Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 317

Bones 9.17: Spartacus in the Kitchen

A good mix of ingredients on Bones 9.17 tonight, including a new Cuban intern, a classic fight in the kitchen, and an even more classic - at least, for Bones - battle of religion versus science.

The new intern is brilliant, charming, and handsome Rodolfo, who headed his own forensic team in Cuba.  Angela's drooling over him, Cam is smitten but is more circumspect, and even Bones finds him attractive, though of course she can't admit it.  In fact, when he makes a pass at her - I haven't heard that phrase in a while, so I figured I'd use it - Bones threatens to send him packing back to Cuba. It's always good to see new blood at the Jeffersonian, and Rodolfo gives Bones the opportunity to proclaim her love to Booth, who of course is slightly jealous, in a truly moving scene, one of the best in the episode.

Meanwhile, the best scene in the crime department of the episode is a primo fight in the kitchen of a restaurant. Pots and pans are flying, utilized as weapons and shields, and Bones manages to throw a head of lettuce or cabbage Booth's way, before he subdues the bad guy, who turns out not be such a bad guy and certainly not the killer.  I can't remember the last time I saw such a good and lengthy kitchen combat scene.  Booth made like a Spartacus in the kitchen, and, if someone from the Food Network was watching, this might give them an idea for a new series.

The religion versus science debate has been done before, on Bones and elsewhere, but it was given a good rendition and resolution tonight.   Bones (of course) at first resists Booth's suggestion that they take Christine to Church - in Booth's favor, her name is after all Christine - but something that Rodolfo says brings her around.    Rodolfo is an atheist, but he believes in the right of people to believe.

So Rodulfo turns out to not only be no threat to Bones and Booth, but doubly helpful to them.  He's a good addition to Bones indeed:  not only attractive and brilliant in forensics, but wise in the ways of humanity.  Which, come to think of it, is a good description of Bones.

See also Bones 9.1: The Sweet Misery of Love ... Bones 9.2: Bobcat, Identity Theft, and Sweets ... Bones 9.3 and NCIS 11.2: Sweets and Ziva ... Bones 9.4: Metaphysics of Death in a Television Series ... Bones 9.5: Val and Deep Blue ... Bones 9.6: The Wedding ... Bones 9.7: Watch Out, Buenos Aires ...Bones 9.8: The Bug in the Neck ... Bones 9.9: Friday Night Bones in the Courtroom ... Bones 9.10: Horse Pucky ... Bones 9.11: Angels in Equations ... Bones 9.12: Fingernails ... Bones 9.13: Meets Nashville, and Wendell ... Bones 9.14: "You Cannot Drink Your Glass Away" ... Bones 9.15: Hodgins' Brother and the Ripped Off Toe

And see also Bones 8.1: Walk Like an Egyptian ... Bones 8.2 of Contention ... Bones 8.3: Not Rotting Behind a Desk  ... Bones 8.4: Slashing Tiger and Donald Trump ... Bones 8.5: Applesauce on Election Eve ... Bones 8.6: Election Day ... Bones 8.7: Dollops in the Sky with Diamonds ...Bones 8.8: The Talking Remains ... Bones 8.9: I Am A Camera ... Bones 8.10-11: Double Bones ...Bones 8.12: Face of Enigmatic Evil ... Bones 8.13: Two for the Price of One ... Bones 8.14: Real Life ... Bones 8.15: The Magic Bullet and the Be-Spontaneous Paradox ... Bones 8.16: Bitter-Sweet Sweets and Honest Finn ... Bones 8.17: "Not Time Share, Time Travel" ... Bones 8.18: Couples ... Bones 8.19: The Head in the Toilet ... Bones 8.20: On Camera ... Bones 8.21: Christine, Hot Sauce, and the Judge ... Bones 8.22: Musical-Chair Parents ... Bones 8.23: The Bluff ... Bones Season 8 Finale: Can't Buy the Last Few Minutes

