‘Bones: The Complete Eighth Season’ Review
Stars: Emily Deschanel, David Boreanaz, Michaela Conlin, T.J. Thyne, Tamara Taylor | Created by Hart Hanson
After being cut short in it’s seventh season, Bones returns to DVD for it’s eighth and latest season (at least on DVD and Blu-ray) which sees Brennan finally cleared of an unjust murder accusation and reunited with Booth and the squints. Although the team crack some of their most challenging cases yet, dangerous madman Christopher Pelant (Andrew Lees) persists with his murderous rampage. But with Brennan in his target range he is inching ever closer to Bones and Booth each day. Meanwhile, as if the challenges Booth faces with fatherhood and his unique relationship with Bones aren’t enough, his mother shows up after a 24-year absence, and there is shocking news regarding some of his colleagues…
I’ll admit it has been some time since I’ve watched a full season of Bones, somewhere during the shows early seasons I lost track of the show and never really got back into it, so approaching the DVD box set of the show eighth season was something of a trail by fire – after all by the time any series reaches such a lifespan it’s generally given that there will be a ton of back story and previous character interactions that will impact upon the current state of play. Which means there’s a lot of catching up to do.
Thankfully the short-run seventh season has come of something of a mini- reboot for the show. Yes the series’ villain is still there, lurking in the background of the events of the eighth season (and as is standard for US television, returns for the finale of this season too) but the storyline regarding Brennan returning from being in hiding allows the character to re-connect with her co-workers and simultaneously the audience.
Of course there are some developments, that have happened in the intervening years, that came as somewhat of a surprise. I had no idea Brennan and Booth were a couple and a lot of the cast I was familiar with were now gone. Plus, and this is the strangest development, Bones is no longer about investigating crimes and solving them through cool forensic techniques. Instead it’s now 90% about the relationship between the two leads and 10% crime-solving. Which as a “newcomer” to the later seasons means that the series is even less enticing for me than it was back in 2008 when I last saw an episode!
Special features included in the DVD box set includes Deleted Scenes, Gag reel, Commentary on selected episodes; Dying to know: Bones answers your questions!, and Bare Bones: Total Fandom-onium.
Bones: The Complete Eighth Season is out now on DVD and Blu-ray from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
