bones: gearing up for imminent sides & spoilers
the hands! the hair! the ridiculous cliffhanger! // fox promotional photo
It’s probable that in the next couple days, the first casting sides for season six of Bones will be released. A year ago today, the sides for “Harbingers in the Fountain” found their way onto the Internet, bringing the first spoilers—and a big foiler from Hart Hanson.
In the pages for Dr. Leacock, the dude who stabbed Brennan with a scalpel in last year’s premiere, Hart altered the scene in which Booth rescued Brennan to include this little bit:
Brennan: Yes, thank you. Don’t worry about hurting me, Booth. (Then) You saved me.
Booth kisses Brennan. She kisses him back as they sink down to the floor.
Obviously, that didn’t happen. (Most graciously accepted the “I’ve got you, baby” we got instead.) To my recollection, such tomfoolery didn’t happen for the rest of the season, suspicious as the spoilers about Hodgins and Angela’s jail cell wedding seemed to be at the time.
With production resuming on July 20 and the sides imminent, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some suspicious spoilers in the next couple days.
I’d bet money there’ll be sides for a character called “Coffee Cart Vendor,” and if there’s going to be funny business in the new pages, that’s where it’ll be.
But while we’re on the subject of the nearly-inevitable coffee cart scene, let’s talk about what we can actually expect.
Will it be the first scene in the premiere? Will it be a joyful reunion? Will it be awkward? Are we about to be led to believe that Booth and Brennan have had no contact whatsoever in the last year? Will they be alone?
In my opinion, the scene has to happen, but with it kicking off a season which will be an incredibly angst-ridden and frustrating one, I have a hard time imagining that the coffee cart will be the romantic reunion everyone is hoping for.
So here’s what I think will happen.
Booth and Brennan will still plan to meet at the coffee cart. Maybe one of them (Bones?) will be waiting on a bench when a text comes in from the other—Sorry, can’t make it, we’ve already got a case.
They don’t get a formal reunion; they’ll just rush back into murder-solving. It’ll be awkward as everyone tries to fit back into their roles. (Rest assured, by the end of the premiere, everything will be back to normal and we’ll be lucky if we get a mention of the year apart ever again.)
We might even be introduced to new characters. I would not be surprised at all to see casting sides for a girlfriend for Booth, who’s followed him home from Afghanistan (a reporter, maybe? A government contractor?) and who will stick around through November sweeps, at which point she will realize that she’s got no business getting between the partners and will promptly Susan Lewis That Shit (translation: get out the way, a la Dr. Lewis in ER’s “Secrets and Lies” or Juliet in Lost’s “Something Nice Back Home” or any number of other characters).
Not to worry, though. In order to prove that everything will be business as usual—and to give us that tiny bit of hope that keeps Bones fans watching in the face of dark, dark despair—Booth and Brennan will, if my theory is correct, meet up at the coffee cart in the last scene of the episode, for their customary End Scene of Fluff. It’ll set the tone for the rest of the season: they’re still crazy about each other, but there’s more waiting to be done. I can see Brennan coming back with the realization that absence really does make the heart grow fonder, while Booth comes into the season thinking that he’s gotten over her. But the last scene will make it clear that this is a serious Good luck with that one, Mister situation.
Because yeah, right. It’s still just a matter of when.
Also, would NOT be shocked to find out that Angela is pregnant.
Here are my predictions/speculations:
1) meetup doesn’t happen either a la “an affair to remember” or HH wants to take the “one year from today” very very literally, like he did with last year’s sex scene or (hopefully) with the End in the Beginning. Brennan can do her work with the Jeffersonian via satellie, etc. How can that work for a drama so centered around two characters? I don’t know but The Office did it for 7 episodes, and they were only a 22 minute show. And it kinda sucked. HH said they would still be partners, but not necess. in DC. People can be worlds apart and be partners. Also, based on the thought-episode title, that might just be the ‘gorilla’ in the room to hang over everyone’s head. Hmm, talking about the gorilla in the room, sounds like a Brennan messing up the phrase ‘the elephant in the room’
2) Booth brings home a girl. Man on the rebound. Brennan tries to not be jealous, but is a little less good about it than she was with Catherine. SN has suggested they may not be alone.
3) I’ll bet you $10 or 10 tweets that Angela has a baby by the end of the show. I hope they name it Fonzie and give it a motorcycle.
4) I don’t think they’ve had contact, using the 6 week black out period leading to Harbingers as precident. She didn’t call at least Angela once to find out how Booth was doing? let’s see if there’s any development here.
With the foiler, I’m inclined to believe it really wasn’t set out to be a foiler, but rather was something that was changed later after casting and rewriting. I think it just had the added benefit of being like that. In Night at the Bones Museum, Brennan was supposed to say “I love it when you do that” about Booth kicking in the door. That would have been a great callback to EitB, but not something so clearly OOC as the rumored kissing in Harbingers. I give HH the benefit of the doubt way more than I should, but that’s my theory.
That said, I’ll be taking anything that has “coffee cart vendor” with a grain of salt. I’ll feel much better with just one line of dialogue that shows BB are in the same place, at the same time.
I think i can see what you said, is pretty close to what i hope for.
I know that there are those who think that jealousy is a catalyst that causes one party to a relationship to see what they’re missing, but I would posit it is just as possible that a person can choose to give up, realizing it is too late. That’s why SO story lines never work for me. And we’ve already been told, through Cam, that if Booth opens up Brennan’s heart and then changes his mind, she’ll die before she would trust again. Rebecca has already told Brennan that a couple can “miss” their moment. If Brennan returns from Indonesia ready to overcome her fears to try a relationship with Booth and he’s got someone else on his arm (or even if he returns to Catherine), then I think Brennan shuts down. I think she’d finally understand why it was so hard for Booth to continue to work with her after #100. I don’t think an SO brings them together in any way, shape or form. Hart may write it that way, but it is totally unbelievable.
I know this isn’t true for everyone, but I don’t watch Bones for the unrelenting sadness we’ve seen since #100, caused by B/B’s inability to connect. Right now I can’t imagine a storyline Hart could write for the season opener — short of them both deciding to try a more intimate relationship with each other — that would keep me hanging on. If we are going to believe in the FBI rule about non-fraternization, the season opener is the perfect time for them to become a couple, when neither of them works in or for the FBI. How could they not?
Lorna,
I’m TOTALLY with you. Keeping Booth and Brennan apart at this stage in the game is so unrealistic that it’s getting hard to watch. I love that you brought up Rebecca’s “catching fire” quote–if that’s true, Booth and Brennan are totally screwed, because their moment has come and gone about a dozen times.
That said, “realistic” is one of the LAST words I would use to describe Bones and Hart Hanson’s writing style. I fully expect him to wait long enough to where it’s UNREALISTIC for them to be together, because no one can hang on for much longer than six years.
This is Hart’s latest tweet:
“What makes you think that I’m not trying to get B&B together and it’s their characters who are recalcitrant and unwilling?”
Obviously, he thinks we’re idiots.
Lorna
Another Hart tweet today: You don’t even know if there will actually be a time jump. This is why I’m against spoilers. Turns some into Chicken Little.
So, now there isn’t a time jump that SN told Ausiello about and was then published 30 seconds after the finale ended?
Lorna
Um… are you sure you don’t work for Bones…
You totally predicted the reporter girlfriend and Angela news.
Haha I’m VERY sure. Things would be a lot different if I was running the show.