Watching Bones

I say this in hopes that I don’t sound too odd or anything like that, but I’ve been wondering about Michaela Conlin (Angela) on Bones. She’s got this exotic beauty that I’ve been curious about. Come to find out she’s the product of a Chinese mother and Irish father, so it makes sense that a combination like that would give her a different look about her.

Looking into her bio a little further, she makes me feel very unaccomplished! Just a few months older than me, I wouldn’t have thought she was my age. Surely to be a stage and TV actress she would have to be older than me, right? But then, she did start acting at age six. At six I was in second grade, terrified of getting up in front of the class to recite my address and phone number. Not exactly the makings for an actress of any kind.

Other than Bones, she’s stared in The It Factor, MDs, and The D.A. The films she’s been in are all titles I’ve never heard of, but there was a new one just this year called Open Window. This looks like it was an Indy film – it was released at the Sundance Film Festival. Can’t wait to see what else she’s going to be in!

The Fox Bones website now offers a “Mobisode�? series of Bones. Something you can get on your phone, it sounds pretty neat. Except that if you check it out online, I’m not so sure I’m impressed. I know, sounds pretty bad considering I’m a huge fan of Bones – maybe that’s the problem.

The Mobisodes are about the “skeleton crew�? of the Smithsonian who come across a mystery while the main cast of Bones is away. Okay so far – except that after building a relationship for two seasons with the cast of Bones, I have no attachment to any of them. But, if I can get over that and just watch the episodes, maybe it will pick up.

So far there are only a handful of episodes to watch, each about two minutes long. Maybe that’s another problem; they’re so chopped up, it’s easy to get distracted, which means the story is getting lost on me as my attention span drifts. That, and you have to skip over a commercial at the beginning of each one (”brought to you by MasterCard!) I guess the good news is that you CAN skip past the commercial…

The storyline is based on three investigators with differing skills – all of whom aren’t very experienced. When someone drops off a box of animal bones with a timer and a note, they take it upon themselves to figure out what’s going on. Since the experts are unavailable, they make discoveries and draw connections that have so far lead them to believe that some kind of eco-terrorist is sending a threat. Oh, and there’s something about cloning in there too.

Check them out online or on your phone if you want – just don’t go into it expecting quite the same storyline you’ve come to know and love from the show…

Okay, as you go about celebrating your Christmas holiday, even if you don’t care for Jim Carey, as a fan of Bones, you’ve got to watch The Grinch. Keep your eyes out for Hodgins in a completely different role. TJ Thyne plays as Stu Lou Who on the latest version of The Grinch. I never would have picked him out if I hadn’t read the credits. Somehow, I think I prefer him as the “bug guy…” How about you?

Okay, so maybe I’m a little late, but it’s always worth taking note when a show as awesome as Bones gets a nod from any kind of award! This November, Bones won the 2006 Most Compelling Television Drama from the Diversity Awards. Congrats to the cast and crew of Bones!

The Man in the Fallout Shelter – aired tonight as a rerun – was fittingly a Christmas episode. Let me just start by saying that Zach’s robot is awesome! It doesn’t do anything he says, which prompts Hodgins to laugh at him, and then mention watching reruns of Firefly – which is funny because that was a show that was created by Joss Whedon, whom David Boreanaz worked with closely with on both Buffy and Angel.

While investigating a case, Zach cuts into a skeleton and releases a spore that is a biological contaminate. Hodgins, who was there with him, wasn’t following protocol and was drinking eggnog, so now they’re all contaminated and must be quarantined. And, we got to see TJ Thyne win a towel! (Not so much fun, but also Eric Millegan…) Sorry, I digress.

Trying to make the best of Christmas, they decide to decorate and play secret Santa. The squints don’t even know how to draw names and Booth has to show them the old “draw a name out of a can�? trick. When Booth has a reaction to the medicine they’re given for their contamination, he reveals to Goodman that he has a son. Everyone is shocked with the news that Booth is a father. When Bones confronts him about have a son and why he never told her, he responds with, “well, nothing brings people together like a Christmas lung fungus.�?

How sad to see them all have their family visit through the glass, and watching Booth wait for his son; when he finally comes, it’s incredibly touching. Zach’s whole family shows up, and Angela’s dad appears to be a member of either ZZ Top or some other dead-head band. Goodman’s twin girls are so sweet, and Bones, well, she has no one. Although not surprising, it’s still sad.

The funny thing is that, of course Bones solves the case, but in doing so, she gives a lady her own Christmas present. She reveals what happened to her lover years ago, letting her know that she was not left alone but was he was the victim of a murder and could not come back for her as planned.

Okay, the next time we see Epps is in Season 2, episode 4, “The Blonde in the Game.�? The oddest thing to me about this episode is that Bones gets a pot-bellied pig at the end… weird. But back on track – Epps is still in jail, Bones and Booth are still doing their investigation and solving murder thing. This is also the episode where we meet Epps’ wife, odd as it is that someone would marry a convicted murderer…

A man, Gil Lappin, finds a body in the woods and the investigation shows that the murder, between 7 and 10 years old, has the same MO as one of Epps’ victims. After talking to Epps, he gives them a riddle that points to yet another body. Once they track this one down, the girl is identified as a student at a local Catholic school. The problem with this body is that the girl has only been dead about a week. With Epps still in jail, that means that he’s not the only one doing some killing.

Once they track down the identity of the second body, they go to the school and try to get some information, only to find out that another student has gone missing. A piece of evidence they found on the second dead girl belongs to the newest missing student. This newest information leads to a trip back to the jail to talk with Epps.

After more riddles and not much help, the team manage to put their clues together and track them back to, believe cit or not, the guy who found the first body in the woods. (It always comes back full circle, doesn’t it?) To make a long story short, they find him and the missing girl, Booth and Lappin fight, and Bones ends up shooting Lappin and saving the day.

