Watch Bones on Fox – Thursday Nights
Buy Bones: Season Four
Watch Bones on Hulu
Christmas is all about family. Not just your blood relations, but also your found family. The Christmas specials for Bones have usually centered on this truth (from Season 1’s “The Man in the Fallout Shelter” to this year’s “The Goop on the Girl”).
While not as whimsical or funny as “The Santa in the Slush” (from Season 3), this episode is tinged with the emotional high notes that one would want in their Christmas episodes.
Spoilers to follow:
Beginning with a bank-robbing Santa (who then explodes in front of Booth, fan girls are treated to a nearly-naked David Boreanaz, as Booth needs to be stripped down for evidence. After five seasons of romantic tension between Booth and Brennan it’s nice to see it’s still hard for both of them not to admit full feelings for each other during the “evidence collecting” (and later on during the episode). The writers did well with keeping it there, but not so heavy handed that you get tired of it.
The crime plot was enjoyable, I especially loved the facial reconstruction (which is very true-to-life). It wasn’t without it’s downside, the assundry human elements were a bit far fetched in places, and choppy. The team all gets stuck in D.C., missing flights for Christmas. I highly doubt that they’d be made to stay after having Christmas plans (though it is convenient to the plot). As a side note, I really loved how the lab was decorated for Christmas (especially Brennan’s office).
Christmas is explored at length in this episode. Brennan struggles with the meaning of Christmas, especially after her father tells her that being alone on Christmas means you’re not loved. Sweets and Daisy have their own ideas about Christmas (though, I find it hard to believe that Daisy is super concerned with celebrating Jesus’ birth on the true day and okay with having a day of pre-marital sex with her boyfriend). Even Angela and Hodgins have some sweet Christmas thoughts — especially about family being more than just your blood relations. I was most disappointed with the way the tension between Cam and Michelle was played. There’s real reason for Michelle’s unease about spending Christmas with Cam, but instead it was played off by another stereotypical teenager tiff instead of the meaningful emotion it could have had.
After finding out that Santa (really a man named Holden Chevaleer) wasn’t the real criminal, Brennan (who has absorbed her father’s words about Christmas) decides that she wants to go to his funeral — since his mother is burying him on Christmas morning all alone. This is probably my favorite part of the episode. The dialogue between Booth and Brennan was so sweet and meaningful.
The episode wraps up with a touching “family” Christmas dinner (though I have my own personal quibbles with how sharp Brennan was about Booth praying). Another highlight of the episode is Zooey Deschanel (Emy Deschanel’s real life sister), who rocked the role of Brennan’s second cousin – Maggie.
All in all a good episode, and one that should make it on your holiday TV watch list.
Quote of the Episode
Hodgins: Hey check this out. Explosive Unit guys loaned me these magnetized gloves. (excited) Oh these are so going on my Christmas list!
(Photo: Fox/bones-daily.com)
