I say the following with the greatest amount of professional respect: I am actively boggled by how little Ivey understands the characters on Bones. Really, are we watching the same show? I wonder, sometimes, if this accounts for the fact that we never agree on anything. Maybe Ivey just … lives in another reality! This is the only way I could buy his fundamental blindness when it comes to the brilliant character growth exhibited by the Bones season finale, especially in regards to Booth and Brennan. Mostly, in his belief that the show writers are keeping them apart because they don’t trust that the audience will like them together.
Seriously? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. It’s got nothing to do with trusting the audience, and it has everything to do with the fact that this was totally the wrong time and place for them to get together. Period.
I discussed this when I disagreed with Ivey before, but when we look at why Booth and Brennan aren’t together, we don’t need to look at Booth. We as an audience have gone along with Booth as he’s fallen deeper and deeper in love with Brennan. Ivey and I also agree on the fundamental reasons why Booth and Bones left each other. What Ivey keeps failing to understand is why Brennan doesn’t get over herself and just make out with Booth already and I say, once again, that Ivey has clearly never met anyone even remotely like Temperance Brennan. Hell, he doesn’t even have to have met someone like her, it’s like he’s completely forgotten all that insight we got into her in the episode right before this one.
Let’s take a little trip down memory lane to the 100th episode. Sweets, despite his deep conviction that he was totally wrong about everything, as usual, wasn’t. Sweets is a super-smart guy. He tends to view Booth and Brennan in an idealized way, almost like he’s a fan watching them the way we are, but his insights are often unintentionally accurate. Remember when he said that Booth and Brennan could never kiss, because then the dam would break? He wasn’t totally wrong.
Oh, I know, they’ve already kissed a few times, and no dams were broken. But here’s where Sweets was right — if Booth and Brennan kissed once they were cognizant of their feelings towards one another, once they knew what kissing each other meant and it couldn’t be explained away by tequila or Caroline being puckish, then a dam would break. Or, more accurately, Brennan’s emotional dam would break, because it’s clear to anyone with a pair of eyes that Booth’s just been waiting on her to be ready for years. Where he was wrong was when he assumed that Brennan would go, “Oh, gee, you kissed me, and though I have no reasonable explanation for why, I think we should go get married and live happily ever after!” That’s not Brennan, you guys.
The dam has broken, however, in the sense that she had a revelation — she isn’t objective about Booth. At all. She even said so in this episode when she was explaining why she had to leave to Angela — she had this whole speech about how she can’t stand her job because of how emotionally involved she is in Booth’s well-being, and then summed it up by saying, “I just need some perspective so I that I can view my life with some objectivity.” And if I really need to explain why this is a terrifying concept to Brennan, you need to go back and re-watch this show a little longer.
To Brennan, getting away serves both as a way to re-gain some perspective, and an experiment. If in a year she gets back and meets Booth at the coffee cart and she still has these feelings for him, that’s proof positive that these feelings aren’t going away. Because let’s face it, if there’s one way to get Temperance Brennan to forget about something (including a guy), it’s to stick her on an anthropologically significant dig halfway around the world. And if she’s still looking at prehistoric bones and missing Booth, and she returns from Indonesia and he still loves her back, it’ll be pretty hard to explain away to herself that this is all some fleeting misconstruction of their partner relationship and not some semblance of the real deal. (Or as much as she believes in the real deal, which is to say not very much, but coming around to the idea in the face of undeniable evidence.)
But let’s suspend reality for a moment and say that when Booth came to the airport looking all An Officer and A Gentleman they had some sort of passionate makeout session. Would you really have been happy with that? Because I would not have been. The airport is arguably the worst time they could have done that. Seriously, show of hands, who thinks it’s a good idea for those two crazy kids to finally get together only to then be separated for a year? Who really wants to give Brennan a year by herself to go over that kiss over and over again only to conclude it was some sort of mistake made in a emotionally heightened situation, and then we’re back at square one? Because I think that sounds like a terrible idea. No, hand-holding and a promise was the best thing Booth could have given both of them. This way, she has time to consider her actions in an objective way before she does anything, and given himself a chance to show her that no matter where he goes, he’ll be the one who never abandons her.
