bones meta, spoilerous for 2x20.
chriek, I messed up! Next week's episode is the end of S2, not the one that aired last night. :)
Leaving this one unlocked. It's not too logical or great but maybe somebody outside the flist will care enough to read it.
plazmah posted a Bones rant (which I can't find right now and anyway it was locked!) about how she found it annoying that Brennan is so often presented in a negative light and she's encouraged to change whereas Booth isn't. I read it and meant to reply but kept forgetting, and when I initially read it, I didn't have the time to type out a thought-out response. So..
I guess what I keep thinking on the issue is that I fully understand why she would feel that way. Bones tends to lean towards the "layman's view" aka Booth's aka "Science stuff is weird and geeks don't speak English!". I know Fox and Fox News are separate entitities (sp?) but it does seem like a semi-conservative viewpoint. On the other hand, it's clear that these geeks are also sympathized and they're not always presented in a creepy manner. The Squints are the best characters on the show, er, of course noting that they're about the only characters on the show.
But back to Brennan and Booth, because that's what it's all about to begin with, really. I guess the way I look at the whole "she needs to change, he doesn't"-situation from the idea that she's a rather damaged person. It's a tad cliché that she would pursue academia to hide from her inner fears and being so emotionally fragile, shying away from close human contact but of course it's not that black and white, but it doesn't take away from the fact that she is traumatized. This does affect who she is and how she behaves, and if Booth's presence can take away some of the effects of that trauma, if she can open up more and be more comfortable with a close relationship, then it's not so much changing who she is as it is her becoming the way she would be without a whole world of bad things happening to her.
I think doramas have colored my perception of this - there are so many emotionally cold characters in dramas who eventually, thanks to a cheery, lovable counterpart, open up and become more humanlike and generally gain a lot from letting their barriers down a little. B/B also captures another typical drama couple situation - "we perfect each other". Because it's not like Booth doesn't have a dark past (which admittedly I wish we got to know a bit more because he's so very reluctant to share that part of himself, but even just the occasional glimpses are good) or his own problems. The therapy was a great way to show some of that, because I think Booth sort of hides those things very well, and anyway, Brennan's not really good at reading that stuff..
Actually, I may have to scratch over that comment about perfecting each other. In a way Brennan's bluntness when it comes to things is not perfectly suited for Booth's personality, as he tends to close up and deny things upon such blunt comments. In a way his closing up makes his issues all the more obvious but I keep thinking whether it's like that for Brennan.. Though the comment in the car in 2x20 ("I made you uncomfortable.") is one of the signs that show she is beginning to read Booth really well.
Another thing that I keep thinking about Brennan is that while she's learning and changing to become more like Booth, it's interesting how Booth is not really becoming like Brennan (scientific, rational) at all. He's scared by that stuff, and go all Wyatt here, why is he so scared by those things? The Wyatt analysis goes that he doesn't know where he stands in Brennan's world. Now obviously you can read the ship thing into that.. Is he scared of the same things Brennan is? That if he gets too close, becomes to attached, becomes romantically involved (as he would like, consciously or subconsciously or whatever), it would fall apart and he would lose her and what they have right now (partnership, friendship)? He doesn't know where he stands, because he thinks he should stand in one place but wants to stand in another, or because he thinks he could stand in one place but is afraid of the consequences. Am I taking this too far? Probably.
Either way, what's interesting about Bones is how the two typical stereotypes and the opposites and the "versus" pairs come through in Brennan/Booth. Brennan is brain, science, lack of emotion, objectivity - Booth is heart, feelings, being guided by emotion/passion, subjectivity, gut, a ration/logic that isn't in numbers or chemical codes or anatomic structures. The point of the show is to bring the two together - it takes two to solve these crimes in today's world. The point is that the two perfect each other. But then there's that other layer, the fact that Brennan isn't just a scientist and Booth isn't just an FBI agent, they're both people with pasts and issues and worries and fears. They're both riddled people who clash and connect and at the same time fit together and don't. It's a paradox that creates the perfect partnership that's far from perfect, and the tension that makes viewers intrigued, on the edge of their seats.