And see also Bones 7.1: Almost Home Sweet Home ... Bones 7.2: The New Kid and the Fluke ...Bones 7.3: Lance Bond and Prince Charmington ... Bones 7.4: The Tush on the Xerox ... Bones 7.5: Sexy Vehicle ... Bones 7.6: The Reassembler ... Bones 7.7: Baby! ... Bones 7.8: Parents ...Bones 7.9: Tabitha's Salon ... Bones 7.10: Mobile ... Bones 7.11: Truffles and Max ... Bones 7.12: The Corpse is Hanson ... Bones Season 7 Finale: Suspect Bones

And see also Bones 6.1: The Linchpin ... Bones 6.2: Hannah and her Prospects ... Bones 6.3 at the Jersey Shore, Yo, and Plymouth Rock ... Bones 6.4 Sans Hannah ... Bones 6.5: Shot and Pretty ... Bones 6.6: Accidental Relations ... Bones 6.7:  Newman and "Death by Chocolate" ...Bones 6.8: Melted Bones ... Bones 6.9: Adelbert Ames, Jr. ... Bones 6.10: Reflections ... Bones 6.11: The End and the Beginning of a Mystery ... Bones 6.12 Meets Big Love ... Bones 6.13: The Marrying Kind ... Bones 6.14: Bones' Acting Ability ... Bones 6.15: "Lunch for the Palin Family" ...Bones 6.16: Stuck in an Elevator, Stuck in Times ... Bones 6.17: The 8th Pair of Feet ... Bones 6.18: The Wile E. Chupacabra ... Bones 6.19 Test Runs The Finder ... Bones 6.20: This Very Statement is a Lie ... Bones 6.21: Sensitive Bones ... Bones 6.22: Phoenix Love ... Bones Season 6 Finale: Beautiful

And see also Bones: Hilarity and Crime and Bones is Back For Season 5: What Is Love? and 5.2: Anonymous Donors and Pipes and 5.3: Bones in Amish Country and 5.4: Bones Meets Peyton Place and Desperate Housewives and Ancient Bones 5.5 and Bones 5.6: A Chicken in Every Viewer's Pot and Psychological Bones 5.7 and Bones 5.8: Booth's "Pops" and Bones 5.9 Meets Avatar and Videogamers ... Bad Santa, Heart-Warming Bones 5.10 ... Bones 5.11: Of UFOs, Bloggers, and Triangles ... Bones 5.12: A Famous Skeleton and Angela's Baby ... Love with Teeth on Bones 5.13 ... Faith vs. Science vs. Psychology in Bones 5.14 ... Page 187 in Bones 5.15 ...Bones 100: Two Deep Kisses and One Wild Relationship ... Bones 5.17: The Deadly Stars ...Bones Under Water in 5.18 ... Bones 5.19: Ergo Together ...  Bones 5.20: Ergo Together ... Bones 5.21: The Rarity of Happy Endings ... Bones Season 5 Finale: Eye and Evolution


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The Walking Dead 4.14: Too Far

Everyone has their limits.   Years ago, I recommended The Sopranos to a well-known science fiction author. She told me that from what she had seen and heard of the series, the violence went too far for her.  I understood that, even though the violence in The Sopranos - and in many other television shows - doesn''t bother me.

But everyone has their limits.  And The Walking Dead reached mine in the brutally powerful episode - 4.14 - last night.  There's something about killing of children - whether by a psycho, or as the result of a cold-blooded irrefutable logic - that I just can't abide.   It of course happens in reality.  But it upsets me too much to give me what I want in my entertainment.

Both killings made perfect, horrendous sense in the narrative.   Lizzie, the older sister, had an irrational but understandable view of the zombies.   Like Hershel, she believed that they were still in some sense human.   She believed she could communicate and even be friends with them.   And if she could do that, if she could imagine she could be friends and play with them, why would she want to kill them with a bullet or knife in their brain?  Challenged by everyone on this belief, it makes sense - a sick, deluded sense, but sense -  that if she killed her sister Mika, she was only transforming Mika into a different kind of person, and this would prove to everyone that Lizzie was right about the zombies. That was logical, but it was horrible to see - more horrible that any of the other deaths in the series, including Lori's.

