Review - Bones Season 7 Episode 1 The Memories in the Shallow Grave

Six season of will-they-won't-they, the final three marred by Hart Hansen's bad decision making. Six seasons of Bones being distant and cold, the last seasons filled with Booth pining for Bones. Then at the end of last season, bam!, it all changes. Bones is pregnant, she and Booth are together, the pining is over. It's a bit sudden.

Honestly, I'm not sure the writers had a better choice, what with Emily Deschanel getting getting pregnant. Her pregnancy already delayed filming the show, and hiding her pregnancy, or avoiding it completely, would delay the show even more or create an unnatural situation where the director is constantly trying to hide the baby bump. There are very few options.

That said, the handling of the pregnancy thus far hasn't been good, though this is only the first episode of the season. The jump from last season--when the relationship was going nowhere fast--to this season--Booth and Bones living together--is way too sudden. While the relationship of the past few seasons was stagnant, at least it was consistent. All the problems of the past are washed away, stricken from the record.

And the relationship problems haven't really gotten better with the pregnancy. The prime squabble of the season premiere? Booth wants a permanent residence for his family, but Bones is unwilling. On top of that, Booth, idiotically, wants to split their money 50-50 for the house. Booth, do you want to split 50-05 and have a tiny house because you have no money, or don't split and have a massive house paid by a small portion of Bones's wealth?

Another problem is that the pregnancy focus took away from the case. The pacing is languid, the suspects minimal, and the case is tossed around until it's solved.

I like Bones a lot--the characters, the cases, the bodies. But Booth and Bones, who are the heart of the show, have been very problematic characters when the writers focus on their relationship. Normally, there relationship episodes and normal episodes, with normal episodes as the majority. I worry, however, that the pregnancy will convert every episode into a relationship episode.

Score: 8.1/10