Now, I begun to think about Sully for a moment. He seems like a mix of three characters. Outwardly, he's Booth's equivalent - bureau stiffness, suits, agent training, the whole works. Inside, he's more an Angela - free spirit, do what you want, reach your dreams, make life worth living, experience tons.. Then he has a drive for knowledge (though it may also be more a pursuit to see everything that's out there), what with his zillion degrees, which is closer to the Brennan or Zack geek world. What sort of struck me about Sully was how issuefree the character seems to be. He's as he is, and he doesn't really need to work through anything. Unlike Brennan and Booth, he seems to lack some semi-deep seated issues.
(As an aside, I think both Hodgins and Angela are like Sully in this respect, which makes them a good match and a good secondary OTP for the show. Their troubles and woes aren't serious and complex, but easily sorted out and it makes for interesting little subplots and doesn't require to be anything more.)
This is again where I bring up Asian drama stereotype OTPs. So on one hand B/B is the "X opens up emotionally thanks to Y" and on the other hand, B/B is "two damaged people help each other become a little less damaged". Both are true but not the full picture. What I find very interesting about B/B is just the fact that these are grown up people with baggage that would surface in any relationship that they have. Booth keeps Cam at an arm's distance (metaphorically!) because Rebecca turned him down once and Brennan says no to Sully's spontanous sabbatical idea.
I guess the idea is that when B/B happens, they have had to grow into the relationship - and they will need to continue to grow in it. On one hand, they help each other because they can understand, but at the same time, it can also just create some serious dysfunctionality in the relationship.
All of that makes me think, so would Cam/Booth, Brennan/Sully be more ideal options than B/B? Cam/Booth, probably not. They could have that connection, but something about Cam's attitude tells me she wouldn't want what Booth wants - commitment. So what, I have to ask myself. Brennan doesn't want commitment either. Perhaps, yeah, but Cam's attitude is set and she's not like Brennan, a slightly damaged person who needs to grow as a person a little to be able to have the sort of relationship she actually kind of really needs. Cam's independent, Cam just is. Booth can't change her and Booth shouldn't change her.
But it's not really commitment that Brennan is afraid of, it's probably just the dependency and that closeness, the intimate relationship where you care so much you think you might die if somebody left you. Her parents left her, her brother left her. In a way, I keep thinking about Bones pilot, where her ex is shown.. I can't recall whether he left her, but even if it was mutual, she probably felt somewhat rejected after it. So she safeguards herself, and YES IT IS CLICHÉ, but it's also just how people are in life.
What makes B/B ideal, at least in my head, is that Booth would show her it's okay to love and be dependent and close to somebody. That he wouldn't leave her. And this is another thing, Booth is *such* a committed person. Like in that little AU thing I wrote where he's marrying Cam, there's a line, "he's not the type to back out on his word" and that's just it. Or is that just my fanon speaking? I don't know. Perhaps one of the reasons Booth is so scared of the possibility of B/B is that he knows it might be difficult, for himself and for Brennan, to get that close and then remain that close, and work through those deep-seated issues of theirs together as they should.
And Brennan/Sully.. I don't know. This could work, even indefinitely into the further but but. I guess the main issue here is Sully might not understand her. Or might get tired of dealing with her. Or as I'd imagine, the outcome that was on the show, she'd reject him in fear.
Now that reminds of some fic I read (plazmah's?) where Brennan and Booth were together but Brennan had only sort of agreed to it because of Booth's willingness. It was all sorts of heart-breaking because as I recall it or interpreted it, she was still safeguarding herself against her own and Booth's emotions, and thus the partnership was never really completed.
Here's another dilemma - why should B/B ever turn romantic? Does it have to? I think it does. The tension is as important an aspect in their current relationship as is the fear of becoming closer than they are right now. The tension is what makes it impossible for them to connect in the way in the way they are supposed to if they want to complete each other ('kay, guys, get your heads out of the gutter, I don't mean it like that!). What I mean is, when the tension is there, they could be the best of friends and oh-so-close but there would still be that vibe in the air hanging over them, the inevitability of that tension resolving. It's been there from the start, from their first clash of ideals and mindsets onwards, and it's not going to go away.
