Bones Review: The Scare in the Score (Season 12 Episode 7)

This certainly isn’t what I expected.

On Bones Season 12 Episode 7, the death of yet another character is one that we all assumed was coming — but the way it happens is a bit of a shock.

The question of Max’s health is one I had from the beginning on this season — from the hospital bracelet to the subtle hints in the way he spoke with Brennan — and that issue is finally revealed on “The Scare in the Score.”

It turns out that his health was a problem, but he had a pacemaker put in which seemed to be helping. In fact, Brennan points out that he seems healthier than ever.

That’s foreshadowing if I’ve ever seen it, kids.

But no, Max doesn’t die of old age. He dies, instead, as a hero who goes out swinging. Cue the ugly crying.

When Bones gets into emotional stories like this, it does it incredibly well. Booth and Brennan’s desperation to get to their children after finding out about the shooting is enough to make me lose my breath, and Max being placed into that ambulance as his daughter watches in panic is heart-wrenching.

Max dies from a wound incurred while keeping his grandchildren safe and helping the FBI take down the bad guys. It’s honorable, and it’s a more satisfying way for Max’s story to end than anything I else I can think of.

He’s been there for Brennan and her kids ever since he returned to her life, and just as Booth has helped her character to grow, so has Max.

The dream Max shares with her before he dies is a special one — it’s a memory of the smallest detail from a car trip when she was young. It serves as a goodbye, and something of an apology too.

I can’t imagine how Brennan is going to deal with this, but I’m almost more worried for Booth.

As usual, I expect he’s going to feel he’s the one to blame for Max’s death — especially while so many other people he cares for are tortured and killed as a way to get to him.

I don’t know if I think Mark Kovak is actually responsible for these killings or not. In some ways, it seems too easy. From the psychological files Caroline gets a hold of, to his motive, to his timing of being there when Booth gets the news his children could have been killed — it seems to be perfect.

Kovak is also a refugee, by the way, which makes the timing of this episode perhaps a bit problematic depending on how all of this plays out.

Of course, the man did lose his father in the most horrific way imaginable, and the flashback that allows us to see Booth take that shot is one of the most difficult to watch scenes from Bones in recent memory. This is something Booth has been dealing with for years, and it’s a scene we’ve heard described before. To watch it in this way, though — it’s shocking.

As much as I’m dying to get back to Zack, I appreciate that this season’s big bad is one that deals so directly with Booth’s past.

We’re on the 12th and final season, but it still feels like there is so much to learn and explore when it comes to his character. I’m excited that we get to focus on that as we gear up for the last episodes of the series.

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

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Bones airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on FOX.

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