I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — Hart Hanson is always right. Sometimes it takes a while for him to be right, but he’s always right. In this case, though it’s taken me roughly forever and a day, I have come around. This episode I finally liked Hannah. I’m still not her biggest fan, but I see potential in her. She genuinely values her friendship with Brennan, is respectful of Booth and Brennan’s relationship, and yeah, she was a little obnoxious with her attempt at avoidance, but she was honest when confronted. So, Hart Hanson, I apologize. You were right, and I was wrong. I like Hannah.
Unfortunately for you, I now hate Booth.
Who is this guy inhabiting Booth’s body now? The Booth I knew and fell in love with at the beginning of the show was sweet, and romantic, and considerate. That Booth never would have kept Brennan’s confession from Hannah for months. (Yes, I recognize this has more to do with show scheduling, but we still could have come back to Booth having told Hannah and it having been awkward.) The Booth I knew loved Brennan unconditionally, if not on a romantic level, at least on a friend and partner level. He was warm and endearing and cared about the Squints and had heart-to-hearts with people who needed them.
Now Booth is cold, and snappish, and doesn’t talk to anyone who isn’t Hannah. I understand that he’s been hurt, and I understand he’s attempting to construct a reality for himself where he can still work with Brennan and pretend he’s not in love with her — essentially having his cake and eating it too. This all makes sense, I guess, but when it comes down to it, what I’m annoyed about is that with the end of last season there was a huge opportunity to move the show forward, and instead the writers have allowed it to go backwards. There are a million little fixes they could have done that would have still drawn out the tension. (Why they feel the need to draw out the tension going into the sixth season, I don’t know, but I understand the impulse of being reluctant to change what’s been working.) Booth and Brennan could have attempted to date and had it not work out. They could have continued to awkwardly dance around the subject. They could have actually started going out — which, I swear, would not ruin the show, no matter what Hart Hanson says. But right now, what seems to be happening is that the show writers are trying so hard to simultaneously move the Booth/Brennan plot forward while keeping it in the exact same place, and it’s awkward and contrived and ultimately, failing.
I don’t enjoy watching Bones anymore. I don’t even feel like I’m watching the same show I used to love anymore. I can’t even enjoy parts that would previously have caused me extreme joy, such as Clark’s attempts at being a more open person, or Angela’s and Hodgins’ forays into parenthood. I just feel icky about the whole thing. I feel like I’m watching the show go through the motions of being what it used to be, but it’s missing the Booth/Brennan dynamic that was its heart and soul.
So yes, Hart Hanson, you were right, I guess I like Hannah now, but were the contortions you had to go through to get me in a place where I felt that way worth it? Because I don’t think they were.
Clacked by Julia Hass 
on Jan 21, 2011 @ 15:29 EST5EDT
I still hate Hannah and I’m really starting to hate this show. I watch three dramas right now, house, Bones and Fringe, all of which I will most likely not be watching next year (Fringe will most likely be canceled).
Bones is just useless. I was so incredibly bored with the show, I actually almost fell asleep and that’s unheard of for me! Was there any point to last night’s episode? It was just boring, I couldn’t stand it, I didn’t care about the characters, I didn’t care who killed the woman. I have simply stopped caring at all.
I realized when I was watching the show that I really didn’t miss it when it was on hiatus. It isn’t the same show so I probably won’t continue watching it. Sad because I have watched every episode since the beginning. Hope they can make it work again the way it was. Even Sweets wasn’t enough to make me care about the episode.
No the show isn’t the same, however, it is still fun. It has alot of the same dynamic it used to. It’s just that the B&B dynamic isn’t what people want. Booth has changed and introduction of Hannah into the foray has totally altered his attitude towards Brennan. It could be because he is fighting those feelings that he still does have for her. He is just in denial. Even Brennan has changed, it’s like she’s stiff. Way more than usual. I wonder why? Hmmm. The Doctor in the Photo was an excellent episode.
I’ll still watch the show. I have fun watching it. The cases are great. The next case with the sniper looks great. I’m a faithful viewer and fan. I’ll continue to watch till the end.
I love Bones. I will never give up on the show..EVER. How are the fans going to get what we deserve if we don’t keep up with the show and give it time to DO IT? People are dropping like flies..
I am just as (if not more frustrated) as the next person. Where is our B&B? That is my question. Where is our Booth? Where is the cocky belt buckle and flashy ties? Where are our B&B endings? AND WHEN WILL HANNAH’S TIME BE UP?! It feels almost like a waste of a half a season. I’m absolutely depressed at the state of the show right now…but I WILL NOT GIVE UP ON IT. Hart and the writers will make it worth it. I still have faith in them as writers..they gave me this amazing show…I’m going to continue to believe that they know what they’re doing.
This depends on how long you’ve been watching and personal tolerance. I’d say 6 years is enough and really stretches credibility, even by TV UST standards. Some fans value patience, I don’t want to be a doormat for this experiment on how long they can draw things out.
But ultimately, as this reviewer is pointing out, patience and payoff become meaningless if the show’s central dynamic loses its spark. If you still see it, lucky you. I’m guessing by its low Idol retention and lower 2nd 1/2 hour retention that many viewers aren’t having fun.
So sveral years isn’t enough?
Enough is enough. It should have happened at the end of the last season, it didn’t The show and it’s creators can go screw them selves.
I still don’t like Hannah- the character is a Mary Sue and the actress contributes nothing.
