Bones takes two people that you’d never expect to be working together and pairs them up to solve cases. First of all is FBI Agent Seeley Booth who knows his stuff but usually goes off on instinct. And more times then not, his instinct is right on the money. Booth has an uncanny ability to read people and figure out things about them from just one meeting. He has a background as a sharpshooter and wishes to make up for the lives he took by solving murder cases and bringing killers to justice. Yep, I’m reviewing yet another crime drama series and there’s nothing I can do about it.
Dr. Temperance Brennan, on the other hand, is a forensic anthropologist that uses science to put together the clues from a case. She takes every shred of evidence she can find, even if it’s the smallest piece, and can make it into a huge case-solver. Logic is her mindset and she uses it in any way imaginable to solve the murders presented to her.
Together they work on some of the strangest cases imaginable with Brennan’s team from the Jeffersonian Institute. Burned bodies, people buried in cement, and bodies found perfectly normal after being dead for months are just a few of the things that get thrown their way. And while Booth uses all of his experience and instinct to figure things out, Brennan is always there to use her forensic knowledge to butt heads with him. Her experience has earned her the fun nickname of “Bones” from her partner.
Bones does have a lot of the same facets of other crime dramas, which is to be expected. The duo is given a case to solve at the beginning of each episode and they simply must figure it out. Booth and Brennan somewhat remind me of Goren and Eames from Law & Order: Criminal Intent. The only difference is that Bones takes Goren and splits him up into two people making it interesting when they both have their own theories and try to rebuke one another’s. Eames usually just kind of sits back and doesn’t do much. Goren is figuring things out, catching every intricate detail, and even popping off some fun jokes that usually only amuse him. That last personality trait would be Booth’s contribution to the team.
You’re going to enjoy this series a lot if you like the whole crime drama thing because it really is a lot of fun with the seriousness of the cases and the playfulness of Booth and Brennan together. In some respects, Bones has grown into its own with all the secondary characters getting more attention and making this series into a somewhat overdramatic N.C.I.S., which is cool since I love that series too. Fans of the show will love season three and even non-fans will enjoy it since things start out red hot and keep rolling along until hitting a proverbial brick wall. This would be the season when the writers’ strike took its toll and caused Bones to come up about seven episodes short of a full season. It also helped make things rushed so the episodes near the end of this season aren’t as god as they could be. It’s a shame, but I see where they were coming from trying to get everything finished up before being out of work for a while. But I would have rather they just keep things on the pace they were on and pick up when the strike was over. Sacrificing quality to get something concluded quicker is not something I’m a fan of.
For instance, the Gormogon case takes up a big part of season three and is spread out over multiple episodes. It all gets wrapped up in the final episode of this season, but you know that maybe one or two more episodes would have made the conclusion feel a bit more satisfying. There are a few other episodes that carry over plots or situations from one to another and that is something I love about Bones. Continuing storylines will keep the hardcore fans coming back for more because you never quite know when recurring characters will pop up or some history will come back into the picture. This is a great series but season three suffers from lack of support in Hollywood and the quest for more cash.
Episodes
Disc One:
The Widow’s Son In The Windshield: As Brennan searches for Zack’s replacement, a human skull dropped from a highway overpass leads to the discovery of a bizarre, cannibalistic, secret society.
Soccer Mom In The Mini-Van: The explosive murder of a suburban mom seems to stem from her radical past. Meanwhile, Brennan struggles with her feelings as she visits her father in prison.
Death In The Saddle: Things are bound to get weird when an investigation leads to a lodge specializing in sexual horseplay. Elsewhere, hypnotherapy leads to a breakthrough in the ongoing hunt for Angela’s husband.
Disc Two:
The Secret In The Soil: Booth and Brennan must undergo psychiatric evaluation as they investigate the charred remains of the owner of a chain of organic supermarkets.
Mummy In The Maze: With Halloween rapidly approaching the mummified remains of two young girls lead the team through a twisted maze of creepy clues.
Intern In The Incinerator: The Jeffersonian Institute is thrown into turmoil when one of its promising interns is murdered in what appears to be an inside job.
Boy In The Time Capsule: A body is found when a high school time capsule from 1987 is unearthed, and the investigation focuses on the victim’s classmates.
Disc Three:
The Knight On The Grid: A bejeweled corpse with surgically-removed kneecaps, leads back to the case of the Widow’s Son and the trail of the Gormogon killer.
