I am enamored with the way that the writers of the brain tumor arc in Bones managed to have it be a twist while giving you multiple very strong signs that something was wrong by taking advantage of the fact that as the viewer you know you're watching a TV show. The first two times Booth hallucinates Bones points out that these are moments of unreality but the show couches them in the context of the episodes in which they occur so that the audience can easily and unconsciously dismiss them with their preexisting knowledge of tropes.
"Oh, well Booth was briefly unconscious in the process of getting a concussion. In television, situations like this are rife with characters experiencing dreams where their subconscious solves the case for them. Plus it's a clever way to include their cameo from Luc Robitaille."
"The show really wants me to believe that that really was a ghost that helped Booth and this is another instance of Booth being right about magic in the world while Bones is wrong, but even if I prefer that small space they leave for a little ambiguity, characters in life or death emergency survival situations on TV see visions of a person who's death they blame themselves for as a way to explore a characters relationship with guilt all the time."
And it's not really until both Bones and the show essentially say "screw the case of the week, something is Wrong" that you're, rather abruptly and forcefully, prompted to consider what these incidences might mean when put together, and it's not a very happy list of possibilities.
And while this post is about how well I think they preserve the twist by meeting people's expectations when they added the foreshadowing to avoid suspicion, it should be noted that I also think this is a great example of my belief that a good plot twist is telegraphed loudly beforehand, just in a code most people won't easily decipher.
Before I dive in, I would like to thank @popmatchburn for being the best partner, supporting me in all things, listening to my rants, proofreading this, and adding the conclusion to succinctly pull together all the big points. <3 You're one in a million and I love you.
I have seen a lot of content regarding Booth, and how people can't like him (and in severe situations judge other people for liking Booth) and like a buzzing fly, I would like to add my opinion where nobody asked for it.
So, this is a "Booth is one of Eldrich's favorite characters in television, and this is why":
One of the main reasons that I have seen people being anti-Booth is because he's pro-military, pro-cop, pro-government. Which, firstly, is that really all that we're judging people and fictional characters on? I'd say especially fictional characters.
Before I delve into the analysis, I firstly think that dividing a world into such extreme factions is an extremely single minded thing to do and perpetuates the problem we see in extreme first world countries like America and their split between Democrats and Republicans (but, that is an argument for people who know more than me and are more eloquent in these issues).
To the analysis!
Seeley Booth. He is an extremely complex, layered character and I think that he's not given enough credit for the complete role that he plays in the series.
Booth is the bastion of morality that the show revolves around, and in the sense of community and with what a large character set we're dealing with, that is something that's absolutely crucial for a microcosm of the Jeffersonian and the spaces which they occupy.
So, onto Booth and why he is the way he is.
He's going to hate the psychology of this analysis, but I feel like in the spirit of an intellectual query, he can deal with it momentarily.
As we know, Booth comes from a very tumultuous home life in his childhood. With his mother abandoning them with their abusive father, him switching his abuse to Seeley (and potentially Jared). In that situation, it makes sense that Booth became a sort of an authority figure for Jared. Keeping him safe, and protecting him from their father.
That leads to Seeley's grandfather telling his father to leave, and yes, they went to live with their direct grandfather, but losing your parents in any sense can leave an orphaned feeling, psychologically (if there is anyone that can add to this, I would appreciate the add-on, because I'm only taking a distanced approach based on textual evidence).
So, in his childhood, he already had this feeling of loss and instability that could have cemented his Catholic faith since trust in an invisible guy in the sky was better than the trust in the people around him.
Then, he joined the military when he was 19 - 21 after losing his athletic scholarship. Which, during that time, was a very fine option for a young man. As we know, that is a prime red pill age, but if we ignore "new" age post-2010 terminology, he still went into the military at a very impressionable age in the male psyche.
And, going into the active war zones as frequently as he did, if he didn't have 100% trust in his government. In the people that sent him in there, his life would probably be in danger 24/7. It was trust by necessity.
