BONES Recap: ‘The Woman in White’
October 21, 2013 by Sarah Curtis
Hey, BONES fans! “The Woman in White” has been promoted as The Wedding of the Century, and while some may disagree, I really enjoyed this episode. I laughed, I cried, and I didn’t want to hurl…which is a BONES victory. Let me join with those praising Karine Rosenthal for coming back to the show to pen this episode. Now let’s discuss it!
THE CASE:
I think this is the first episode/case where we don’t really have interrogation of suspects or an arrest, and while some may wonder what the point of the case even was, I thought it at least was an organic way to push the wedding storyline along.
Scene of the Crime: The episode began with Booth and Brennan’s wedding rehearsal being interrupted by a case. As they rush off to investigate, the rest of the team is horrified to think what this dead body will do to the timing of the wedding.
The Victim: Nancy Handleman, a woman employed at the Library of Congress, in the manuscripts department. It’s determined she was killed in 1979.
The Case Progression: There’s a plastic sleeve on the victim, with some documents inside. Angela is able to clarify the text, and Oliver Wells figures out it’s likely written by Emily Dickinson.
Brennan and the squinterns examine the skeleton, and put together cause of death — being struck by a blow and dragged down some steps, 72 stairs and 8 landings as a matter of fact, making the height from the 5th floor. There’s only one building that fits the description, but they still need a weapon.
Wendell suggests a pool cue, but a cue doesn’t have the right amount of metal. Booth and Sweets discuss a possible suspect, Janet McCann, an Emily Dickinson scholar. If the salacious contents of the letter were exposed, Janet’s life’s work would be discredited. She has motive to get rid of the documents…and the person carrying the documents.
The Verdict: Sweets finds a book by Janet McCann, and her book bio talks about tracking the Appalachian trail. The bio picture shows Janet with a trekking pole, which could be the murder weapon.
McCann seems like a lock, but she is not arrested, as Sweets reports she previously suffered a stroke and is currently in a nursing home.
THE WEDDING, ETC.:
I always hate when a show uses its own characters for all things (the SAVED BY THE BELL syndrome), and TV weddings are often the worst offenders — but I thought BONES did a great job realistically weaving many characters into this episode. I especially liked how all of the squints were brought on to help with the case and ended up being invited to the wedding, and the ribbing they gave Arastoo for really being a +1 vs. having been invited.
What I liked:
- I liked David Hornsby’s turn as the church priest at the rehearsal. I think he’s hilarious, and it was a fun scene.
- I laughed as the team all placed bets on whether or not the B&B wedding would occur. I thought each person was in character, from Hodgins starting the pool, Sweets joining in, Cam doing so also and hating herself for it, and Angela giving them all a hard time for it.
- Cam’s line “Slow down, DaVinci Code” to Hodgins was great. Haha!
- Booth’s “Go do something else somewhere else” line to Sweets was also funny. I liked Sweets in this episode, but that was a great moment.
- Hodgins’ declaration that he was going to read something from “Ecclesiastes. It’s gonna kill” cracked me up. And his breaking into the Jeffersonian’s history of fashion and dressing (with the squinterns) in old-time garb for the wedding was just quirky enough to work.
What I didn’t like:
- I’m guessing there was some sort of schedule or contract conflict with the actress, but it was a bummer not to see Christine in this episode. Not a deal breaker, but I noticed her absence.
- No disrespect to Joanna Cassidy, but I really don’t need to ever see the character of Booth’s mom again. And she and Pops get along? That’s a thing?
- The whole “someone knocks on the door and says ‘turn on the TV now,’ and then the TV happens to be on the exact right news channel discussing the exact reason for turning on the news” thing is efficient, I guess, but lame! Booth “burning down the church” (and the subsequent Max and Brennan conversation about it) was funny though!
- I understand the idea that both B&B wanted the other one to have the perfect wedding, but I thought Brennan crying in her office was a little over the top…mainly because it just served for Angela to swoop in with another “omniscient in all things relationship” proverbial pat on the head.
- Clark. It’s hit or miss with me, but I thought he was kind of unlikable in this episode.
What I’m probably over-analyzing:
- Angela hates the *classic* FIELD OF DREAMS? She would!
- It seems like every time Brennan (and sometimes Booth) hits a new level in life, the next episodes are a comedy of errors of lessons to be learned, i.e. “Brennan and Booth are married now. Hijinks ensue as they figure out shared checking accounts/cell phone bills/ space in the garage/ fill in the blank!!!” I hope that doesn’t happen.
- When Aldo said he was marrying B&B with the power vested in him by the state of Maryland and the internet, he meant us!
- The final dialogue between B&B — a mirror to the season two finale “What happens next” conversation at the altar, yes?
What I loved:
- For all of my Angela dislike, props to her for putting on a fantastic wedding! There were shades of her whiny self-centeredness (like with the hair clip), but I think most of the time, she was truly trying to give Brennan (and Booth) a great wedding experience. I loved Hodgins’ faith in her too, that she could get it done!