The Santa In The Slush: It’s up to Bones to save Christmas when the body of a shopping small Santa named Kris Kringle seems to be the real McCoy.
The Man In The Mud: At Dr. Sweets’ behest, Booth and Brennan reluctantly agree to go on a double-date during an investigation involving the death of a professional motorcycle racer.
Player Under Pressure: The murder of a college hoops star leads Booth and Brennan to an investigation involving sex and steroids.
Disc Four:
The Baby In The Bough: An infant found at the scene of a roadside accident holds the key to solving his mother’s murder.
The Verdict In The Story: Brennan is conflicted but tries to remain cool as the team prepares for her father’s murder trial.
The Wannabe In The Weeds: It’s open mic night, and the gruesome death of an aspiring singer and personal trainer leads the team to unveil some hidden talents.
The Pain In The Heart: While Brennan fumes at Booth, a macabre package with her name on it leads to the explosive conclusion of the Gormogon case.
Disc Five:
The Yanks In The U.K.: UK: In London, Brennan enlists the help of her good friend, Booth, to investigate the murder of a young American Celebutante. During the investigation she falls for her “British equivalent,” in her field (Wexler).
The Man In The Outhouse: Booth and Brennan investigate the murder of a TV show host who busts people publicly for having affairs. They come to discover that he was having one himself and pays for it in the end.
The Finger In The Nest: The team investigates the murder of a missing veterinarian after finding body parts spread throughout local woods. They come to find that the veterinarian knew too much about a dog fighting ring that involved one of his workers, and was ultimately killed by the animal he loved the most.
The episodes are shown in 1.78: Anamorphic Widescreen format and it looks extremely good. The transfer to DVD seems virtually flawless with blacks never too dark and all colors as bright and crisp as they need to be. The picture looks very sharp and seems to have been touched up considerably from how any show first looks when it airs on TV.
The episodes are heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and it also comes through perfectly. Bones consists of an extreme amount of dialogue and it can always be heard at a reasonable volume even when music does kick in at times.
Director’s Take – This featurette is split up into five segments called “The Vault,” “Squints,” “The Angelator,” “Car Crash-Exploding Van,” and “Making Of The Body.” Each segment gives a little bit of extra backstage information and such dealing with the different topics, but nothing much else at all. In total, the segments run eleven and a half minutes.
Gag Reel – Get ready for some laughs in this five and a half minute feature that showcases flubbed lines, funny faces, uncontrollable laughter, and other such nonsense.
Extended Scene – One extended scene for “The Santa In The Slush” is included.
Extended Episodes – “The Knight On The Grid” and “The Baby In The Baugh” have a couple extra minutes thrown into each one.
Unaired Episode Versions – The episode entitled “Played Under Pressure” is supposedly an unaired version and I wouldn’t know the difference because I didn’t see it’s first airing in television. Also, wouldn’t the extended episodes fall into this category as well?
Bonus Episodes From Season 4 – Maybe because it was a strike shortened season that they included the first few episodes from season four and that’s a nice addition but they’ll become rather moot when season four arrives on DVD.
Fans are going to pick this set up no matter what, but if you’re someone who has never really watched the show before then I wouldn’t jump into season three just yet. While it is good and carries along very well; it is not nearly up to the greatness that both the first two seasons possess. I blame a lot of that on the strike because they tried to squeeze as much as they could into a season they knew would be shortened before going the full amount of episodes. When it comes to television series like Bones; it almost falls into the same category as shows like LOST. You can watch an episode of Bones and understand most of what is going on but you’re going to be confused when some recurring storylines or characters pop up. It’s not like you can just jump in at any time and know all that is going on; which is why starting with season one and working your way up is your best bet. And maybe it’s due to the strike too, but I’m not sure why the special features would suck so much otherwise. Usually they are quite good and have a bit more depth, but this time around they are rather short and just kind of there. You already know if you’re going to want this season or not so it’s not like you have to throw on your rubber gloves and perform a full body cavity search to figure that out. Unless you like that sort of thing…but that’s your own deal.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Fox/MGM presents Bones: Season 3. Created by: Hart Hanson. Starring: Emily Deschanel, David Boreanaz, Michaela Conlin, Eric Millegan, T.J. Thyne, Tamara Taylor. Running time: 655 minutes on 5 discs. Rating: Not Rated. Released on DVD: November 18, 2008. Available at Amazon.com