In some ways, though, Carol's killing of Lizzie was even worse, precisely because it was completely logical and pretty much the only thing to do.   Melissa McBride gave a tour-de-force performance as Carol.  In effect, Lizzie had killed Carol's surrogate daughter, Mika.  But Lizzie was Carol's surrogate daughter, too.  To then have to kill Lizzie, as a way protecting Judith, was an unimaginably, impossibly harrowing decision.  But, honestly, I would have rather not experienced what Carol had to do.   In the vast possibilities of narrative arcs on television, I would rather not have gone down a road that led inevitably to Lizzie's death by Carol's deliberate hand.

Everyone has their limits.  I guess I'll keep watching The Walking Dead, because there's a lot in the series that is exceptional television.   But I don't know what I'll do if I ever see anything like this again.

See also The Walking Dead 4.1: The New Plague ... The Walking Dead 4.2: The Baby and the Flu ... The Walking Dead 4.3: Death in Every Corner ...The Walking Dead 4.4: Hershel, Carl, and Maggie ... The Walking Dead 4.6: The Good Governor ... The Walking Dead 4.7: The Governor's Other Foot ... The Walking Dead 4.8: Vintage Fall Finale ... The Walking Dead 4.9: A Nightmare on Walking Dead Street

And see also The Walking Dead 3.3 meets Meadowlands ... The Walking Dead 3.4: Going to the Limit ... The Walking Dead 3.9: Making Crazy Sense ... The Walking Dead 3.10: Reinforcements ... The Walking Dead 3.11: The Patch ... The Walking Dead 3.12: The Lesson of Morgan ... The Walking Dead 3.13: The Deal ... The Walking Dead 3.14: Inescapable Parable ... The Walking Dead 3.15: Merle ... The Walking Dead 3.16: Kill or Die, or Die and Kill
And see also The Walking Dead Back on AMC ... The Walking Dead 2.2: The Nature of Vet  ... The Walking Dead 2.3: Shane and Otis ... The Walking Dead 2.4: What Happened at the Pharmacy ... The Walking Dead 2.6: Secrets Told ... The Walking Dead 2.7: Rick's Way vs. Shane's Way ...  The Walking Dead 2.8: The Farm, the Road, and the Town  ... The Walking Dead 2.9: Worse than Walkers ... The Walking Dead 2.11: Young Calling the Shots ... The Walking Dead 2.12: Walkers Without Bites ... The Walking Dead Season 2 Finale
And see also The Walking Dead 1.1-3:  Gone with the Wind, Zombie Style ... The Walking Dead Ends First Season
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Black Sails Season 1 Finale: Money

The only thing wrong with the season 1 finale of Black Sails is that it ended too soon. Seriously, I appreciate a good cliff-hanger as much as the next viewer, but I would have really liked to have seen just a little more on that beach at the end.

Otherwise - whew, great television:  I got Flint and Gates completely wrong in last week's review.  I thought Gates would turn around and support Flint in the end.   Instead, he continues to tow the line we saw last week, between loyalty to the crew, live and departed, and loyalty to Flint.  And Flint surprised me not by not being willing to go along with Gates's plan, but by killing Gates to seal the non-deal.   Nothing can get in the way of the money.  Except, I think Flint was clever enough to figure out a way to proceed towards the loot without sacrificing Gates.

Still, I was rooting for Flint when he called for his cannons to fire on the Spanish ship, and I hated that the newbie quartermaster shot him.   In fact, I dislike the quartermaster so much I was sorry to see him survive.   But not so Flint and Silver.   And their partnership, emerging in the way Silver came to Flint's aid, speaks well of what we may be seeing next season.  Silver, like Flint, is guided by one thing: getting that gold, and applying their considerable intelligence to that goal.

Meanwhile, back on the island, it was good to see Vane getting into a partnership, too - with Eleanor.   He confesses how attractive he finds her, but his motivation is also business.   As is Eleanor's for allowing the sharing of the island.   These pirates and the women around them are ancestors of the people we see in The Wolf of Wall Street.  Amassing wealth reigns supreme.

The battle of the ships was a sight to see, an outstanding piece of cinema for television.   I could almost feel my room shake when the Spanish ship rounded on Flint's, and opened cannon fire.   Black Sails is fine new addition to the new golden age of television and one of its best specialties, historical drama. I'm looking forward to more.

