Bones…James Bones

Yes, you guessed it. This week, Temperance Brennan and Seeley Booth find themselves in unfamiliar territory: international espionage. And the killer they’re after may just be James Bond. He used a Walther PPK and he drives an Aston Martin. His victim: a diamond courier with a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. The killer sneaks up behind the courier in a dark parking garage, blasts him and then cuts off his hand so he can speed away with the briefcase. But what’s inside? We have a classic MacGuffin on our hands.

Brennan and Booth show up on the scene. Booth’s big dilemma this week is that he has a leaky sink, and post-coma he can’t quite recall his plumbing skills. To pay a plumber would cost $800, which he can’t and doesn’t want to afford. Brennan offers to pay for it, as her latest book is cleaning up on the bestseller list. Her publisher even gave her a celebratory Rolex. Sweets suggests instead that Brennan help Booth remember his skills and allow him to teach her how to do it. Just once in their relationship, Brennan should be the student and not the master. It would make Booth feel good to be able to have some kind of specialized knowledge that Brennan doesn’t have that he can hold over her. But first they have to solve a murder, and this is a case that sends Hodgins full on into his government conspiracy theories. He’s happy like a pig in…you know. It’s fun to watch.

Complicating matters though is the State Department. A young official shows up and tells Booth that this case has to be handled with discretion, because the victim had diplomatic clearance and the matter could be a national security threat. Mr. State Department questions whether or not Booth is the right man for the job. Naturally, Booth bristles and brings up his experience as an Army Ranger and his impeccable record. Booth also has to deal with a prickly CIA guy after they find another body…the body of James Bond, stuffed into the trunk of his Aston Martin with his CIA badge still pinned to him. Turns out the guy wasn’t an agent though, merely an analyst. Not that that’s a bad thing, I mean Jack Ryan started out as a CIA analyst and look how much ass he’s kicked.

For a minute, I thought we might be in trouble because the revolving-door intern thing started again this week. But at least there was a point: Wendell, the nice, poor guy that isn’t nearly as annoying as the other interns, lost his scholarship due to funding cutbacks. The Jeffersonian gang have to figure out how to let him down gently. Of course, you know that someone will arrange for him to be able to stay. But who does it is a suprise.

From there, we get a series of power struggles, hidden maps, and scary cats. This is a fairly lighthearted episode, but unlike several of the shows from last season, it is lighthearted without being stupid. It’s a good mystery, and the tonal balance is right; it works. There’s also a couple of really strong Booth/Brennan scenes towards the end, the scenes that make the show what it is. I think the season is shaping up rather strongly and consistently, and as a devoted fan that’s great news.

Season 5, Episode 2: The Bond in the Boot (originally aired September 25, 2009)

For more on Bones, click here.

Thursdays at 8/7c on Fox

Photographs courtesy of Fox and IMDbPro