BONES Review: Hard Feelings Take Center Stage

Beware of the Coy

The episode focused on the bones discovered by a father and son in the woods, the son shooting the skull into a million pieces to “protect” his terrified father – and prove that an interest in fashion is not mutually exclusive with being a real man. This would have made the identification next to impossible if it was not for the charming and highly experienced Dr. Beth Mayer, played by Betty White. Bonding with Angela over their mutual enthusiasm for graphical simulators, Dr. Mayer suggested enlarging the bone fragments using the Angelatron, which resulted in the positive ID of the victim as Justin Ross, a realtor and fantasy football player.

The investigation lead the FBI to Ross’ disgruntled co-worker, whose house Ross lost to foreclosure due to being distracted by an affair with a fellow fantasy football player’s wife. However, it was not the woman’s husband Craig who murdered her lover. Turns out, Ross offered the husband a trade – a fantasy football quarterback – against his forgiveness, of which the fantasy football commissioner in charge of the game strongly disapproved. When Ross threatened to oust him, the commissioner decided to get rid of Ross – apparently, the players take their fantasy football very seriously!

At the same time, Dr. Mayer was ready with sound advice for other characters’ not only professional, but also personal problems. Perceiving that Wells’ depressed spirits originated from his erectile dysfunction, she suggested he join Hodgins on a field trip to “get out of his head and go wild”, which led to a hilarious conflict between the two men involving tranquilizer darts and both metaphorical and literal “hard feelings” following the trip.

Moreover, once Brennan got over being threatened by Mayer’s superior competence and experience, the latter helped her get to the bottom of her clash with Booth over the book. Booth got offended by the fact that Brennan killed off Agent Andy in her latest novel, since the character was based on him, and while Brennan tried to explain to him that he is just a character, it did not ease the tension between the two. Aubrey suggested to Booth that Brennan was working out her issues with him through her writing following their retirement earlier that year, and Dr. Mayer elaborated that Brennan killed off Andy because she was bored from the “peace and quiet” originating from no longer working at the Jeffersonian. Mayer pointed out that Brennan and Booth push and challenge each other to be better, and this “heat” should be embraced because it will keep them together. We certainly agree!

NEXT: Dr. Mayer will see you now