I like Bones

The TV series Bones is my favorite. I think season 6 is on now. Season 5 just came out on DVD. I'm a bit behind. But if you haven't watched season 5 to its conclusion, be aware that a spolier is below.

On twitter, my friend Jim (you can follow him on twitter if you want. His posts are amusing. @jamesforeman) said, "I just watched 15 minutes of Bones, really America?" that post was preceded by some musing about the "portentous" theme music on shows like CSI and Law & Order.

Jim hates Bones. But he loves House. I used to love House.

I'm currently watching through the fifth season of Bones. I'm on the last episode, actually, as I write this. I own all the seasons to this point. I got the fifth for my birthday.

I also have been known to watch Law & Order, NCIS, CSI, etc. The thing about those shows is that there's really never much follow up. Sure, on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, there were those episodes between Gorin and that kooky Englishwoman Nicole.

Through the fifth season of Bones, a lot of open ends get closed. The Grave Digger gets hers, Angela and Hodgins get married, Booth and Brennan admit their affection for one another, and there's an odd montage-ish flashback sequence wherein Booth and Bones describe their first case together, and that connect the current characters (who weren't really in the first season) to the narrative of the series. Also, there was a kind of horrifying plug for Avatar. One of the interns played I-forget-who on that, erm, film?

I commend them for realizing that sustaining the sexual tension between Bones and Booth wasn't going to work for a sixth season, and they did a really beautiful and light-handed job of letting that attraction out into the open without obliterating the tension and intrigue it causes.

I'm afraid, however, that the shark has been jumped. The last episode has Bones leaving to go Indonesia, Booth leaving for Afghanistan, and Hodgins and Angela leaving for France.

Of course, I'm intrigued, and I'll certainly get the 6th season, too, but I'm afraid that it's going to start over in a way that will be disappointing or gauche or just too over-the-top to believe. Or worse, the next season will begin with one episode showing the characters all wrapping up their work and lives in the far-off places, and then bringing them back to the lab to work through murders with a more-contrived set of tensions and conflicts.

Maybe this is the last season ever. Maybe the show is over. If that's so, kudos to the writers for not jumping the shark. If not, hmmmmmm.