- Cyndi Lauper (as Avalon Harmonia) singing “At Last.” Awesome, just awesome.
- Everything Max did, basically, but especially in the church and during the wedding
- Everything Aldo did, too.
- Brennan’s altar declaration that she WAS NOT being passed from Max to Booth as some sort of property. Classic.
In a category all its own:
- The vows
You guys, these vows! I haven’t “been waiting 8 long years!” for this wedding, but the sweetly historical nature of the vows Booth and Brennan wrote for one another were just so…satisfying and perfect, in my opinion. Fun fact: People Magazine reported a few days ago that David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel had a hand in writing the vows too!
I remember in the pilot episode commentary, BONES creator Hart Hanson talked about how he always wanted one of them to be chasing or rushing after the other. That happened and now they’ve caught each other. I also loved Brennan’s description of how Booth has changed her life. “How is it that when I try to sneak a peek at you, you’re already looking at me?” killed me dead in the best way. Beyond basically quoting the whole scene word for word, there’s not much more I can say except that I adored it.
There is certainly more to discuss, and the comments are open! What did you like about this episode? What did you dislike? Thoughts on the case? Is there a character you were surprised to see/not see? BONES is on hiatus for the next few weeks, so take the chance now to speak up below!
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It was the best wedding! I agree with you that the vows were perfect. Any fan that has been there since the beginning will appreciate and love this wedding. Avalon singing At Last was perfect. That’s the perfect song for Booth and Bones (and one of my favorites). All in all the wedding was so good, I didn’t mind some of the annoying little things (like some of Angela). I cried like a baby too. 🙂
It is easy to nit pick and say Christine should have been present in some scenes or that we miss not seeing each main character’s brother, but those were obviously caused by scheduling problems and I think it remarkable they pulled as many characters together as they did for this momentous episode. The case of the week was incidental, except that it served to illustrate how invested the rest of the characters were in getting the ceremony off the ground, and chipped in as needed to make certain it happened, from the squinterns to Angela.
The main goal of the episode – the ceremony itself and the sweet vows that took into account how far this couple has come to end up where they do, in the garden where their partnership first started in the pilot episode, came, in the words of Booth in a previous episode “full circle”. They are where they have always been, but didn’t always understand. The vows accentuate that realization.
And the rendition of “At Last” was phenomenal and so perfect a choice.
I usually hate TV weddings, but THIS was perfect. I usually hate seeing Daisy (my least favorite squintern), but THIS was the perfect appearance of all of them And I like Clark! The costumes from the exhibit, the scene of the wedding, the bets…. everything was perfect. Okay, I did miss baby Christine who surely could have been carried by her brother or grandfather. And brother of the groom, and brother of the bride. But otherwise, perfect.
Stephen Nathan & Hart Hanson explained that the twins were there but were having a really hard time with the strangers and large cast the wrangler tried & tried. Hart said that is what happens when you have child actors. The wedding was perfect Karine Rosenthal did an amazing job writing the script, Kevin Hooks Directing. Must admit the scene with David Hornsby went great I was really uncomfortable about him being there, but it was done really well. Love the jokes. The wedding itself was amazing I wouldn’t change a thing, I love that David Boreanaz admitted in an interview that he rewrote his vows because he wanted to give back to the fans who have been there from the start. Cyndi Lauper amazing song choice perfect. No fear of “Moonlighting Phase” it’s all good.
A simply lovely episode, Cyndi Lauper was heart crushing and breathtaking as she sang the perfect song, ‘At Last’. ; even though certain people were not present, I to be honest did not miss them, Christine, a baby, would have been too distracting. Booth and Brennan looked absolutely beautiful, the flowers, the setting, divine..I have watched this wedding episode 3 times and each time I love it more. The vows were perfect, and anyone who understands these characters, their story and their journey, would have to agree that these two were meant to be, a wonderful story , a fantastic cast, great writing, so all my thanks goes to Mr Hart Hansen & co. 🙂
I loved all of it, especially the vows and the way that Booth and Brennan looked at each other. I agree with you, Sarah, about Joanna Cassidy’s character. I hope we don’t see her again. Too bad about Christine, but they did try to get her in it. All in all they get both A for effort and A+ for content. I, like all of you, am one happy camper.
I too missed Christine — definitely an oversight especially since Parker was there. Just a line explaining why she wasn’t at the wedding would have done the job. And no mention of Russ even when Max wanted Booth to call him ‘dad’? Also, Booth’s stepdad should have been at the wedding but I agree that I don’t need to see his mom again. But, in spite of these minor oversights, I loved the show and watched it twice more on my DVR. And one last detail — Aldo said power vested in my by ‘District of Columbia’ not ‘Maryland’ since they were married in DC. Thanks for the review and recap — I agreed with 90% of it.
It was a pretty brilliant episode overall. The vows were perfect. Its amazing that they managed to live up to the hype. I guess we should just imagine Christine was there. The child actress looked pretty cute in her flower girl dress so it is sad that they couldn’t get her to cooperate. Personally, having Jared and Russ there would have been nice. Loved Pops and his mom calling out Booth that he is pretty fortunate to have Brennan in his life.