I’m with Ivey on one point — I’m ready to see the story of Booth and Brennan together. I’m anticipating it with an unholy glee and, when it actually happens, it’s possible I will stroke out from sheer joy. But I don’t want a fakeout. I don’t want an Angela and Hodgins where they break up and string me along worried for a while before they get back together. When they do finally, finally kiss and surrender to the inevitable, I want it to be for real, and I want it to stick. And if they rush their getting together, it won’t.
So patience, dear Bones fans. In the words of the eternal Diana Ross; “You can’t hurry love/no you just have to wait/love don’t come easy/it’s a game of give and take.”
It’s possible that woman was a Bones fan even before the show existed. Someone should look into that.
Clacked by Julia Hass 
on May 24, 2010 @ 16:00 EST5EDT
I totally agree! I was quite surprised by the negative reaction to them not getting together in the last few episodes. This extended time apart makes so much sense in regards to the characters, especially Brennan, but also Booth who understands that she needs time to accept change. I see this as the necessary next step in Brennan’s preparation for a long-term serious relationship with Booth. Without it, I think there’d be a lot of forward and backward steps, which we’re all tired of. This way she’ll be sure, and we can just enjoy the relationship without having to worry about it falling apart. I fully expect TPTB to get Brennan and Booth together early next season, and have fun with the relationship.
Ha! I hoped you’d write this!
I saw the finale yesterday and kept thinking how perfect the final moment was. I mean look at Bones, she really really cares about Booth and was worried about him.
After those silly moment in the episodes before (I mean seriously – a guitar playing Bones? That made me more angry than anything this year) I thought that scene you picture above was so extremely cute and perfect. How much out of character would it have been for Temperance to actually get together with Booth when he said he’d take the leap of faith? She’s been logical for year after year now and then she’s supposed to just jump in? Man that would’ve felt so extremely off.
I just hope *fingers crossed* that next season they won’t bullshit us with “war stuff” or “this guy I met on the island” as reasons for those two not to get together.
I mean seriously. Honestly. Those two getting together next year HAS to happen. There’s no reason NOT to do it. None.
I’m with Ivy in these one… seriously, you can’t wait any longer it’s getting reeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaly boring… plus, nobody is saying that they should have kiss in the airport and be happily ever after… the one year off to “clear our heads” was a completly unnecessary plot, and a very lame one may i add (just right in the corner with amnesya and zack as a crazy man plot).
PS: Sorry if i sound a little pissy, maybe it is the “Lost” effect :)
Oh good – I’m glad you wrote this! Since first watching the finale, I’ve been coming round to why the cliche ‘run back and kiss’ idea would have been totally inappropriate and out of character (even though at the time I wanted it.)
Your post explains why this is the right course of action for the characters and makes me feel much better about it all. Big sigh of relief, you’re right – Brennan needs this time.
I’m glad the writers of the show don’t just give us what we want sometimes because often, what we want isn’t true to the characters. Good on them for being brave and telling their story in their own time. I for one will be there until the very end – I can’t wait to see how they eventually bring these two amazing characters together, because I’m pretty convinced they will eventually.
Yes! I totally agree with everything you said. The finale was really very, very good and well told. Like you said, I believe it wasn’t the right time for these two. Throw them together and it wouldn’t be genuine. I’m more than ready to see how this story plays out. And I’m loving “the dance” so far! :)
Thanks for this! You wrote it very well and I agree completely. I think that a lot of fans need to look at it from a distance and wih intellegence, then they’ll understand.
It wouldn’t be realistic if they got together after the 100th or that they made out before the airport scene of 5.22. And it’s for sure that they both needed a break.
As HH said, they’ve a story to tell. I love how they write it, with all the characters and stuff. Can’t wait till it comes back and continues unfolding :)
I totally agree! Booth’s feeling and exhibition of those feelings is not in question; however, Brennan is what she is and that is not going to change quickly or with Booth’s declaration of “let’s give this a shot”. Emily Deschanel made a statement a while back that she believes that it isn’t whether she will love Booth in 5 years, but whether he will love her – that says it all.