Watched bits and pieces until The Doctor in the Photo, which was the final straw. That was not character growth- that was the show punishing Bones for daring to say no to Booth. I was hoping that after the break, the show would consider looking at Booth’s part in the current BB problem, but no sign of that. The negatives far outweigh the few fun squint scenes.
In short? Where’s the fun?
YES! This excellent review sums up my feelings exactly – except I still dislike Hannah. I was thinking while watching this episode that if it doesn’t pick up soon I am done with the show (and I do not drop shows lightly). Like you said – this is not the show I fell in love with. And it’s irritating how the writers try to make the fans feel guilty for wanting things like Booth and Brennan together and Hannah gone. Yes, you’re the writers and have an end plan and pull the reins but COME ON! It is season SIX! It is unfair to continue to pull fans in throughout the seasons based on Booth and Brennans amazing chemistry and then laugh in our faces when we want them to get together. Hopefully next week’s episode delivers because I am getting tired of moping through this show. Seriously, my life is boring and complicated enough already, I don’t need to watch that on my favorite show as well.
Well said Julia and exactly how i feel about it. Without the liking Hannah. I don´t dislike her either it´s more like she´s nothing, just something annoying that takes up space of the show.
This season have made me hate Booth, it´s even to the point i can´t enjoy previous seasons anymore either. Last interview with Hart i read made me realise they aren´t going to adress Booths jerk behaviour in the future either. So what are we supposed to look forward to ? Sit through and watch characters i used to love now be so different and bad it makes me cringe, cause we are to beleive they are going to make it worth it. Nothing can make it worth this.
Like most of the comments thus far I agree wholeheartedly with you – except for Hannah. I still can’t see her as anything but the stereotypical headcheerleader in a teen flick, or a really bad take on Galinda in the musical “Wicked.” (If you know the show you know why it’s not Glinda.”) It’s easy to be “nice” to someone who you assume can’t ever be competition.
TPTB seem to have NO idea that they’ve trashed Booth, nor that they’ve dumbed down Brennan. While I know you loved the 100th, for me, that episode put the writing on the wall. Instead of building on what had been going on that entire season, they chose to knock it over. Yes, there were ways it could have been redeemed, but why go through all the careful character changes they did only to ignore them? I knew then it was a
reset, nor
(I hate writing on my phone) Anyway, I knew it was a reset, but I DID NOT expect them to change the core of the characters – which they have. This isn’t Bones anymore. It’s turned into a really bad soap-opera. I didn’t tune in for five-plus years for a soap. So, unless they go completely soap-opera and make this season someone’s coma dream, nightmare, or something that makes this season’s events disappear, I’m another fan of the show that Bones used to be, jumping ship. Hello, CSI!
Sadly, I have to agree with the jist of your review.
Like a lot of others, the show (and the Booth and the Brennan) I totally enjoyed and looked forward to watching … is MIA this season. I will continue watching but in an autopsy kind of way until I’m no longer curious about how it actually dies/died.
I LOVE BONES… Faithful fan and watcher. Will be with it till the end. I have faith in the writers and that all will be set right. Look how long it took House and Cuddy to get together – 6 seasons. HH and SN will have B&B together. It’s just going to take a little longer. I think the behaviors will be explained. Booth’s in denial, Brennan’s walls are up. Hannah is just a set back. Soon she’ll be gone and things will slowly get back to normal. The chemistry will click and B&B will get together. I have faith. I’m a B&B shipper. I love Bones and always will.
This was a pretty forgettable episode, reading this on Sunday, I had to think pretty hard to remember if I’d seen this episode or not.
Without even knowing what Hart Hanson’s intentions for the characters were, it was pretty obvious a while ago that Booth and Bones were never going to end up together.
Bones told Booth she loves him and Booth turned into a JERK?!!
I no longer like the Booth character but I love Bones to the end.
I couldn’t agree with this more. I am now seriously questioning the credibility of Hart and co. Forced intimacy with a character who is no more than a plot device at the expense of turning one of your main characters into a complete ass seems more than a little questionable. What exactly are they trying to accomplish?
Maybe they really have decided to never have Booth and Brennan get together so they are derailing his character so we won’t care? In that case, they should just write him off the show altogether. Write a nice little episode where he and Hannah Sue get married and move to Tallahassee, and just be done with it. At least let Brennan move on with her life.
I really disliked this episode and thought it was the worse of the season. Booth betrayed Brennan, his partner, something I never expected. Where was his honesty in ep. 2,when Hannah asked if there was anything she should know about B & B? He lied and said no. Telling Hannah that Bones loved him, without revealing his involvement was the work of a coward. I was taken back when he said told Hannah that he rejected Brennan, saying “never gonna happen.” This episode made him look like a very very small man. He put it all on Bones and let her take the heat from Hannah– and gave a very one-sided spin to make himself look like the big man. I am so disappointed that they would do this to the great Booth character of seasons past. I also dislike the way they portray Bones as a brilliant — but really stupid woman. I don’t understand why HH seems to trash his leading lady this season. this isn’t Bones anymore and all the comments about how such things happen in real life if ridiculous. I don’t know how HH can dig himself out of this hole in any credible way.
See, like I said before—losing fans rapidly—too bad.”fixing ” it at the end won’t get it anymore. You must really think fans are dumb. Oh well, HH can’t be right every time.
get rid of hannah.get booth&brennan back the way they were.