In Which, Apparently, Taking A Bullet For Someone "Only Goes So Far"

Season 3, Episode 15
The Pain in the Heart



Fun fact: the first three minutes of this episode were some of the three most freaked-out minutes I had ever spent watching television when it first aired.



Also when it first aired, I remember initially feeling upset that Brennan wasn't more emotional. After thinking about it, though, I changed my mind, because 1) she was quite emotional – she wasn't falling over sobbing, but she was VERY angry. The way she was snapping at everyone at the lab, the way she said her lines about gladly taking the bullet, and why, if there is a merciful God, why he didn't save Booth. I don't think we had ever seen her that angry on the show before. So, her feelings were deep and passionate, they were just manifesting themselves in a different way than normal (which makes sense, since Bones isn't normal, especially when it comes to emotions, and 2) we have no idea what happened before the day of the funeral, or what would have happened after it had he really been dead. She might have had a major breakdown at the hospital when she was told he died, gotten it all out then, “realized” that her feelings were irrational, and then started repressing them (oh man, I can smell a fanfiction cooking in my brain already, even though it's more than likely already been done). Or the breakdown might have come later, weeks after not doing a case with him leading her to finally realize that Booth was dead.

One of my favorite reactions of her in this three minutes of Booth being dead is her ferocity in saying that she lost a partner to Sweets when he refers to Booth as a “loved one”. Of course, they always say, they're just partners. And that's especially so now, because in Bones' mind, why deal with repressed feelings she might have had for him when he's dead? Since there's literally no chance of anything coming to fruition anymore, she sees no good coming from dealing with those feelings. So yes, Sweets, Booth and I were just partners.

BOOTH: I already explained this to you. The bureau has to vet everyone when there is a security issue. I was just following protocol.

BRENNAN: Protocol!?

BOOTH: Yes!

BRENNAN: We've been partners for three years, Booth, and you've broken protocol before – sometimes putting my life in danger. Which makes sense because you clearly don't have any real concern for me.

BOOTH: (standing up) I took a bullet for you!

BRENNAN: Once! That only goes so far (realizing that Booth is standing there, naked) Would you like a towel?

(He sinks back into the tub)

BOOTH: Fine. What is it that I should have done, Bones? Wha- what did you want me to do?

BRENNAN: Well, you could have called me. Did you really think I needed to be vetted by your boss? I mean, don't you trust me?

BOOTH: Of course I do.

My, my, Bones. Since when does rational, reasoned Bones burst in on Booth when he's in the bathtub? For someone who has lost a partner, but nothing more, you're really acting out quite “passionately”, as Sweets would say.

(FANGIRL MOMENT: I know it's a work thing and not a couples thing, but still, the fact that Bones either has a key to Booth's house or knows where one is hidden outside – awwww <3)

NON B&B OBSERVATION: My heart breaks every time I watch the part where Bones kisses Zach's forehead before they leave the hospital :(

BOOTH: Woah. Wait a minute. Now why are you mad at me then?

BRENNAN: Because you should have told me, personally.

BOOTH: Oh, I should have just ignored National Security concerns, broken the law and told you.

BRENNAN: Yes. You know I'm very trustworthy.

So Sweets is off the hook because it was a professional thing, but with Booth, it's personal.

Yeah, so much for “He was my partner, Sweets”.

SWEETS: You know, I think it's interesting, psychologically how Agent Booth's constant efforts to persuade you to enjoy fruit pie could be interpreted as a kind of seduction.
BOOTH: Whatever you two are talking about? Just stop it. Zip it. Let's go.



Nothing to do with anything, I just love the idea of Booth's pushing of pie as seduction.



BRENNAN: You think I don't recognize an experiment when I see one? You experimented on us.

SWEETS: Beg your pardon.

BRENNAN: Not telling me Booth was alive? You wanted to quantify our reactions for your own research? You took advantage of us. Booth and I agreed to let you observe us. We did not agree to be used as lab rats, so you better cut it out.

SWEETS: Dr. Brennan, why are you talking so fast?

BRENNAN: Because if Booth hears why you did what you did? He'd beat ya up.

SWEETS: Don't you think that'd be an overly aggressive act?

BRENNAN: Not at all. So you better not do it again.

I remember watching this episode the first time and being so agitated over the fact that neither of them realized Sweets was experimenting on them, and then this happened, and I was just like “YES, GO BONES!”

And I love that she knows Booth would beat Sweets up. Because he totally would.

BRENNAN: I also had access to the chemicals Zack made. Why am I not a suspect?

SWEETS: Well, you have a reverence for life that belies the cold, calculations of a killer. And the emotional connection you share with Agent Booth...

BRENNAN: No. That..I - (she starts getting up) I don't have time for this. No. (she leaves)

BOOTH: (to Sweets) Don't you know by now you can't rush her?

SERIOUSLY, Sweets! You should know that even using the word “emotion” in relation to anything having to do with her and Booth will shut her down. Because she is emotionally involved with him. But she can't admit that yet, not to herself nor anybody else. So the second anyone gets on it, she shuts down. Duh. Get with the program, Sweets.

