A refresher course for those not reading the backdated entries: Alyssa’s spoiler post at YTDAW read,

 Booth is PISSED. He slams our boy Hodgins against his vehicle, telling him he better be out of town when they go to court, and that he might want to look for a new job. Yikes.

Cam doesn't seem pleased, either, and asks the man what he has to say for himself. He lists off three things, then turns to Angela, finishing with, "I love you."

 I WAS WAITING FOR THAT.  IT NEVER CAME.  I was pissed.  More on this later.

 I don’t really like this whole girl-talk thing between Angela and Brennan.  I like that they’re friends, I even like that they’re best friends, but Bones is not built for girl talk and it’s not even funny to watch her try. Also, Angela is kind of surprisingly dirty.  Bones and Sully have been dating for like, two weeks, and she’s shocked they haven’t slept together?!  Ew.  Add that to the things I’m trying to block out about Hodgins last season, and they’re rapidly testing my patience for how many allowances I can make before they stop being adorable Puppy Love and turn into any other boring adult pairing.

 Okay, another thing of mine.  I could never date an athlete.  I never even had crushes on any of the high school athletes.  I just don’t understand why you would want to watch your guy run around and get sweaty.  Or at the very least, why you would want to go anywhere near him before he’s showered.  SWEAT =/= SEXY.  It equals gross.  I am still viewing Sully through the sour glasses of sourpuss hate.  I don’t know why.  I just am.  He’s pleasant-looking enough, but I dislike him, and at the end during their full-on make out session (SERIOUSLY.  YOU ARE AT WORK.  IN PLAIN VIEW OF *EVERYONE*), I was back to hiding my head, whimpering “Oh GOD please make it stop.”

 Now to move on to things I liked: I was ultra-pleased to see that the charming Gordon was back for another episode, and continuing to politely antagonize the twitchy Booth.  

 Second Best Part of the Episode: Caroline the Bitchin’ Awesome Lawyer’s speech.  As I said to

rocksalted

 My favorite part of the whole speech: “Get it together!  Start using your oversized heads!”

 And Now For The Puppy Love: First of all, I languished half the episode wondering if that earlier look of shock on Angela’s face had spelled doom.  Then in the courtroom, while waiting for the final verdict to be read, Hodgins reached for her hand.  I had already made up my mind that said handhold was happening whether we saw it or not, but it was nice to get to actually see fingers intertwined.  And the cheek kiss a few moments later.  Neither of which held a candle to their scene in the final montage. 

 They’re sitting together, Angela watching with interest as he goes through old pictures of himself with his friends.  They’re both kind of smiling, but before long he goes very quiet and still, just staring down at the photos.  She reaches out to touch his cheek, turning his face towards hers, heads leaning together. Mmm, icon fodder.  I would squee, if the noise didn’t ruin such a tender moment.  I like the jokes and the looks and the flirting in their own time and place, but stuff like this is why I love this couple.  My TJ Thyne love is growing by leaps and bounds, given how much emotion he can show when you can’t even see his whole expression, and my Lab Puppy love is firmly cemented once more.

First of all, there was a disappointing lack of Flack.  Yes, this is the standard by which I judge all episodes.  If this demand is not met, I will accept in its stead Detective Angell, reference to Claire, or shippy stuff.  Okay, so 2/4 isn’t bad, I suppose, but it’s not overwhelming.  You know how I didn’t miss Grissom on CSI?  I’m missing Lindsay here.  Not acutely, because I didn’t even realize this was the second episode she was absent.  But when I’m looking back at it in retrospect going “why is this show’s sweeps period so boring?” I come to the conclusion that it’s because she’s not there.

On to Mac/Peyton.  First of all, tonight I noticed that his hair has grown out again, which instantly makes him more attractive.  And that black leather jacket he was wearing?  I can’t recall the last time I sat up and looked at Mac to say “Damn, that’s hot.” Really, it’s not that much happened between them in this scene, it’s more like the implications behind it – that he came with her to the scene despite it being his night off, that he’s apparently now let everyone know one way or another that they’re together.  And there was that adorable, bemused smile they shared at Danny’s open-mouthed stare when he realized it.  (Speaking of which, that look was the most hilarious thing I’ve seen in ages.  I laughed out loud.  And rewound four times.  And kept laughing.  Also loved Mac’s look of ‘you got something else you want to say?’)