And, this trust in his government could have been further cemented through his very devout Catholic faith. And, when it comes to Catholicism, even more so than traditional Christianity since the specific offshoot is important, he has to trust an entire system of religious leaders. And, even in his faith it is already clear that he doesn't follow the scripture or tenets the way that, given his history, you can assume that he would.
So, if you look closely, his entire life is built upon trust by necessity. His grandfather. "God". Government. There was no different choice for him. Given all of the parameters in his life, he had no choice but to be pro-cop, pro-military and pro-government by design.
And then, with the case of Gemma Arlington, he gets partnered up with Bones, that would lead to a years long partnership. A woman who is, yes, very atheist, but still extremely rational and set in her ways. She is so set in her ways, rationality and empiricism that she wouldn't even consider a real shot at a relationship with Booth until she over-identified with a murder victim and Booth was with Hannah.
Further, the fact that he fell in love with someone as rational and religiously ambiguous as anyone he's ever met, is a wonder and shows towards his mental flexibility.
And given Sweets, Angela and everyone else's influence, it is really grating and doesn't allow any space for Booth to grow mentally or emotionally. He gets pushed, and he gets prodded, but he doesn't actually get given space.
YET, he has so many interactions where he does show that he's not as rigid as people put him down to be.
To me, he's much more towards the center than people give him credit for, example:
He wants as much justice for gay victims, as he does for straight victims. He might have struggled with the pronouns of the trans pastor for a while, but he still treated her like a woman. These aren't anomalies, but rather, consistent behavior that he shows throughout.
Booth can assimilate with liberal people. He can endure a years long partnership with someone who is the opposite of all of his moral and ethical values, and even fall in love with her and wanted a future with her.
I would even argue that in many ways, Booth is a lot more flexible in his ethos and religion, than Bones is in her empiricism.
In conclusion, Booth’s ability to embrace the entropy of situations, instead of plant himself in a static mentality, shows he’s capable of great character development and growth.
He is the glue—more-so, the heart that holds the soul of the show together.
Grew up as an odd child out due to her neurodivergence & Specific interests.
Abandoned by her parents.
Spent time in foster care & abused
Felt abandoned by her brother, who didn’t care for her after their parents left.
Got into good colleges regardless of a difficult childhood
Has three doctorates in anthropology, forensic anthropology, and kinesiology
Did work with genocide victims and 9-11 victims
Joined the Jeffersonian
Successful Author
Forms a bond with Booth.
Had to do the investigation on her own mother’s murder
Deals with her father, who is a criminal and lied to her
Forms a family with her team at the Jeffersonian, later adding Sweets to this bond.
Is targeted by any serial killers
One of her own interns is murdered.
Has two children who help continue to open her up to life
Has to live on the run away from Booth
Loses sweets
Booth is put in jail, and they are separated again.
They quit their job temporarily but come back.
Booth ends up gambling again, which damages their relationship.
Injured at the end of the story but able to return to work
Temperance “Bones” Brennan deals with a lot of traumas throughout her life and a lot of love throughout her life. She has been abandoned and hurt as well as surrounded by the love of both her birth family and, just as importantly, the family she was able to build at the Jeffersonian. The people she found loved her with all their hearts and would do anything for her. The way the people she found can open up the hurt heart she had is beautiful.
She struggles completely reasonably with opening herself up. Having your parents and brother abandon you and then being mistreated by foster parents and peers will make you unable to form close bonds easily and cause damage to your views of how relationships work.
Brennan’s intelligence and skill at her work are impressive and regarded as some of the best in the world, and she holds this with a sense of great pride. Her ego built around her intelligence can also be problematic because she can use it as a shield against having a real connection.
Brennan struggles to truly understand and process emotions due to her neurodivergence. Her skill to deal with her emotions is to try to rationalise them. She blocks other people's emotions at the end to not let herself truly bring the feelings in from the outside world. Her own emotions might be turmoil within the walls she built, but she keeps those on the inside. And her own affect can become confused.
Her emotions often come out in fits and bursts. In the beginning, they come out in times like when she has to deal with her parents or when children and animals are harmed. We see that there is a dissonance for Bones with her emotions, not understanding what she is showing and feeling and disliking showing it. Later in the show, when she learns to allow her inside emotions, her affect and others to flow together.
