Bones: "The Memories in the Shallow Grave"

At long last, Bones is back, with the much-anticipated new normal: Booth and Brennan are having a baby.



Overall, I was quite happy with the way they set up the season last night. Booth and Brennan love each other, and that was never really in question, but now they're being honest about it, which adds a whole new layer of complications, and I thought the way they started to play out last night was true to the characters without being overdone. Of course Booth would desperately want to live together but be afraid to propose to another woman, and of course Brennan would be thinking about anthropological precedents and the real estate market.

I know some fans feel cheated that we didn't get to watch the early stages of the relationship, but I don't think we've lost much there. The characters know each other so well - and we know them and their dynamic so well - that I felt no need to see awkward dates, and as for those complaining that we didn't get to see Booth and Brennan actually have sex, well, among other things, this is network TV. What exactly did you think you were going to see? What I do feel cheated about is not seeing them tell their news to the rest of the team, to Parker, to Brennan's father. That would have been really interesting. Oh well. I know they had to plan things around Deschanel's actual pregnancy, so allowances must be made.

I love when the show remembers that Brennan is rich and Booth isn't, and I'm curious to see whether he continues insisting on splitting everything 50/50. Would his attitude about that change if they get married? As far as her book advance, I've seen some people complaining that her advance wouldn't possibly be $3 million, but she didn't actually say it was, so I'll let that one go. She's wealthy to start with, and having just gotten an advance could indeed mean she had more money around than usual for a down payment. But I'm curious about when she thinks she's going to write this book. It's already unclear when she writes - we never see her do it - and now she's going to hold down her regular job AND write a book while she has a newborn? Really?

I'm surprised that no one has yet brought up to Brennan the practical reasons for marriage - that it would make automatic Booth's rights to his child, and their rights toward each other in case of medical emergencies or the like. But then, Booth wouldn't want her to marry him for that reason. I do hope the show remembers Booth's Catholicism, because that certainly plays into his thinking on all this, and because I will feel cheated if we don't get an argument about infant baptism out of this situation.

Other stray observations: The murder of the week was, um, fine? I barely remember it, which probably tells you all you need to know, but it didn't bother me at the time. And Angela and Hodgins's baby is THE CUTEST THING EVER OMG.