David Boreanaz

Here is a show that I did not think would last the season, much less get picked up for a second season. I am not complaining in the least. I like having one of these procedural type shows that has a lighter side to it.

Bones is more than another CSI type show. I grew to really enjoy it for the primary characters, more than the cases. Sure, the cases often served to bring out other sides of our primary cast, but it was always that focus on the cast that kept bringing me back. Plus, I really enjoyed Boreanaz’ work on Angel, and was interested to see how would handle another role. I am happy to report that he is not just playing Angel again, despite some similarities.

This final episode of its inaugural season focuses on Temperance ’Bones’ Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and her past, more specifically, with the disappearance of her parents in 1991. This episode is a tragic one for Bones, but it also is a time of healing for her, being able to uncover some mysteries of her past and bring herself some closure.

We open with Booth rushing Bones out of the lab - they are late for a court appearance. Bones has to go back for some forgotten papers, and discovers the digital recreation of a skull that Angela had been working on. The image is that of her mother. Obviously, the court appearance is cancelled.

Booth, being the proactive pal he is, starts looking into the case. He finds the car that had been found abandoned is still at an impound lot. In addition to finding the car, he tracks down Bones’ estranged brother, Russ. He is working at a carnival while on probation.

The whole team comes together to work the case, if not for the truth, then for Bones. The investigation turns up a movie stub that proves that mom was murdered two years after the time they thought. She disappeared in 1991, but lived until 1993. This changes many things that Bones has believed; why would she not come home? Meanwhile, Booth does some more checking, and turns up something even more mind-blowing.

Booth discovers that Bones’ parents were living under assumed identities. The identities were created after Bones was born, and Russ was seven. Russ is confronted about the truth. He reveals that his name was really Kyle, and she was Joy. Further digging unveils the fact that her parents were bank robbers who had fallen in with a violent and brazen crew. They disappeared when they tried to get out, but the gang doesn’t just let people go.

Bones and Booth find another former robber, now in the witness protection program. It is believed he is the one who murdered her mother. Lo and behold, they are able to prove it, bringing this guy out of the program and into some shackles.

The episode ends with Bones, Russ, and Booth back at Bones’ apartment, glad to finally have some truth and closure. Proving things can change in a moment, she checks her voice mail to discover a message from her father, long thought dead, pleading that she stop looking for him.

To be continued...

It was a good episode. It cracked through some of Bones’ emotional layers, and Booth seems to be growing a relationship with her.

I am glad to see this series survive. I believe the move from Tuesday to Thursday nights helped it and is a big reason for its returning next year. Plus, the duo of Boreanaz and Deschanel are fantastic together.

Looking forward to the continuing tales of dead people, and the reappearance of her father.