I haven't watched this episode since it aired, and I cried, again, basically from the scene in the hospital once they've figured out Zach's the apprentice to the end. God, it's so damn sad. And such great acting by everyone.



And, of course, the very end. When Bones is upset because she doesn't think she ever gave Zach anything, and Booth reads the letter she wrote to him when he became her intern. And she leans over on his shoulder. He is figuratively and literally the shoulder she leans on. At this point in her life, that is something she simply cannot afford to lose. So when she did think she lost it, that's why she wasn't falling over sobbing. To fall over sobbing, she would have to have truly accepted that he was gone, and for him to be gone is something that simply cannot happen.

In Which We Discuss Normal!Brennan and Emotional!Brennan

Season 3, Episode 14
The Wannabe in the Weeds


BOOTH: I have to be honest here. Sometimes I think that you think you're better than me.

BRENNAN: Well, objectively, I am more intelligent...

BOOTH: There you go...

BRENNAN: In certain areas, and in others... I understand my limitations, and I... admire your expertise.

BOOTH: Huh. You admire me?

BRENNAN: ...In certain areas of expertise.

BOOTH: Well, I admire your expertise. You have a whole... science thing.

BRENNAN: Thank you. I'm an author, too.

BOOTH: I know.

BRENNAN: Best selling, and that also gives me elevated status.

BOOTH: Here comes the ego

BRENNAN: No, I'm not saying that society is correct to elevate me. I'm not saying that I deserve the elevation... I'm just saying... that it occurs. Society should elevate scholars and teachers not actors and athletes.

(BOOTH's cell phone rings)

BOOTH: Yeah, what about cops?

BRENNAN: They're very important.

And Bones continues her streak of verbal acknowledgment of her appreciation of Booth. Of course, not without a cup or two of ego along with it, but even so.



They admire the other's expertise. Back to the foundation, the first levels, in which they respect each other work-wise, and honestly, that foundation needs to be gone back to again and again, because it has to be solidly in place for any romantic stuff to happen.



BRENNAN: Until I was thirteen, I wanted to be the next Cyndi Lauper.

BOOTH: I'd say you're kidding, but I don't think you know how to kid.

I just wanted to post that because it's such a funny line. And also, Cyndi Lauper needs to be on the show again. Just sayin'. And if you ever get the chance to go to one of her concerts, do it, no matter what kind of music it is. It is guaranteed to be an awesome night.

Again, just sayin'.

And now we have Bones singing “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”, all at the hand of Booth.
The silent acting that goes on in that scene is so thoroughly great and effective – he's so into it, so encouraging her, and she sings straight to him most of the time (at least, that's what it looks like to me). He wants her to have fun, be Party!Brennan for a bit, and she wants him to see that she can be Party!Brennan.



And then he gets shot.



Fun fact, oh my gosh, when it first aired, you would have thought the End of Days was coming if you saw my reaction to when he got shot. Even though you know of course they're not going to kill Booth. IT WAS JUST SO CRAZY.



But anyway, her reaction is probably my favorite part of the episode, because we get some Emotional!Brennan. And I love Emotional!Brennan. Emotional!Brennan lets us see her feelings, lets us see her scared. Of course, most of the time Emotional!Brennan only comes out when Booth is there to help her through it. Now, he's the reason Emotional!Brennan has come out, and she's alone in it, it's just her and her feelings. And that's quite a scary thing, to say the least, for her.



And the thing is, normal Brennan is slowly getting used to Emotional!Brennan. She's actually starting to like Emotional!Brennan. Most of that (all of it, even, one can argue) has to do with Booth being in her life. So the possibility of his death is quite catastrophic for her.



And when it actually happens (or so she thinks), she tucks Emotional!Brennan away, supposedly forever, because she's not quite sure how to deal with Emotional!Brennan without Booth yet.



But that's for the season finale.

In Which They Must Be Separated (Just From Across The Aisle)

Season 3, Episode 13

The Verdict in the Story

There are a lot of little things in this episode. Brennan and Booth's “whispered” discussions across the aisle during the trial. Their taunting of Sweets, saying that his wanting to study them is just because he likes them but doesn't want to admit it (and the one line of song they make up about). But there are also quite a few big things that are much more important.

BOOTH: Okay. You're not Dr. Brennan today. You're Temperance.

BRENNAN: I don't know what that means.

BOOTH: The scientist part of you got sidelined, temporarily.

BRENNAN: I still don't know what that means.
BOOTH: Bones, just, take the brain, okay, put it in neutral. Alright? Take the heart – pop it into overdrive.

(Booth inmates a car engine revving and pretends to drive. Brennan laughs.)

BRENNAN: Sometimes I think you're from another planet.

(Booth stops 'driving' and sits back up, across from her.)

BRENNAN: And sometimes I think you're really very nice.

