'Bones' recap: Seeley in a suit is worth it, Brennan

As much as we all like Booth’s playful side (when it’s written well), I still love serious Seeley most. Loyal, respectful, protective, intense, and afraid of getting his new shoes wet. Yes, please. Some thoughts on last night’s episode, which kept Bones on a roll:

• That corpse — or rather, decapitated head — was the most disturbing image we’ve ever seen on the show. It wasn’t so much that it looked gross, though it did, especially when Cam took her sweet-ass time SAWING INTO IT. It was the idea that the young woman’s brother, a member of the Tokyo police Booth had befriended when he traveled to Japan for an exchange program, had to look at it repeatedly. Having the decomposed flesh still on the skull made it more painful, right? It was still her, not "remains." You couldn’t stop thinking what was done to her. I tried to imagine if it were my sister, and I got sick to my stomach.   

• I actually missed not having an intern. Brennan talked about finally making a decision on a permanent replacement for Zack, but then this episode didn’t have one in it. I guess the lab would’ve been too crowded, what with the allegedly androgynous Dr. Tanaka, who accompanied Booth’s friend Ken Nakamura (a.k.a. Nake with the Sake), assisting in the investigation. Dr. Tanaka, who was played by an actress named Ally Maki, didn’t look androgynous at all, which made Cam, Angela, Hodgins, and Sweets look ridiculous for even debating his (really?) gender. Though, I will admit that Cam and Sweets celebrating their victories after Angela announced that "it moved" when she hugged Tanaka goodbye was enjoyable.

• The final Booth and Brennan scene was sort of a letdown. I like that they keep ending up at his place, which shows how comfortably she fits into his life, but that dialogue lacked the emotional impact we’ve come to expect. I think the writers put their best stuff into those scenes between Brennan and Ken…

• Brennan totally made me tear up. Brennan was capable of showing empathy because she was relating to someone who’d been abandoned. (Ken raised his sister after their parents died.) I’m rewatching that scene in her office, when she told Ken that FBI logs showed that his sister phoned him every day and that the calls were never less than five minutes and averaged 15 minutes — which indicates "an irrefutable desire to connect, a deep and abiding love" — and I’m welling up again. See, this is the Tempe we want. A woman who’s smart enough to take that experience that she had in Sweets’ office a week ago, when she shared a painful memory about her childhood to relate to him, and learn from it. She knew Ken was worried that he was too overprotective, and she knew how she could ease his mind (with facts, which makes it still her). Seeing her get emotional with Ken, a man who also naturally hides his feelings, was moving. She told him there’s no one in her life, outside of work, to whom she talks that much, and she finally expressed why — she’s not sure if loving someone is worth the pain you feel when you lose him or her. "Is it worth it to have your happiness so contingent on another human being?" she asked, which would’ve been insensitive had it not been for the tears in her eyes. "If I was willing to give up my life for Sachi, why would I not be willing to risk my happiness for her?" Ken responded. Think, Brennan, think! You put your life on the line for Booth. I also have to say that I was so proud of Brennan for the way she allowed Ken to gracefully leave the platform when the rest of his sister’s remains were brought in. She acknowledged that his being there showed great strength and commitment to his sister, but said it was distracting and might compromise their work, which he wouldn’t want. I wanted to hug her.

So what did you think of last night’s episode? I liked all the science that I didn’t understand and Cam getting her hands dirty (melting brain, anyone?). Even though I would’ve liked at least one longing look out of Booth in that end scene, I do appreciate the writers finding a new way to probe Brennan’s fear of love through her conversation with Ken. (I’m hoping that we do, in fact, resolve this phobia by season’s end, because they can’t keep hammering it this hard in every episode without it getting annoying.) If you want to talk about the case, feel free. The voiceover by the pimp was cheesy, but it was interesting: Sachi was drowned by a client of her escort roommate when she went to tell him to stop playing rough with her friend. The client paid the pimp to clean up the mess, and the pimp cut off Sachi’s head and put it on a stake as a warning to the roommate to keep quiet. The roommate didn’t want it to look like she killed Sachi, so she dumped the head in the salt marsh. (Hmmm. I sorta doubt that the roommate, who was so traumatized that she couldn’t speak when Sweets interrogated her, would have been able to think clearly enough to dump the head before leaving the country, but okay…) And which intern are you hoping Brennan hires?