Well we finally got caught up with Bones. Well, the Bones DVDs to be specific. They actually came out a while back and the first one went to the very top of our Netflix Queue and there it sat not until we got said disc, but until the show became available on Netflix Instant like the four previous seasons (which I talked about here). The show’s sixth season is currently on TV, but we haven’t been watching because 1) we hadn’t seen Season 5 and 2) it’s on Thursdays, the busiest TV night of the year (I already have to choose between Big Bang Theory and Community, so adding Bones into the mix would make things even more difficult.

As readers and fans of the show will remember, the fourth season ended with Booth discovering he has a brain tumor and going through surgery before an episode featuring an alternate universe where Bones and Booth are married all of which played heavily into this season. As Booth gets approved for active duty again in the opener we find out that he’s having trouble doing some of the things he once did, but he’s also dealing with feelings of love for Bones. One theory is that he feels that way because it’s leftover from the dream world, which he apparently spent quite a deal of time in while he was unconscious. The other is that he’s always had a thing for her and it’s just coming to the surface. I know I said I like that the writers had kept Bones and Booth strictly platonic for so long, but I actually liked how they handled this idea for the most part (more on that in a little bit).

Meanwhile Bones and her gang have been doing their regular jobs as scientists while Booth’s been away and are all pretty excited to get back into the murderer-finding game. One thing that surprised me about this season was that it seemed as though the gore got quite an upgrade. I’ve seen hundreds of horror movies of all shapes and sizes, yet there were a few moments that made even me cringe (at one point, a body that had been soaking is lifted up and it’s skin slides right off! The same thing happened within the first three or four seasons of CSI if memory serves. It didn’t bother me, I was just surprised with some of the blood and guts stuff they were able to get away with on TV. Well, it IS Fox.

The season had a few stunt episodes, though, I’ll be honest, I didn’t even notice one of them. “The Gamer in the Grease” does the ol’ “what would it be like if someone killed a famous person” idea, but with the stars of the amazing old school video game documentary King Of Kong. Essentially someone killed the Steve Weibe analog and everyone thought it was the Billy Mitchel guy. As if that wasn’t geeky enough, there’s also a subplot with three of the male characters waiting in line to see Avatar, one of which is played by Joel Moore who was in that movie (something I didn’t remember while watching). There was also a Simpsons-themed episode called “The Dwarf in the Dirt” that apparently featured Homer’s skull as an X-ray, which I didn’t notice. Actually, it’s not really Simpsons-themed, but more so filled with Simpsons references, like the inclusion of Homer voice provider Dan Castellaneta as a cop and one of the midget wrestlers going by Bumblebee Man. While both might sound rather gimmicky, they didn’t really come off that way because, as with most aspects of the show, the writers offer enough other elements to latch onto aside from the gimmicks.

Okay, back to the Booth and Bones relationship. Here be SPOILERS if you’re behind. Early on in the season we discover that Booth is in fact in love with Bones, but he doesn’t let her know it yet. For several episodes it’s near agonizing as they still work together and yet nothing is ever mentioned. And then it is. Booth comes out and tells Bones how he feels and then, like a flash, it’s over. Bones quotes that old chestnut about how crazy people keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. I really didn’t quite understand what she was saying. Was she implying that they had tried being together? She also said it’s against the rules for them to continue working together if they’re dating. Bones seemed to really throw her walls up and now Booth has to as well. I wish this scene had been handled better with a little more time explaining exactly what was happening because it was a little confusing.

If you are the romance lover, though, there were a few things for you to latch onto. First off, Angela got with Bones’ intern Wendell before finally getting back together and marrying Hodgins towards the end of the season, though not telling their friends for a few more episodes. We’re also shown a time when Bones and Booth ALMOST hooked up in the episode “The Parts in the Sum of the Whole” which also happened to be the show’s 100th. It’s kind of a Year One type thing showing the very first time Bones and Booth teamed up, which was a year before the events of the very first episode. It’s interesting to see how they both influenced each other, even back then and how they almost hooked up one night.

Overall, I really liked the season, still think it’s leaps and bounds better than the getting cornier-by-the-episode Castle and once again find myself wanting to get caught back up again. Now we just need to get Zach back into the picture and I’ll be super duper happy!