Somebody once told me if two people, one female and one male, are both single, attractive (to each other) and straight, there is always going to be the tension, the what if, between them and romantic feelings will emerge - they can't be "just friends". I guess it's just basic biology. (Which is why Booth probably pretends Brennan's a guy most of the time. Haha, slash!)
Hmm, how did this meta go from "complex troubled human beings together!" to "eh, she's a woman, he's a man - they'll be having teh sex soon enough!". I amaze myself sometimes.
Sorry for my lack of logic.. I jump topics as they come to me.
Oh, and my fave 2x20 moments were Mac&Cheese, "Always gotta eat", "Zack's always the murder victim", Hodgins/Booth hug, Cam/Booth scene, CAR SCENE, "We're partners." + "You seem to be a very good breeder." (OMG BONES I love it when you say stuff like that without thinking!).
That actually reminded me, her chemical/biological comment on love.. It struck me as sort of coldly scientific at first but then again, it's just her factual way of looking at an over-romanticized concept that cultural-anthropologically is actually rather new in terms of people marrying for love... It doesn't mean she's never been in love or she's uncapable of love, which it might *seem* like maybe but it's just that she's Brennan and she gives it a name and it's not love, it's mandatory human contact caused by this and that, and Booth gives it a name that's unclear and non-scientific and confusing to her. In a way she's trying to disect a concept like she always does, and Booth just takes the concept in its vague, unclear form because that's how the word is and how people use it. It's a clear demonstration of the difference in their viewpoints.
In a way when she tries to disect the concept of love she's also trying to protect herself from the fact that something she doesn't understand might end up hurting her.
anno_superstar asked me in the fandom question meme, how do B/B end up together and I rambled a little about how I want the love confession to be sort of untypical. It makes sense against the context that "I love you" doesn't mean much to Brennan if she can't process it or if she's scared by the vagueness of the concept or whatever. Hmm, will see what the Bones writers can cook up for us regarding that. :)
ETA: Season Finale promo OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOGMSDJGSJDGFJSGFJD. Surprise ending? I'm half-thrilled, half-worried to death. eeeeeeee.
Leaving this one unlocked. It's not too logical or great but maybe somebody outside the flist will care enough to read it.
plazmah posted a Bones rant (which I can't find right now and anyway it was locked!) about how she found it annoying that Brennan is so often presented in a negative light and she's encouraged to change whereas Booth isn't. I read it and meant to reply but kept forgetting, and when I initially read it, I didn't have the time to type out a thought-out response. So..
I guess what I keep thinking on the issue is that I fully understand why she would feel that way. Bones tends to lean towards the "layman's view" aka Booth's aka "Science stuff is weird and geeks don't speak English!". I know Fox and Fox News are separate entitities (sp?) but it does seem like a semi-conservative viewpoint. On the other hand, it's clear that these geeks are also sympathized and they're not always presented in a creepy manner. The Squints are the best characters on the show, er, of course noting that they're about the only characters on the show.
But back to Brennan and Booth, because that's what it's all about to begin with, really. I guess the way I look at the whole "she needs to change, he doesn't"-situation from the idea that she's a rather damaged person. It's a tad cliché that she would pursue academia to hide from her inner fears and being so emotionally fragile, shying away from close human contact but of course it's not that black and white, but it doesn't take away from the fact that she is traumatized. This does affect who she is and how she behaves, and if Booth's presence can take away some of the effects of that trauma, if she can open up more and be more comfortable with a close relationship, then it's not so much changing who she is as it is her becoming the way she would be without a whole world of bad things happening to her.
I think doramas have colored my perception of this - there are so many emotionally cold characters in dramas who eventually, thanks to a cheery, lovable counterpart, open up and become more humanlike and generally gain a lot from letting their barriers down a little. B/B also captures another typical drama couple situation - "we perfect each other". Because it's not like Booth doesn't have a dark past (which admittedly I wish we got to know a bit more because he's so very reluctant to share that part of himself, but even just the occasional glimpses are good) or his own problems. The therapy was a great way to show some of that, because I think Booth sort of hides those things very well, and anyway, Brennan's not really good at reading that stuff..
