Bones Fall Finale Review: Where Do We Go From Here?

No one saw that coming.

We’ve been told that the Bones Season 11 Fall Finale would involve a “major shake-up,” but there’s no way we could have prepared ourselves for this.

If you haven’t watched both episodes in their entirety yet, stop reading this and go watch now, because there’s a serious spoiler ahead.

Let’s start with the lighter side of things, though. The first half of the two-part fall finale has Booth and Brennan going undercover in a whole new way, and it’s pretty amazing.

That’s right. Buck and Wanda are back, but this time, they’re a little different. Instead of Booth and Brennan going undercover as a power couple as we’ve seen in the past, Brennan sets them up as strangers. It’s an Old-West style shooting competition, and the two of them find themselves getting competitive with each other.

What’s interesting about this is that it’s a new way to look at their relationship. Brennan is worried about Booth’s recent behavior: wanting a jet-ski and a motorcycle, and now being a little too excited to go undercover. Angela’s explanation is that Booth needs a little excitement in his life, and for that matter, so does Brennan.

Makes sense, right? Booth and Brennan took that time away from their dangerous jobs, but they realized that wasn’t what was best for them. Now they’re back, but life is still a little more calm and stable as they focus on their family.

Brennan’s goal to bring some excitement to their relationship by surprising Booth at the shooting competition proves what I’ve been saying about her for a while. Booth has brought out positive change in her character, and now she’s even willing to do something she considered to be irrational.

She even lets loose a little as “Wild Card Wanda,” and boy, is it fun to watch. I have no doubt that both Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz had fun filming these scenes, because it definitely shows.

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Aubrey also manages to stand out in this episode, as he’s done often lately. He’s a little jealous of Booth and Brennan’s undercover adventure, that is, until he shows up just in time to pull Booth out of a bar fight.

I don’t think any other character could pull off that poncho quite so well.

Things are immediately darker in the second installment, appropriately titled, “The Doom in the Boom.” Because you know what? There’s a whole lot of doom in that boom.

Of course, we’re led to believe that either Hodgins or Aubrey could have died in that explosion. It’s Aubrey who jumps in front of Hodgins, ultimately saving his life. If you needed another reason to love James Aubrey, that would do it. (We’ve already got a list of other reasons to love this guy here).

As we wait to find out Aubrey’s fate, we’re reminded yet again of the loss of Lance Sweets. It’s been over a year since his death, yet the show is still smart enough to honor his character and acknowledge his significance to the story.

It would have been cruel to kill off Aubrey next. Thank goodness, that isn’t what happens, and everything seems right with the world as the team works to solve the case.

Arastoo comes back, and Cam finds herself trying to figure out how she feels about that fact. It’s also nice to see Brennan bring on Arastoo as an equal — the kind of thing she wouldn’t have been able to do so easily years ago.

At this point, I’m hoping Cam decides to move on from Arastoo. She let him go too easily for that to be what she really wants. We don’t get to finish that conversation, though, because they’re interrupted by a scream.

We weren’t going to get off so easily. We should have known that. We also knew something big was coming, but as the episode moved forward, I was certain we were just going to see Hodgins and Angela make the decision to grow their family.

Not so.

Hodgins will live, but his life, and his family’s, is about to change. He’s paralyzed, and a final shot with a wheelchair outside his hospital room feels dreadful.

It’s tragic, especially since Hodgins had in fact just agreed to have more children with Angela — a dream she’s had for a while. There have been a lot of dreams for this two lately, and looking back on it now, that all seems like it was foreshadowing what was to come.

Not that their dreams couldn’t be realized. They could be. But things are going to be vastly different with Hodgins in a wheelchair.

As heartbroken as I am for the character, I’m fascinated by the possibilities. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen something like this before — a character who we’ve known for over a decade to experience something that life-changing. I’m looking forward to seeing how everyone deals with the change on an emotional level. And, quite frankly, I’m looking forward to seeing this new storyline for Angela and Hodgins.

The easy thing to do with a relationship is just to break a couple up, maybe because they cheated or whatever. But Bones has been doing more interesting things than that when it comes to relationships. For Booth and Brennan, the recent struggle was about Booth’s gambling, and that’s something they had to overcome together.

Now Hodgins and Angela will have their own struggle to overcome.

I can’t wait to see what happens next. I only wish I knew how long we had to wait! I’ll just have to survive the hiatus by re-watching what has already been an amazing season so far.

What did you think of the Bones mid-season finale? How do you think this life-change for Hodgins will affect the story? Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Bones airs Thursdays at 8/7c on Fox.