Normally, the big thing with this scene would be the whole heart/brain speech. But see, that's typical Booth. He's given that speech tons of times already, just in different forms. What's big with this is when she goes “And sometimes I think you're really very nice.” Because he's given this speech, and others like it, to her many times before, many times when it was both just what she needed to hear and it was what the last thing she wanted to hear, and for the first time, she's verbally expressing her appreciation. She verbally acknowledges that she wants and need to hear what he's saying. And that's big.

BOOTH: Could Bones have killed Kirby? Temperance Brennan – I've worked with this woman. I've stood over death with her, I've faced down death with her. And Sweets, he's brilliant, he is, but he's wrong. She could not have done this.

BARRON: I didn't ask you your opinion of Dr. Brennan's character. I asked you, did she have time?
(Booth looks to Brennan and knows that once again, she needs him to tell the truth. This could be what saves her dad.)
BOOTH: Yes. She had time.



This part is just so great, and so meaningful for them. It absolutely positively kills him to have to say she could murder someone, even though he's really only say she had the time to kill him. It goes beyond any feelings he might have for her, it's not about that – it's about the fact that his partner, this woman, he sees how great a person she is, even though he may tease her about this or that, he sees that in her core, she is a good person, and he respects her so, so much for that.

In Which We Have Booth and Bones and A Baby. LET THE CUTENESS BEGIN.

Season 3, Episode 12

The Baby in the Bough

Ok, this one is especially amazing for me, because I'm one of those people. I'm one of those people who goes “BABYYYYYYYYYYYYY!” every time she sees a baby in any public place. I can't help it.

So naturally, this episode nearly makes me explode and get mushy fangirl goop everywhere.

Bones finally gets some real interaction with a baby. And, shocker of shocker, she starts to like it. Well, as she says, she starts to develop affection for the baby as a “natural bi-product of care-giving”, you know what, it's a start for someone who previously has been so against having a baby.

And Booth isn't really surprised when he sees her interactions with the baby, because he's known all along that once she actually got the chance to take care of a baby, she'd start to come around. Because he knows, better than anyone, that she's not really “as cold as everyone thinks”, as Bones says previously.

BOOTH: Yeah, okay. I know. I know. You know, with next year’s book, you should uh, you should get that second home in that town you saved. I mean, it only makes sense, right? Because every year, you know, plasmas, they go down, they get cheaper and cheaper–it happens all the time.

BRENNAN: Forget it.
BOOTH: What? I’m just saying. Andy’s going to miss his Auntie Bones. He’s going to want to see you. We could all go fishing, come back home, plop ourselves in front of that one hundred and three inch plasma screen of *heaven* and *football* and you can make the *five layer* dip.
BRENNAN: Seven layer dip.
BOOTH: Even better! Seven layers! Perfect! You can talk to Andy: hello Andy, little baby, little baby baby Andy–
(BRENNAN plugs his mouth with a pacifier. BOOTH sucks on it.)

FANGIRL MOMENT: I just love that part of the scene so much. Such a cute little pretty picture. <3

In Which We Have Booth And Bones and Sports. Oh, Dear.

Season 3, Episode 11

The Player Under Pressure

Booth and Bones and sports. Such a classic.

Booth gets so upset when Bones speaks out against sports not just because it's someone talking down on him, it's Bones talking down on him. He knows she doesn't think him and his personality and values always ideal in her mind, but when she speaks out like that, it still hurts him, because it's Bones, and he likes to think that she doesn't entirely think down on him.

DINER RECAP: Booth still sticking on the “oh, you think all athletes are just emotionally stunted”. Bones says “But I never meant you” so matter-of-factly. She assumed he knew, and he didn't. This is one of the times when they're out of synch, but it's good that they are. Otherwise it wouldn't be interesting. And like Zach said, the idea that one person can be absolutely everything to another person is just ludicrous. What matters is that 1) they're in synch with the really important things, and 2) when they aren't in synch with something, they can consciously get on the same track with each other once they realize there was a misunderstanding.

In Which She's As Serious As A Gas Attack

Season 3, Episode 10

The Man in the Mud

“Serious as a gas attack” “Heart attack, Bones” Really, nothing to say about this. I just love it when she gets idioms like that wrong.

Although, it can actually be said that her messed up idioms serve a purpose greater than another character trait for Bones; it acts as a way for Booth to correct Bones once in awhile in a concrete way. She corrects him all the time with science; he corrects her when it comes to life in general. We all know she has grown as a person immensely because of him; however, his “corrections” of her in this way are not concrete as are hers with him, but abstract, subjective. So, his correcting of her wrong idioms serve as a way to balance the score, matching concrete correction with concrete correction.

Sweets' point in them only talking about work – when they tend to discuss things and still get along, it's normally about work or stems from a work-related situation. They bicker more when talking about personal things, because it is too close to a conversation about them as a them, which they can't deal with .