See also Black Sails: Literate and Raunchy Piracy ... Black Sails 1.3: John Milton and Marcus Aurelius ... Black Sails 1.4: The Masts of Wall Street ...Black Sails 1.6: Rising Up ... Black Sails 1.7: Fictions and History
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Helix 1.11: Spiral Narrative

Well, Helix 1.11 ended with the Illurians - assuming that's how they're spelt - marching through the base in Cylonic storm trooper fashion.  At their head is Scythe, some super cool deadly assassin.

So Helix continues adding newish elements, with at least beginning to consolidate some of the previous loose ends.   The cure's definitely working - after a fashion - with Peter back in the human column for the first time since early in the season.   It also definitely worked on Sarah and her different illness, after a headache scare that led to concerns she was slipping back.  But the headache was just apparently the last phase before she emerged, healthy and literally bright eyed.

But if the cure definitely works, on zombies and sick humans alike, then why are the Illurians so intent on destroying everyone in the base?   Presumably because of the 500 Illurian limit that we heard about from the guy in the basement, who didn't want to be immortal, last week.   But as far as good fiction, this 500-limit is weak.   Unless we get a better explanation, the 500 is just an arbitrary number.  Why 500 rather than 100 or a 1,000?

We do have some possible romantic tension in the wings.   If Peter gets completely recovered, isn't Julia likely to want to be with him rather than his brother Alan?  Hard to say.   But possibly Alan would rather be with Sarah, anyway, unless her bright eyes make him uncomfortable.

The problem is that we still don't know what the bright eyes mean, alien or super-human?  Helix somehow manages to move forward, and give us real answers, without answering the fundamental questions that have been in our face since the beginning.   We'll need to wait to the end - at least, of this season - to see whether this could be a new, compelling narrative form, or just a story that somehow never completely gelled.

See also Helix 1.1-1.3: Zombies with Biology ... Helix 1.4: Cold DNA ...Helix 1.5: In the White Room ... Helix 1.6: Good New Clues, Nutcracker Not Sweet ... Helix 1.7: Bright Eyes ... Helix 1.8: Glacial Speed ... Helix 1.9: Brass Tacks ... Helix 1.10: The Curse of Immortality


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Banshee Season 2 Finale: Just Right and Shattering

Well, with the excellent second season of Banshee now complete, I can offer a review with no spoilers whatsoever, because you presumably saw what I'll be talking about.  Or, if you need to see it, you should, and you'll be glad you did.

Among the most effective parts of the Season 2 finale -Emmett and his wife getting gunned down by the neo-Nazis was pure what-a-rotten world we live in, and tough to see.   There was almost a mystical element in this - for all of its violence, there's also almost a protective magic around Banshee's law enforcement people, that somehow allows them to escape the worst of the world.  We've seen this, certainly, in the charmed lives of Hood and Siobhan.   It even extends to Hood and Carrie outside Banshee.  But not to Emmett and his wife, who die soon after they get out of Banshee's strange precincts.It was good to see Rebecca give Alex just what he deserved - especially after Burton's lack of faith in her (and Rebecca's response then to Burton was just right, too).The last scene between Rebecca and Proctor was also right on key.  Look, there's a strong sexual attraction between the two. Rebecca would have slept with Proctor right then and there, and Proctor was just able to pull back from falling into this and turn it - barely -  into an avuncular hug.  Proctor's strong physical feelings for Rebecca are the main reason he killed Jason Hood (though you have to give Proctor credit for apparently not knowing that Jason was Lucas's "son").   Anyway, we're bound to see more of Proctor and Rebecca together and likely in bed in the third season.The New Orleans coda did just what it was supposed to do: that guy is unstoppable.  He can practically eat cars whole for breakfast.  How on Earth Lucas will deal with him in Season 3 - likely aided by Nola, no less - should be fun and shattering to see.Yeah, I was glad too to see Rabbit go for good.  Much as Ben Cross's acting was superb, I wouldn't have minded at all had the character remained dead at the end of the first season. Yulish the priest, however, was another matter.   He put out a pretty good death-dealing effort, and I would've been happy to see more.   That church was indeed one memorably messed-up place, as Job's friend aptly noted. But Banshee was not messed up at all this season, and indeed continued as one the freshest, most outrageous shows on television. I'm looking forward to more of the same next season.