The gravedigger note callback was brilliant. Brennan was feeling all those things at that time but never let it out to anyone. How heart-crushing is it to realize that the episode after Aliens in a spaceship is Headless witch (coincidentally also written by Karine Rosenthal) where Brennan finds out about Booth and Cam. It explains why she is so upset to see Booth and cam together and ends up going out with a murderer. After when Booth draws the line its no wonder she never found the appropriate time to tell him how she was feeling until now.
@bountypeaches: Yes, yes, yes!! I was SO glad that the people closest to Booth and knew him best were all telling him that he was so lucky to have Brennan. How nice was that for a change? Esp Pops and Aldo! After what seems like years of St Seeley? 😛 I love that you caught that about the vows too! First off, I have got to say that I love that its now canon that Brennan has loved Booth since way back when. I wonder how the Booth-stans will spin this one. And it is heartbreaking to realize that Brennan could not find the time to give it to him after the Gravedigger incident precisely because of Booth’s relationship with Cam and then his infamously stupid line. Hah! Canon baby! I really wished Gordon Gordon could have made an appearance.
Cyndi Lauper’s rendition of ‘At Last’ was awesome! Aldo and David Hornsby were hillarious! DB looked a little too much like a wax doll for me, but that scene with the vows were about as expressive as I’ve seen him be in years. Brennan was…good Lord. Are there words for her? Hodgins was brilliant as always. As were Cam and the squinterns. Angela! I love that she wanted to Brennan to have her big day! I did roll my eyes a number of times when Angela once again became Brennan’s spokesperson for her emotions but w/e. Using what I understand Brennan’s evolution to be then I don’t think her tears is implausible. She has only ever wanted Booth to be happy. The tears weren’t for her imo, it was that she couldn’t give him what he wanted (which has always, ALWAYS been her no.1 fear/priority imo). When Booth said he’d forgo the church for her?! I grinned like a mad monkey, I swear! A feel-good ep and a good payoff for us fans. Oh, and thank you for having Parker call her Bones again! Thank God!
Thanks Sarah for the review. 🙂
This was the most lovely episode. We’re not very far into the season and already I have at least 2 episodes that really, I think they’ve done everything just exactly right.
And the vows. Perfect. I loved them and probably my same favorite line is the one you quoted, Sarah, about the “sneak a peek”. I adore that line.
Oh wait. One more thing. I loved loved loved that Parker was the best man.
I’m one of those who would’ve been just as happy if B&B had never decided to get married, but I couldn’t have been happier with this episode. It was just wonderful. The vows could’ve been written over-the-top schmalzy, but the weren’t. They were absolutely perfect. DB and ED both did a beautiful job in collaborating to write the vows. I loved the payoff with Brennan’s note, and even though I read after the fact that the original note was different and much, much more brief, the revised version read in Brennan’s vows was still perfectly in character for where Brennan was and where she saw her partnership with Booth at that point in S2, so it still works. Booth’s vows were beautiful and brought tears to my eyes. Loved it, loved, loved it!
Any minor quibbles I had with the episode are just that. The biggest issue I had was Booth’s mom being there, and I agree with you, Sarah – Pops and Booth’s mom are tight? Really? I don’t ever need to see her or hear mention of her again.
Agree with you on Clark being an unlikeable jerk this episode. I’ve never really liked him anyway, but he was just more unlikeable than normal this episode. I actually liked Dr. Wells more, and I’m sure that wasn’t intended!
Loved Max – he was perfect. Loved Aldo. Loved the squinterns coming down the steps in their History of Fashion exhibit garb! Loved Brennan feeling the need to clarify that Max wasn’t giving her away as a piece of property.
All the love to Karine Rosenthal, HH, SN, and all of the actors and crew for knocking this out of the park.
I Loved the wedding. The Vows were perfect. They made me cry. The squints did a great job and they looked amazing at the wedding. Loved their entrance.
There were some little parts that I thought weren’t necessary the way Brennan talked to the squints and Angela. DB had too much makeup. I would have loved to have seen Christine at the wedding. She would have been awesome. She is so cute. Loved the scene at the house with the family. Wasn’t crazy about Booth’s Mom being there. Russ & Jared would have been better. Max was great and the money was perfect. Great Job -writers, HH, SN. Thank you.
It was a beautiful wedding/episode. I just watched it and I was crying and laughing, sigh … beautiful. That said, I don’t know why so much hate towards Angela from the fans or you Sarah, just as I don’t understand the hate towards Daisy… Anyway, my real concern is this … Is season 9 the last season? I’m from France and i was just fooling around and watching previews for the beginning of the season and I saw one that made me panick. It’s the one where Hodgins splashes Booth with something. It said something like “What the Fox just happened? Good thing you can binge on the last season of Bones” and then the icons for Fox, Fox Now and Fox on Demand…
What concerns me is “the last”… Is season 9 the last season? It does feel like it, but that would be terrible.