NON B&B OBSERVATION: I adore whenever Brennan goes along with Sweets. Obviously, she still doesn't take much stock in psychology, but she accepts his statements from an anthropological point of view – she wants to understand his reasoning. She may not agree with his reasoning, but she understands it. It's the same with religious situations (and this is one way I relate to Bones) – she'll ask religious people questions about their religion not to mock them or tear down their beliefs, as Booth always thinks she is doing (or really, actually, makes like he thinks he thinks she's doing that in case she offends whomever she is asking) but to understand the reasoning better.

Booth, however, DOES take stock in psychology, which is why a lot of the time he is so much more against whatever Sweets is trying to do than Brennan is – he sees a real danger in something being uncovered about them, or, in something being twisted into making like there is something to be uncovered about them. Bones takes little to no stock in psychology, so she sees no danger of it doing anything.

Them both getting on Sweets, using his own terminology on him, perfect example of how he partly serves as a target for them to both bond together against. Gives them a common enemy to bond over that isn't a super-serious issue, like a murderer. Although now, especially with this episode as a turning point, Sweets isn't an enemy to them as much as like, that one annoying kid in the family that you just can't stand sometimes, but other times is super-smart and has those observations only children have the guts to say out loud.

NON B&B STATEMENT: I love Booth and the horse that he makes at the ceramics place on such an irrational level. It's just too adorable.

B&B STATEMENT: I love the clay fight Booth and Bones get into at the ceramics place on such an irrational level. IT'S JUST TOO ADORABLE.

In Which WE HAVE THE REAL KISS!

Season 3, Episode 9

The Santa in the Slush

Oh, The Santa in the Slush. This episode was such a turning point; positively earth-shattering at the time it aired.

Fun fact, I actually watched the past two seasons of Bones in a week in preparation for this episode. I had just started watching the show this season, and thanks to spoilers, I knew they were going to kiss about a week before the episode aired, and I wanted to know everything ~leading up to this point~, so I watched it all in week. For the longest time I couldn't discern episode from episode in seasons 1 and 2 because I watched them all so closely together.

Oh gosh, when he talks about her “sad little girl face” after seeing her dad - WHITE KNIGHT ALERT! He notices. He notices her moods. He notices her facial expressions. He notices with everyone, because he's good at that type of thing, but they way he goes about it with her, letting her know that he knows, is special, because he knows he can't push too hard. He knows more about her than she could ever know, and he knows that she can't know that he knows so much, you know?

And again, Booth pulling Brennan back from the street when the cars were going by – WHITE KNIGHT!

“I'm sorry you can't have Christmas with Parker”, Bones says. Great example of how she's started to grow. She knows that she can be as sorry as she wants, and it still won't change anything, but she's learned from him that things like that make people feel better. She doesn't always completely understand certain social things, but because of him, she is slowly starting to do them more, and the more she does them, the more she understands them.

Seems they go through phases where they get along, then bicker.

AND THE KISS! Let's go through this step by step:

Brennan goes about setting it all up, not giving him OR her any time to back out, Booth being totally WHAAAAAAAT, glance toward the misletoe before saying “Caroline's feeling puckish”, he's starting to warm up to the idea.

After “the cute little sprig” - Booth is still bugging out about it, trying to find a last minute excuse, but still, not refusing, not stepping away. Brennan's looking him down, moving forward, zooming in, because she knows she has to do this to get Christmas for her family, but there's an ever-so-slight hint of whimsy in her expression, which doesn't matter, and she knows it doesn't matter, because in a few seconds they'll have kissed, and none of that will matter.

FANGIRL ALERT: THE GRABBING OF THE LAPELS! Pretty much my favorite thing ever. So typically Brennan, of course, but more than just a “I'm in charge because I'm Brennan and I'm domineering” thing. The way she pulls him to her... it's desire. Which, once again, doesn't matter, and she knows this, at least on a subconscious level, because they're friggin' kissing, and even though they've done it before, it's different now. Yes, they were working together when they kissed before, but things have completely changed. They have both been in near-death situations with the other. They have been through emotional trauma. They know each other now. Before, all they knew was their chemistry. Now they know so much more.

And, of course, Caroline realizes all of this during the kiss, which is why she's so awkward about it afterward. She only ever had them do the kiss to begin with because she realized, as did they the first time they kissed, that they have this crazy off-the-charts chemistry. But she didn't know that had all this other shit, that they really knew each other, until she saw them kiss. Something extra was going on there, she saw it, and she never would have had them kiss had she known there was something extra going on.

And, of COURSE, they themselves are awkward about it afterward, because they both know, most likely not on a conscious level at this point but on a subconscious level, that something went on just there that they were totally not ready to deal with. So he went off to catch bad guys, and she went off to work with her bones. The same goes for the scene in the diner later with Sweets where they repeatedly insist that the kiss meant nothing, sex-wise or otherwise.

And, what I love even more than the kiss, believe it or not, is Booth setting up the tree for Bones. The acting in that scene is so perfect, there's no need at all to write anything about it. The cuts from “I love my gift, Booth” to “Merry Christmas, Bones” to her saying “Merry Christmas”... the looks on their faces are so perfect and telling that even to attempt to explain it all in words would still fall very, very short from what it truly is.

