The Change in the Game
So you know how with some episodes, even though there are really awesome, intriguing, cute moments throughout, they just really don't seem to matter all that much in comparison to the end?
This is the epitome of those episodes, I feel.
I have to start by saying that I was actually (unwillingly) spoiled for the end a good long while before I could watch the episode, so it was a bit of a different experience for me, watching it.
But, nonetheless, what I think about it is the same regardless of whether I had gotten spoiled or not.
BUT A COUPLE THINGS FIRST:
-The look on her face when he suggests she be his undercover girlfriend. HER FACE. She is so pleased with this idea. And the way she looks away, still smiling, when she says “ok”... this is different than any other time she's played his undercover girlfriend. And Max totally knows what's up, as always.
-Just the fact that they're happy and not arguing and Max can tell there's a difference is just so awesome. And in case there are any people being like “OH BUT THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BICKER THAT'S WHAT THEY DO THEY'RE NOT THE SAME WAH!”: if you seriously think they're never going to bicker, disagree, or argue ever again, this must be like the second episode you've ever seen of this show. I just like that they're so happy right now. They have a ~thing~ going on, whatever that thing might be, we don't know, but there's a thing and they're happy with it and with each other and IT'S VERY NICE. So just let them be happy for a bit.
-Even if I hadn't been spoiled, I feel I would have guessed Brennan was pregnant the first time she was like “If Buck and I had a child...” The fact that she's already concerned with what she does and doesn't want the child to be, even before she tells Booth (or anyone, I'm assuming), is completely perfect for her character and appropriate and I am just looking forward to Mommy!Bones so much I cannot even express it.
Ok, now, done with that, we go onto the last scene.
It's kind of a big deal, kind of, I guess, maybe, kind of.
Bones is pregnant with Booth's child.
.
.
.
UH HELLO THERE REALLY BIG WHOA (horse) MOMENT.
I stay away from most online Bones fandom nowadays, but I'm sure I'm safe in assuming that there are some people up in arms about this, for a plethora of reasons. But, frankly, it doesn't really matter how any one person thinks they should have gotten together. When you get a couple that has been such a long time coming together like this, there are always going to be some people who are disappointed by the manner in which it was executed. Everyone has their own distinct ideal way they wish they would get together. But just because they don't get together the way you think they should have, it doesn't mean the way it did happen is stupid or wrong or out of character or anything along those lines.
That said, I can bet there are some people who are upset mostly because they wanted to see them as a “real couple” for awhile before this happened. But, really, they've more or less been a “real couple” for quite awhile now. Go to nearly ANY post for any episode, and I'll have noted something they did that was couple-y (or, in many cases, have a paragraph or two explaining why they are basically already a couple). It would be redundant, almost, for them to go that route, because everything would basically be the same. It is through this now where we'll get to see a new side of their relationship, a new side of them as individuals.
So, yes, I think it makes sense that TPTB went this route with the situation, and I'm SUPER happy about it, and excited to see how everything unfolds.
I have some concerns, though. Mostly about what this will mean about them working together. TPTB have found some nice loopholes in the past (the bowling team the murder victim was on was ~luckily~ the same team Max is on! How convenient!), but honestly, I'm not entirely sure how they could get away with the FBI allowing Booth and Bones to continue to work together when is the the father of the child currently in her uterus. Unless they keep it a secret from everyone, but that can only last so long. And then that delves into deeper questions – what if they do hide it? What does that mean for them? What if they don't, what if the FBI severs their partnership temporarily, or even permanently? Is it the same show if they don't work together? Is it worth it, to see them pregnant and happy together, if it means we no longer get to see them as partners? What, exactly, makes it worth it or not worth it?
Honestly, until we know how they're going to handle it, there's not much of a point delving into these questions, but I am concerned about it, and it'll be interesting to see which route TPTB take with this one, and how they go about justifying that route.
Also, the fact that we did not get to see, at the very least, the conversation/actions leading up to them deciding to have sex that night, makes me kind of sad. Note – not outraged, furious, not even actually “sad”. Just “kind of sad”. Like the way one might be if a performer they like did a show in their town and they found out about it after the fact. Vague disappointment, but nothing really affecting or lasting. I haven't read anyone else's opinions about it, but I can imagine that there might be some out there who feel we were “robbed” of getting to see the scene where they officially get together – that after all this time, we deserve at least that. And honestly, I can understand that. But, not only do you not know what will happen in the future of the show (I wouldn't be surprised at all if they had a flashback and actually have that scene either during the episode where she gives birth or the series finale, whenever that should be), but also, I think it is kind of fitting that, stylistically, TPTB decided to give their ~getting together~ little fanfare. They have seriously been through SO fucking much at this point, this has been building up for so long, that it would have been simply absurd if they never got together. It was so expected to happen, that stylistically, it makes sense the actual event wouldn't be conveyed as the be all and end all of everything ever.
(and even if we never get to see that scene, well, that is for what fanfiction was made.)
There's still one main thing we haven't gotten to yet, in regards to them getting together. We have yet to see them kiss post-both of them accepting and acknowledging their feelings for each other. We've seen them kiss in the coma dream, when they were drunk and about to have sex but didn't really know each other, when Booth couldn't hold his feelings for her in any longer but she wasn't ready to accept her feelings for him... I just, I want to see those feelings, those newly fully-embraced feelings, expressed through their physical connection. That is the ultimate for these two, because their emotional connection does so much to inform their physical connection, and vice-versa.
Speaking of which, though, remember that scene in season 2, when Bones' boyfriend sailed off into the sunset without her, and Booth showed up and was saying that someday she would eventually get made sick to her stomach by all the bodies she deals with, and she says she doesn't vomit, and he tells her to give it time, that everything happens eventually, and she says really, and he says yes, all the stuff you think never happens, it happens. You just have to be ready for it.
"Eventually" is (finally, finally, FINALLY), now.
The episode title did not lie – this is a pretty major “change in the game”. And so I encourage all fans to keep that in mind over the summer – change. The game has been changed yet again, which most likely means more changes along the way. Things will probably be different next season. Try to get used to the idea beforehand. The show has been through major changes before, and everything was fine. Keep your perspective in place.
And if that doesn't work, just remember – after going through The Plot Device Formerly Known as Hannah Burley, most anything else is a breeze.
Although I won't be posting again (most likely) until the new season, I will be checking the comments and responding to them periodically! My email is humanoid24601 at gmail dot com should you want to get in touch with me in that format.
Have a magnificent summer, every one of you.
-Leila
