Bones Review: The Donor in the Drink (Season 11 Episode 3)

With Bones, it’s usually hit or miss. (Occasionally its home run or strikeout, but you get the drift). This week, it was more miss than hit, but, as always, Bones is lucky to have characters that can elevate even an otherwise mediocre episode.

This week, it’s Brennan.

Be it attempting to comfort a decidedly grouchy Booth, being adorably oblivious and/or generally on point while talking to Christine and, later, Cam or giddy at the prospect of being back at the job she so loves,  Emily Deschanel’s Brennan is the MVP of this episode. And, also, because I haven’t been doing the weekly reviews, this is my first time to comment on how pretty she looks these days. The new haircut really suits her, and she’s positively glowing.

No, this isn’t the only favorable comment I can make about the episode, but just about. The science behind donor organs was a bit iffy, and even though I don’t claim to be an expert, I would have liked a little more explanation on how it was possible to harvest the organs of dead bodies. Grey’s Anatomy keeps telling me they have to be alive to do it!

Also, Aubrey is a non-entity, Wendell isn’t quite as engaging as he usually is and even the whole thing with trying to comfort Cam after her breakup with Arastoo felt a like a bit too much. That Cam is the type of woman to put career over love isn’t exactly surprising (Even if you could argue that Brennan, who is usually Cam’s equal in this front, already made the opposite choice). That her team still doesn’t know how to comfort her kind of is.

Booth is still fun, even if he was annoyed all episode. It’s not like I can blame him, either, the death of a loved one is such a hard thing, and for someone who relies being in control, the fact that he couldn’t locate Jared’s ashes is the final nail in the coffin, no pun intended.

The thing about Booth is that David Boreanaz plays him with a kind of vulnerability that’s readily apparent for viewers who’ve been in this journey for a while, and even when he’s sitting in the middle of the bullpen because Aubrey has taken over his office, or interrogating suspects with much less cockiness than he usually does, it’s easy to see behind the mask.

Angela and Hodgins, usually my faves, take the prize for characters who most annoyed me this week. Well, not Angela, just Hodgins, who apparently loves Angela’s photography so much that he stages a show for her even if she doesn’t want him to. It doesn’t even matter that he’s right, that Angela is actually good enough to have her own photography show, what matters is that marriage is supposed to be about communication, not about bulldozing through your partners concern to do what you think is best.

The episode’s best scene is the final one. Jared’s ashes were, apparently, always where they were meant to be. In fact, Christine was using the box to get closer to her baby brother. Booth doesn’t have a brother, not anymore, but if there’s any comfort in family, the fact that his daughter loves her new baby brother enough to want sleep-overs with a toddler should be enough to put a smile on his face.

It put a smile on my face.

Other things to note:

• Aubrey is not Sweets, and he will never be, but the picture on his office wall with Booth was a nice touch.
• Booth trying to shield Christine from the knowledge of what happened to Jared was very much in character, but, ultimately, misguided. If we’ve learned anything about Christine is that she’s Brennan’s kid, through and through.

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What did you think of this week’s episode of Bones? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Bones airs Thursdays at 8/7c on Fox.

Lissete Lanuza Sáenz

Lawyer. Writer. Columnist. Geek. Falls in madly in love with fictional characters. Hates the color yellow, misogyny, and people who are late. Can always be found with a book. Watches an absurd amount of TV every week, often, while eating coffee ice cream. She has no regrets. You can check out her blog here: Absurday. Lissete is a senior writer for Tell-Tale TV. Follow @lizziethat