Bones shows how NOT to kill a character meaningfully

Sometimes it’s difficult to tell that I enjoy FOX’s Bones, what with some of my complaints about the current season. In all honesty, if I weren’t already invested in the characters and my fiancee weren’t a big fan, I might have decided to drop the series. The show has pretty much jumped the shark at this point. Last night’s episode, “The Hole in the Heart”, was incredibly disappointing.

Here’s a link to FOX online, since the episode wasn’t yet on Hulu.

Last week’s preview made it a point to mention that someone would die in this episode. A few characters were flashed on the screen to build fan concerns about the death. Here, see for yourself.

Bones – The Poorly Disguised Pilot Wedged into the Established Series

How do you feel about blatant product placement in your media? The close-ups on the cans of Coke, the very direct mentioning of the type of car a character wants to drive, etc. I bet it makes you feel soft and squishy inside. It probably makes you want to buy the product, especially when it’s so blatant that’s what they want.

Funny enough, this is not about Morgan Spurlock’s The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. No, this is about an insidious FOX plot to use the success of Bones to sell an upcoming television series to the audience. While this is not the first time FOX has forced cross-promotion into Bones (see: Family Guy and The Simpsons), this is the first time it has come across as blatant and poorly done. (UPDATE: Hart Hanson, creator of Bones, is also the creator of this new show. It’s not the fault of FOX. Go back to a previous post to be reminded that it’s not necessarily the network’s fault…)

As LeVar Burton used to say, don’t take my word for it. Check it out on Hulu. (And rate it low, please.)

Bones – “The Shallow in the Deep” is an incredibly fitting title

Last week’s episode. Feel free to watch it.

Allow me to be terse for one of the few times in this blog’s history. Having the sole African American character on the show react so strongly to remains found on a slave ship is not deep or meaningful. It is cliched and unnecessary. Implying very strongly that the sole African American character had a relative on that ship whose remains were found does not add depth to the character. It is beyond trite. Maybe the writers on the show are so progressive that they never heard the old racist notion that all black people are related.