S11.E14: The Last Shot At A Second Chance

[WendyCR72]

The Jeffersonian investigates the murder of a convicted felon who had been released to a halfway house, but disappeared, and a suspect in the case has ties to Booth.  Meanwhile, Brennan testifies at an FBI hearing about the circumstances regarding her assault of an unarmed suspect from a previous case, and the outcome of the hearing could lead to her suspension and prevent her from working with the FBI. Aubrey and Jessica’s first kiss is delayed again and Hodgins continues to push Angela away.

[mojoween]

Jessica and Aubrey are adorable.

While I am happy that Angela and Hodgins are FINALLY moving forward, I cannot believe the lazy writing that they were continuously acting so horrible towards each other constantly at work.  I mean, Brennan made that comment at the beginning like she had JUST noticed that Hodgins was abrasive.  

The pictures are a piece of his soul?  Come ON, Angela.  Your dreams don't have to be lame.

[shapeshifter]

Thank goodness the worm has turned, but...

The case was kind of meh.

Aubrey and Jessica was like a silly romcom.

[WendyCR72]

7 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Aubrey and Jessica was like a silly romcom

Maybe, but considering Cam/Arastoo, these two - for me - are ALMOST pleasant by comparison. Low-bar praise? Yeah. But take what you can get here, I guess?

[Panopticon]

Hodgins/Angela: I bit on the dream sequence. Hard. It has been forever since I've bought a dream sequence on any show. I'm more likely to think that something actually happening is a dream sequence than to fail to see a dream sequence for what it is... so you win this one, Television Program. To my great relief, it does look like Hodgins will be taking baby steps in the right direction before there's irreparable damage done to him as a character. I thought the last two scenes with Hodgins and Angela were perfect. I expected that he'd offer her a divorce and she'd refuse, but I didn't think it would end with him holding her hand while she cried like there's still an effing human being in there or something. Plus, I desperately wanted a Hodgins/Brennan science-nerd argument about the situation and while the implementation wasn't great, I am pleased that it happened.

Aubrey/Jessica: I love him. I don't mind her. I understand why they're attracted to one another. But I'm tired of all the inbreeding in the office. Remember when the characters used to date outside the Jeffersonian-FBI bubble? And I also don't like it when the show relies on super broad comedy; its most hilarious moments come from characters reacting to one another or plain old dry wit. So I liked the stuff with his coat, but not so much nose bumping/puddle splashing/speeding cars. I did appreciate the show's use of Aubrey not having been around for the interminable Booth/Brennan will they-won't they phase. Sweet innocent Aubrey thinks maybe they never had a moment where their timing was bad....

Booth/Brennan: Hee! Someone at a high level in the FBI has a brain for the first time in years and realized that the way to make Brennan keep her fists to herself was to tell Brennan that Booth would take the fall if she didn't behave when she punched the guy in the first place as a twisted present to Booth . Booth was otherwise bad at his job this week but I suppose the FBI owes him this one for chucking him in prison as a result of a corrupt conspiracy in the first place.  Brennan's foster care past got another shout-out, and she used it not only to identify with the teenager but to get Hodgins' attention. Good.

Case of the Week: I may have swallowed Angela's dream, but at least I saw the big flashing sign reading "I did it!!!" pointing at the head of the halfway house the first moment he appeared. So I'm not completely dumb. And I'm cool with Booth's prison buddy getting a sweet sappy insta-family.

[Julia]

Honestly, these are law enforcement professionals. Nobody's spidey sense went off when there was a BMW at the halfway house? 

I'm glad we're moving past Hodgins: abusive jerk, but if they're going to end it just like that, I'm not sure what the point of it was. 

[mojoween]

Kenny Johnson was hot as hell.  We probably will never see him again so hopefully he and his daughter and grandbaby can live happily ever after.

[secnarf]

I don't care what the point of Hodgins' behaviour in the last few eps was, but I'm just incredibly grateful we are moving past it.

It never occurred to me that the dream sequence was a dream, but I did wonder why Angela didn't seem the least bit conflicted about cheating on Hodgins - it was OOC for her, so i made a lot of sense when we found out it was a dream. I liked Hodgins' reaction, and pretty much everything between them from that moment on.

There are still the inconsistent characterizations that plague this show (mostly with Bones, imo) but I can mostly ignore it now.

