Stephen Fry. If you are a true “Bones” fan, you will know the significance of this name. That is the name of the glorious actor who plays Dr. Gordon (Gordon) Wyatt, and he is singlehandedly one of the best guest stars on the show. When in the previous season Dr. Wyatt decided to abandon psychiatry to become a chef, I was saddened that we would never again hear his brilliantly British quips or gain his piercing Booth and Brennan insights. Thanks to yet another emotional crisis on the part of Booth, however, I have the positively delightful Dr. Gordon-Gordon back in my life, if even for just a short time.
I recognize that the show is called “Bones,” and not “Wyatt,” to I will try to keep my Stephen Fry adulation to a minimum. But honestly, he was fantastic.
As of late I’ve been feeling a little Booth-deprived, so I was happily surprised by this Booth-centric episode. The episode opens with Booth practicing for his marksman’s recertification, and performing quite miserably. Queue woe-is-me, Eeyore-esque Booth. He arrives on the scene of what appears to be a Leprechaun murder, complete with green bones, gold coins, and a water main break that produces a rainbow. Brennan determines that the victim was a dwarf and a professional wrestler who went by the name, “The Iron Leprechaun.” They track down his last job and at an appropriately comical event, where Brennan jeers at his replacement: “Look at his femurs!” Booth jumps into the ring to collect the new Iron Leprechaun, who foolishly decides fighting the FBI agent would be wise choice. Booth delivers a swift conk on the head and renders him unconscious, defending himself by saying, “He came at me like a rabid ferret!”
Side note: the cop in the episode is Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson. Irrelevant, but entertaining nonetheless.
Back in the lab, the intern-du-jour is the ever-adorable Vincent Nigel-Murray, spouting off his endless trivia. Being the nerd that I am, I thoroughly enjoyed his Lord of the Rings dwarf reference, but maybe that’s just me. The team is short on suspects and has difficulty pinpointing cause of death, but eventually finds that he was shot when finishing a gold heist. Ultimately, Brennan determines that the victim’s murderer was his own brother. The victim had been in a relationship with his brother’s wife for nearly ten years, and finally the jealousy drove him to murder. Simple enough. Case closed.
The real meat of this episode is the interaction between Dr. Wyatt and Sweets, who decide to analyze Booth and Brennan, but “Agent B” specifically. Sweets is initially hurt when Booth chooses to go to Dr. Wyatt about his sharpshooting problems, but Gordon-Gordon reassures him it’s really because Booth doesn’t want to put Sweets in a compromising position. As Sweets and Wyatt waxed psychological about the duo, we received some of the most clear-cut evidence that the romantic inklings felt by Booth are not simply residual coma-induced yearnings but are actually here to stay.
Though Brennan seems to still be either oblivious or aloof as far as her emotions are concerned, she does manage to mirror Booth’s promise of loyalty from the previous episode. When talking to Wyatt, she admits with surprising candor, “I can’t think of anything I wouldn’t do to help him.” One line from this episode that resonates greatly with me came from Sweets. When Wyatt asks what the final assumption of Sweets’ book is, he replies, “My book concludes that Brennan and Booth are in love with each other.” I can’t tell you how much hope that gives me that their feelings are mutual.
At Wyatt’s restaurant, he finally addresses the problem that is behind Booth’s recent insecurities — his unresolved feelings for Brennan. He tells him bluntly, “Temperance Brennan. You’re in love with her. You’re building a world around her. You’re family.” Please excuse me while I hyperventilate. What’s even better is that Booth doesn’t outright deny it — instead, he claims they’re incompatible. The most telling part of their discussion is when Booth says, “She doesn’t love me. I’d know if she loved me.” It almost sounds as though Booth is saying that he loves her, but is afraid that it’s one-sided. At the moment, it certainly seems that way, but in the sage words of Gordon-Gordon: hope and patience.
Also: Ohmyword, in the name of all that is awesome, you must watch next week. I don’t care if you’re a “Bones” regular or not, Booth’s grandfather is going to be a guest character and the promo features him dancing between two gyrating women a fraction of his age while Booth looks on proudly. This promises to be amazing.
