If you still feel like it when you do rewatch the episode, I'd LOVE for you to respond with your comments on the entry of that post. I was actually a little disappointed I didn't get that many for such a monumental episode, haha. And I COMPLETELY agree that it's an instant Bones classic, not only because of the monumental storyline but because of the marvelous execution.

    And as for the spoilers, check out this post: http://bonesspoilers.blogspot.com/2011/01/body-in-bag-episode-recap-and-new.html
    :)


    Linda: Thanks so much :)

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  5. Oh thank you so so much for posting this post. You are so right. So so so so so right. The game has changed. As I said on twitter, HH and SN can bring it because I am strapped in for the long haul. We can handle this sh*t. :D

    Amber

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  6. Just came across your site-- lovely reviews.

    But I don't think Booth was really in love with Hannah. It was mostly a rebound relationship. As Sweets said about rebounds: "need can be confused for love and fantasy can convince us what we are feeling is love". To me Booth wasn't behaving as normal Booth. He was so vocal about his private life and always trying to prove that he loved her. If you have to prove something it means you doubt it yourself. Instead of “thou does protest too much” it was “thou does declare it too much.” It was a man trying to convince himself that he could move on. Buying a big fancy ring was just another way to prove it. Add to that they never had any emotional intimacy in the relationship. It was mostly sex and talks about schedules. We never saw them really connect. He lied about his gambling and his real relationship with Brennan. If you have truly moved on-- you have no trouble talking about it but he hid it for as long as he could. Even after Brennan's confession he struggled and needed Sweets. And when he told her something it was half truth-- both he and her would rather take bullets in a war zone than have serious conversations. Even the proposal scene showed that they never talked about serious things properly. Booth admitted he was just looking for a good time. Brennan's confession changed that for him. Booth is an honourable man and Hannah did move for him so he couldn't just break up with her. I think he knew Hannah would say "no" but with Brennan's confession and Sweets goading Booth had no where left to go because if he was turning down Brennan for Hannah then he had to want to marry Hannah, right? Booth never thinks things through. He jumps in head first and then starts to think about the consequences once he’s there. So he gave it his all not really thinking about what would happen-- he was gambling in the true sense.

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  7. This season never happened.

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  8. See the thing is, Booth’s never really had a committed relationship with anyone, because he’s never committed himself to anyone. He couldn’t, after he met Bones. Even in the sixth, when he asks her to marry him, he’s pretty much asking her to say no- he knows she’ll say no, he knows she doesn’t want to get married, and he’s telling her that’s not enough, that she’s not enough, that she’s never going to be enough. That he’d never settle for anything less, anything else- unless it’s Bones. He’s never ‘revealed’ himself to anyone. He doesn’t give everything. Not with Rebecca, Tessa, Cam, any of the others. He’s never fully given himself to anyone except for Brennan. It’s not that women don’t want what he has to offer, it’s that they want everything he has to offer. But it’s not his to offer. It belongs to Bones. He belongs with Bones. It’s impossible not to know that. It isn’t that these women- incomprehensibly- don’t want Booth. They want it all. We all do. They want his lion heart. And I’m sure Booth thinks he even wants to give it to them. But he can’t. After all, the heart chooses what it chooses, doesn’t it? And we don’t really have any say in the matter.

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  10. What you are saying might be true-- but if Booth really was in love with another woman, I am not sure why "love" matters between Booth and Brennan?

    Problem with the story is that you have a woman who says-- "I don't think love ends up making difference in a relationship because what's more important is parity". And by your theory she was right.

    Booth falling in love with another woman signifies that they lost the game of love... love wasn't enough to keep them together. It wasn't enough for Booth to say he didn't want to be with anyone else. It wasn't enough for him to keep his allegiance to her. If they break apart there was no significant consequence to him because he did fall in love with some else. And saying he loved Hannah, meant love wasn't enough their either.

    Booth and Brennan worked later because she changed her goals to be more in line with his not because he loved her. So what was the point? Why should she believe in a concept of love.. and certainly why should she believe in giving up her life to stay with someone she loves when even Booth didn't do that. He was happy to make his life with someone else.

    There are a lot of philosophical questions that get unanswered.

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