At the beginning of the episode, it took me a solid minute or so to realize that this is Jessica (just learned her name in this episode), and not Emily from BBT. Apparently I somehow I mistook Aubrey for Raj. Maybe it's because Emily's morbid/serial killer vibe seems like it would fit right in on Bones, I don't know, but it definitely confused me for a little while there.

[Lee4U]

Why would she feel "conflicted" - she had a dream, she wasn't cheating on her husband.  People do have such dreams from time to time even when in love with their partner; attraction to other people doesn't just vanish - I thought Angela (the actress, actually) did a good job in the scene where she told him she wanted him and not his stuff - I find the actress very limited so it was nice to see that range from her.

This is the second week now that Bones has not spoken entirely like a robot - something positive happened along the way and I hope they retain this version of Bones vs what we have had since season 5 - she's not really her old self but, for me, a hell of a lot less annoying with the robotic talk and completely inappropriate reactions to every social situation - Bones did well with Angela and Hodgins in both those talks.  Knock me over with a giant feather - 

[mojoween]

This is what I felt at the time - before I realized it was a dream, Angela just went for it with Sebastian, full stop, without once saying something like "no I'm married, I can't do this."  So I was surprised she wasn't conflicted also.

Hodgins was such a jerk Jessica didn't once call him "Curly."

[Mama No Life]

I think that's what secnarf was saying....the fact that Angela wasn't conflicted was the hint that it was a dream.

[secnarf]

Yes, I meant that if it had been real, I would have expected Angela to be conflicted, but she didn't appear to be at all - which made sense once it was revealed to be a dream.

[Clanstarling]

On ‎5‎/‎6‎/‎2016 at 6:15 PM, mojoween said:

Jessica and Aubrey are adorable.

While I am happy that Angela and Hodgins are FINALLY moving forward, I cannot believe the lazy writing that they were continuously acting so horrible towards each other constantly at work.  I mean, Brennan made that comment at the beginning like she had JUST noticed that Hodgins was abrasive.  

The pictures are a piece of his soul?  Come ON, Angela.  Your dreams don't have to be lame.

I literally rolled my eyes at that one. The fact that it was a dream made me feel a little better.

I too got taken in by the dream and wondered why Angela wasn't showing any hesitation, and handwaved it as her going back to her old carefree days.

I enjoyed the fact that Jessica did not get killed out by the car. So many people get run over on TV these days. Yes, it was a romcom solution to the awkward first kiss problem, but I liked it well enough.

[AntiBeeSpray]

On 5/6/2016 at 10:20 PM, Mama No Life said:

I think that's what secnarf was saying....the fact that Angela wasn't conflicted was the hint that it was a dream.

Yea I thought it was real at first. But thank god it wasn't. I'm glad that they handled it ok. Any writing issues aside, the way they handled what Angela and Hodgins are going through is better than what I've seen on other shows. They were human beings and grown ups.

[Julia]

I didn't think Hodgins was much of an adult about it, for most of that, but (while I wasn't interested in watching it) it's realistic that some people respond to tragedy by becoming nasty. What I thought was a little cheap was Hodgins doing everything he could to abuse and belittle Angela out the door - and if it was meant to be for her sake, I don't think they showed that - and then doing a 180° turn and deciding to be a strong adult who wanted to make things work after he saw her dreaming about another man. I just don't buy it. Knowing he was hurting her didn't stop him from hurting her, and knowing she wanted to make it work didn't keep him from having the paperwork for a financial settlement on his lap when he entered the room. Surely being a dog in the manger wouldn't be enough to make him stay.

[AntiBeeSpray]

On 5/9/2016 at 6:45 AM, Julia said:

I didn't think Hodgins was much of an adult about it, for most of that, but (while I wasn't interested in watching it) it's realistic that some people respond to tragedy by becoming nasty. What I thought was a little cheap was Hodgins doing everything he could to abuse and belittle Angela out the door - and if it was meant to be for her sake, I don't think they showed that - and then doing a 180° turn and deciding to be a strong adult who wanted to make things work after he saw her dreaming about another man. I just don't buy it. Knowing he was hurting her didn't stop him from hurting her, and knowing she wanted to make it work didn't keep him from having the paperwork for a financial settlement on his lap when he entered the room. Surely being a dog in the manger wouldn't be enough to make him stay.

I agree on that end, but to be fair to him, he suffered one really bad accident, and it hit him hard. I don't blame him for his reaction. Maybe. But I viewed it as him realizing that he has to move forward, regardless of the situation.