See also Banshee Season 2 Premiere: Sneak Preview Review ... Banshee 2.2: Sneak Preview Review ... Banshee 2.3 Sneak Preview Review ... Banshee 2.4 Sneak Preview Review ... Banshee 2.5: Sneak Preview Review ... Banshee 2.6: Sneak Preview Review ... Banshee 2.7: Sneak Preview Review ... Banshee 2.8: Sneak Preview Review ... Banshee 2.9 Sneak Preview Review ... Banshee Season 2 Finale: Sneak Preview Review


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Revolution 2.16: The Manchurian Post-Blackout Patriot

After the heady pseudo-time-travel nanite-induced dream of last week, Revolution 2.16 returned to its more conventional story of the US at war with itself after the blackout, and put on a pretty good hour of it.

The most interesting part of the episode was the back story of how these new United States came to arise out of Guantanamo.  This has been hanging as far as specific details since the beginning of this season or the end of last season, depending upon how you look at it, and it was good to see it played out with some of the people we've come to know and hate in the post-blackout present of the series.

We also get a fuller and more provocative account of exactly how this new patriot army - including Tom's son Jason - have been "trained," with the revelation that his training is a Manchurian Candidate kind of conditioning, in which the subject can be ordered to do anything, including killing a specified target.

In The Manchurian Candidate, this led to the brain-washed pawn killing the woman he loved, because she inadvertently witnessed his killing of her father, which he was ordered to do, and part of his conditioning was to kill anyone who witnessed his crime.  This scenario sets up a promisingly harrowing situation on Revolution, in which Jason's conditioning may oblige him to kill or try to kill Tom.

Meanwhile, it's good to see more of our characters in the same town, with the fight between Monroe's and Tom's sons especially noteworthy, not only because they both are sons of major players - and, as such, major players themselves - but because they both love or at least like and want Charlie.  And this in turn leaves open the question of whom she would choose, whether for love or life, should a life-and-death situation involving the three present itself.

Still not on the scene yet are Aaron and his wife, but they're on their way back, and with Priscilla in full possession of the nanites, the two should add just the thing when they arrive in Willoughby.


See also Revolution 2.1: "The Last Surviving Friend" ... Revolution 2.2: Reanimation ... Revolution 2.4: Nanites and ... Maybe Aliens? ... Revolution 2.7: Firestarter Aaron vs. the Creepster ... Revolution 2.9: The Boy and the Attitude ... Revolution 2.10: Mexico and More ... Revolution 2.11: Captives and Nanites ... Revolution 2.12: Eugenics and Lubbock ... Revolution 2.13: Steve Tyler, Mummy ... Revolution 2.14: Time Travel! ... Revolution 2.15: Not Time Travel

And see also Revolution: Preview Review  ... Revolution 1.2: Fast Changes ... Revolution 1.14: Nanites and Jack Bauer ... Revolution 1.15: Major Tom and More 24 ... Revolution 1.16: Feeling a Little Like the Hatch in Lost ... Revolution 1.17: Even Better Nanites ... Revolution 1.18: Whodunnit? ... Revolution 1.19: Cheney's Bunker ... Revolution Season 1 Finale: Good Pivot

 
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The Americans 2.3: Family versus Mission

The Americans 2.3 continued its strange, compelling mix of family life and edge-of-your-seat spy drama.   It's like no other show on television, and in fact is on the edge precisely because love of family is always in the passenger seat as the driver completes a mission.

Consider, for example, what happens when the guy in the parts plant realizes that Elizabeth is not who she says she is, and Elizabeth sees this in the guy's face.  The smart thing to do would be to kill this guy, after Elizabeth and Phillip get what they want from him.  He shows Elizabeth pictures of his family, in a last ditch attempt to get Elizabeth not to kill him.  And it works.

Instead of killing him, Elizabeth takes the photo of the guy's son, as a way of letting him know what would happen to the guy's family if he told someone about Elizabeth.   Was this the smartest thing for Elizabeth to do? Probably not, because the guy could still at some point in the future reveal to someone what she did in the plant - and maybe he will, before the season or the series is over.   But Elizabeth didn't spare him because that was a smarter plan than killing him.  She saved him because she couldn't bring herself to murder a father in cold blood, for even the best of reasons.

