David Boreanaz

Along with other summertime visitors to the nation’s capital, Emily Deschanel plans to stop by the Smithsonian Institution.

But unlike most tourists, the star of "Bones" is driven by professional curiosity.

"I’d love to just go and talk to someone who works with the bones there, about forensic anthropology and all of the things the artifacts can tell us," said Deschanel, who plays Temperance Brennan, a Washington forensic anthropologist tapped by the FBI to help crack baffling cases. "My character is passionate about finding out who did something and why."

Nicknamed "Bones" for her ability to cull clues from the cuts, breaks, bruises and poisons present in skeletal remains, Brennan works at the fictitious Jeffersonian Institution, where she collaborates and clashes with FBI agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz). The former Army sniper is skeptical of Brennan’s exacting methods — the opposite of his own crime-solving style, which involves shoe-leather investigating and interrogating the living.

Boreanaz called his character "a hardball, out-on-the-street kind of guy" who "loves memorabilia and is mistrustful of science." And because of the characters’ contrasting styles, "it makes the two of them like Bonnie and Clyde meets ’The Odd Couple,’ " he said.

Boreanaz believes some of the show’s appeal comes from the give-and-take between Brennan and Booth, who are at odds professionally but are drawn to each other personally.

The sexual tension is "something you don’t want to do too much of," Boreanaz said. "You want to keep it at bay. That will be explored, but to what extent, I’m not sure."

"Bones," returning for its second season this fall, is a procedural that also is "very much about the characters and their relationships with each other. It’s true to life in its tone," Deschanel said.