In Which WE HAVE THE CHEEK KISS!

Season 3, Episode 8

The Knight on the Grid

BOOTH: Cam, she goes nowhere alone.
BRENNAN: Cam, don’t listen to him.
BOOTH: Cam, Who are you more afraid of, me or her?
BRENNAN: Booth!
CAM: Whoa! So this is what it’s like to be a kindergarten teacher.

Protective!Booth really never gets old. Neither does Protective!Booth arguing with Bones about said protectiveness.

(Brennan and Booth stand in the doorway, watching Russ, Amy & Hayley)

BRENNAN: Thank you, Booth.
BOOTH: Oh, this never happened. Don’t thank me. As far as the bureau is concerned I
caught him here, fifteen minutes from now.
(Brennan leans up and kisses Booths cheek.)
BRENNAN: Thank you. Booth.
BOOTH: Just don’t tell anyone.

Oh, the check kiss. I love it more than most of their hugs. I love definitely more than the mistletoe kiss (although, it's a different story with the extended mistletoe kiss ;D). I can't even explain it. It's just so perfect. She has this partner, this man in her life, who is just such a good guy. And he'll go against the rules of his job, rules he takes very seriously, to do the right thing.

Well, partly to do the right thing, and partly because it'll make her happy.

And she knows this. And this all hits her at once, and it's... the only phrase to really explain it is a “surge of love”, despite the fact that it sounds really gross. So she kisses his cheek.

And he's certainly not expecting it. He's not ready to deal with it. You can see in his face, hear in his foot stomp. He's not expecting this surge of feeling from her, and it throws him off-guard.

But, it's a good thing.

D'AW. <3

BRENNAN: I'm fine, I'm fine. I’m okay, I’m okay.

(He moves her away from the car and places her on the pavement as he flops down next to her.)
BOOTH: Here. Get over here. The paramedics are on their way.
BRENNAN: Now he knew who we were because I was sitting up front.
BOOTH: No. It was because you were bad acting, that’s what it was.
BRENNAN: What? Back at the vau-? I was good.
BOOTH: No, you were loud! That’s what they call overacting.
BRENNAN: Well, you shouldn’t have shushed me! That’s how he knew-

Here, you have the basic “It seems like I'm angry as hell at you, but really that anger is just disguised fear and worry over the thought of you getting hurt.” And it works marvelously. I mean, it's so obvious – the look on his face when he looks over at her after the crash, his urgency in getting her out. He's flipped out as hell. Because Bones getting hurt... he can't even think about it. It scares him too much, because he cares about her too much.

And, one last thing: the way she says “Bethesda” the second time (Bethesda) cracks me up every single time. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

In Which He "Evolves"

Season 3, Episode 7

The Boy in the Time Capsule

Their whole thing in this episode is so great. It really truly hurts her when he laughs at her embarrassing story. Guys like the guy he was in high school made her life hell in then, and so for her to realize that he was one of those guys (key word “was”, but even so), one of those guys that, had she known him then, would have made her life hell just like the rest of them, is very difficult for her to take.

And of course, he can't really understand this, because he was Mr. Jock. He never had to deal with that kind of thing.

The story he ends up telling, though, is similarly something she can't understand. He didn't do the right thing, and for a guy like Booth to not do the right thing, it is humiliating. Brennan never had to deal with that, because she was the object of all these not-doing-the-right-thing things.

NON B&B OBSERVATION: It's always bugged me when she says that Booth evolved. THAT'S NOT HOW EVOLUTION WORKS. Individuals cannot evolve, populations evolve. An anthropologist like Bones (hell, any person of any profession with her intelligence) would know that like their own name. And it's a tad disturbing to me that nobody on the Bones cast or crew knew that either.

But, anyway.

BRENNAN: Did you bring that for me?
BOOTH: No.
BRENNAN: Good, because it's the wrong Smurf. I liked Smurfette. That's Brainy Smurf.
BOOTH: Well, Smurfette was a stupid, shallow Smurf who only had her looks. Look, you're better than Smurfette. You have your looks and a whole lot more.
BRENNAN: You did bring that for me to charm me in case I didn't find your humiliation story impressive, but I did, so ...
BOOTH: Aha! So I did impress you.
BRENNAN: That's what impressive means, dummy. You're such a Philistine.
BOOTH: (he laughs) I'll tell you what. You can hold on to this, and it will remind you how far I've come.
BRENNAN: (taking the Smurf from Booth) I forgive you for snorting, Booth.
BOOTH: Evolution is a long, long process. It takes hundreds of years.
BRENNAN: Thousands.
BOOTH: Why do you have to always correct me?
BRENNAN: To help you evolve.

