Bones 1.08 The Girl in the Fridge

[skftex]

Sherry and I are moving along with our Bones rewatch. We watched this one on Wednesday night. I couldn't find a thread for it, so starting this one.

This one starts with Angela talking about Todd. She says he’s creepy. But she wants to fix up Brennan with his friend. Todd’s the only creepy one, not the friend. HAHAHA

“I love it when you two impersonate earthlings” HA Angela never says stuff like that anymore.
Someone sent Brennan a bone. Oh be still my heart. Ah the jerky professor. Though I never thought he looked old enough to have been her professor.

“It’s like watching cars mate.” Hodgins is so funny!

Booth brings the refrigerator and Hodgins says “What we need is a toaster oven.” HAHA I didn’t even remember that line.

Ha, their relationship is purely platonic. Eww, creepy Michael. I really, really don’t like this guy! Then he gets Brennan to tell him things about the case because he’s a jerk and is jealous because Brennan is smarter than he is. Kick this guy off a cliff please!

Ah this one transitions to the credits in a very abrupt way-Brennan says “I keep seeing her face” and boom, credits.

Now Brennan is bringing creepy professor to work and showing him their evidence. Seriously sometimes for someone so smart she does some dumb things. When he starts questioning Brennan on the injuries I love Hodgins face, he’s amazed anyone would ever argue with her.
“This seems like an appropriate moment to discuss human goop.” I’m not sure there is ever a great time to discuss that Hodgins.

So Booth and Brennan go to see the parents of the girl, and Brennan says she had a thyroid condition, was she on anything for that, and the father says “Her endocrinologist might know.” Well yes, I would certainly hope her endocrinologist knows what she takes for her thyroid condition. He doesn’t know what sort of medication his daughter had been prescribed though. Sad!
The endocrinologist does know his patient at least.

Now we go to the house of the woman that got fired from the endocrinologist. Booth moves the fridge. I wonder if he’d actually be able to do that. Things in plain site are admissible but I don’t know that you can move things. Now they are taking stuff from the house. Booth doesn’t want Brennan to agree with him it kind of freaks him out. HAHA Brennan hit Booth with the riding crop when Booth says she is bossy.

Wow this girl is smug. The creepy lawyer is saying that it was consensual. Yes because I often ask to be put in a fridge for 3 weeks.

I like when Booth is talking about Brennan, what you see is what you get, a very rare quality. Then doctor jerk face argues with Brennan again. Why doesn’t she see how creepy he is?

Booth is funny in the scenes where Brennan is giving that jerk doctor Michael evidence what happened to the girl. “You’re winning right?” HAHA Then Michael is really upset because they show him up. Go away doctor jerk face! I like Angela explaining to Brennan how that guy was upset. “Don’t talk to me about traditional, I mean, I’ve dated circus people!”

Jerk doctor is the expert witness. Pretending he didn’t know that they didn’t have to give the process how they collect evidence. Eww don’t kiss him.

There isn’t a lot I like about this episode but I do like the scene where Zack, Hodgins and Dr. Goodman are watching over Michael as he does his examination. Booth gave Hodgins and Zack a sign of encouragement. This guy is a piece of work, trying to get Brennan to tell him things even when he was told they don’t allow that. Then he corrects her findings, that guy has a lot of nerve. “The nutty professor was grading your paper.” Then “That’s my girl.”

The female lawyer is really rude. I get that she wants Brennan to be a better witness but that is really not the way to do it. Why can’t she wear the clunky necklace? I get some of the other stuff but why does the jury care about the necklace? While this lawyer is correct about some stuff, she really could have had a different way of talking to her to get her to understand how to testify. Work with her a little bit, not just be snotty. “She has an obvious personality disorder…”.

Brennan is a little bit boring but that lawyer again. UGH. So doctor jerk face says all these things about Brennan in the case and the horrible woman lawyer attacks Brennan. Ugh I’m with Booth, I really don’t like her.

