Stephan Nathan Weighs In About Tonight's Episode
Warning: The following contains major spoilers from this Thursday’s episode of Fox’s Bones. If you have not yet watched it, check back once you have.
Bones Boss Weighs In Latest Romantic Twist: 'Booth Went Out On a Limb'
Going by the final moments of this week’s Bones, it portends to be a very bittersweet -- if not outright sad - Valentine’s Day for Seeley Booth (played by David Boreanaz). Buoyed by Sweets’ enthusiasm to pop the question to Daisy as well as the love he feels for his own girlfriend, Booth bought a sparkler for Hannah only to see his bid for marriage get shot down not much unlike by a sniper’s bullet.
We know what you’re thinking: Is the door now wide open for Booth and Brennan (Emily Deschanel) to finally get on the same page and evolve their friendship into something more? Or is D.C.’s most eligible marksman now, ironically, gun-shy? As the pivotal episode unspooled, TVLine spoke with Bones exec producer Stephen Nathan about the aftermath.
TVLINE | In retrospect, how do you rate Hannah (played by Katheryn Winnick) as one in a series of obstacles for the Booth/Brennan romance?
We loved it. We thought it turned out very well for us, because with any show like ours, where you have a “Will They/Won’t They?” relationship, the audience always wants the couple to get together - as do we, because you know they’re destined for each other. But to construct situations that are realistic to keep them apart can be difficult. We thought that after they both left and went their separate ways at the end of last season….
TVLINE | ….that afforded Booth significant time to meet and get close to someone like Hannah.
Absolutely. We didn’t want it to be just a rebound or a relationship that didn’t have weight. It was very interesting for us to explore what happened when he actually fell in love with somebody else, and then have that person integrated into the Bones universe and become, though we didn’t design it this was initially, very close to Brennan as well. It was a way to keep Booth and Brennan apart in a way that was very real, and in a way that drove a lot of loyal fans crazy. They were angry that Hannah was on the show. Some of them hated it, but I think they loved hating it. Hopefully they wanted her to go for all the right reasons.
TVLINE | Booth seems in a pretty bad place now.
That’s what the entire end of the episode was about, him facing the fact that he’s alone. Why is he alone? What’s wrong with him that the women he has fallen in love with don’t reciprocate? Again, we want the audience to be on his side and Booth and Brennan’s side, to hope for this relationship to resolve in some way, because now we have an opportunity to explore them again. But I don’t think there’s going to be any quick resolution, because they both have wounds that have to heal.
TVLINE | Yeah, it was just a few weeks ago that Brennan laid her heart on the line in the front seat of Booth’s car.
That was a moment where she was forced to face her own life and see if she was going to live with regrets or confront her emotional life in a way she hadn’t before. She took a risk, went out on a limb and was shot down, because Booth was in love with somebody else. Tonight, he went out on a limb himself and got shot down. Both of them are gun-shy, and the one thing that both of them have to rely on is their friendship. That’s the thing that’s going to sustain that relationship.
TVLINE | Do you ever look at shows like House and Chuck - shows that successfully put their “Will They/Won’t They?” couples together - and think, “If done right, you can put them together and have good television”?
Oh, definitely. Absolutely. There were a lot of people screaming and yelling about House - “Why did they do that?” For as many people who are disgruntled and unhappy by an event like that, there will be an equal number, if not more, happy about it. But we’re taking our time. Hopefully we’ll be around for a few more years, so we’ll see how that unwinds.
TVLINE | So, just to be clear: No immediate plans for Booth and Brennan to get together?
Brennan was shot down, then Booth was shot down by Hannah. If they then all of a sudden fall into a relationship together, I don’t think anybody’s going to believe that. It would just be a TV conceit. It wouldn’t have any real truth to it.
TVLINE | Have we necessarily seen the last of Hannah?
I don’t know when we’ll see her again, but we loved having Katheryn on the show. No one shot Hannah, so… she’s still out there somewhere in the Bones universe!
Source: TvLine