Epps is thrilled that Bones has killed someone, but being a sane person and the fact that she’s never shot someone before, Bones is inconsolable, until later when the group gives her a potbellied piglet. This is the last time we hear of Epps, and we’ve assumed that all is well and he’s still on schedule for execution, until…. Coming in January!

Howard Epps, a complicated and very scary man in both Bones and Booth’s past comes back to haunt them in January when he escapes from prison. The first time we met Epps was in Season 1, episode 7, “The Man on Death Row.�? Convicted of murder and scheduled to die by lethal injection within 32 hours, he manages to have the evidence of his case examined by Bones and her crew.

Upon investigation, it starts to look like Epps may be innocent after it starts to look like the girl was having an affair with the family lawyer. However, after exhuming the body, no viable evidence turns up, and Epps is still scheduled for execution. Of course, you know it can’t end as neatly as that, so within hours of the execution, Hodgins discovers evidence that leads them to the murder site, the murder weapon, and two more bodies.

All of a sudden, it becomes clear that Epps has not only proved his guilt in the murder of one girl, but multiple others as well. Turns out this was all a ploy of a crazy mind to keep himself just a little bit longer, knowing that with this new evidence he will not be executed but will live as a result of new evidence.

I have mixed feeling about spoilers. I guess it depends on how in-depth they get, but usually I don’t mind knowing a little about what’s to come. Sometimes I even look for it – like when I’m recording a show and it cuts off the next week’s promo – that upsets me! But, if you don’t like to know, beware what’s to come, although if you watch the show regularly and caught the promo, this probably won’t be anything new to you…

So far in this season of Bones, we’re up to 2.11, aka Judas on a Pole. We won’t see a new episode of Bones until January. Until then, we’ll keep ourselves as entertained as possible with reruns and whatever else we can find on TV…

Looks like Bones and Booth’s next villain is Howard Epps, a serial killer waiting to stand trial. After his escape, B & B are called to check out an unidentified prisoner that has been burned alive in his cell. Upon further investigation into the serial killer’s life, we find out that he was raised by an abusive mother who has turned him against women. (Not a good sign for Bones.) However, despite his anti-women programming, Epps did manage to get married, although also divorced. Enter his ex-wife, well, at least the body of his ex.

This is where Cam comes in. If you saw the promo on TV, it looks like she’s in for it – apparently while she performs an autopsy on Epp’s ex-wife, she manages to inhale a toxin. Wonder if this will get Cam out of the way for Bones and Booth… hmmm, looks like this could work to their advantage.

Here’s the promo for the newest episode in January. Can’t get here soon enough!

Fans of Cam on Bones need to be sure to catch her on Saturday, December 23rd in Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Tamara Taylor plays Debrah, a “talented singer caught in the grip of drug addiction.�? Be sure to check her out at 6 PM on Showtime if you get the chance!

Kathy Reichs, a true forensic anthropologist, and the creator of the story of Bones, made a guest appearance on tonight’s episode. Did you miss her? Check out the opening scene again where Zach is defending his dissertation to earn his doctorate. She was on the panel of professors interviewing him.

The really funny thing about all this is that Reichs is basically Brennan in real life. She has several novels out about her fictional character Temperance Brennan, and on the show Bones, Brennan moonlights as an author who writes about a forensic antropolgist Kathy Reichs. Although other characters aren’t quite the same and some aren’t even found in Reichs’ actual novels, maybe I’ll have to check some of her work out…

Tonight’s brand new Bones - directed by David Duchovny no less - gave us just a little more taste of Bones’ background. And what an interesting background it is! Since we’ve recently found out that Brennan’s parents aren’t who we thought, the storyline has added more twists and turns to keep us guessing. Well, some of us anyway. But if you ignore those annoying people who can guess what’s up before it’s revealed in the show, then yeah, most of us are riveted!

This week we actually got to meet Bones’ dad - and how weird was that? Not only has he cosmetically altered himself, but he’s likeable despite the fact that he’s obviously a cold-blooded killer! Who’d have guessed? And Russ, well, he’s just a little secret-keeper himself, isn’t he; having kept in touch with daddy-dearest and knowing all along who he was. I wonder how much more we’ll see of either of them…

The side story for this episode of Zach’s doctorate was hilarious. The lack of social skills some of the characters seem to have are great – and the characters play it so well. Zach explaining to Brennan why he was confident about getting his doctorate because a man patted him on the shoulder with an open palm instead of a closed fist and that meaning something… but I guess the psychology behind it isn’t all wrong. And how funny that Bones asks Booth to do the same for Zach at the end, knowing that this action from Booth will reassure him!

I’ll be curious to see how well they pursue this particular storyline, considering it revolves around Zach being presentable at the workplace. Zach just isn’t Zach without his mussed up hair and funky, college-kid clothes. Are they really going to change him? Hey, he can always clean up if he has to appear in court - let the guy keep his personality!

One last note for “Judas,�? did anyone else notice that when Cam did the check on the blood that Booth and Bones found and was giving Booth the results, she straightened his colar in a “familiar�? way, but Booth brushed her off? Sure, we could say he was just too busy being concerned about Bones’ safety, but don’t you think there’s something more to it than that? Like the way Bones made the observation that she hugs him every time she gets upset – Booth sure doesn’t seem to mind… Can’t wait to see where that’s going!

Congrats at finding the new Bones blog! Hope you check in with us often and give your two cents worth. As fans of Bones, please feel free to contribute or comment - TV series are all about the viewers.

If you’re new to the show, check out Fox online for episode recaps, or better yet, go out and buy or rent the season sets to catch up!