David Boreanaz

Genius comes with a price of social handicap, and while House MD has an insensitive cripple with emotional issues, Bones features Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan (Emily Deschanel), a brilliant forensic anthropologist who is completely disconnected with the outside world. She can read the bones of a corpse and know facts about their lives but lacks the knowledge to understand even the simplest pop culture reference. To make matter worse she was emotionally crippled by her parent’s unexplained death, and buries herself in work as a way of escaping living human contact. Brennan is partnered with F.B.I. agent Seeley Booth, played by David Boreanaz (Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), making for plenty of awkward “will they or won’t they” relationship drama that adds plenty of tension to the already complex show. The result is a show not unlike a cross between House and CSI, with just as much medical mumbo-jumbo as there are criminal investigations.

It all comes down to the characters, and the actors who play them. Each episode there is another mystery to solve inspired by the real-life forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs and actual criminal investigation procedures, but it is the relationships between the ensemble of fabulously well developed characters that the show remains interesting. Each episode we are given a little more insight into the workings of these characters, including the bug expert who is actually an extremely wealthy man that just wants to work and be left alone, the young protégé without much of a social life, and the free-spirited artist who puts faces on the corpses. Each are given their moments, allowing for unique relationships in a particularly strange work environment.

The other half of the entertainment comes from the mysteries themselves, which are not unlike those fans of other medical or investigative shows might be used to, but I suppose one cannot get enough of a good thing. There are points in the series where intellectual jargon is put aside and this can be somewhat problematic as welcome as it is. The Christmas episode is extremely touching while full of expected holiday clichés, and an episode which takes Bones and Booth to Los Angeles is hilarious although one-dimensional in its stereotypes which have been seen dozens of times before.

The four-disc set includes all twenty-two episodes from season one, including audio commentary on two of the episodes. There are also three featurettes and character profiles, but the packaging gives the set the most impressive flash.