I think our culture (and I mean in America, by my experience, but maybe worldwide) has changed so much in the last couple of decades but especially the last few years that what was reasonable/logical when Bones went on the air now needs to be Hollywood-reconceived ... like they did with Lincoln, or a few years ago tried to turn England's virgin queen, who was anything but a commoner, into a lovesick girl-next-door.
I think this show was an attempt to explain Brennan as if she's us. She's not. She's the central character in a show that's been on 8 years because she's not. Who is common on the show? Hodgins? Angela and her father? Sweets? Any of the squinterns? How about her father, a stone killer who bowls in a league for a team led by 'a horrible child'? The fun is the eccentricity!
So, the reviewer nailed it. Nathan thinks that a 15 year old can completely change their personality at another's suggestion and study and become a genius all of a sudden. I guess somebody needs to take all the 15 year olds in America aside (or in the world, for that matter), and turn them all into geniuses.
I think you're missing part of the Deputy Director Craig quote. I mean I wouldn't bet my life on it, but I thought he added the qualifier "Yet," or "Not yet," which seemed to please Gibbs. If I'm correct, you've essentially misquoted him by reversing the sense. If _I_ misheard, please tell me so.
Ok, so I watched an episode. They are really kind of trashy characters. That is, the mention of low brow humor is definitely right (sort of a trashy and not so funny Benny Hill, maybe) -- so the stripper pole commercial is the only kind of commercial to tell what the show is about (anything else would have been misleading). So, not a new low.
I would agree that the amount of sex/titillation was likely to appeal to sports fans ... but the game went so long probably only Elementary fans stayed up to watch.
It does bring up something I've been thinking -- that the dumpy Lucy Liu of the early episodes is gone and the recent episodes have shown off her figure by more full body camera angles and mini-skirts. I think that might be on purpose??
Here's the thing -- and I apologize ahead of time if I come off as some kind of cretin -- I've never been interested in this show and have never watched even a minute of it accidentally. I don't even know when it's on ... but I never knew these girls were so good looking and good figures and I'm going to find out when it's on and tune in at least once. To me that says the ad was very effective!
I didn't think it was anything special, but she only had so much time and she didn't do herself a disservice. I mean that she was reaching a broader audience and did fine.
Also, I'm sure the critics of NCIS being called to a car accident are correct that nationwide some murderer's have gotten away with it due to bad police work -- so one has to accept the drama and suspend belief in this case to approve, sure, which, I think, viewers do or don't based more on their overall impression of any episode where it's questioned. If lots of the ep threw one, this would. If one was drawn in, one would accept it.
Since I loved the episode, I had no problem imagining the locals immediately saw the air bag failure and the odd blow on the side of the head, splatter pattern, and backed off and called in NCIS.
cont. In a culturally classic movie from 1950, meaning it was likely seen by every "American" kid and made an impression, "Cheaper By the Dozen," the original film, when the father dies at the end, the mother says to sell the car since only the father could ever get it to run. Maybe they should have gotten it fixed instead, but it's touching the way they play it.
This episode was all about Abby and I think it was meant to be as touching as that. The equipment won't run without Abby, might as well close the lab down because she's irreplaceable!
It's been too long since I watched all the episodes in order to be able to point out which episodes involved the cranky mass spec -- but, in the past, Abby has gone over the top yelling at people to get away from it, to not touch it because it has to be coaxed to work. Why do they have a machine that is in sub par condition? I don't recall them stressing budgets, but a normal government bean counter would tell her to send her samples to a lab, I would guess -- but, since it is fiction, no matter the cost of a new machine, they likely keep this machine for the "humor." Doesn't anyone else remember references to this machine?
And, Abby has never totally failed the team for an entire episode -- but she has often been distracted and not given the case the serious attention it has deserved, whether she's taking hundreds of dolls apart for no good reason or figuring out if the crop circles were made by aliens (or whatever scifi junk experiments she was doing, with McGee gathering samples for her, thus taking both of them off the case Gibbs needed them on). So, I think you can justifiably criticize NCIS for playing up the character's "lovable" eccentricities (Tony the clown, McGee the geek, Ziva's English, Abby and her coffin, Gibbs and his rules, Ducky and his stories, etc.) -- and question whether this time they went to far with Abby; but I do think this was a mid-life crisis for the character, at least.
How they manipulated the story for that flashback was for the adult, mature, worldly Abby to realize as the windshield brought back that long ago memory, that Nikki was still never going to see her grandfather again, that Abby's clever solution didn't change that. Her whole life thus hinged on an empty gesture ... which I think is significant, even significant enough for Abby to fail the team.
Abby is all about people. She's the one who has made the NCIS team into a family. She's the one who comes down on Ziva for not being grateful enough to Tony for all he did to track down where she was (which actually was mostly giving orders to her and McGee, but she, as per her personality, gives more credit to Tony being the driving force). She's a mother hen -- and surprise! she always was. That's what we got to see. That's also how I took what @JustSayin was saying.
@Boonies -- I don't think it was a minor disappointment. I think a little girl who was decidedly pleased with her cleverness from creating a magnifying glass to tracking down all the parties involved to where she would make "THE" decision about what she was going to do with her life, which was even re-enforced by her switching stuffed animals so that the little girl could keep the memory of her grandfather.