I like the scene with Dr. Goodman too. He tells her to tell Doctor jerk face to go to hell. And then she does! LOL And he tries to squirm out of it when she tells him he flinched. Booth tells the prosecutor about Brennan’s parents and he uses it. It’s a really good little speech Brennan gives after that. I feel sorry for the parents as they have to listen to it again, in “laymen’s” terms. FINALLY Brennan sees that guy is a jerk and isn’t seeing him again. Then Booth shows up and they have a case. On scaffolding at the Washington Monument, another case I’d have love to have seen. They burned the guy! They make up and Brennan fist bumps him.

I’m not fond of this episode still and I really don’t get the whole thing with the teacher doctor guy. He tries to justify sleeping with his student that she is 23 and legal but that doesn’t make it ethical. And then they go on to prove the guy has no ethics at all.

[Sinkwriter72]

So, watching this episode started out comically because Sharon had to wait for me to put an ice pack on my arm (I had donated blood earlier in the day, with a procedure I'd never done before, and they'd had trouble so I ended up pretty bruised and swollen). Anyway, the nurse had given me a special ice pack to take home with me, and when you're ready to use it, you're supposed to shake it and squeeze it and then it turns cold. But I couldn't get it to work! It was like some frustrating science experiment (where the contents are supposed to be "activated" when you squeeze and shake and mix it all together) but I didn't have somebody like Hodgins nearby to help me.

So I said to Sharon, "I need Hodgins! He'd know how the water and ammonium nitrate mix to make this pack get cold." LOL.

After much messing around with the thing, I was afraid I broke the bag, because I felt a pop. But then the whole thing got super cold. Wow. Science. I guess there's really something to it. (Heehee.)

Anyway, once we got that sorted out, we declared that this episode should be a "fun" one to comment on because we'll probably spend it bitching about how we want to punch half the characters. And it's still true. I think our nickname for Bones' paramour Michael was "Jerkface." Or, simply, "JERK JERK JERK JERK JERK."



Because he was a total jerk to Brennan.

I don't even have much to say because most of it is basically THAT. Michael was a jerk who lied to her all the way through. And then he tries to act like SHE'S making too big a deal out of it. And where is his moral compass, seeking out a job with the opposing counsel for people he knows are guilty!!? He totally mocks Brennan during the trial and he knows very well what he's doing. His comment that he doesn't even know why she became a forensic anthropologist was so uncalled for. He slaughters her as a scientist when he knows she's right. He can create reasonable doubt without destroying Brennan. And then he tries to act like it's no big deal and like they can still be romantically linked! How can he possibly think he could still have a relationship of any kind with her after that? He showed no respect, no care, no ethics, nothing.

Say it with me now: What a JERK!

At least Brennan has the sense not to give Michael another chance after all his lies and cruelty. He did something really offensive. He doesn't get to treat it like it's no big thing.

Okay, enough about Michael. Because he wasn't the only jerk in this episode! LOL.

The two people who killed the victim were completely sleazy, smug jerks. The way they tried to taunt Booth during interrogation, the way they tried to blame the victim and make it seem like it was all consensual (well, up to the point where they put her in the fridge, of course *eyeroll) was just so vile.

And finally, the lawyers for the prosecution were jerks. They were so brutal with Brennan, telling her that she was dry and boring and like "Klaatu the robot." But the thing with them is, and even Booth admits this... they were partially right on this point. Brennan was TERRIBLE on the stand.

As annoying as the lawyer is, and she is very rude, she's a little right here. Unfortunately, justice isn't always about the truth. It ends up being what they can prove. And if Brennan can't get through to the jury, they're going to lose the case.

What's great about this episode is the Booth and Brennan stuff. Booth has to make some tough choices, in order to get Brennan to be more relatable on the stand. His decision to tell the lawyers about Brennan's past (about her missing parents) was a hard one. He knew it would make the impact they needed to show that Brennan isn't a robotic scientist with no feelings. He was right, but it came at a cost. The look on her face when she realizes Booth betrayed her trust... it's such a great scene.

