Season ten of Bones began on Thursday, September 25, 2014. It is now three days later and I am still very annoyed, and even ticked off.
There will be spoilers for the premiere in this. I will also mention some things that tie back to earlier seasons that will also be spoilers if people haven’t seen those seasons yet.
I started watching Bones from the very first episode and I enjoyed it for the first few years. I think the show was pretty good at that point. Then someone - the writers, producers, or creator Hart Hanson (or even all of the above) - started making story decisions that didn’t work that well or that just flat out annoyed me. A few ticked me off so much that I stopped watching the show for a while. The first time was when Angela and Hodgins broke up for a non existent reason. That was in episode two or three or season four, right after the upsetting season three finale that turned Zack into the apprentice of a cannibal serial killer. I got fed up and the season was probably half over before I watched an episode again. Even once I did watch again, I wasn’t watching all the time. There are still episodes that I haven’t seen from that season as well as a few episodes that I turn off if I come across them. Things that happened in the 100th episode were horrible and I didn’t watch any more of that season. I decided to give the show another chance with season six and I mostly stuck with it, though there was still more annoying stuff here and there. I have had more issues with the series in the last few years, but I kept with it. Then I watched the season ten premiere.
I was actually surprised in a good way with the finale of season nine and feel it is the best finale that Bones has had in a very, very long time. That did make me a little more optimistic about the new season, though I also had the feeling that it wouldn’t last and something would be screwed up eventually. I read some things from a few interviews with writers or producers mentioning some things that would happen and I was at least a little concerned about one or two things. There wasn’t any sort of indication that a character would get injured let alone killed. The sneak peek did show Booth in a bit of danger once or twice, but that was it.
For the first part of the episode, things were mostly all right, though I don’t think some things fully worked or made sense. I get why Temperance was worried about Booth and wanted him out of jail immediately, but I also get why he was upset over the way she did it. Something about that doesn’t sit right with me. Booth was very angry for most of the episode, and while I can understand why, an angry Booth isn’t pleasant. I don’t know what to think about the new character that was introduced, a younger FBI agent. I can’t remember his name right now. In some ways, he feels like a replacement for Sweets. The new guy seemed all right, but I don’t trust him yet. I think my biggest issue is probably that Sweets was not a field agent even though he has assisted Booth a lot over the years. He is a psychritrist first and foremost, so to me, it makes no sense that he went off alone to look for records or something. Considering that they were trying to do an investigation without the big bad guy finding out, and said big bad guy showed that he has connections to send killers after Booth previously, it was stupid that anyone involved would go anywhere alone at that point. It was just stupid and makes it that much more irritating.
Sweets did seem a little out of place when he was first added to the show. He seemed nice enough at that point, but I didn’t particularly care about him one way or the other. As the seasons progressed, I came to like him. He wasn’t really a favorite character, but I liked him. When I like characters, I do not like when bad things happen to them, and I most certainly don’t like it when a character I like is killed off. If that happens too many times with a show, I’ll stop watching.
After the episode aired Thursday night, I discovered that John Francis Daley, the actor who played Sweets, needed to the leave the show for other projects. I have no problem with that. I just don’t care for how the character was written off the show. While his death does tie in with the story, I don’t think it was necessary. This new big bad guy who is behind a conspiracy that goes back years and years and years was bad enough before this. Sweets could have been injured, maybe even to the point that he needed some kind of specialized therapy, in another city, and that would have accomplished the same thing. Or he could have gotten a promotion that involved moving or going away for new specialized training or something like that. Anything would have been better than killing him.
Bones does have a fairly large cast overall when you consider all the rotating interns that have in place since the incident with Zack. Not many of them have officially left even though they may not be around very much. Overall, the characters of actors who have left the show have not met good fates. Zack became the apprentice of a cannibal serial killer and is locked up in a psychiatric hospital. Vincent Nigel-Murray was shot by a sniper who was out to get Booth and now Sweets gets beat to death while trying to help Booth. Yes three over the course of the series isn’t as bad as it could be, but that doesn’t make it any better. Zack was a fan favorite and Vincent and Sweets seem to have been liked by most fans as well. It just stinks that the show keeps doing things like this to the nice, likable characters.
It seems very obvious that the writers are going to use Sweets’ death as motivation for the other characters and I for one believe they will drag out the aftermath long after there is a conclusion to the story with the current big bad guy. This is setting up all sorts of issues with Booth that really aren’t needed. This show has tried to do long, complicated stories before and every time, I’ve thought they have fallen flat in some way. I do not have high hopes for this. Frankly, I can see some rather stupid things being done in future episodes as a result of this.
Right after the premiere was over, an interview with one of the producers - I can’t remember who now and I have no intention of reading it again - showed up online. The producer came across as a smug jerk, laughing about deciding to kill off Sweets and how that decision is the main reason why the real life pregnancy of Carla Gallo was written in. Gallo plays Daisy, the woman that has been involved with Sweets, off and on, for several years. It was made very clear that Sweets is the father. The producer said it will be great. I do not agree. The producer was basically laughing at the fans of the show. This is not the first time that a producer or writer of Bones has come across as smug and arrogant in an interview, brushing off fans who are upset. I get that they can do what they want with the show, but they seem to be forgetting that without the fans, they will have no show.
I am still annoyed and a bit ticked off over this. I know it is just a tv show, but when I like a show, I get annoyed, irritated, and ticked off over stupid things. Right now, I honestly don’t know if I will watch the second episode, let alone the rest of the season.
No comments:
Post a Comment