In Which Leila Tries To Restore Sense To The Bones Fandom

Season 6, Episode 13

The Daredevil in the Mold

EDIT: Just a heads up, the post for next week will be later than most of these ones have been. This week and weekend are incredibly busy for me, so I won't even get to watch the episode until late Thursday night/Friday morning at the earliest, Sunday night at the latest. Most likely, the post will be up by Saturday night.

Before the episode stuff, I just want to thank whoever posted the link to here at Give Me My Remote last week! I got 23o8728 times more views and comments than normal, seriously made my day.
And should anyone ever feel the urge to post it there again, or anywhere else where it is relevant and appropriate, please feel free to do so ;D

But, anyway. Episode stuff.

Oh, my.

Oh my, oh my, oh my.

Yeah, this is one of those that we just need to jump into, I think.

So, Sweets wants Booth's advice about Daisy. He decides he'll propose to her.

Then Booth, randomly and all of a sudden says he's going to ask Hannah, too.

What the whaaaaaaaaat?!

But, look - The off-handedness of how he says it, the shot right after, the “don't go telling people”...

And also, the fact that Booth was really drunk. Even more drunk I think than how he was coming across. Booth's the type that can hold his liquor physically, but mentally... he was affected. Very much so. As they conveyed with all the talk of his hangover the next day.

So you know what? Booth is probably sitting there, listening to baby duck talk about proposing, and he realizes that BABY DUCK might be engaged before he is. Sweets was engaged before, but that's beside the point. Sweets could be married before him. And that's a thought that literally marks the fact that his life plan has derailed; he is not living the life he thought he would. And that's an earth-shattering thought for most people. And now, he's in this serious relationship with this woman, after he thought he'd never find someone he loved even as close to as much as he liked Brennan and maybe... maybe he can have what he's always wanted, finally.

And also... he's recently had his feelings for Brennan, which have been suppressed for so long, start to bubble back up, and whether he is consciously aware of this or not, he is definitely feeling the effects of it. He might not be able (or willing) to classify what he's feeling, but he feels it nonetheless. But he can't allow this idea that he's stayed in love with Brennan this whole time, that he might even still love her MORE than Hannah, to infiltrate.

So he decides, in one last large, desperate attempt, to deny his feelings. Because admitting they're real just changes too much, sets him off-track that much more.

So he decides to propose.

Don't hate him too much.

A couple of quick notes before the good stuff, for the sake of thoroughness:

-Brennan bringing up Hannah when she has yet to be mentioned previously in the conversation to show how she's OMG SO TOTALLY OK WITH IT... for the millionth time. Yep.

-Note the return to her hyper-rational jargon in the “highly romanticized” speech. And we all know what her hyper-rationality means.

Now. Here's the real stuff.

There's been a lot of outrage about this whoooooooooooooole thing.

Hear me out. Because if you're one of the outraged ones... your life would probably be a lot better without said outrage. And I think I can help with that.

Just, read.

So, the proposal.

“...I didn't know if I was ever going to meet anyone again...”

OH, SNAP.

The way he said that line... it puts into perspective even moreso how much Brennan's rejection affected him. He didn't know if he would ever meet someone he would have the same feelings for as he had for Brennan. His feelings for Brennan were so strong that he didn't know if he'd ever meet anything else. That's pretty difficult shit. She really broke him. And so for him actually to meet someone after thinking he wouldn't... no wonder he got so into it with Hannah.

And then, with Hannah wanting to go back...

He can't do that again.

Because he already did it with Brennan. She wanted to go back, and it killed him, but he did it, because he cared enough about having her in his life because he knew that having her gone from his life would be worse than having the reminder of her rejection of him every time he saw her, but still having her in his life.

Again, even though it killed him.

Part of it, why they can't go back, is that he can't go through that pain again.

But also, part of it is because with Brennan, it was worth that pain, to have her still in his life.

With Hannah, it is not.

“I don't think we're done, but we're done for now.”

Oh, Hart Hanson. You bastard.

