Bones season 8 premiere recap: Bones is back with a vengeance

The best season finale cliffhanger of Bones ever was definitely Brennan’s “I’m pregnant, Booth” at the end of season six. On the other hand, the setup from last season’s cliffhanger made for a more interesting first episode back and set up what seems like will be an intriguing season of crime fighting and forensic anthropology.

Last Season

When we left off in the spring, Brennan had been framed for murder by a computer genius/serial killer with a really creepy smile by the name of Christopher Pelant. She had just gone on the run with her father and her and Booth’s daughter, Christine. Booth was left behind so that he could continue trying to catch Pelant and avoid becoming an accomplice. Of course, given Booth’s over-protective nature, this was not by choice. Brennan decided to run off without him. I’m assuming she brought Christine with her rather than leave her in Booth’s care because being on the run is somehow safer? Although honestly, when it comes to keeping a baby safe, my money’s on Booth.

Blonde Bones

When we catch up with Brennan she has been on the run for three months and is wearing a TERRIBLE blonde wig as a disguise.

She is in some kind of mysterious contact with Angela involving flowers left at undisclosed locations to let her know all is well, and with which Angela will inform her when she’s figured out how to clear her name. Suffice it to say, when Hodgins finds out they’re communicating in flower-code he is STOKED. She and her father are also looking into Pelant’s past, which is how they discover this week’s disgusting dead body.

Brennan and Booth are reunited when Brennan gets the word out for them to meet up. For some reason Booth is still on the defensive when she opens the door and Brennan reacts by pinning him down…and then he pins her down. Ahem, sorry, did it just get a little toasty in here?

But throughout the episode, it seems like Booth is harboring some resentment over being left behind and helpless to protect his family. He says that Brennan did the right thing, but I have a feeling this will come up again.

Oh, and don’t worry, Brennan dyes her hair back at the end of the episode.

The Case

The squints are investigating a dead body in the woods and when Angela finds a flower-message from Brennan, she realizes that the body is somehow connected to Pelant. As it turns out, a counselor at Pelant’s high school went missing and Brennan figured out where the body was thanks to science and being a genius (Booth understands the specifics of this one because, as he cutely explains, he missed Brennan and read her books while she was gone).

Caroline and Sweets have been sidelined thanks to some hacker handiwork from our villain making it look like Caroline was taking bribes. Luckily, Angela pulls off her own hacker-magic and does manage to prove that she is innocent, although she can’t trace it back to Pelant. Can you even imagine if I knew anything about technology? These recaps would be so much more informative. Anyway, when Sweets is back on the case he analyzes a letter of recommendation given to Pelant from the dead counselor and discovers, based on writing patterns, that Pelant wrote it himself. So now they definitely suspect Pelant of committing the murder, but they still need physical evidence to prove it.

Brennan tries to analyze the bones through photos Booth brings her but she insists on seeing the actual remains. Luckily, Jeffersonian security doesn’t find it the slightest bit suspicious when Cam takes them all out to dinner and sends them home early a couple of nights in a row, leaving the lab completely unguarded for Brennan’s use. Combined with information she has about Pelant’s past (namely that he was a fat kid), she’s able to determine what type of murder weapon was used. Booth obtains a warrant, finds the murder weapon, and has the satisfaction of arresting Pelant.

The Twist

Pelant isn’t really Pelant at all but actually an Egyptian immigrant with a completely different name! Or possibly he did something hackery to make it appear as if he were that person? Either way, he is off the hook and on his way back to Egypt, which means he will definitely be back to cause trouble. And it seems that he has help on the inside.

Throughout the episode Special Agent Flynn is doing Booth’s job while Booth has been demoted to desk jockey and investigating secretly. The team is keeping Flynn out of the loop for the most part. At the end of the episode he’s hanging out with our team and toasting and celebrating and I thought to myself, why do we care about this person? He must be up to no good. Well he had a distinctly up to no good look on his face at the end of the episode.

Hodgins and Pelant

At one point Angela sends Hodgins to leave a flower-message for Brennan in a graveyard. Pelant knows about the meet-up because…hacking stuff? Hacking to an email, I believe. So Pelant meets Hodgins there. Hodgins warns him that if he threatens any of them he will kill him. Pelant calls him on it and almost tauntingly tells him that he’s read his file and he knows that Hodgins is harmless. Hodgins snaps.

He strangles Pellant and calmly explains to him that he is going to die and there’s nothing his genius brain can do about it and OH MY GOD it is so intense and unsettling. He strangles him to the point of passing out but he’s thrown off by Pelant’s creepy ass smile near the end and that snaps him out of it. He realizes that, you know, killing someone could turn out to be bad mmkay. This kind of freaks me out. There have been a couple of references to Hodgins being “harmless” and I hope what this means is that he is harmless and not that the show is setting us up to prove everyone wrong because Hodgins is my favorite ever.

Another intriguing character revelation is that there is a part of Pelant that wants to die, or at least wants one of them to kill him. Is he so hell-bent on their destruction that the thought of one of them going down and having his life ruined over him makes him happy? Is there a part of him that feels remorse over the multiple murders and doesn’t care about dying?

A Promising Premiere

This season premiere had all of the elements that I enjoy most about this show: Booth being hot, Booth and Brennan being hot together, Brennan looking at bones and being a genius, Hodgela, and an intriguing serial killer arc (yeah, I know some of you guys hate them, but I think they bring the show together and add excitement). I’m optimistic about the season. What did you guys think?