Bones - The Parts in the Sum of the Whole, S05E16

While this milestone episode, #100!!, was absolutely awesome and amazing and nothing can take that away from it, it was also a revelation as to what has really been missing for me the last two seasons of the show.

The entire concept was wonderful, to finally get to see the first case Booth (David Boreanaz) and Brennan (Emily Deschanel) worked on together gave answers to questions we did not know we had. Why did Brennan not want to work with Booth again? What had happened that first time?

The sexual tension was so right. The idea that they had been aware of the attraction at first, and that things had just gone very wrong with them made the length of time between their second case and the first time either realized there was something more going on make much more sense.

And I even loved the conclusion. Booth finally put his heart on the line, and Brennan could not take it. I hope that the openness now explored will stay through the rest of the season and through other relationships the two might become involved in.

So you must be asking, what is my problem?

My problem is that this episode was structured very much like the original ones were, and so the differences between the early episodes and the most recent ones was very easy to notice.

Brennan's journey from socially unaware to somewhat conscious of normal conventions has made us lose the contrast between her and Booth. We no longer have the "average Joe" FBI agent working with a bunch of super intelligent, but awkward squints. The clear divides between them all have dissolved, giving us a bunch of very normal and boring people.

Booth refused to pay much mind to science, relying primarily on his instincts. Brennan gave no credit to anything but the barest of facts. Zach (Eric Millegan) was the only character who maintained his unwavering ability to perfectly understand the very complex while missing the things that we, as a normal audience, could easily pick up. And then he was reasoned into doing great evils.

Hodgins (T.J. Thyne) no longer goes on about his conspiracy theories, and Angela's sexual ccomfort was lost in a wave of abstinence.

These very polarized characters worked well together and created a dynamic that was interesting a unique. But as that polarization faded, as they all merged towards one conglomeration of characters with very similar opinions and perspectives, that was lost. Combining that with the focus on that characterization and lack of interesting forensic development, and you have a show that has lost its spark.

Episode 100 recovered that spark because it was set before the merger, when amusement was so easily derived from variety. And after such a peak, I feel like its all going to be downhill from now on, and not in a good way.