Actually, I may have to scratch over that comment about perfecting each other. In a way Brennan's bluntness when it comes to things is not perfectly suited for Booth's personality, as he tends to close up and deny things upon such blunt comments. In a way his closing up makes his issues all the more obvious but I keep thinking whether it's like that for Brennan.. Though the comment in the car in 2x20 ("I made you uncomfortable.") is one of the signs that show she is beginning to read Booth really well.
Another thing that I keep thinking about Brennan is that while she's learning and changing to become more like Booth, it's interesting how Booth is not really becoming like Brennan (scientific, rational) at all. He's scared by that stuff, and go all Wyatt here, why is he so scared by those things? The Wyatt analysis goes that he doesn't know where he stands in Brennan's world. Now obviously you can read the ship thing into that.. Is he scared of the same things Brennan is? That if he gets too close, becomes to attached, becomes romantically involved (as he would like, consciously or subconsciously or whatever), it would fall apart and he would lose her and what they have right now (partnership, friendship)? He doesn't know where he stands, because he thinks he should stand in one place but wants to stand in another, or because he thinks he could stand in one place but is afraid of the consequences. Am I taking this too far? Probably.
Either way, what's interesting about Bones is how the two typical stereotypes and the opposites and the "versus" pairs come through in Brennan/Booth. Brennan is brain, science, lack of emotion, objectivity - Booth is heart, feelings, being guided by emotion/passion, subjectivity, gut, a ration/logic that isn't in numbers or chemical codes or anatomic structures. The point of the show is to bring the two together - it takes two to solve these crimes in today's world. The point is that the two perfect each other. But then there's that other layer, the fact that Brennan isn't just a scientist and Booth isn't just an FBI agent, they're both people with pasts and issues and worries and fears. They're both riddled people who clash and connect and at the same time fit together and don't. It's a paradox that creates the perfect partnership that's far from perfect, and the tension that makes viewers intrigued, on the edge of their seats.
Now, I begun to think about Sully for a moment. He seems like a mix of three characters. Outwardly, he's Booth's equivalent - bureau stiffness, suits, agent training, the whole works. Inside, he's more an Angela - free spirit, do what you want, reach your dreams, make life worth living, experience tons.. Then he has a drive for knowledge (though it may also be more a pursuit to see everything that's out there), what with his zillion degrees, which is closer to the Brennan or Zack geek world. What sort of struck me about Sully was how issuefree the character seems to be. He's as he is, and he doesn't really need to work through anything. Unlike Brennan and Booth, he seems to lack some semi-deep seated issues.
(As an aside, I think both Hodgins and Angela are like Sully in this respect, which makes them a good match and a good secondary OTP for the show. Their troubles and woes aren't serious and complex, but easily sorted out and it makes for interesting little subplots and doesn't require to be anything more.)
This is again where I bring up Asian drama stereotype OTPs. So on one hand B/B is the "X opens up emotionally thanks to Y" and on the other hand, B/B is "two damaged people help each other become a little less damaged". Both are true but not the full picture. What I find very interesting about B/B is just the fact that these are grown up people with baggage that would surface in any relationship that they have. Booth keeps Cam at an arm's distance (metaphorically!) because Rebecca turned him down once and Brennan says no to Sully's spontanous sabbatical idea.
I guess the idea is that when B/B happens, they have had to grow into the relationship - and they will need to continue to grow in it. On one hand, they help each other because they can understand, but at the same time, it can also just create some serious dysfunctionality in the relationship.
All of that makes me think, so would Cam/Booth, Brennan/Sully be more ideal options than B/B? Cam/Booth, probably not. They could have that connection, but something about Cam's attitude tells me she wouldn't want what Booth wants - commitment. So what, I have to ask myself. Brennan doesn't want commitment either. Perhaps, yeah, but Cam's attitude is set and she's not like Brennan, a slightly damaged person who needs to grow as a person a little to be able to have the sort of relationship she actually kind of really needs. Cam's independent, Cam just is. Booth can't change her and Booth shouldn't change her.