And then Brennan has a terrific monologue about why she cares so much and how nothing matters but the victim. It's the best part of the ep. So powerful. Really shows strong facets of Brennan.

In general, I like that the writers show this other aspect of the job, that Booth, Brennan and the squints have to deal with courtrooms and presenting their findings and proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the killer is guilty. It's not something we see them do very often. Actually, other than the Gravedigger and Max Brennan stuff, have they ever been back in the courtroom? I'm not sure. Can anyone verify that?

There are some very funny lines throughout the episode, which I love:

ANGELA (about Zack trying to get Brennan to fist bump him): I love when you two impersonate earthlings.

I like how the whole team goes running to see Brennan with an actual man (gasp!). It's unfathomable that she ever dates or does anything "normal," so it's pretty comical to see them, one by one, take off to spy on her with Jerkface (*ahem* I mean, Michael).

One of my favorite lines, of course said by the highly amusing TJ Thyne, is when Booth first brings in the refrigerator with the girl's remains inside:

HODGINS: What we need is a toaster oven.

HAHAHAHAHA. Awesome.

I'm a little disturbed by Zack being interested in hooking up with Brennan, but what's even funnier is Hodgins' response to the scenario Zack tries to posit: "Ain't gonna happen, Zack-o. Not in this universe."

I also like TJ's emphasis on the word "time" when Hodgins explains to Zack why it's significant that Brennan is late for work: "Remember that TIME you were late?" As in, it's not that Zack's been late for work because of a woman; it's that Zack's only been late because of a woman ONCE. Heh. Poor Zack.

I also love how the team (except for Angela) seems very suspicious of Michael's presence in the lab. (And who wouldn't be? He shouldn't be around all the evidence, even if he did used to be Brennan's professor.) I especially love the suspect look Hodgins gives Michael when he says he made Brennan a frittata. As if that makes him even more full of it and distrustful, in Hodgins' view. LOL.

I love that Booth is smart in catching that the fridge is new (and therefore the suspects probably disposed of the girl and the fridge). He may not be a science guy but he notices stuff. What's especially interesting is the look on Brennan's face when he explains what he found and why it means something. Brennan seems so surprised.

Another funny moment: when Booth comments that Michael "grading" Brennan's findings must be really tough, like getting a B on a paper, Brennan declares she's never gotten a B in her life and she's not about to start now. Her determination and indignation is made even more funny by Booth's follow-up comment, "That's my girl..." Yeah! Go, Brennan!

Another good moment is when Goodman talks with Brennan about the case and her relationship struggles with Michael -- nothing's better than Goodman telling her to tell him to go to hell. Whoo! (And of course, it's especially entertaining when the prosecution turns the tables on Michael, using his testimony against him, in order to prove Brennan does care and that the true focus should be on the victim and what she went through. Ha! Take that, Michael! *GRIN*)

On a side note, even though I didn't like her choice of men for romantic entanglements in this episode, I did appreciate the portrayal of Brennan as a strong, confident female who enjoys sex and has no issues with being a bit more "casual" about it. Most times, male characters get that treatment while female characters are written as these chaste beings who can't possible date outside of their developing relationship with the male lead of the show. So it's nice to see that Booth's not the only one allowed to date and have sex, and that there's nothing wrong with it. Of course, it would have been nicer if she'd gotten together with a guy who didn't completely BETRAY her, but... I guess we have to wait a few seasons for her to meet nice guy Sully.

Overall, the episode is a frustrating one, but it has such a powerful final courtroom scene. I love how they really pull it out of you, with the looks on the parents' faces, showing how hard it is for them to hear about what happened to their daughter and how she suffered, and the look on Angela's face, showing how she felt for Brennan, how she knows her friend isn't cold and robotic when it counts, and Booth's face, and Brennan's, and the jury's as they finally hear her... it's all really good. That's what makes the episode. I'll endure Jerkface if it means getting awesome scenes like that one.