Yes, the fact that they had her say that makes her exit not as satisfying as it could be. But I wouldn't worry too much about. Mostly just because they're no fucking point in worrying about it, it's not going to change what happens in the show. So save yourself the anxiety.

So, the proposal's done. Hannah has said no. They are done.

Booth goes to drink. And he's there for awhile. He gets pretty drunk.

It seems like it could possibly be a set-up for something about Booth having a drinking problem in the future like his father, which can be a magical well of Brennan and Booth deep-intense-scene-times, but it's too early to say for sure.

But, anyway. And then Brennan shows up.

First, let's talk a little about the fact that Hannah called BRENNAN. Yes, you can with the basic, easy idea of how oh, Hannah knows she's his partner and that they're close and she can help him through it and blah blah blah. But that's easy and basic. And while that may be the main reason as to why, I'm guessing there could be more to it. Part of me wants to think that both why she called Brennan and also part of why she said no to Booth is because she, on some level, knows that he's not entirely done with Brennan. Hannah, this odd hybrid of Brennan's logic and Booth's intuition, has probably sensed, on some level, that their deep connection is more than platonic. Now, how much she, Hannah, has allowed herself to realize this, is definitely of question (it's Denial City up in here), but still... I wouldn't dismiss it.

Yes yes yes, I know, it's a very soap-opera way to go, and there's a very good chance they'll never explore anything having to do with that, but I'm just saying, it's possible, yo.

Nevertheless, though, the actual facts are that Hannah called Brennan because she knows that Brennan is the one he needs right now. She knows she's the closest person to him. And she knows that she's the one who has been there for him all this time, and that she's the one who'll always be there for him.

Regardless of how much Hannah does or doesn't know about the extent of B&B's relationship, she does know that they have a deep connection, and I think she knows Brennan will always be part of Booth's life.

So she called her.

And she shows up, and he's drunk off his ass.

“The next woman is... me.”

Note how he glosses over it. He immediately moves onto Hannah.

Because what happened with Brennan is too painful and he's been suppressing it for so long that he doesn't want to think about it anymore, perhaps?

Just a thought.

But enough about that thought. Because after that, he breaks both Bones' heart and ours. He gives her the options; either we're partners and only partners, or we're nothing at all.

But but but but BOOTH, HOW COULD YOU?!

Oh, but just wait. Calm down.

First off, remember: Booth is not Magical Super Being. Just because he makes an ultimatum while he's drunk off his ass, it doesn't mean it's written in stone, it doesn't mean he's sticking to it. It doesn't even mean that's what he actually wants.

But see... he has to have something he can count on in his life at this point. His life has turned out nothing like he thought it would. After all these years, he's still alone. He needs something he can count on, to keep him going. And that thing he needs to count on is not Brennan romantically. In his mind, she's already shown that Romantic!Brennan can't be counted on. Yes, she cried in his car about missing her chance, but the way it's in his mind right now is that romantically, she is another person that has let him down. But Brennan as his partner... that is what he can count on. He can count on her to be his partner and be there for him and have a drink with him after work. And he knows, on some level, that Brennan as his partner will ALWAYS be there for him. He can't deal with something he can't count on for sure right now.

So, angry and drunk, he gives her the ultimatum.

And she takes the option to be just the partner.

But, wait! This is a little deja vu-ish, yes?

Remember earlier when I was talking about how the pain of seeing her every day after she rejected him was worth it in order to keep her in his life?

The pain Booth went through in that was worth it.

And the pain Brennan has to go through, thinking she missed their moment, thinking she will never have another chance with him, and being reminded of it when she sees him every day... it's worth it for her. To her, it is worth it to go through all the pain, to choose from his drunkenly-decided options, because not having him in her life would be worse.

BLAMMO.

Long story short, Booth is Angry!Drunk, don't hate him for being a jerk, he needs something he can count on, she cares for him enough to go through the pain of just being “partners”, and, of course, THERE IS STILL HOPE.

And in case THAT wasn't enough for you, I leave you with this:

Did you really want him just to automatically turn to Brennan and be like “Oh, we can be together now”?

Did you really want her to be the rebound girl?

…

Yep, didn't think so.