Image Credit: Greg Gayne/Fox The episode “The Devil in the Details” was supposed to show us that for Brennan, her belief in science, in reason and consequences, is what she finds reassuring — just as Catholicism comforts Booth. It’s supposed to make us understand that she has faith in something, too, and that’s why she lashes out so vehemently at psychology, which is her equivalent to blasphemy. It worked. But for me, the best moment of the episode was still when Dr. Copeland (guest star Joshua Malina), head of the sanitarium where the horned-and-tailed murder victim was a patient, called her out on belittling his work. At this point, her putting down psychology to people who are (a) trying to help her do her job and (b) good at theirs has gotten so distasteful that it’s making her unlikable as a person. Props to Bones for casting an actor as good as Malina in that role. You believe he’d stand up to Brennan, calmly and articulately: “I spend every working hour of every day trying to help people who are living in hell. That’s an honorable way to spend a life, perhaps more honorable than figuring out what happened to dead people who are already beyond pain and suffering.” Brennan conceded that his intentions, however misguided, do count. But she only apologized for undervaluing his work after she saw him in action, drugging an agitated, delusional patient, Philip, who wanted the “special medicine” nurse/suspect Lloyd gave him and the victim. (Who knew heroin had medicinal purposes?) Anyway, better late than never, Brennan. Let’s hope this revelation carries over into future episodes, and she doesn’t regress. (Note: The next new episode of Bones airs April 1, so she does have time to forget her manners…)

My second favorite scene was when Hodgins did his experiment trying to measure the impact of nun-chuck strikes. People hitting themselves in the head with anything is always funny, but TJ Thyne sold his fall, his awe at seeing intern Arastoo’s mad skills (“What are you, some kind of Persian ninja?”), his crawl to the computer to see the results and rule out the nurse’s nun-chucks as the murder weapon, and his passing out. We’re gonna need to watch that again after the jump… (Read full post)