I think a major problem is all these folks who constantly are putting suggestions out there such as there will be new recurring cast members, somebody won’t be coming back alone, etc. etc. Whether this be the Bones “Powers That Be” or ardent fans or people who seem to allege to have “insider information”, I would be much happier if they kept their innuendos to themselves.
Let us all take the ride with Booth and Brennan, agree to disagree and see where we go. I, for one, totally agree with Julia – have patience and keep that Diana Ross song in your head!
Thank you for hitting the nail on the head.
I’ve been trying to defend this episode to friends, and you’ve managed to cap it eloquently in a nutshell.
The hand-hold was just perfect, and its going to be a great season 6. I’m really looking forward to the story TPTB give us. Bring on September…
Well, if this was a show about 2 people and the progression of their character building, I would agree in some way.
BUT, this show is about (or was for the first 3 years) a crime-fighting duo that were mismatched. It provided good cases, humour, romantic moments, fun sexual tension, great additional cast members and a lot of entertainment. No longer the case. I agree with Avery that the show would have been better not making the BB relationship such a focus, but rather keep it in the backgound because it changes what the show was.
This sad, puppy dog-boy chasing in denial, scared girl thing that is going on now is pathetic and boring. And let’s face it, soooooo predictable. Ughhhhh!
Bring back cocky, funny Booth and sexy, clueless Brennan. And let’s have some fun! Who cares if they ever get together, who cares about undying love?
THANK YOU! It seems everyone has forgotten what the show’s actual premise is. Actually, the complete focus on the BB will they/won’t they in the past two seasons has been detrimental to the whole show. Hopefully, season 6 they will get back to the actual premise. I’m not holding my breath, though.
And why cant a show progress and change, do you want a show that does the same thing for 8 seasons and become stagnant. What has always separated Bones from other procedural shows was the character driven aspect.
Wow, I did not read this essay as being against the romance aspect of the show itself AT ALL. It sounds like Julia is a shipper of the highest degree, but believes that the ship is sailing at the right pace rather than too slowly. I’m not sure how you can even watch this show if you’re looking for a “regular” procedural that doesn’t focus on the characters and their relationships! It wasn’t even that in the first season.
I agree with the author on this one. I thought that the finale was suitable for the storyline. I am a ship through and through. I want to see them together but the way some fans wanted it. I thought that the simple act of holding hands was so classy and original. How she squeezed his hand was the most subtle but tell tale thing about her feelings. A lot could be said about how Booth pulled away while she held on. I hope to see some more forward movement in the storyline.
Abso-freakin-lutely!! This is exactly how I feel about it. I cannot wait for them to begin a relationship but Brennan is just not ready for that, it’s not time. Great article!
I was not pleased with the finale. It’s been 5 years. And although a kiss would have been nice, at least a hug was warranted at the airport, especially when he’s going to a war zone. I don’t get how they could skip some emotional gesture. Handholding just didn’t do it for me or the promise to meet in a year. To much of An Affair to Remember when they couldn’t meet because she got run over by a cab.
Stephen Nathan the other half of Hart Hanson on the show put it out there someone might come back with a significant other and that’s too much to bear at this point.
I want to see Brennan more ready. There has to be an epiphany as to why she and Booth belong together and it’s up to the writers to do it. She has grown closer to Booth in her way of thinking and understanding people.
Yes, she’s scared. But I’m scared too that I won’t be able to watch if something between them doesn’t happen next season.
The writers ripped Ange and Hodgins apart so quickly, it tore out my heart. Surely they can figure out how to grow the Booth Brennan relationship together after a year apart.
I’m counting on it.
I just re-read Nathan’s statement and it doesn’t say “significant other” — “Booth and Brennan might not be alone when they reunite. There’s a potential for a new recurring character or two next season”. I am not jumping to any conclusion that one of them is bringing back a love interest. We just went that route and apparently that didn’t work because those folks were gone after that episode. I also can’t see Booth with a woman soldier…..
As I have gotten used to during the years is never believe anything anyone hints at until it actually happens.