High intelligence can also create an ego. Brennan experiences this and it causes friction with people who work with her who are of equal stature, like Cam and Clark. Being Bennan’s version of “smart” can cause her to disregard people who have emotional intelligence.
One of Brennen’s earliest close relationships we see is with Angela, a person who seems very different from her. She is spiritual, artistic, flirty, open and leads with her heart. However, they match each other in intensity of love for each other. That’s what matters the most to Angela. Brennan also believes in Angela’s skills, asking her to come work with them at the Jeffersonian. Brenna knows Angela's art and technology skills are good enough to warrant the trust. They also both have abnormal childhoods. Angela, having a rocker father and mother who seemed to have never been in the picture, was adopted, or for some other reason. Angela also helps Brennan with her books. Angela supports Brennan through emotional situations, giving her advice when she struggles to know what to do. Angela is the only person Brennan communicates with when she’s on the run and Angela is extremely angry with Booth when he halts the marriage due to Pelant. She is the first piece of a family Brennan built.
Hodgins and Brennan have a less defined relationship, but are close, going through many things together, like being buried by the Grave Digger. They are both supportive when the other goes through hard times and work to catch people who put the other in dangerous situations. They respect each other’s work in their fields. He is Angela's husband and the father of her child, making him Brennan's family that way, but their friendship also makes them necessary for their family to work.
Cam and Brennan butt heads to begin with. Brennan does not like feeling like she is out of control in what she considers to be her space. Brennan has a deep need for control due to all the out-of-controlness she experienced as a child. She feels intellectually superior and more important. Brennan learns to see Cam as a necessity within the system. They come to not only respect each other but also consider one another to be part of the family. They invite each other to family-style events like weddings and celebrating child births. They come to help each other during hard times.
Brennan originally had a relationship with Zack Addy as her first intern, whom she shows a great deal of love. He is much like her, showing neurodivergence to an even stronger extent than she. He is very much like a little brother to her. When he betrayed them, it affected her; she talked Zack into helping them. She proved to Zack that he loves Hodgins more than his overall beliefs. She still shows affection for him, even touching foreheads. When they see each other again, we see Zack kidnap her in an effort to prove his innocence. She sides with him being framed for the crime, and helps get him exonerated. Her love for Zack shows that her ability for familial love existed even before her long-term relationship with Booth.
The group of Interns she has over time means a lot to her, and she cares deeply for them. When she loses parts of her memory at the end of the show, she remembers things about them as they mean so much to her.
Arastoo: He is part of the Family as the husband of Cam and she shows great respect for him as a scientist as well as a person for the trauma he suffered as a young person.
Clark: He becomes a Doctor and they clash once he takes charge of historical anthropology. She comes to respect him after seeing his work. While originally finding their family dynamic non-conducive to work, he becomes friends with the whole squad. Clark comes to help when they need it.
Daisy: She is one of the interns Brennan seems to like more than the others. Taking her with her when she leaves on a sabbatical later taking her on her "bachelorette party”. She is also more folded into the family as the Fiancée of Sweets and mother of his child.
Finn: Brennan and Cam are willing to take him in as an intern and Jeffersonian employee with his background in crime. Brennan finds his background to be non-pertinent in most situations. This shows her logic-focused worldview can be part of compassion.
Fisher: His sardonic pessimism and her general flat faculty can comically conflict. He also once offered her his sperm, which she turned down. For the most part, they get along generally well, Fisher even loving her novels.
Fuentes: Doesn’t get along with Brennan to begin with, as he is flirtatious and arrogant.
Jessica: She helps Brennan learn about social media.
Oliver: Probably the intern she gets along with the least, like most, she thinks his know-it-all and blase attitudes to be grating. But she also often states his genius status is warranted.
Vincent Nigel-Murray: She sometimes shuts down his fact giving, but he is well-liked and cared for by Bones; his death affects her deeply, being a catalyst for her relationship with Booth. She awkwardly brought a flower to put on his casket.
