Quitting Bones broke my heart.
From the first through the sixth season, 2005-2011 or so, I was a faithful weekly viewer and devoted Booth/Brennan shipper. I was there, heart in my throat, when a desperate Booth dug her out of that buried car, and I was there, screaming with joy, when they shared (what I believed was) their first kiss under the mistletoe. I felt sure I understood their dynamic and the trajectory of their relationship.
Then the show delivered a couple big, disorienting twists in seasons 5 and 6 that upended everything I thought I knew. “The Parts in the Sum of the Whole,” episode 16 of season 5, set my head spinning with flashbacks to Booth and Brennan’s first case that revealed they actually kissed for the first time before we ever met them. Suddenly B&B weren’t just a partners-to-lovers ship—they were also a second-chance ship. And when they did finally become lovers, the transition happened entirely off-screen, between season 6 episodes, only revealed when Brennan announced to Booth she was pregnant.
To say I felt betrayed by these revelations (or ret-cons, as I frequently ranted) would be an understatement. In the span of a few disappointing episodes, Bones went from appointment TV to a show I used to watch.
But…maybe I was wrong.
Maybe I judged too harshly.
Because rewatching season 1 of the show now, almost 20 years later, it has dawned on me that the seeds for that first twist had, in fact, been planted in the very beginning—I just missed it. And actually, that full understanding of Booth and Brennan’s origin story is making for a richer viewing experience. It’s even making me feel more charitable toward the way B&B eventually become a couple (more on that later).
Take the Bones pilot. FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth is so mysteriously intense about working with forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan that he orders airport security to detain her as soon as she lands in D.C. from her latest overseas trip. Unhinged behavior that only gets weirder the more you think about it! The two bicker and claim to dislike each other throughout the case, and you know what? It’s obvious in hindsight that their interactions are way more loaded than they should be for two people who simply didn’t click during their first investigation. Especially since, on a professional level, they clearly do click.
The unresolved sexual tension remains undeniable from the first episode–that, at least, hasn’t changed. It’s merely the context that’s different. Whereas I originally assumed Booth and Brennan were oblivious to how much heat they were putting off from the start, I now recognize they were perfectly aware of it. In fact, you’ve gotta figure that at least 50% of their hostility at being partnered up is pent-up frustration over an attraction they can’t fully repress. I must confess, that’s hot!
“Two Bodies in the Lab,” episode 15 of the first season, is even more delicious from this perspective. Of course, it’s always been a special one because the plot’s personal: Brennan arranges a date with a man she meets online, then nearly gets gunned down outside the restaurant where they agreed to meet. And while Brennan’s shaken, Booth goes into White Knight mode. Not only does he insist on protecting her until they catch the shooter, but he says things like, “I don’t care about your feelings, I care about your life” and “I’m not letting you out of my sight until I find out who’s trying to kill you.” Resisting his help as a bodyguard is futile, because he just gives her the saddest eyes you’ve ever seen in your life and reminds her, in a quiet voice that conveys how upset he is, that she “almost caught a bullet.” Even Temperance Brennan can’t argue with that.
Booth’s more than a concerned colleague, too–he acts more like a possessive husband throughout the case. Just ask Brennan’s date, who glances between B&B bickering in the interrogation room before wondering aloud if he’s misunderstood their relationship status. The partners quickly deny there’s anything romantic between them, but Booth LITERALLY TURNS AROUND while doing so. The guy can’t pretend to be normal while Brennan and the date plan another dinner, either, so he shepherds them out of the room to disrupt their conversation.
Believe it or not, the drama escalates from there. Due to the threat to Brennan’s safety, Booth insists on staying the night at her place. Yes, that’s right: We get a taste of B&B domesticity in season 1. They bond over a shared appreciation for the band Foreigner and rock out in her living room, Booth playing air guitar while Brennan dances happily across from him. It’s cute to interpret this scene like I surely did in 2005, as another clue that these platonic partners will one day give into a developing attraction. It’s next-level thrilling, however, to watch it with 100% certainty that Booth’s already one lovesick bastard by this point.
Nothing short of a bomb could stop them flirting, and that’s exactly what happens: Booth goes to get a drink from Brennan’s fridge and gets blown up. Did I mention this episode is insane? From his hospital bed, suffering from broken ribs and various lacerations, Booth continues to worry about Brennan (“Is Brennan okay?” he asks anxiously when Hodgins comes to visit). She, on the other hand, wants to learn more about the past injuries she spots on his x-rays. Because, as established, he’s crazy about her, Booth opens up a bit more about his time in the Army before gently admonishing her for reading his medical files.
And that’s still not the extent of this episode’s shippiness! Booth assigns his fellow FBI agent to protect Brennan, but it turns out that guy’s been the baddie all along (oops) and he kidnaps her instead. A seriously injured Booth talks Hodgins into checking him out of the hospital so the two of them can join the rescue operation. The man can barely walk, but damn if he doesn’t run to free Brennan, who wraps her tied-up arms around him and hugs him tight, crying into his shoulder while he whispers that she’s all right. An incredible moment made even better by the fact that it’s canon Booth loves her here. Canon!!! (How do I know this, if I stopped watching Bones circa season 6? I’ve seen fanvids of Booth telling Brennan that he “knew from the very beginning” that she was The One. Our guy is the epitome of the “He fell first” trope.)
I could go on and on about how every early B&B scene takes on a deeper, sexier meaning when armed with later-season information, and that’s the point. I’ve decided to accept that the degree of longing in Booth’s eyes from season 1 can only be explained by season 5’s flashbacks to their first, pre-series case. This is not a man who’s slowly coming to realize that he’s got feelings for his partner and friend. This is a man who’s been down bad for his lady doctor the whole damn time, but valiantly attempting to pretend otherwise.
It’s in the way he gazes at her. And in the way he promises violence to anyone who even looks at her funny. And brings her midnight Chinese food when she’s sad, and gets hurt when she doesn’t let him read her manuscript early, and rushes to her side whenever she’s hurt, and risks his career to prove her innocence in a murder investigation, and hugs her at any opportunity, and wants to know where she is at all times… It’s in everything he does. He simply doesn’t act on it, because he worries she doesn’t feel the same way and doesn’t want to risk the friendship he can safely have with her.
Angst addict that I am, watching Seeley Booth silently suffer over his unspoken love of Temperance Brennan for multiple seasons makes me indescribably happy. Especially when I also know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Brennan’s on her own journey to come to terms with her irrational, inconvenient feelings for him. Idiots in love, my true favorite trope.
And as for that second twist… Will I always be disappointed and resentful to have missed the exact moment Brennan and Booth succumbed to their romantic feelings for each other? To have, on top of that, been deprived of their first few months of dating after a years-long will-they-or-won’t-they slow burn? Yes, probably. Maybe I’ll need to write more about it when I get there.
With my new and improved attitude, though, I’m choosing to continue this Bones rewatch with an open heart. After all, I’m aware this time around that Booth and Bones are canonically into each other for 12 full seasons, they’re a couple for almost half of them, and they get a happy ending! I can’t wait to finally see for myself how every moment of their messy/beautiful love story unfolds—and then let fanfic fill in all the blanks.
If you enjoyed this article, you may also like: