Long post that contains SPOILERS
Read Season One’s review here
The Titan on the Tracks:
Dr. Temperance Brennan, or Bones (Emily Deschanel) is back from vacation and she’s decided to keep on looking for her father, ignoring his warning via telephone that she should not search for him. Their first case after her return involves two victims found at a derailed train, where it crashed into a car that was parked on the tracks. The victims are an ex-basketball player and a senator. Initially it looks like the driver of the car was ex-basketball player Warren Lynch. Warren is soon found comatose in the hospital, and that the driver of the car died several hours before being struck by the train. Further investigation shows that Rick Turco, a private investigator, made plans with Lynch to stage his death to cash in on some money, and that Turco went one step further and actually killed Lynch.
Back at the lab Dr. Camille Saroyan (Tamara Taylor) is the new Head of Forensic Division at the Jeffersonian Institute. Everyone wonders why Camille got the job and not Bones, but after she stands up for her team everyone knows she is well suited. Camille is very set on knowing everything that goes on in the lab as part of her managerial duties and this doesn’t jibe well with anyone, especially Bones, Zack (Eric Millegan) and Jack Hodgins (T. J. Thyne), who loves to have unauthorized experiments. Angela (Michaela Conlin) says that it is obvious there was something between Camille and Booth (David Boreanaz).
Mother and Child in the Bay
Booth and Brennan set to identify the remains of a woman and her unborn baby found washed up. The woman, Carly Richardson, pregnant at her death, disappeared a year ago and back then it was prominent news. Her husband, the main suspect at the time, disappears, things doesn’t look too good for him. Booth is having some issues with his son Parker (Ty Panitz) spending too much time with his mother’s boyfriend, and worries that he is missing out on his son’s life.
The Boy in the Shroud
A young man is decomposing in garbage, and Angela quickly identifies him. When it is found out that his girlfriend is in the foster system Cam identifies her as a prime suspect. This doesn’t sit well with Bones who was in the system as well. When the girl is found and admits to the crime Bones is stunned and still doesn’t believe it, and it quickly becomes obvious that everything isn’t as it seems. The tension keeps rising between Cam and Bones when they disagree on how work should be done, and she threatens to fire Bones. Everyone, including Booth, assures Cam is she does that she will not only lose the top forensic anthropologist in the country but the rest of the lab as well.
The Blonde in the Game
Howard Epps, the thorn in Booth and Brennan’s side, is finally on death row after he fooled them in season one. Another victim is found murdered reminiscent of his murder style, one whose body has been missing for years. He plays games with the team, leaving them clues to another body that is only a week old, which means he is working with a copycat. Bones realise that another victim might still be alive and they race against time to find her and outwit Epps and the copycat.
The Truth in the Lye
A man is found nearly dissolved in a bath full of corrosive chemicals found on the construction site. The man murdered lived a double life with two wives and that immediately makes them suspect. Things get really confusing when another suspect is identified as well. Brennan sticks her nose in Booth’s business and asks Rebecca why she rejected Booth’s marriage proposal.
The Girl in suite 2103
The next case involves an explosion in a Miami hotel. Booth thinks Judge Dolores Ramos, who survived the blast, was the intended victim as she is an enemy of the Columbian drug cartel, and while searching for the bombers, diplomatic immunity quickly gets in their way of making proper arrests and Booth has to appeal to the decent side of the killer in the hopes to get an arrest out of the case.
The girl with the curl
When the body of a young girl is found in a water filtration plant, the team is confused by her facial construction and dental records. The young girl is Brianna Swanson, a girl who worked in child pageants. Her father is the initial suspect because he hated that she took part in the contests, but the team find more suspects at the dancing school Brianna attended and was known for bullying the other children. Hodgins and Angela have been flirting a lot with each other but she initially rejects that they go on a date because they work together. She speaks to Cam and Brennan and realizes it won’t hurt to go on one date with him, and is distressed when it goes perfectly because she had hoped there wouldn’t be anything between them.
The Woman in the sand
The body of a federal prosecutor is found in Las Vegas and is linked to the death of a female boxer. Booth and Brennan head over undercover and discover an underground boxing ring while Booth has to deal with his gambling addiction so close to all those machines.
Aliens in a Spaceship
Two teenage boys are found in a space like capsule and Brennan says they were buried live underground. They realize the murders are of the serial killer the “Grave Digger”, who is elusive and undertakes no bargaining once the victims are taken and is happy to let them die if the ransom does not get paid. Brennan and Hodgins gets taken hostage by the killer and is trapped underground. While they seek desperate measures to stay alive with the limited amount of oxygen available, Booth and the team desperately seek ways to find them alive.