But what happens when Brennan comes back realizing her feelings of love did not go away, and she does want to be with him….and Booth comes back with a girlfriend?? How does that fit in to your theory because there is a strong rumor that it’s going to play out like that.
Beatifully written.
And, sort to speak, very accurate… :D
Man, you really study this characters week to week!!! And I have to agree when you say that a handshake at the airport was the best thing that could’ve happened. Why? Because of the reason you just posted. You’re right, Bones, the ever so rational, would’ve spent all her time away from Booth thinking how they had gotten carried away by the moment and stating that the kiss was a mistake – however, I was hoping for a kiss on the cheek.
Brennan needs to know that Booth will never leave… voluntarily. That he will never abandoned her. And when they meet, in a year, she’ll get her proof and she won’t be afraid anymore.
Just hoping there are no third parties involved…
I completely 100% agree. And I love your psychologically objective analysis. It’s perfect for studying such an objective personality, yet ironic the level of psychology used for someone so very much against psychology that she refuses to fully give credit to Sweets even when she is impressed with his deductions.
I agree that, for this pair this is exactly what is needed for their relationship but I struggle with how she is going to coop being submersed in her original love setting job-wise. She’s been having issues with being away from her track for awhile now and this opportunity might just reinforce her doubts about staying at the Jeffersonian career-wise.
OR if they all do come back in a year hoping to pick things up where they left off, how is that going to be possible. Yes I understand that no group of people could possible be better for this particular FBI/Squint team, but realistically they will need to be replaced for their year absence. AND when they come back that team will be an obnoxious rival not only for work, but workspace. Professionally, no one would take the replacement job knowing that it would only be for a year. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that they will be fighting to keep; and they will have the advantage while Bones’s team has not been activate together. If aren’t good at change while they are leaving, they will NOT like the changes they will have to adjust to their previous lives upon arrive. No matter how objective, when one is returning to an idealistic memory, the realistic differences are hard blows to take. CAN they come back to their previous lives? and CAN they do this while adjusting to the blooming relationship we all know is coming?
I agree 100%
This show isn’t just about the sexy back and forth banter between them anymore, it has to go somewhere. They have to have space in order for something more to develop. Yes, it’s been five years, but for five years they’ve been at a stalemate and now, finally, Brennan can gain some perspective and something can HAPPEN. They can’t just suddenly wake up one day and be together because fans have decided it’s boring the way it is, they need this year apart. And trust me, by the time the series has ended you’ll wonder why you complained. It took Mulder and Scully like seven years to even kiss, but when they did, it was glorious. Good things come to those who wait ;)
You are absolutely correct! Thank you so much for this honest, thoughtful and accurate perspective. I totally agree with you, especially on the point of B&B getting together, it will happen, and when it does, it will be magic. Everything happens eventually.
@Ricay, Bones IS stagnant, IMO. It has been since season 4. Stuck in the same BB will they/won’t they pattern for two seasons. Going nowhere, I might add. The cases have become dull. The character development is all over the place. One minute Brennan progresses. Then, in the next episode she regresses. Sure, a show can change, but be cohesive about it. Keep shit consistent. Bones, does not do that. It’s a shame some fans are so blind to see the obvious flaws in the show because all they care about is B/B.
If you have not seen progress this season I think you are being blind. Booth professing his feelings in the 100th episode is not any kind of holding pattern that I can discern.
This show isn’t about the cases its about Bones hence the title of the show. The cases and secondary characters are just the devices to help tell her story not the other way around. I don’t understand people who say they should have done this or the writers should have done that. Its their story let them tell it their way.
I for one think this show is is getting stronger with each season.
LOL where did that get Booth? NOWHERE. Hence, the holding pattern. So, you think inconsistencies and retcons equals strong writing? Wow… It’s funny how we all see things, differently. You think Bones is a show about Brennan. I see it as the Booth/Brennan hour. Highly, annoying I must admit. If you’ve been with the show since day one, you know they had an interesting balance that worked. In it’s current state, Bones is a mess. Balance must be restored.
“No, hand-holding and a promise was the best thing Booth could have given both of them.”
