Colombo Oreo

by Courtney Hilden

The episode, "The Doctor in the Photo," was heavier than a Thanksgiving dinner and surprisingly angst-y, though in a quiet way. Bones got a case involving a brilliant scientist who was murdered in a dangerous neighborhood. Like Bones, the victim had rejected the love of a coworker who was polar opposites from her, and probably regretted it. Bones begins to over-identify and spirals into a magical realism episode.
This was an interesting opening, showing some of our characters, having Thanksgiving dinner. Don't worry, it wasn't a mushy scene, as Bones even had some time to use her forensic powers to tell how the turkey died.
Watching Bones suffer through the love of her life's great love life with someone else, who is normal and slightly imperfect but impossible to truly demonize, was painful. Watching her struggle over how unmissed this episode's victim was torture. The team mostly went unaware of her unhappiness and there was something quietly sad about that too, especially Booth's ignorance of Bones's emotional state, though given the last year of this show, where Booth has struggled to understand Bones's emotionally, this is typical. "Doesn't anyone know me?" Bones asks Sweets when everyone does say something to him about her emotional state. Then Sweets gave us an analysis that anyone watching this show would be able to give us. (Can't we give Sweets more to do? Can't he say profound things that haven't already been beaten into the audience's head?) The person Bones really needs and wants to have these heart-to-hearts with his Booth, not Sweets, but to some degree, Booth is unavailable for them.

Possibly this is one of the best episodes of Bones, ever. It was a challenge to show, within the course of only one episode, her progression to the conclusions she made, but this episode handled it brilliantly and without the usual cliches. More episodes should have us diving into the psyches of the characters, and show how bizarre and thoughtful they are.