Wendell: He is helped out by Brennan to be able to stay in the Jeffersonian because she respects his work and she cares about him. She also shows compassion when he has cancer.
Sweets is a psychologist, so originally, she dislikes him because she doesn’t like his profession. He needs science to fit her rigid view of “logic” to trust it. His usefulness in helping re-solidify her and Booth’s working relationship isn’t something she finds necessary. Sweets ends up finding his views of them smashed funnily when he learns Booth and Bones first met they almost had sex.
Over time, Sweets and Brennan learn to respect each other, and as they work together if she never loves psychology. On a more personal level, Gordon Gordon points out that Sweets is imprinted on them like a baby duck. Brennan and Booth deeply love Sweets as a family member. They take him into their house, Brennan expressing when he leaves that she wasn’t sure about bringing him into their house, but then was very unhappy about him leaving because she actually loved having him around her; she does care for protecting him. Losing wounds her family.
Max and Brennan’s relationship improves over the years. Starting off distrusting due to his lying. Bones is still hurt from him leaving and having had their childhood been uneven before her parents left due to their criminal history. When he shows back up, he is still tied into criminal activity, even leaving with her brother for a period of time. He shows his love in ways like killing someone, but he comes back and turns over a new leaf, and they learn to trust again. Her own time learning to open up due to her relationships in the Jeffersonian family and Booth makes this easier. By the time she has Christine, she is willing to let him watch her, though this almost blows up when he leaves his phone behind when taking her out. But he becomes a common babysitter for Christine and then Hank. When he ends up being ill, Brennan is quite hurt he didn't tell her. He dies protecting their family, showing how devoted to protecting her he truly was.
Brennan and Booth are the core of the show. They meet and have an immediate attraction, but don’t end up acting on it, and in subsequent meetings, they are annoyed with each other. We see more of the traditional 20th-century and early 21st-century belligerent couples à la Harrison Ford. They quickly show a softer bond. Earning a warmer connection through shared experiences and the ability to see others' hurts. They attach to people and then have trouble letting go due to traumas in their childhood. Booth’s fierce attachment and stated willingness to kill and die for her, even before they are romantically together show a devotion that is appealing to her, even if she brushes her off. It lets her believe someone will protect her for the first time since her parents left. Brennan learns to not see herself as much of an island; her identity turns away from being someone who holds people at arm's length, to being part of a partnership.
Booth and Brennan are very different people; like with Angela, this seems to actually make their bond stronger. It causes Brannan to see things differently and make their connection better. Booth learns to see outside of his constricted worldview from his military, cop and religious training as well as abuse. Brennan learns to trust instinct more. Even later, being willing to put Booth’s instincts on the same level as her facts as data worth taking into consideration in making the correct choices.
They got through many stages in their relationships. Going through fights which break the team completely, both dating other people, facing a fracture when Booth wants to try for romance but Brennan still fears losing her safety and Brennan being ready but Booth being with someone else. Finally, they get together when Brennan is pregnant.
Once they are together, they still struggle with Pelant and a conspiracy, causing horrible strife. They don’t lose love during those times, but it causes strain. When she's on the run, she feels out of control again, once more turning inwards and having to re-adjust to life When Bones thinks Booth is backing out of their marriage for a period of time, she feels betrayed due to her finally opening herself up for a permanent loss of control over to Booth and him backing out. She realises he is not doing that, and we see the connection become closer. Breanan has to kick him out for a period of time when he puts her and their children in danger due to his falling back into gambling addiction. He breaks the stricture of protection that Booth promised to Brennan. They can come back together afterwards.
Learning to let Booth inside her world is one of the biggest signs of Brennan becoming more vulnerable. She can be more outwardly affectionate and connected. She still struggles with reminders of her own traumas, but her ability to connect has healed appreciably.
Brennan is a protective mother and very wants to have her children have a better life than she did. Having them does help her continue to open up with people, while also making her very willing to do things she wouldn’t before to keep her children safe.