Despite the misleading usage of “evolve” (although she did get it right in that it takes thousands of years), this conversation is pure gold. Just so great. And it shows that he's not just the dumb jock anymore – a not-so-bright guy would just get her the smurfette like she wanted. But not only did he figure out that that was completely wrong for her, he was willing to take a risk and get her the brainy smurf, even though it might piss her off.

And any time when he, indirectly or otherwise, calls her “pretty” is a gem in my book.

(and I may or may not like to think that somewhere, maybe on her beside table, or on a little shelf somewhere, or on her desk at home, she has the brainy smurf and Jasper the pig, side-by-side.)

In Which He Knows All Her Passwords

Season 3, Episode 6

The Intern in the Incinerator

His knowing of all her passwords?

TOO PERFECT. IN A GOOD WAY.

<3

BOOTH: You were hoping that it was gorgonzola. (they take the shots)
BRENNAN: Gormogon.
BOOTH: Ah! So you admit it!
BRENNAN: Accidentally! Does- does that count?
BOOTH: Yes. Look, all the scientists and the squints and the eggheads, they wanted it to be a serial killer so it wouldn’t be one of them.
BRENNAN: Them?
BOOTH: You.
BRENNAN: Me?
BOOTH: One of you. You were all offended that it was one of you.
BRENNAN: You know what? I am offended.
BOOTH: I just said that. (pours another shot)
BRENNAN: I’m offended! Because . . .
BOOTH: Because you were betrayed by one of your own.
BRENNAN: Yes. Are you going to betray me?
BOOTH: No. (they toast)
BRENNAN: Nonetheless, I shall be vigilant. (they take the shots)
BOOTH: “Nonetheless”? (they laugh)
BRENNAN: I’m not gonna’ have a headache tomorrow, am I?
BOOTH: Well, we’re gonna’ find out. Hodgins and Jack, they do their experiments. We do ours. (they toast) To Gorgonzola.
BRENNAN: Gormogon. (they take the shots, sit the cups down and before Brennan can crush hers, it falls of the table)
BOOTH: You missed. (laughs)

The only thing better than Drunk!Booth, is Drunk!Booth and Drunk!Brennan.

Oh my gosh, “Are you going to betray me?”

He won't betray her. He says “no” more definitely than he's said anything on the whole show.

He'll never betray Bones.

She'll be vigilant, nonetheless, because that's Bones. She can't trust.

But he won't betray her.

(well, that can be argued, depending on your definition of "betrayal", which we'll examine later on)

In Which I Fangirl Wonder Woman Just A Tad

Season 3, Episode 5

Mummy in the Maze

Let me start this by saying if you are of the opinion that Catwoman is better than Wonder Woman, get out. Now.

On the list of things I am a fan of, along with Bones, near the top of the list, is Wonder Woman. I will argue till the day I die that she is the best superhero. I am dying to go to Comic-Con for two reasons: 1) to go to the Bones panel, and 2) I live for any excuse to wear my Wonder Woman costume.

This has absolutely no relevance to the post. I'm not going to say anything about Wonder Woman in relation to B&B.

It's just that Brennan wears a Wonder Woman costume for a good portion of the episode, and it's in my blood to take any opportunity to talk about Wonder Woman.

BRENNAN: I'm sorry you had to kill someone. I know you hate that.

BOOTH: Yeah, he had it coming.
BRENNAN: You hate it. I'm sorry that happened to you.
BOOTH: We saved the girl. That's a pretty good date.
BRENNAN: Except not really a date.
BOOTH: I know. It was...
BRENNAN: ... work.  Not a date.
BOOTH: Really, really hard one.
BRENNAN: And we're not really Wonder Woman and Clark Kent. We're Brennan and Booth.
BOOTH: Look, you're the one who brought up the date analogy.
Brennan and Booth share a moment of silence.
BRENNAN: You hungry?
Booth puts on the nerdy glasses again.
BOOTH: Yeah.

I'll quote Angela quoting Hamlet (well, actually, his mom) in the beginning of the series:

“Me thinks the lady doth protest too much.”

Mmmmmmmhm.

In Which Bones Discovers That Hay Is, Indeed, For Horses

Season 3, Episode 3

Death in the Saddle

BOOTH: Hey.

BRENNAN: Hay is for horses!
BOOTH: Heeey, that’s funny, Bones!
BRENNAN: I found it on this website about horses.
BOOTH: Yeah?
BRENNAN: Where do horses stay in a hotel?
BOOTH: Bridle suite.
BRENNAN: ...That’s correct.

As lovely as it is to see her develop socially and emotionally, Clueless!Bones is just so great to watch. Her disappointment when Booth gets the joke is absolutely priceless.

BOOTH: I didn’t lose my appetite because you mentioned horse meat, I lost my appetite because you made me think about all those people parading around, pretending to be something they aren’t, just so they could have crappy sex.