After all, she's still torn up about the murder of Jared's parents and sister, and her actions tonight regarding him are also guided more by human feelings than by obligations or commitments she made. She promised Jared's mother, years ago, that if ever anything happened to her and her husband, she would give Jared a letter Jared's mother wrote, explaining to him who they were really were.   But after seeing Jared tonight, in one of Elizabeth's many good disguises, she decides not to give him the letter, and burns it instead.  She realizes that the letter would do Jared no good at all, and only further cut up his life.   So she acts as a human being not as an agent.

It is this humanity which both Elizabeth and Phillip have, which comes out not only whenever their own children are involved but now also for other children - Jared, and the guy at the plant's son, tonight - that is both their greatest strength and their greatest weakness.

Nina, so far, has betrayed no such conflict between her obligations and whatever she may feel for Stan. It will interesting to see how far she can get with this masquerade and her great achievement of getting Stan to love her.   Phillip has done an amazing job of it so far with Martha, but he's much more of a pro at this than Nina.

See also The Americans 2.1-2: The Paradox of the Spy's Children

And see also The Americans: True and Deep ... The Americans 1.4: Preventing World War III ... The Americans 1.11:  Elizabeth's Evolution ... The Americans Season 1 Finale: Excellent with One Exception

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Intelligence 1.10: Lillian's Daughter

A good Intelligence 1.10 this past Monday, with personally motivated terrorism in San Francisco, and Gabriel, Riley, and Lillian heading out there to stop it.  Once again, digital sophistication is not enough to stop an attack - boots on the ground, worn by people with talented as well as cyber-assisted heads on their shoulders, are needed.   As I pointed out at length in my 2003 book, Realspace: The Fate of Physical Presence in the Digital Age, the palpable reality of flesh and blood in the physical world will be an ever necessary accompaniment - sometimes enjoyable, sometimes not - as we increasingly live important parts our lives on the Internet.

But the best part of Intelligence 1.10 was learning more about Lillian and her life, which becomes a center-stage issue because her daughter is living in San Francisco.   Lillian's relationship with her daughter is not the greatest - interesting, because Marg Helgenberger's Catherine Willows also had a difficult relationship with her daughter on CSI.   This is more than coincidence.  It has to be especially difficult for any mother in law-enforcement to have a good relationship with her children, with the life-and-death demands of the job taking precedence over family.   Maybe in Andy Griffith's Mayberry, but not in our real world.

J. J. in Criminal Minds is constantly torn between her family and her work, but Lillian has it even worse on Intelligence, because she doesn't live with her daughter, and indeed they live on opposite sides of the country.  It's easy enough, to get back to the digital world versus the real world, to keep in touch with a child or a loved one via Skype and any number of Internet ways.   But last time I checked, you can't give a reassuring hug through digital means - even three-dimensional holography wouldn't do the trick - and that possibility of a hug makes all the difference.

See also Intelligence Debuts ... Intelligence 1.2: Lightning Changes ...Intelligence 1.3: Edward Snowden and 24 ... Intelligence 1.4: Social Media Weaponry ... Intelligence 1.5: The Watch ... Intelligence 1.6: Helix meets Rectify and Justified ... Intelligence 1.7: Nanites ...Intelligence 1.8: Heart of Darkness, Cyberstyle ... Intelligence 1.9:  EMP Amnesia and Children

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The Following 2.8: Coalescing?

The second season of The Following has thus far been a little at loose ends - which is to say, a few too many threads with weakly connected villains to provide the kind of intensity we saw in the first season. Not only has Joe been resurrected, but Lily's family, itself somewhat disparate, has played a major role in the havoc until recently, and now Joe as taken up with Micah, played by Jake Weber, the guy who played another Joe, much more affable, on Medium a few years ago.  Fortunately, it looks at the end of episode 2.8 that Joe Carroll may be taking over Micah's following, which could be a big step in the right direction of getting a more unified Following narrative.

