Bones Review: The Boy With the Answer

Dark, propulsive, surprisingly layered, brilliantly acted, ingeniously edited and tremendously satisfying. That pretty much sums up the penultimate episode of Bones season five. It’s the episode I’ve been waiting for all season, though I didn’t realize how badly I wanted it until I saw it: The Gravedigger’s trial.

The Gravedigger is the Jeffersonian’s most terrifying nemesis, more ruthless than Gormogon, more sociopathic and twisted than Howard Epps. Amongst countless other victims, the Gravedigger kidnapped and buried alive Brennan and Hodgins in season two and Booth in season four. Finally, the team won out and captured the killer: Heather Taffet, a former federal prosecutor.

Hodgins has been plagued by nightmares of his ordeal ever since it occurred, but would you believe that the seemingly impervious Dr. Temperance Brennan has been having them too? The episode’s teaser—shot like an avant-garde music video type of deal—is a dream sequence (I know, I know, dream sequences…) showing us the emotional trauma Taffet has inflicted on Brennan. Man, this crazy bitch has got to go down. The problem: even though everyone knows she did it, the case against Taffet is far from a slam dunk.

For the prosecution: the inimitable Caroline Julian. For the defense: Taffet herself. That’s right, just like all the crazies do, Taffet is representing herself. And after she succeeds in getting all of the evidence the team had against her thrown out of court, everyone has to race against time to find some more. Meanwhile, Brennan finds herself facing the same problem she faced in the great season one episode “The Girl in the Fridge”: connecting with a jury.

Max comes back (finally) and shows his ex-con true colors. Ryan O’Neal and David Boreanaz get a couple of great scenes together. Also, Brennan and Hodgins spar a little bit about their different responses to their shared Gravedigger trauma. But the real high points of the episode are watching Deirdre Lovejoy’s completely evil performance and the really slick editing, as well as gaining a surprising, emotional insight into Brennan: how weary she has grown with working murder cases. Never before in the show’s history have we seen her tangibly react to any of the grisly crime scenes and gooey dead bodies they encounter every week. But as she finds the body of a ten-year-old boy The Gravedigger buried, a look of disgust and despair crosses Emily Deschanel’s face. Finally, after five years, Temperance Brennan may have burned herself out.

Booth of course sees this change in his partner, but he tries to talk her down, convince her that she is just stressed out by the trial and that soon things will be back to normal. But I think deep down he fears that he is going to lose her. Ironically, in the 100^th episode Brennan seemed terrified of not having Booth as her partner or in her life anymore; now that fear is Booth’s. The incredibly complex emotional dynamics between Booth and Bones that the show often manages to achieve are what really set it apart from every other procedural on the air. Great episode that almost could have worked as the season finale. That makes me really excited to see what we get next week.

Season 5, Episode 21: The Boy With the Answer (originally aired May 13, 2010)

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