BRENNAN: How do you know it’s crappy?
BOOTH: Gotta be, Bones, come on! It’s gotta be!
BRENNAN: Why?!
BOOTH: Why? I’ll tell you why. Here we are. All of us are basically alone, separate creatures just circling each other. All searching for that slightest hint of a real connection. Some look in the wrong places. Some, they just give up hope because in their mind they’re thinking ‘Oh, there’s nobody out there for me.’ But all of us, we keep trying over, and over again. Why? Because every once in a while, every once in a while, two people meet. And there’s that spark. And yes Bones, he’s handsome. And she’s beautiful. And maybe that’s all they see at first... But making love? Making. Love. That’s when two people become one.
BRENNAN: It is... scientifically impossible for two objects to occupy the same space.
BOOTH: Yeah, but what’s important is we try. And when we do it right, we get close.
BRENNAN: To what? Breaking the laws of physics?
BOOTH: Yeah, Bones. A miracle. Those people- role-playing and their fetishes and their little sex games- It’s crappy sex. Well, at least compared to the real thing.
BRENNAN: (Considering) You’re right.
BOOTH: (Defensive) Yeah, but- Wait a second, I just won that argument?
BRENNAN: Yup.

His speech is almost too cheesy to me. Almost. But it isn't actually too cheesy, because it's Booth. And it's Bones. And he has an explanation even after she tries to defer his conclusion.

“And yes Bones, he’s handsome. And she’s beautiful. And maybe that’s all they see at first...”

Knowing what we know of their past now, this can totally be taken as a shout-out to that. He was handsome, she was beautiful, and that's all they saw at first. They didn't actually know each other then. So, then, it wouldn't have been “making love”. And so the Creator of their Universe didn't let it happen.

But now that they know each other, once it happens, it will be.

In Which That's What They Are: Coffee.

Season 3, Episode 4

The Secret in the Soil

This episode has one of my favorite scenes EVER with them. I know I say that a lot, but I really mean it. Probably my favorite non-physical scene with them, and if I really thought about it and chose my favorite scenes, it'd definitely end up in the top five.

But more on that later.

SWEETS: Agent Booth, you've been trying to intimidate me since the moment you stepped in here. And you've succeeded.

And we meet Dr. Lance Sweets. Booth and Brennan fanboy extraordinaire. I mean, come on. He writes a mother flipping book about them. You don't get more fanboy than that.

BOOTH: Yeah, you know what, you're right. So what do you say we go check... Bones, was that you?

BRENNAN: Was what me?
BOOTH: That smell.
BRENNAN: I don't know what you're talking about.
BOOTH: Come on. Why don't girls just admit it? It's a natural bodily function. You're a scientist.
BRENNAN: Booth, I don't...That had to be you.
BOOTH:: It wasn't me!
BRENNAN: "He who smelt it, dealt it."
BOOTH: How do you even know that phrase?

Heeheeheeheeheeheehee.

And that is all I have to say on that matter.

SWEETS: Yeah, that's good, Agent Booth. Now let the anger lead you to the fear. You can't be whole, you can't do your job to its fullest, unless you get in touch with that fear you feel. Now Dr. Brennan and I are going to close our eyes. Follow the anger, all right? Feel it? Feel it softening. You feel that?

(BOOTH and BRENNAN both snicker, as BOOTH gets his text.)
SWEETS: Very mature, guys.

This part of why I love Sweets so much – especially in these early episodes, he acts as a sort of common “enemy” (although not so much “enemy” as “mocking target”) for them, a thing they can agree on when they can't seem to agree on much else.

Nothing to do with anything, but I just kind of love what the transcriber put in the action comments for this part:

(BRENNAN and BOOTH walk in the door as BOOTH complains about the latex gloves. Alas! Booth wears gloves like a squint instead of poking at things with his pen! Success!)

Hahahaha.

SWEETS: You don't seem too happy.
BOOTH: Well, because sometimes, if you win, you end up with somebody else's pain and screwed-up life. You work for the FBI, you should know that.
SWEETS: Must be a challenge for you to access those feelings.
BRENNAN: Okay, stop. You don't know Booth. You don't know me, you have a limited view of us based on superficial data you've accumulated on a standardized questionnaire, and a subjective analysis from talking to us that is not at all scientific, so back off.



Oh, Bones. <3 We see Booth be protective quite a bit, and it's so refershing to see Bones reciprocate that.



SWEETS: You complement each other.
BOOTH: No, she never compliments me. Did you compliment me in the questionnaire?
BRENNAN: "Complement," not "compliment." "Ple." He means that we complete each other, as a team.



And I love this, I love the way she explains it to him. Not condescending, but much like a mentor to a student. A lot like when he explains emotional situations to her or when he helps her with her own emotional situations.