The Headless Witch in the Woods
Bones and Hodgins are still recovering from their ordeal with the Grave Digger, and Hodgins especially has problems dealing with how close he came to death and that the Grave Digger is still on the loose. When a headless corpse is found in the woods with a frightening video tape of that night, they are all sufficiently freaked out. The woods are rumoured to be haunted by Maggie Cinders, a Witch who had her head chopped off after trial and is killing her victims in the same way. Bones meets the victims brother, who took care of his brother when his parents died, and she can’t help compare his behaviour to her own brother’s Ross, who left her in foster care. When they finally arrest the murderer, everyone is happy there isn’t a Witch running around chopping people’s heads off. Watching the video again, Hodgins and Angela notices that there is a silhouette of a woman with an axe heading to the victim before he was killed, and they are freaked out all over again. Angela asks that she stays at Hodgin’s places and he is more than happy to say yes.
Judas on a Pole
While Zack is busy defending his dissertation from a disapproving board, Booth and Brennan investigate a man that was found burnt like a scarecrow on the roof of a hotel housing Federal witnesses. The victim, they learn, was in witness protection for giving evidence against the organised crime syndicate he used to work for. Russ (Lorean Dean) calls Bones and tells her their father called him warning that they are both in danger, and that she and Booth should drop the case. They learn that the victim had been stalking Russ with the intention to kill him, and that Max Keenan (Ryan O’Neal), their father, is behind the murder to warn off people who wants to kill his children.
The Man in the Cell
Howard Epps (Heath Freeman) escapes from prison and goes on a revenge path. This includes terrorising Booth by contacting his son, Parker, and Booth completely freaks out. They know that Brennan irks Epps because she is everything he despises in a woman, and she gets FBI protection. They find the head of Epps’s wife, and when Cam opens the skull she inhales a deadly poison that nearly kills her.
The Girl in the Gator
Booth is busy on the phone and gets agitated by an animated clown on a truck. He shoots the clown and is ordered to seek psychiatric help, and he meets Doctor Gordon Wyatt (Stephen Fry) an entertaining and unusual psychiatrist. While Booth tries to get Dr. Gordon to sign his release papers, Brennan works with Agent Tim Sullivan (Eddie McClintock) – a man who perplexes Brennan because he is so calm. She realises that Tim is incredibly intelligent and a really decent guy, and when they solve their case together she agrees to go on a date with him.
The Man in the Mansion
A man is found murdered in a mansion, tied to his chair, and Hodgin’s realises it is an old friend that he distanced himself from when his fiancé left him for the victim. Theoretically, Hodging’s shouldn’t be involved in the case but stays on, seriously endangering the case when it goes to trial. Booth is still seeing Dr. Gordon Wyatt, and the relationship between Tim and Brennan continues to develop.
Bodies in the Book
Brennan, who is a successful author of crime novels as well as a forensic anthropologist, releases her new book and it is an instant hit. However, things do not look good when victims show up around her, murdered in exactly the same way she described in the books. Tim agrees with Booth that Brennan may be a target for the killer, and this leads to Brennan disagreeing with them both because she is able to take care of herself. Brennan, after investigating the bones, starts to believe that she may be looking for three opportunistic killers instead of one psycho.
The Boneless Bride in the River
Bones is taking some well deserved vacation with Tim when Booth finds her, obviously frustrated that he has to work without her. Brennan is frustrated that she needs to give up some of her precious off time, and is even more infuriated when she the body pulled from water without any bones, which is kind of her area of expertise. Booth quickly finds the bones to keep her involved, and a strange, ancient ritual is discovered. At the end of the episode, Tim asks Bones to go on a year-long hiatus with him, and she declines, and he leaves in the boat he named after her.
The Priest in the Churchyard
After a main bursts and floods a cemetery, Zack and Dr. Brennan head to investigate. It seems like an easy task – there is not supposed to be any recently buried victims as the cemetery hasn’t been used for burials for over fifty years, and all the bones have been identified. One skeleton causes problems when they conclude that he was placed there within the last few weeks, and when they discover that the deceased was a difficult young priest sent to Father Dolan, the strict elderly church leader renowned for fixing troublesome young priests. He is immediately a suspect. Booth and Brennan constantly snipe at each other with their different religious views, and things become very tense between them.