While all of her connections change throughout the story, none of her friends ever attempt to change her core. They all love her intellect, different perspectives and awkward humour. All of her fellow science-focused colleagues respect find her mind to be invaluable. Her interns, for the most part, look up to her in their field of study and are excited to work for her. Her colleagues like Cam and Hodgins enjoy her company outside of work as well as the above-stated professional respect.
Angela loves her for who she is; she wants to help her where she struggles, but would never want Brennan to not be her. Always being fond of her and wanting to spend time with her and be involved in each other's lives. Booth and Bones widening the others is key to the story, often saying "you taught me that" to each other, showing how much their differences matter to each other; they don't want the other to not be them, then they wouldn't be in love.
She is loved for her specialness, not despite it. If she didn't think her way, she would never solve her crimes, and everyone knows it. Brennan learns to love others with their other creativity, and they love hers.
Brennan is a woman who had a lot of love inside her and got to relearn that she had that in her and that it was okay to share and receive it. She gets to love and be loved for who she is, she just had to be found by people who helped heal the walls around her to be able to let is the right people.
Autism:
Difficulty processing her own emotions
Difficulty processing other people's emotions
Difficulty with social cues
Doesn’t understand “unwritten rules”
Improper affect
Info dumping
Literal about things
Needing to explain jokes
Puts everything through her lens of anthropology rules filter in order to understand it
Trouble making friends
Trouble noticing when she and others are giving off body/nonverbal cues of emotion
Special interests
Unaffected by certain sensory input at certain situations (like bodily decay at crime scenes)
Repeating phrases
Rigid thought structure
C-PTSD:
Anger when reminded of trauma
Anxiety around trauma reminders
Avoidance of trauma reminders
Fears of abandonment
Hypervigilance
Isolating
Obsessive thoughts
Need for control
Nightmares (transient)
Relational difficulties
Rigid schema
Strong emotional responses, even if they are often expressed awkwardly
No but see when you think about it, it makes perfect sense that Dean wouldn't reciprocate the confession in 15x18 (or like... ever) not because he doesn't feel the same way but partly because he doesn't even KNOW how he feels, and mostly because even if he did, how the hell is he going to verbalise it?
This is his best friend — not his comrade, not his brother, his best friend — and they've been through so much, everything together.
'Don't do this, Cas.' Don't leave me, Cas. Don't do this to me.
How does the man who was raised to be a weapon, to put his brother and everyone else first, find the words to say how he feels? How does he even begin to comprehend what Cas is telling him, what it means for them, when he's met with the stark reality that after this, Cas is gone?
Dean isn't a particularly prosaic man. He talks a lot, yes, but to him words are like a shield. Crack a joke, make some self-effacing comment, do anything but say what he feels, because if he does that then he can't take it back and if he can't take it back then that's the end of everything.
No matter all the shitty things he does, he can take it back, he can make up for it, but the words are what really matters. The words are what stick around long after the bruises have faded.
I need you.
It's those little moments that betray how he really feels, and he's more vulnerable than he'd ever knowingly allow himself to be.
Even just calling Cas his best friend is letting his guard down a little too much for comfort. Like... this is a man who can't hold down a relationship to save his life. Who's lost so many comrades that it feels inevitable that anybody who joins their fight will become a casualty for the greater good. Sometimes you have to remember that death doesn't stick in their world except when it can be used to hurt the most, but every time Cas dies, every time he goes away, it hurts Dean like it could be the last time.
And every time, it might be. There's that little bit of hope that despite all odds Cas will come back, they'll figure it out, they'll move heaven and earth to save him—
But not this time. Because you don't say the things that Cas said unless you don't plan on coming back. Dean certainly wouldn't — hell, he saved it til the very end to tell his own damn brother he was proud of him, because it didn't matter if he made himself vulnerable in his dying moments because after that, he'd be gone. No consequences to deal with. No uncomfortable acknowledgement of what he'd said.
So Dean doesn't say anything when Cas spills it all, because even if Cas is gone — even if the only person to hear those words isn't around to echo them — Dean still has to live with whatever he says. If he says 'I love you, too', if he begs Cas to stay, then those words can't be taken back.