Otherwise, although there's been some good development of Ryan's niece - if not the trite story of the reporter who wants the Joe Carroll story - the most interesting character development on The Following season 2 has been with Mike.   The killing of his father by Lily's group for revenge only sent him in a direction he was already headed, a direction towards greater violence towards the following based on what happened to him last year.  Last night Mike nailed it when he confronted Ryan about Ryan's concern that Mike might be turning into another Ryan, which is pretty much exactly where Mike is going.  Ryan, in a realistic portrayal of how over-the-top people react when other people they care about go over the top, doesn't like what he's seeing in Mike.

So The Following, after eight episodes of its second season, stands at a crossroads of sorts.  If Joe can pull all the evil together around him, the second season could gain a focus that rivals the first.  Ryan's niece Max is an important new character, and the mole in the FBI puts Ryan, Mike, and Max in a situation even more dangerous than last year, in which Roderick was just a sheriff not FBI.

I'm looking forward to seeing how all of this develops.

See also The Following Is Back for Its Second Season ... The Following 2.2: Rediscovering Oneself ... The Following 2.3: Coalescing ... The Following 2.4: Psycho Families and Trains ... The Following 2.5: Turning Tides

And see also The Following Begins ... The Following 1.2: Joe, Poe, and the Plan ... The Following 1.3: Bug in the Sun ... The Following 1.4: Off the Leash ... The Following 1.5:  The Lawyer and the Swap ... The Following 1.7: At Large ... 
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Bones 9.16: Lampreys, Professors, and Insurance Companies

Good to have Bones 9.16 back tonight, with a story that connected on all fronts, including sharp detective work, strong science, moral justice, and nice jabs at everything ranging from insurance companies to professors who sit on orals committees, who come to think of it have a lot a common.

The show starts off with a victim not from Silk Road - not the underground, dark Internet marketplace that our FBI in real life may have put out of business - but the Silk Road, or the general area of the world which her features identify her as inhabiting.  Or, as Daisy put it, she came from one of the Stans, and when the victim is further ID'd as hailing from Afghanistan, we know we have an international espionage or counter-terrorism story on our hands.

Daisy's work starts off otherwise not up to par, and we find out why: she failed her orals.   She's distracted by this, but Bones' nonchalant admission that she didn't pass her orals the first time either puts Daisy at ease, and she discovers a crucial nick in the bones.   (I should note that I passed my orals the first time, but agree completely with Bones' contempt for the process:  you're often judged by professors who understand less of your work than you did before you started your research.)

Bones, however, is suitably upset by an insurance company that wants to charge a higher premium for her than Booth because she's more of a risk factor.  Sweets tells her to start her own insurance company if she's so annoyed, and he's right on: insurance companies are one of the biggest problems in our society. They're quick to take your money up front, but wait until you have to put in a claim ....

But back to Bones, Cam gets the prize for funniest line of the evening when she comments, after Hodgins says something about lampreys not changing their ways for millions of years, that they're a lot like our Congress.  Bingo!

Meanwhile, the episode ends with the bad guy first looking like he'll walk away due to a deal with the Department of Justice, but Booth figuring out a way to nab this guy anyway.  True justice is served ... at least on television.  In the real world?  I don't know, but I have feeling the DOJ would figure out a way to give the guy his undeserved freedom after all.

But that's what I love about Bones.   Not only can true love prevail, but so can truth, justice, and the American way - at least, the way it's supposed to be.

See also Bones 9.1: The Sweet Misery of Love ... Bones 9.2: Bobcat, Identity Theft, and Sweets ... Bones 9.3 and NCIS 11.2: Sweets and Ziva ... Bones 9.4: Metaphysics of Death in a Television Series ... Bones 9.5: Val and Deep Blue ... Bones 9.6: The Wedding ... Bones 9.7: Watch Out, Buenos Aires ...Bones 9.8: The Bug in the Neck ... Bones 9.9: Friday Night Bones in the Courtroom ... Bones 9.10: Horse Pucky ... Bones 9.11: Angels in Equations ... Bones 9.12: Fingernails ... Bones 9.13: Meets Nashville, and Wendell ... Bones 9.14: "You Cannot Drink Your Glass Away" ... Bones 9.15: Hodgins' Brother and the Ripped Off Toe