But, this, this is my favorite part of the whole thing, the part that makes it one of my favorite scenes ever:
SWEETS: There's clearly a very deep emotional attachment between you two.
BOOTH: We're just partners.
SWEETS: And why do you think I would have thought otherwise?
BOOTH: 'Cause you're 12.
BRENNAN: Don't read into anything that Booth said. We're professionals. There's a line that doesn't even need to be there.
BOOTH: Not at all, I mean, if there were no more murders, I would probably not even, you know, see her.
BRENNAN: That's very true.
BOOTH: Might have coffee.
BRENNAN: Probably not.
BOOTH: What?
BRENNAN: What?
BOOTH: You wouldn't even have coffee with me?
BRENNAN: Well, in your scenario, we wouldn't even know each other because there are no murders.
BOOTH: “Were”. I said "no more murders."
BRENNAN: Then fine. I mean, we could have a coffee. So that's clear, then? I mean, we'd have coffee and that's our relationship? Coffee.
BOOTH: Yeah, let's move on.

Oh my god, the way he says “What?” and “You wouldn't even have coffee with me?” breaks my damn heart EVERY TIME. He is so obviously hurt when he thinks she means that she wouldn't have coffee with him after all they've been through. And the way they struggle to get the other one to understand what exactly they meant.

AND LOOK AT SWEETS' FACE. LOOK AT IT. HE IS SO SHIPPING THEM, ALREADY.

And how intent Booth is to move on once he realizes Bones doesn't completely hate him and his heart isn't shattered.

And those little sidelong awkward glances they throw towards each other afterward.

DO YOU SEE WHY I LOVE IT SO MUCH?!

The conversation becomes a meaningful thing so quickly and unexpectedly that they're unable to avoid it like they normally do, and once it's over, they realize, “Oh shit, it was a thing. And it was meaningful.” And so they just try to move on and forget it and are all awkward about it.

And there sits Sweets the Fanboy, completely aware of what has just happened.

In Which We Have Drunk!Booth

Season 3, Episode 2

The Soccer Mom in the Mini-Van

Again, most character stuff wasn't revolved around B&B, but this time, around Brennan's situation with her father.

Booth played a part, of course.

BOOTH: What? As opposed to what? Sugar coating it? 'Hey, what do you say we go to the park oh and by the way, your mom just got blown up?' How's your dad? You haven't mentioned him.
BRENNAN: Apparently, his feet hurt.
BOOTH: You know, I mean his spirits.
BRENNAN: Well, he's a con man, Booth. He's always cheerful.
BOOTH: What? That's it?
BRENNAN: It's not like I ever really had a father. Max was absent for years.
BOOTH: Well, here's what I know. I know that Nash girl would give anything to spend one more day with her mother. I'm sure you'd feel the same way if something happened to your father.



Typical Booth/Bones, right there. Bones has an emotional situation she doesn't know how to deal with, or that she wants to deal with the wrong way, and Booth helps her out. Nothing to do with them, but at the same time, everything to do with them, because that's what they do. He tells her what she doesn't want to hear because it'll help her out in the end. And he wants her to be happy.

BRENNAN: I saw my father.

BOOTH: Wow. I didn't think that you were gonna – do that.
BRENNAN: As an Anthropologist, I accept change as the natural order of things - but with him I didn't allow for transformation. Ya know, I predicated his behavior based on a set of outmoded preconceptions. It wasn't rational.
BOOTH: Wow. I - I didn't get any of that.
BRENNAN: If I was conducting an objective experiment on my father, observing his behavior, I'd have to conclude that he loves me.
BOOTH: Hmm. Why? What happened?
BRENNAN: We played cards.
BOOTH: Cool.
BRENNAN: I killed him.
BOOTH: Good for you.

Oh, Drunk!Booth makes me smile.

FANGIRL MOMENT: Oh man, when he kind of falls against her at the end... say it with me now: TOO. CUTE.

In Which They Must Hold

Season 3, Episode 1

The Widow's Son in the Windshield

FANGIRL MOMENT: When he's on top of her when he thinks a bomb is going to go off in the vault... oh yes, please. Heehee. <3

Most of the B&B-related stuff in this one is mostly Brennan avoiding going in the field, Booth wanting to know, and him eventually figuring out that she's mad because he didn't stop Zach from going to Iraq, and most of his explanation for that is, well, self-explanatory.

But then, there's this:

BOOTH: Look, there’s something else I gotta know, and it’s important. We solid?

BRENNAN: You and me? Yeah!
BOOTH: No, not just you and me. Squints, too. Zack is back for good. Angela and Hodgins have their head back in the game. Cam, she’s locked in.
BRENNAN: Why are you asking me this?
BOOTH: Because. You and me – the center.
BRENNAN: (Nods) And the center must hold.
BOOTH: Right. So, are we gonna hold?
BRENNAN: Yeah. We’ll hold. We’re the center.
BOOTH: The center. (She holds out her hand. He cautiously takes it. And she shakes it.)



The center must hold. Which, in a way, is putting a further moratorium on them as a couple, because they can't be having emotional what-nots while the rest of the team is depending on them to hold. But, in another way, it's also a promise of sorts, that they're never going to get so angry or upset at each other that they can't be together, work or otherwise. Because they're the center, and they're going to hold. So if shit happens, they'll work through it.

It's a promise that they will hold, not just for the team, but for themselves.