Bones - Season 3

BONES keeps on keeping on. Two excellent seasons under its belt, and a truncated Season 3 (damn you, writers' strike!) finally all wrapped up, and predictably, these are good episodes, as well. But only fifteen of them! As Season 3's first episode ("The Widow's Son in the Windshield") opens up, we learn that Bones has been reluctant to go in the field with Booth and she won't say why. However, a head flung off a bridge forces her to reconnect with Booth. This episode also begins a new serial killer arc, this one being particularly even more gristly and diabolical than most, and of which resolution later down the season would have tragic consequences.

Season 3 doles out several other subplots. As per the startling news learned at the altar from Season 2's finale, Angela is already married. An ongoing story arc becomes Hodgins and Angela's search for her long-time but vaguely remembered husband. "The Secret of the Soil" introduces Dr. Sweets, a 22 year old psychotherapist assigned to counsel Bones and Booth, this stemming from the FBI's concern due to Booth having arrested Bones' father. These sessions are generally funny stuff as, mostly, Booth can't help but treat Sweets like a kid. Plus, these scenes tend to open things up even more between Bones and Booth.

I've a couple of Season 3 favorites. "The Widow's Son in the Windshield" introduces the cannibalistic Gormogon killer, which would become a key ongoing story arc of the season. "Mummy in the Maze" is a very neat Halloween show, wherein Booth's shameful phobia is unveiled and Bones's costume is...simply awesome. "The Knight on the Grid" is a taut thriller as the Gormagon killer returns, this time with a personal vendetta against Bones and Booth. And "The Santa in the Slush" is a standout sentimental episode and provides one of the best moments in the series as Bones cuts a deal to have Christmas brought to her incarcerated father and brother. Cool ending, too. "The Baby in the Bough" has Bones forced to babysit an infant involved with a case (you see the potential, right?). Meanwhile, "The Wannabe in the Weeds" (in which Zach and Bones both sing) and "The Pain in the Heart" are striking for their ability to stun the audience, even if the latter episode definitely had a rushed feeling to it. I feel that the after-effects of "The Wannabe in the Weeds" should've been developed further in "The Pain in the Heart." In fact, "The Pain in the Heart" - which wraps up the Gormogon killer storyline and, by the way, will upset busloads of fans - could've really, really benefited by being a two-episode arc.

The cases are still bizarre and the corpses borderline grotesque. But the draw remains Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz, and that electric "thing" between them. These two still get aces in chemistry, and are still the smokingest hot couple on television. Emily Deschanel continues to nail her role of Temperance "Bones" Brennan. And while her character might've loosened up a little bit (not too much), there's still that endearing naivette and vulnerability which peek out occasionally. And, of course, her refreshing bluntness (some call it social awkwardness) has never left. Boreanaz, he's just a great leading man. Confident and charming, bristling with machismo, yet with a sensitive side. His unveiling of his Christmas present to Bones in "The Santa in the Slush" is one of the best, most touching scenes of the season.

Tack on the rest of the offbeat but familiar crew from the Jeffersonian Institution, and these folks continue to provide the best show in forensics crime-solving. All the ingredients to the series' success are on display for Season 3 - the boosts of levity, the whiffs of romance, the chilling mysteries, and the ongoing character developments. BONES just keeps on keeping on.