The Killer in the Concrete
Next, a body is found in concrete. Booth thinks it has something to do with organized crime, and they stumble onto the chase for a former hit man by a dedicated bounty hunter. Booth is taken captive and tortured, but left alive. Frantic, Bones searches for her partner but it is only when her father arrives that she gets anywhere. Max, still wanted by the FBI, speeds up her search quickly and when Booth is safe again, Max escapes when Booth attempts to arrest him.
The Spaceman in the Crater
A dead astronaut appears to have fallen out from a high altitude. The team investigates members at the Space Agency, while the resident conspiracy-theorist Hodgins thinks there were aliens involved. Sadly, no aliens are involved, and Hodgin’s life gets sadder when Angela says no to his marriage proposal, but at least she tells him to keep on trying.
The Glowing Bones in the old house
Homeland security is perplexed by glowing bones found in a house and asks Bones and Booth to assist. They find the glowing bones but no sign of radioactivity. The team immediately identifies the victim but still has no explanation for the state of the remains. Eventually, they find both an explanation for the bones and the killer, and when Angela proposes to Hodgins and he accepts, the two of them are quite happy.
Stargazer in a Puddle
The season concludes with the case of Chelsea Cole, a girl with Werner’s syndrome and who had a talent of painting constellations. They eventually arrest Chelsea’s mother, who murdered her daughter when she thought that no one would be there to take care of Chelsea when she died of AIDS. Hodgins and Angela are very busy planning their wedding, where Bones will be Angela’s maid of honour. Angela’s father rocks up and he is a bit scary. Zack shares with Booth that he has been asked to serve in Iraq identifying bodies, and plans to leave after the wedding. Max Brennan rocks up and gives Bones a videotaping of her mother. He fights with Booth and after he loses, he allows himself to be arrested. Watching the video, Bones realises her parents left her and her brother so that they could be safe, and this helps her tremendously in dealing with her traumatic child years.
The wedding is halted when Caroline Julian (Patricia Belcher), a no-nonsense prosecutor, shows up and informs them that Angela is married to another man. Angela is shocked by it all because she thought that ceremony wasn’t real, but that still means she can’t marry Hodgins. Horrified, they don’t know what to do until Caroline suggests running away and not telling the guests what is happening. This works perfectly well, except that it leaves Bones and Booth standing uncomfortably at the altar.
Rating: 5.5/10
Best episode: Episode 9, Aliens in a spaceship.
Episode 12, The Man in the Cell
Worst episode: The Man in the Manshion
I didn’t enjoy Season 2 very much. Season 1 of Bones was a fairly good pilot season and I was excited to see how it would develop. Season two just didn’t live up to my expectations. The storylines were weak with critically few episodes that were really attention grabbing.
Honestly, I hated Cam in the first bunch of episodes. She seemed in love with her authority and it looked like she took pleasure from bossing the squints around. I also think that they should have explored Dr. Daniel Goodman’s departure more because he just disappeared with little said about it.
Most of the beef I had with season one was with regards to how badly the episodes were wrapped up. The progress at the ending of Season 1 concerning plot developments and episode disintegrated and the first few episodes of Season 2 were horrible.There also a few moments where the camera work was very dodgy and I really didn’t like how they showed flashes of the corpse or the murder. It seems they wanted to make the show more procedural crime but they really didn’t have a solid plan as to how to get there.
I did enjoy a few things: namely how Bones and Booth are developed more and how both of them had a bit of their story told. I liked that Angela and Jack were romantically linked. They match even though their personalities and outlook on life are different. I also thought that the relationship between Jack and Zack is so sweet and how they become best friends.
The inclusion of the Grave Digger and Howard Epps finally brought some excitement to the table. It gave the show a foundation to work with, and those make up for the episodes i most enjoyed. Howard Epps was brilliantly done by Heath Freeman. He was so frickin scary and The Man in the Cell was brilliantly done. Epps fell into the freakiest-men-to-ever-meet category. I found the inclusion of his crazy wife very entertaining yet sad because I have always been confused by these women who love serial killers.
I really liked Tim Sullivan. He seemed an intellectual match to Bones (if there is such a thing). It was sad they couldn’t have dated longer but he didn’t fit with my plans with Bones and Booth getting together in the not too distant future.
I loved Stephen Fry as Dr. Gordon Wyatt. He brings some excellent acting to the show and I liked how the doctor dealt with Booth shooting the clown on top of the truck and how it showed deeper problems in his life.
Have you seen Bones season 2? Tell me what you thought!
Life of this city girl 