I one hundred percent agree with you on this. I think that Booth learned his lesson from the incidence in the 100th episode. Acting on pure emotion and babbling about forty or fifty years in the future to someone who is logical to a fault and has abandonment issues? Not a smart move. But Booth is impulsive, and that’s what we love about him; he balances Brennan.
People commenting of Facebook kept repeating, “He should have kissed her! He should have kissed her!” All I could do was shake my head. Booth made his move; Brennan is perfectly aware of his feelings for her. At this point, the ball is in her court and it will remain there until she’s reached a point where she’s emotionally ready to let him in.
It is funny how people do see things differently. I don’t see that Booths professing his feelings has got him nowhere. Maybe she didn’t fall into his arms and tell him she loves him but that wouldn’t be her at this stage of her life/story. His feelings are out in the open in regards to her now. Thats not progress? She can’t hide from it and neither can he. That is why we are at this year separation between the two.
I think people just don’t see it. They are looking for hugs and kisses, the easy way to love, they don’t see two damaged people trying to find their way to each other.
I’m not sure as to what balance you are talking about. The B&B aspect of the show only consists of a couple of scenes accounting for maybe ten to twelve minutes of air time. Earlier seasons episodes containing Hodgela had more.
If Brennan would have fell into his arms, I would have been angry. That wouldn’t have been true to her character. I’m not really a B/B shipper. So, I’m definitely not looking for hugs and kisses. I’m on the loving B/B’s friendship side of things. I believe a lot were looking for the hugs and kisses, though. That’s what fan fiction is for ;) As for the balance, I mean the over focus of the B/B will they/won’t they. It used to be more organic, imo. Then, it just started to feel contrived and it felt like they were shoving B/B in my face, constantly. You may see it differently, but there was definitely a shift, there.
Completely agree Julia – it’s not the right time for them yet.
Thank you for sharing and articulating so clearly what many of us think.
I enjoyed the finale and agree that the intense scene at the end really couldn’t have gone any other way. A passionate kiss would not have worked for me. However, count me among those who are getting a little tired of mournful, pained B&B moments. Instead of contriving more ways to keep those two crazy kids apart via ridiculous plotlines that require us to forget about all of the relationship progress this season, I hope the writers spend their summer break figuring out how to depict a smart, sexy couple who work together fighting crime. It can be done. Not exactly the same situation but I like The Closer and enjoy cases where Brenda and Fritz collaborate. I realize Fritz is not a central character but those writers are able to let the relationship and the crime fighting co-exist. Surely the Bones writers can figure this out?
I completely agree with you. As much as I would have liked to see a real kiss between the two this was definitely not the time to do it. In fact I don’t believe that there was any other well thought out way to end this season than with them walking away from each other. Was it heartbreaking to watch? Yes. Did a little part of me die just seeing the looks on both of their faces and the tears in their eyes? Absolutely.
But they need this time apart-Brennan in particular-to really gain some objectivity. Brennan needs to see what life is like without Booth to really understand what she could be giving up and/or gaining by letting him in just that little bit more.
I think Brennan will have time to think about how much Booth means to her, and I think Hart and the writers should have a heart and let them have a really steamy , hot reunion. Then let them progress slowly but steadily forward. They don’t have to fall in bed. There’s a lot they can do so they won’t ruin things.
Post Script: Another quick thought is that a lot of kissing and hugging does a lot for me when it is right.
Come on,Hart, have a heart and that hot, passionate reunion that we want. Then I think you should let them progress slowly but surely to our desired goal.
Post script: Hart , if we get the the passionate reunion we will be SOOOO happy. after that Booth and Brennan do not have to go fast but please let them move steadily forward!! Thank you !
I agree with your summarization of this whole heartedly, but I do have something to add… At the airport when she tells Hodgins that she loves him too because of the gift he gave her…she goes on to explain what Booth has taught her about this subject of the gift giving and love. Then she goes to Booth and does exactly what Hodgins did for her…she was telling him she loved him in a way that he would understand…and the Handholding – that is a big thing for both of them, you can see in the way they look and stand with each other. Anyhow, I am so ready to see them get together and not in a rushed way. This is an awesome series and this story line has been long in coming (since the first episode)…