@boonies -- I don't agree with you mostly, but it's tastes/opinion stuff I can't argue. Do agree that I don't like when Tony is presented like you cited, but on one of the DVD sets the show's head honcho says Tony interprets and plays his character like a clown. Anyhow, just jotting this reply to point out that the mass spec only working for Abby has been a running joke/plot device for many seasons and if it had worked for McGee, that would have been unrealistic to the suspend belief aspects of NCIS story telling (I think anyway).
@BW&R -- You could be right about everything (Visualize and/or Stiles must have a major role to play in finding Red John!), so don't take this as a disagreement, but you keep saying something that I don't know where you're getting: The bodies were only just discovered on the farm; nobody, until the examiners, in the present, determined they were murdered, knew that they were murdered. There was no clue that any foul play took place on the farm when Visualize owned it.
Also, it was established that all those who were there after it was drawn knew of the smiley face, but it was not established anyone ran and told Stiles about it (does Prez Obama know if there's any graffiti on the wall of the local social security office in your or my town?).
I think Stiles has a clue or two he can/will pass on to Jane.
@B&W&R -- The bodies weren't discovered at the time -- and the "cult" did say, and of course it would be true as in every cult, members leave and are never heard from again. So they didn't go searching for bodies. We have to guess how long RJ was a member and at what age and if he returned to the compound and church or just left completely himself (and did he kill the first 2 or did the speed freak)?
@MickeyG -- I might be misremembering this, but I believe back in the first season Hodgins said the money for the Jeffersonian was from a charitable family trust fund, maybe setup by a previous generation, and that the managers had no clue the current heir worked for the Jeffersonian and he wanted to keep it that way. If I'm remembering correctly, the trust fund, not being in his hands (as a personal account), wasn't touched.
I do admit I'd like to see them follow up on the Hodgins family finances.
I can also see how Red John as a young man could have passed through Visualize and, in retrospect, Stiles might have a suspicion who he was, without necessarily being positive he had his suspect's actual and verifiable name/ID. A powerful man, maintaining his group's reputation, especially with the person gone, might very well only ponder that speculation, be convinced, and do nothing. It also would be logical to assume Red John didn't make a recording in the Visualize program about how he killed someone, even if his tape was such that he was unable, possibly, to conceal his nature from a listener like Stiles.
I thought the prison break of Lorelei was presented as Stiles has the contacts to know, if he wants to ask, which prison a specific prisoner is in and has the contacts to arrange an escape -- which wasn't some people tunneling, but was with a cooperation that Stiles could have used to get anyone out. So, Lorelei's connection to Red John didn't have to have anything to do with it.
I too think they are making it up as they go along (and they have to be loving our "Paul is dead" detective work (where everyone tore apart Beatles lyrics, like "one and one and one is three," and played all the albums backwards looking for clues).
And I still don't believe Stiles is a Red John accomplice or accessory, either!
Grace is probably being kept around so she can fall under Red John's spell. She has been portrayed as way gullible (Jane even said the girls from her state were known for their gullibility). For all she's participated in episodes since her pregnancy, they could easily have created a scenario where she left temporarily or for good -- and they didn't.
Comments by Keith Vlasak (Page 4)
Bones Review: The Perfect Crime
I think this show was an attempt to explain Brennan as if she's us. She's not. She's the central character in a show that's been on 8 years because she's not. Who is common on the show? Hodgins? Angela and her father? Sweets? Any of the squinterns? How about her father, a stone killer who bowls in a league for a team led by 'a horrible child'? The fun is the eccentricity!
Bones EXCLUSIVE: Stephen Nathan on Brennan Embracing Her Mother, The Unknown and More
NCIS Review: The Pretender
Bones Review: Derby Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
2 Broke Girls Super Bowl Ad: A New Low?
Elementary Review: Super Bowl Sleuth
It does bring up something I've been thinking -- that the dumpy Lucy Liu of the early episodes is gone and the recent episodes have shown off her figure by more full body camera angles and mini-skirts. I think that might be on purpose??
2 Broke Girls Super Bowl Ad: A New Low?
Beyonce Halftime Show: Did It Score?
Super Bowl Ratings: The Most-Watched Game Ever?
NCIS Review: Teddy and Rabbit
Since I loved the episode, I had no problem imagining the locals immediately saw the air bag failure and the odd blow on the side of the head, splatter pattern, and backed off and called in NCIS.
NCIS Review: Teddy and Rabbit
This episode was all about Abby and I think it was meant to be as touching as that. The equipment won't run without Abby, might as well close the lab down because she's irreplaceable!
NCIS Review: Teddy and Rabbit
NCIS Review: Teddy and Rabbit
NCIS Review: Teddy and Rabbit
NCIS Review: Teddy and Rabbit
NCIS Review: Teddy and Rabbit
NCIS Review: Teddy and Rabbit
The Mentalist Review: Narrowing the List
The Mentalist Review: Narrowing the List
Also, it was established that all those who were there after it was drawn knew of the smiley face, but it was not established anyone ran and told Stiles about it (does Prez Obama know if there's any graffiti on the wall of the local social security office in your or my town?).
I think Stiles has a clue or two he can/will pass on to Jane.
The Mentalist Review: Narrowing the List
Bones Review: Last Will And Testament
I do admit I'd like to see them follow up on the Hodgins family finances.
The Mentalist Review: Narrowing the List
The Mentalist Review: Narrowing the List
The Mentalist Review: Narrowing the List
And I still don't believe Stiles is a Red John accomplice or accessory, either!
The Mentalist Review: Narrowing the List
Also, she could already be in Visualize.