But it's not really commitment that Brennan is afraid of, it's probably just the dependency and that closeness, the intimate relationship where you care so much you think you might die if somebody left you. Her parents left her, her brother left her. In a way, I keep thinking about Bones pilot, where her ex is shown.. I can't recall whether he left her, but even if it was mutual, she probably felt somewhat rejected after it. So she safeguards herself, and YES IT IS CLICHÉ, but it's also just how people are in life.
What makes B/B ideal, at least in my head, is that Booth would show her it's okay to love and be dependent and close to somebody. That he wouldn't leave her. And this is another thing, Booth is *such* a committed person. Like in that little AU thing I wrote where he's marrying Cam, there's a line, "he's not the type to back out on his word" and that's just it. Or is that just my fanon speaking? I don't know. Perhaps one of the reasons Booth is so scared of the possibility of B/B is that he knows it might be difficult, for himself and for Brennan, to get that close and then remain that close, and work through those deep-seated issues of theirs together as they should.
And Brennan/Sully.. I don't know. This could work, even indefinitely into the further but but. I guess the main issue here is Sully might not understand her. Or might get tired of dealing with her. Or as I'd imagine, the outcome that was on the show, she'd reject him in fear.
Now that reminds of some fic I read (plazmah's?) where Brennan and Booth were together but Brennan had only sort of agreed to it because of Booth's willingness. It was all sorts of heart-breaking because as I recall it or interpreted it, she was still safeguarding herself against her own and Booth's emotions, and thus the partnership was never really completed.
Here's another dilemma - why should B/B ever turn romantic? Does it have to? I think it does. The tension is as important an aspect in their current relationship as is the fear of becoming closer than they are right now. The tension is what makes it impossible for them to connect in the way in the way they are supposed to if they want to complete each other ('kay, guys, get your heads out of the gutter, I don't mean it like that!). What I mean is, when the tension is there, they could be the best of friends and oh-so-close but there would still be that vibe in the air hanging over them, the inevitability of that tension resolving. It's been there from the start, from their first clash of ideals and mindsets onwards, and it's not going to go away.
Somebody once told me if two people, one female and one male, are both single, attractive (to each other) and straight, there is always going to be the tension, the what if, between them and romantic feelings will emerge - they can't be "just friends". I guess it's just basic biology. (Which is why Booth probably pretends Brennan's a guy most of the time. Haha, slash!)
Hmm, how did this meta go from "complex troubled human beings together!" to "eh, she's a woman, he's a man - they'll be having teh sex soon enough!". I amaze myself sometimes.
Sorry for my lack of logic.. I jump topics as they come to me.
Oh, and my fave 2x20 moments were Mac&Cheese, "Always gotta eat", "Zack's always the murder victim", Hodgins/Booth hug, Cam/Booth scene, CAR SCENE, "We're partners." + "You seem to be a very good breeder." (OMG BONES I love it when you say stuff like that without thinking!).
That actually reminded me, her chemical/biological comment on love.. It struck me as sort of coldly scientific at first but then again, it's just her factual way of looking at an over-romanticized concept that cultural-anthropologically is actually rather new in terms of people marrying for love... It doesn't mean she's never been in love or she's uncapable of love, which it might *seem* like maybe but it's just that she's Brennan and she gives it a name and it's not love, it's mandatory human contact caused by this and that, and Booth gives it a name that's unclear and non-scientific and confusing to her. In a way she's trying to disect a concept like she always does, and Booth just takes the concept in its vague, unclear form because that's how the word is and how people use it. It's a clear demonstration of the difference in their viewpoints.
In a way when she tries to disect the concept of love she's also trying to protect herself from the fact that something she doesn't understand might end up hurting her.
anno_superstar asked me in the fandom question meme, how do B/B end up together and I rambled a little about how I want the love confession to be sort of untypical. It makes sense against the context that "I love you" doesn't mean much to Brennan if she can't process it or if she's scared by the vagueness of the concept or whatever. Hmm, will see what the Bones writers can cook up for us regarding that. :)
ETA: Season Finale promo OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOGMSDJGSJDGFJSGFJD. Surprise ending? I'm half-thrilled, half-worried to death. eeeeeeee.