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Although
the series presents a pair of main characters, with FBI Special Agent Seely
Booth who would at least be officially in charge of the investigation in
each case, the fact is that Brennan, who he calls just Bones and
considers his partner (although she doesn’t belong to the bureau), is the one
to be personally involved in their resolution.
I
discovered this series when it arrived on Sky TV in 2008 (in Italy), out of
curiosity, following David Boreanaz from his previous show, “Angel” (the
vampire cursed with a soul from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, which I have never watched) and it immediately got me.
I loved
the character of Brennan, extremely intelligent, pragmatic, rational, saying what she thought
without filters, in practice a former nerd become successful, but without falling
into a simplistic cliché. Brennan was brilliant both for her talent and the
fact that it had been sharpened by the intense study and almost obsessive
passion for the latter. I must say that in my small way, being myself a
person tending towards perfectionism, I used to identify in her. These
characteristics made her unpredictable - you didn’t know what she would
say or do in each episode - and almost magical. In fact, with a
simple look at the bones of the victims she could determine gender, race,
sometimes age, and even the type of job they used to do.
The one between
her and Agent Booth - intuitive, emotional, and a believer - was therefore an
increasingly challenging conflict that kept the interest high, regardless
of the individual cases.
As the seasons
went on, something has necessarily changed. The two characters have come to
interact until the obvious romantic outcome and the differences between the
two have been blunted. As I said, it was necessary, because in so many
seasons you could not expect to keep the same pattern, which would eventually
become repetitive and boring, once exhausted the initial surprise, but maybe it’s
also one of the reasons why such stories work better in a shorter context, such
as movies and miniseries.
Faced with
this change, the writers have done their best to increase the interest in the
other characters, whose subplots are well-finished, while the various crimes
have always been a bit in the background.
Exceptions
are some stories that were spread across multiple episodes, such as the cannibal
serial killer Gorgomon in the third season or evil hacker Christopher
Pelant, who even appears in three of them (the seventh, eighth, and ninth),
and of course the fact that each season tends to end with a cliff-hanger,
thus ensuring that the story is resumed at the beginning of the next one.
The
remaining episodes are stand-alone, and except for small elements of the subplots, missing some of them has
almost no effect on the general understanding of the series.
The sum of
the merits and defects of “Bones” has caused it to be renewed from year
to year and now it has come to a twelfth season, which will also be the final
one. No doubt it is therefore considered a successful series that reached
its physiological term.
As many
know, the character of Temperance Brennan owes its name to the protagonist of
the series of novels by Kathy Reichs.
Actually
the bond is quite weak, because the two characters have as common element,
apart from the name, just the job of forensic anthropologist. None of the
episodes comes from a specific novel. Indeed, it seems that the basic idea
came from the project of a documentary on Reichs, who is in fact a forensic
anthropologist, and then Brennan from “Bones” would be more like a
transposition of the author on the small screen. Moreover, at one point in
the series, Brennan began writing novels, whose protagonist is named Kathy
Reichs, stirring even more reality and fiction. Reichs also says that the
series could be seen as a prequel of her novels, since her Brennan is
older than the character played by Deschanel.
Anyway you
look at it, we are faced with a mixture of fiction, TV, and real life, which
makes, if possible, “Bones” even more original.
Forensic
science is,
however, so quickly shown that, in my opinion, does not offer particularly
interesting insights. The presence of physical evidence is functional to
the killer’s discovery and the latter is facilitated by alternative
technologies, actually science fiction ones, which have the purpose
of entertaining, often through the comic element, rather than to let the public
learn a particular scientific aspect.
Then there
are a few interesting guest stars, like Ryan O’Neal in the role of Brennan’s father
with a criminal past or the pop star Cyndi Lauper, who plays a psychic, - both recurring
characters - and a good dose of dark humour, that hovers in all seasons,
lightening the heavy themes.
In each
episode there is, in fact, least one fleshless and/or dismembered corpse,
but it is always represented in a not too gruesome manner, avoiding to
keep the emphasis on the evident brutality of the crimes, even if the vision to
children is far from recommended.
The whole
is topped, in my opinion, with an excessive righteousness (typical of
mainstream TV) and a clear distinction between what is absolutely right and
what is absolutely wrong, leaving no room to the existence of intermediate
situations, which are normal in the real world.
It is
still a fun series
that you watch without force yourself to too many reflections and that, like it
or not, brings you to follow it to the end.
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