Thoroughly enjoyable episode from Bones this week. “The Cheat in the Retreat” gave us a little bit of everything we love about the show – mystery, humor, tension and real life. And Booth and Brennan undercover. Tony and Roxy, our two very favorite alter-egos, made a welcome return to DC in this episode, bringing some much needed hilarity after last week’s more somber tone. And yet our favorite aspect of the episode, as it so often is with Bones, was that the case was secondary to the people. Bones may be a cop show on the surface but, at heart, the characters always matter more.
This episode moved on to new issues – some of those character arcs that we just mentioned – allowing us to (almost) forget for a moment the situation between Booth and Brennan. Of course, we couldn’t possibly be allowed to forget altogether. Angela’s continued animosity towards Booth, as well as a couple of other references, made sure it was never far from our minds. But it wasn’t the focus. New issues (ones that will likely feature heavily over the rest of the season) are the theft of Cam’s identity, and Sweets’ career break.
Sweets’ arc, at least, is tied to Pelant – he feels guilty that the research he had done on each member of the Jeffersonian team was used by Pelant to such devastating effect – but we find ourselves wondering if Cam’s situation is, too. Thwarted by Brennan’s understanding from destroying Booth, he may possibly have been looking for someone new to mess with. It may be a little too close to what he did to Hodgins, though, to be a viable resolution. We don’t see the issue lasting all that long, anyway. Not now that she is allowing the rest of the team to help her. Mostly, this arc will just serve as a means of showing us how loving Arastoo is.
Sweets’ issues, however, are almost certainly more long-lasting. What starts as a career break may become something more, particularly as Sweets has a tendency to get in his own head. We hope this doesn’t cause him to leave the Bureau for good, as he’s not a character we want to lose. We’d love to see him, instead, being one of the key people in Pelant’s capture. Though there isn’t really any one member of the team who we don’t want to be involved in that.
So, after all that, all that’s clear is that we really don’t know what’s going on, or where this season is taking us. With any luck, a picture will begin to form over the next few weeks. Until then, you’ll just have to bear with us. – K
Quoteworthy: “Perhaps you use your head too much… and your heart not enough.” – Shaman Little Foot (Yancey Arias, Revenge)
PS John Ratzenberger (Cheers) and Millicent Martin (Frasier) guest.
Pond Hopping Girls 