And see also Bones 8.1: Walk Like an Egyptian ... Bones 8.2 of Contention ... Bones 8.3: Not Rotting Behind a Desk  ... Bones 8.4: Slashing Tiger and Donald Trump ... Bones 8.5: Applesauce on Election Eve ... Bones 8.6: Election Day ... Bones 8.7: Dollops in the Sky with Diamonds ...Bones 8.8: The Talking Remains ... Bones 8.9: I Am A Camera ... Bones 8.10-11: Double Bones ...Bones 8.12: Face of Enigmatic Evil ... Bones 8.13: Two for the Price of One ... Bones 8.14: Real Life ... Bones 8.15: The Magic Bullet and the Be-Spontaneous Paradox ... Bones 8.16: Bitter-Sweet Sweets and Honest Finn ... Bones 8.17: "Not Time Share, Time Travel" ... Bones 8.18: Couples ... Bones 8.19: The Head in the Toilet ... Bones 8.20: On Camera ... Bones 8.21: Christine, Hot Sauce, and the Judge ... Bones 8.22: Musical-Chair Parents ... Bones 8.23: The Bluff ... Bones Season 8 Finale: Can't Buy the Last Few Minutes

And see also Bones 7.1: Almost Home Sweet Home ... Bones 7.2: The New Kid and the Fluke ...Bones 7.3: Lance Bond and Prince Charmington ... Bones 7.4: The Tush on the Xerox ... Bones 7.5: Sexy Vehicle ... Bones 7.6: The Reassembler ... Bones 7.7: Baby! ... Bones 7.8: Parents ...Bones 7.9: Tabitha's Salon ... Bones 7.10: Mobile ... Bones 7.11: Truffles and Max ... Bones 7.12: The Corpse is Hanson ... Bones Season 7 Finale: Suspect Bones

And see also Bones 6.1: The Linchpin ... Bones 6.2: Hannah and her Prospects ... Bones 6.3 at the Jersey Shore, Yo, and Plymouth Rock ... Bones 6.4 Sans Hannah ... Bones 6.5: Shot and Pretty ... Bones 6.6: Accidental Relations ... Bones 6.7:  Newman and "Death by Chocolate" ...Bones 6.8: Melted Bones ... Bones 6.9: Adelbert Ames, Jr. ... Bones 6.10: Reflections ... Bones 6.11: The End and the Beginning of a Mystery ... Bones 6.12 Meets Big Love ... Bones 6.13: The Marrying Kind ... Bones 6.14: Bones' Acting Ability ... Bones 6.15: "Lunch for the Palin Family" ...Bones 6.16: Stuck in an Elevator, Stuck in Times ... Bones 6.17: The 8th Pair of Feet ... Bones 6.18: The Wile E. Chupacabra ... Bones 6.19 Test Runs The Finder ... Bones 6.20: This Very Statement is a Lie ... Bones 6.21: Sensitive Bones ... Bones 6.22: Phoenix Love ... Bones Season 6 Finale: Beautiful

And see also Bones: Hilarity and Crime and Bones is Back For Season 5: What Is Love? and 5.2: Anonymous Donors and Pipes and 5.3: Bones in Amish Country and 5.4: Bones Meets Peyton Place and Desperate Housewives and Ancient Bones 5.5 and Bones 5.6: A Chicken in Every Viewer's Pot and Psychological Bones 5.7 and Bones 5.8: Booth's "Pops" and Bones 5.9 Meets Avatar and Videogamers ... Bad Santa, Heart-Warming Bones 5.10 ... Bones 5.11: Of UFOs, Bloggers, and Triangles ... Bones 5.12: A Famous Skeleton and Angela's Baby ... Love with Teeth on Bones 5.13 ... Faith vs. Science vs. Psychology in Bones 5.14 ... Page 187 in Bones 5.15 ...Bones 100: Two Deep Kisses and One Wild Relationship ... Bones 5.17: The Deadly Stars ...Bones Under Water in 5.18 ... Bones 5.19: Ergo Together ...  Bones 5.20: Ergo Together ... Bones 5.21: The Rarity of Happy Endings ... Bones Season 5 Finale: Eye and Evolution


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