Not so pleasant thoughts on the Bones finale

I’m going to take up this space to talk about my reactions to the Bones season finale. If you have not watched it yet, don’t read on because I’m pretty much going to spoil it.

Initial thoughts as I actually watched the episode were that first, I was a little bit mad at the blatant emotional manipulation of Booth’s fake-out funeral. They leave us hanging (sort of, I mean come on, they aren’t going to kill off David Boreanaz) as to whether Booth died of a gunshot, and they open the finale with everyone getting ready to go to his funeral - and they all believe he died.

But it turns out that his death was faked so the FBI could lure out some no-name national Security risk we’ve never heard of who said he’d only resurface at Booth’s funeral. I’m sorry, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot??? The only thing I can think of that was served by this silly, clichéd plot device was it exposed Sweets’ manipulation of Brennan’s grief, and let us see Booth naked in a bathtub.

But moving past that and into the big shebang moment of the show - Zack was the apprentice Gormagon. Zack Addy, brilliant if socially awkward Zack apparently got brainwashed by a nobody with an inferiority complex.

Yeah, I don’t buy it either. And judging by the fan reaction on some boards, I’m not the only one angry at the crapfest that was the Bones finale.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I do not think the episode was completely without merit. The actors did what they do exceedingly well, which is taking something bad and turning it into emotional, character-layering awesomeness. For example, The character of Cam on the show has often felt 2-D and just sort of there for exposition purposes. Last night, when she learned the truth of Zackaroni’s betrayal, the way she handled it, the emotions that played across her face were amazing. The same for Brennan in the scene where she shows Zack that his logic is flawed and that he was used by Gormagon (or whatever, I got lost. I’m not big with the logic myself.) A simple gesture of resting her head on his showed us how much she loved Zack and wanted desperately for the whole thing to be untrue.

The show was filled with excellent moments like that. But they were all negated by the fact that the seemingly threw some names in the air and whichever one landed face-up was going to be the baddie. The plotholes are so big that even I can’t fanwank them. And I shouldn’t have to work so hard TO fanwank it.

First of all, they did not drop a single piece of clueage during the entire season that one could look back on and realize that Zack was indeed ripe for a little brainwashing. He seemed a little off when he returned from Iraq, but they never dealt with it. Did he have issues? Why was he sent back early? Does he have PTSD? Who knows? Other than that, we have no flippin’ idea why Zack was vulnerable to the Gormagon. And it’s not that I have a problem with the apprentice being Zack. I could buy it if there had been a single thread, a tiny clue along the way that lead to this. I think it would have had more of an emotional impact if there had been.

The biggest plothole of all? The story arc of the Gormagon and his cannabalistic followers was clear in that the apprentices were all “widow’s sons.” They were mostly recruited from the foster care system. Um hai - Zack came from a huge, loving family and his father is still alive. Therefore, he is not a widow’s son.

*sigh*

I will miss Zack. From what I’ve read, the actor did not actually want to leave the show, but the writers and showrunner, Hart Hanson, wanted something shocking for the finale and I guess Eric Millegan drew the short straw. But he was my favourite squint.

I’ll watch next year because I’m loyal and I do love all the characters, but my adoration took a hit with this move and I’m unhappy at the apparent choices the showrunners made to go with this story arc. You can’t blame the writer’s strike. The Gormagon plotline could have carried over to next season easily. Honestly it might have been wiser to end with the AI tie-in episode and leave us wondering all summer if Booth made it and instead created a show about the guy the FBI needed to flush out at Booth’s funeral.

But I’m just a viewer. What do I know?

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