And anyway, it doesn't need to be said, right? These are two men who'd fight through purgatory for each other — whether they say they love each other or not, it doesn't change what they have.
But for Cas, that isn't enough. Tiptoeing around it, ignoring the elephant in the room, it isn't enough.
Happiness isn't in the having. It's in just being. It's in just saying it.
Because for Cas, whose actions so often backfire on him, whose intentions could be perfectly pure and yet his actions could still betray him, speaking his truth is the only way to make his love manifest. To remove any ambiguity. To shatter the last little scrap of an illusion that what they have was only ever friendship, was only ever kinship.
So no, Dean didn't say 'I love you', just like he didn't say it back in 8x17 when the script called for it (bless you Robbie), and even if we had another ten seasons which were somehow entirely devoted to making Destiel canon I doubt he would've said it by the end of it all because he's just that bad at making himself vulnerable. That's just who he is. I need you, don't do this, but never what he really feels.
So this post, this post and this one have all inspired me to analyse Bones.
So the third post shows Bones being forcibly melded with by mirror Spock in Mirror Mirror (tos), and the second one talks about how Bones can barely walk after this meld. And the first post is when Spock has to meld witj Jim, Scotty and Bones so they don't die in a simulation.
My first point is how scared Bones looks in mirror mirror, which is completely expected when such a private man is having his mind forcefully entered into. And this look carries onto the other time (in the show at least) we see Bones' melded with.
So this raises this question of how much trauma Bones holds, and doesn't tell anyone, about that event. Because, as I said before, he's such a private man. Was it difficult for him to undergo another meld at the hands of the same man who's only physical difference is facial hair?
Does this mean that it was difficult for him to come to terms with Spock's meld in the Search for Spock? Because it's stepped up from a meld to actually holding someone's consciousness and the process of transferring it was even more dangerous than a meld. Or had he healed and talked about it by then?
Did he avoid Spock for weeks after mirror mirror just because it's the same eyes he stared into as all he is was reluctantly shared to a man who could bribe him with all his being? Because the pain of someone pushing their way into your soul like a deep stab wound hadn't healed and there's no psychologists on board to help?
Did this influence him in any way? It's said in a star trek book that there wasn't anything in a modern medical bay thay he didn't influence and some fans have suggested that the reason in tng why there's a cmo and a ship psychologist is because of Bones.
@thegladelf replied to your post “The thing about a character who is idealistic or The Heart in a...”
Seeley Booth from Bones.
See...well...I don’t think Seeley Booth is the type of character I was thinking of to begin with. I mean maybe he was pre-Army, pre-sniper, pre-tortured days but when the show starts I think he is already a firm cynic about people and the world. I am thinking more of a character who is optimistic, idealistic, has a strong moral center, and generally positive outlook on the world and on people.
I don’t know anything about Dick Grayson and it’s been a few years since Percy Jackson books and I am embarrassed to say I didn’t retain much of what I read. So I can’t comment on those but would love to hear your thoughts!
Let’s talk about how much I love early seasons Bones!
And how much I dislike her characterization lately.
At the beginning of the show, Bones is out of touch with pop culture and show little to no romantic attraction to others. She is obviously a very sexual creature but she states on multiple occasions that she doesn’t understand/feel romantic love. So she is possibly aromantic. This characterization was extremely important to me because I saw Bones as a role model and I also am unsure how I feel in regards to romantic love.
Here was a very successful woman who knew what she wanted from her life and knew what she wanted from the sexual partners in her life.
Then there is Booth, who believes in all consuming romantic love and who obviously is deeply in love with Bones. Somehow, through 10 seasons, Bones does a complete 180 in her beliefs on romantic love. Now, it is totally possible that she just hadn’t met someone that deserved her love until Booth but it angers me that she just suddenly flips a switch into romantic love.
The same arguments can be made about her views on marriage and monogamy and her emotional compartmentalizing. All of which I identify with.
So, in short, there was this great character that I identified with completely whose ideals completely shifted just for the sake of “character growth”. Bones had a full life before “falling in love” with Booth and their relationship could still be just as strong if her characterization didn’t change completely over the years.
