In Which We Have A Reason To Flail Again

Season 6, Episode 12 

The Sin in the Sisterhood

Just to clarify, the definition of “flail” I am using in this instance best lines up with this one from urban dictionary: “the act of hyper speed talking about one's fandom and/or obsession. Sqeeling, clapping, gasping, obsessive behavior dizziness, speechlessness and random dancing are all symptoms.”

Except in my case, it's not so much “hyper speed talking” as “hyper speed nonsense words”.

However, as with all good flail, we must wait a bit to get to it, and cover a few other things first.

First, in Booth's advice to Cam:

“If this guy is the one, don't let him get away.”

Hmmmm, Booth. Curious.

There's more to this than the obvious parallel (huh, Booth, you haven't been in any situation recently where the one got away, have you?).

Keep this in mind, it'll come up later.

Can I just say how I love that they're having a religious argument again.

And, how he always does, Booth insisting he's right over all logic, his completely out-of-line statements (“History is wrong”) said with such conviction. JUST LIKE OLD TIMES.

And then when he gets the call about the divorce and the look on her face is just like “Fuuuuuuuuu-”.

Pretty awesome.

I have a theory about just why Booth is so against polyamory. Yes, he's Booth, of course he's going to hate polyamory, but I feel like maybe a little bit of it is because there's the idea in his subconscious that if he COULD do it, if it were morally and logistically possible for him, everything would be fine. He wouldn't have to be in this situation he's in now.

But enough about silly theories (which actually don't mean anything in the long run, it was just a thought), because we have to talk about the giggling. In the car. About bonehead. And all the other names. And them saying “Oh, we're terrible”, and proceeding to come up with other names.

OH, THE CUTE. IT'S TOO MUCH.

That scene, though, is not what the flail is about.

Which, of course, you already know.

Ok. Ready?

Ready?

IT IS TIME TO FLAIL.

“You can love a lot of people in this world but there's only one person you can love the most.”

“But how do you know it's not just the chemicals in your brain?” (yeah, it's not the real quote, but it's a science-jargon-heavy one, so fuck transcribing that shit.)

“You just do, you just know.”

AND CUE THE LOOK.

Look at that moment they had, right there. One of the moments we know all too well with them, where they just look at each other and hold their gaze and... it's a moment.

I mean, as if the words themselves weren't enough to flail about, we get a moment too!

OH, BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

So they're looking at each other, and having a moment. And Brennan looks away toward Cam and the doctor, obviously having a moment of her own, wondering if she'll ever get that love with that one person.

And he stays looking at her as she looks away.

And he stays looking at her.

And we get some extra whipped cream on top of the flail sundae.

Because guess what this parallels with (oh parallels, you're some of my favorite things ever, I miss you so!)?

Remember a certain episode that was the first episode of this season?

Remember the last scene of that episode?

“Welcome home, Booth.” “Welcome home, Bones.”

Remember when that was said, and Booth looks out toward the lab, and Bones looks at him as he's looking away?

Yeah.

DO YOU SEE WHY I LOVE PARALLELS SO MUCH?

And the way he glances away as soon as she turns back to him just proves even more that that look had ~meaning~ behind it. I'm not even sure he really realized the way he was looking at her, honestly. It's like that thing when you have a crush on a person and you see them across the room and can't help but stare at them and you don't even realize you're doing it, and then right when you think you see them looking your way you look somewhere else, and only THEN do you realize what you were doing.

(it's almost as if he's starting to, very slowly, re-realize his feelings for her, after suppressing them for so long, I think.)

Words about love exchanged, a moment had, a look had while the other was looking away... what more could a shipper ask for?

Not much, really.

BUT THEN WE GOT MORE ANYWAY, SUCKASSSS.

It's like everything else before this was a flail sundae, and then this coming up isn't the cherry on top, it's a whole extra fucking sundae.

“What if you let that person get away?”

“That person's not going anywhere.”

.

.

.

IS THIS THE REEEEEEAAAAL LIFE,

OR IS THIS JUST FANTASYYYYY?

The thing with this isn't even that it has an obvious double-meaning. It's that, for once, that double-meaning is completely, 100% obvious and acknowledged by Booth and Brennan. Now that they've been through this... they know exactly what the fuck is going on when she asks that, when he responds that way.

It's not the way I would have guessed they'd deal with it, but at the same time, it's so perfect and obvious that I don't see how I couldn't have realized sooner that they WOULD deal with it this way, that in order to allow them to talk, even on the slightest level, about their situation, they'd have them do what they've always done: those damn double-meaning speeches and conversations. Except now, they know they have double-meanings. They know they're talking about them as well. It allows them to talk about them, because they can't talk about it straight-forward, out in the open, not now, at least, not with everything that's gone on, everything still currently going on.

Beyond the actual importance of the way it's being said now, there's the actual meaning of what they're saying to note as well. She let him get away. But what do you do if you let that person get away, she asks. Now, by saying this, it's a big deal, because in that context, in what he has said earlier, that there's only one person you can love the most... she's admitting he's that one. She's putting it out there more definitively than ever before (which is ironic, since this is all through double-meaning). Yes, in the Doctor in the Photo she goes on about how she missed her chance and everything, but never is there discussion of him being the “one” she loves most. It's understood subconsciously, but it makes a considerable difference for it to be actually said out loud. And this is just a step closer actually to saying the words. Now she implies it through words he said, through the context of the situation.

And how does he respond? Vaguely, yes, but not with the same face he had when she was sobbing her eyes out in his car. Not with a smile either, but still, not with nearly as somber an expression as before. With a “that person's not going anywhere”.

First, there's the basics, that he's not going anywhere, that he'll always care about her, all we already know, etc. etc.

But then... this is a reach, I admit, but still, the vagueness of what he says, along with his demeanor... it makes me think that he is, perhaps unconsciously, sort of... leaving the door open. Or not so much open as cracked, with her. He'll always be around, he'll always care for her, but I think the way he says it, this particular time in this particular situation, makes me think it goes even deeper this time, that perhaps it means, in some odd, unspeakable way, that they'll always have these feelings for each other. They'll always have this thing. The feelings Booth has been suppressing all season are finally manifesting themselves again, and he is mostly unaware of it, I believe. He feels this, that he'll always love Brennan, but he can't and won't put it into words yet, and as long as it's not in real, direct words, he doesn't have to deal with it.

But those feelings are sneaking out now, and they're not ok with going unspoken anymore.

Shit's getting even more real now, yo.