Bones recap: Watch out ladies, Sweets is playing the field

Within the first five minutes I already like this episode. It opens with a murder scene. Like, a scene showing a murder happen, not the location of a murder. It’s a nice change from the usual goofy, no-name characters happening upon a gruesome corpse that is the norm on Bones. It’s a formula that I have to admit has gotten a bit tired for me.  I know there are only so many ways to set up a murder to be solved, but I hope they mix it up a little more often this season.

So the scene! We see a man walk through a dark parking garage and a shadowy figure is watching him. There’s a Big Gulp cup on the roof of his car, and when he grabs it to move it, BAM, the biggest explosion of all time ever.

Because this is Bones, we get to see all the little bits go flying in gratuitous “they can show that on TV?” slow motion. Later, when the team is scraping up the remains for study, the intestines fall off the ceiling and onto Hodgins’ face. I love this show.

The Case

The gist is this: The team IDs the remains from a facial reconstruction, but when they go to inform his spouse that her husband is deceased, he shows up. The wife is pretty pissed off and starts whacking Sweets and whathaveyou, which is pretty fun. As it turns out, the victim was adopted and had a twin which neither of them knew about. Sweets uses the fact that even twins separated at birth tend to be uncannily similar to find the real identity of the victim. It turns out that they both have overbearing wives who are less than happy about the fact that they belong to a New Agey self-help cult that sucks them of their money.

The New Girl

This is not a reference to the younger Deschanel, but in fact Agent Sparling, the green FBI agent who has stepped in to shake things up between Sweets and Daisy! I am a fan of this development for several reasons.

1. I love Sweets and storylines related to Sweets.
2. The most redeemable thing about Daisy to me is that Sweets loves (loved?) her. Right after that is her interaction with Hodgins. Most of the time she’s a bit much for me.
3. The relationships on this show are pretty set in stone at this point. If anything happened to permanently break up BB or Hodgela it would be borderline unforgivable. It’s nice to mix up the status quo and bring in new characters.

Now I will admit that at first I was very annoyed at her for not taking Sweets seriously and underestimating him, before I remembered that he has had to prove himself to every single person he has ever worked with (did I mention that I love Sweets?). I was also surprised that they addressed his attraction to her and even had a kiss so quickly. I mean, I’m a Bones fan, I’m used to the slow, slow, slow burn. It was a bit blatant that this was “meet Sweets’ new love interest!” which makes me wonder how long she’ll last, but that’s ok.

Let’s talk about Booth and Sweets. I found it downright delightful when Booth started psychoanalyzing Sweets. He observed that Sweets seemed to be overcompensating in his relationship with Daisy by buying her gifts and that he was overly defensive when this was pointed out. Angela did the same thing later when Sweets said that he was “with” Daisy, not that he loves her. Oh how the tables have turned, Mr. Sweets! Angela was also the one who called him out for being attracted to Sparling, and adorably backed him up when Sparling doubted his abilities.

Booth and Brennan

Last week Booth and Brennan were fighting and pulling away from each other, but things seem to be back on track this week. I mean, they’re bickering about the same things they always do. Brennan wants to get something expensive for the baby but Booth can’t deal with the fact that Brennan makes more money than he does. Their relationship is so weird. I would say, come on guys, you share a life together, just share your income and stop stressing so much. But last week Brennan was all “we’re not married I’m an independent person” (which I found pretty hurtful considering how much Booth wants to get married), so I don’t know, maybe they’re not there yet. It just seems like they’ve been married for, like, 3 seasons now (minus she-who-must-not-be-named).

Anyway, there may be a solution to their never-ending money argument in the form of a promotion for Booth. He spends the episode doing bureaucratic desk job BS until near the end of the episode when he has the choice between the presentation that will guarantee him a promotion and going after the bad guy before he can kill someone else. Being the man of action he is, he chooses the latter.

What’s great though is that throughout the episode, Bones is trying so hard to be supportive and act excited about the prospect of his promotion. It is a great example of her character growth and growing sensitivity to the needs of those closest to her. Motherhood really has softened her in a really genuine way, and I think that’s pretty cool to see. In the end she’s glad that she can still go into the field with him.

The End

If you want to be spoiled on the ending, here it is: The victim’s twin was planning to give all his money to the cult and move to their compound in Colorado, so his wife hired a professional hit on him. Unfortunately, the hit man accidentally took out the wrong twin. Despite the murder investigation, the hit man is still planning to finish the job. With a combination of forensic clues from the squints, some fast thinking from Sweets to confuse the killer, and Booth’s expert shot, they’re able to take down the killer before he can explode another Big Gulp bomb. Oh, and Starling accidentally shoots Sweets and then makes out with him when he tells her he’s taken. So there’s that.

The last scene is an old Bones staple I’m incredibly fond of – Booth and Brennan sitting down together and talking over a drink and some food. But instead of The Founding Fathers or The Royal Diner, they’re eating dinner and enjoying a glass of wine together in their home. Aww, I love these two crazy kids. Some things never get old.