 And YES, I get to giggle about Mac & Peyton’s flirty comments in the morgue.  “[Broken heart syndrome] primarily occurs to women in…very passionate relationships.”
Mac pauses to mull that over, then leans in next to her and whispers, “I’ll be very careful.” Ahhhhh hah hah hah I love these two.  Stella & Mac might be Mom and Dad of the lab, but Peyton’s like the stepmother, and while there was initial distrust and dislike, and she’s still new & unfamiliar, I think she’s gelling well with the group.  Not like the crazy old grandpa figure, Sid the Creepy Coroner.

 And this part’s not shippy, really, but I loved Danny literally chasing Peyton through the morgue, trying to convince her to bust out the little bone scanner or whatever it was to look for a bullet lodged in a live woman… “This is once in a lifetime… you and Mac, you’re gonna be telling your grandkids about this.”  The scowl on her face is too funny.  Danny can be such an overeager puppy at times.  That’s what I love about him.

As for the storyline itself, even though I thought I was going to SCREAM if I had to see that preview featuring the teaser one more time, they both ended up being some of the most complex and clever storylines in recent history.  Angell’s case definitely won, though.  Guy tries to shoot his wife…one bullet lodges in her skull, but does no more damage than a killer headache.  The other bullet goes through the floor and into the light of the apartment below.  Mystery lady who has broken into said apartment to surprise her boyfriend starts to get into bath, reaches up to investigate the buzzing light, electrocutes herself and falls (luckily, in a very artful and not at all embarrassing pose) dead in the bathtub.  Speaking of Angell, I’ve decided that when this series ends there should be a spinoff in which Danny joins the homicide department and partners up with her.  They always have such fantastic chemistry when they’re on the street, tracking down suspects.  And I do mean just plain working chemistry, though you know I’m not averse to any fic writers who want to show more.  They play well off each other, with that same easy skepticism/sarcasm directed at suspects as they banter back and forth.  Heck, they were even wearing matching jackets!  Complete with bright, monochrome shirts underneath.  Gorgeous sapphire blue for her, deep red for him.

Spend two weeks reading

stellaluna_

Flack’s case (I’m assigning by detective, since they get there first) loses points for being GROSS.  I have a *thing* about those things in your arms that carry blood, you know, the ones you cut in order to kill yourself by slashing your wrists?  DON’T SAY IT.  I will knock the stuffing out of you if you write “the V word.”  It’s a weird quirk of mine, but hearing the word or looking at those *things* makes me whimper and twitch uncontrollably.  I certainly couldn’t stand the repeated focus on his cut wrist.  *whimpers and twitches*

It loses more points for the victim of the week.  Hey, dude…you’re supposed to be down in Miami.  Serving jail time in Horatio’s district for murdering Ashley Anders, (underage) adult film star.  It was an extremely memorable episode, the season 2 finale “Innocent.”  You were an extremely memorable and creepy character, addicted to porn as you were.

It wins back a few points for having the weirdest murderer ever.  She doesn’t recognize her own reflection?  There was some complicated explanation for that, relating to her traumatic involvement in the car accident, but I failed to pay attention.  I was too busy being amused at Flack saying “You guys are gonna have to explain this to me like I’m a five-year-old, because I’m not gettin’ it.” Sadly, because of that scene in the previews, where she smashes a chair through the 2-way mirror, I never doubted the sister did it.  I’ve seen enough crime shows to figure they were working some kind of multiple-personality or uncontrollable-rage disorder.  Bit ruined for me, that part.  Sigh. 

Out of curiosity, are there any other techs in the entire New York lab?  I mean, Vegas stars Hodges but there are other people too, and Miami has *two* starring lab techs plus extras, not counting the one who became a wannabe CSI.  But in New York, it seems to be all Adam, all the time.  Though there was a nice moment showing him stripping off double gloves, which Stella should have worn but didn’t.  WHICH MELTED STRAIGHT INTO A SHOT OF BLOOD BEING DRAWN INTO A NEEDLE, EWWWWW! 

I cannot bring myself to care about Stella’s storyline regarding this ep, and it doesn’t matter how many months they drag it out, I’m not going to.  I simply don’t believe that she’ll be anything other than fine, because unlike a nail in the eye or getting shot in the head and dying for 11 minutes, you can’t conveniently ignore HIV after it serves its sweeps-period purpose. It’s permanent and it only goes downhill.  I *do* think it would be incredible (in a good way) if she turned out to be positive.  With early detection and proper treatment, people can live for years with minimal effects.  It wouldn’t jeopardize her career, I don’t think, at least not for a while, so they wouldn’t have any need to write her off the show.  But it would be interesting to think that it was there in the background, quietly biding its time, weighing on her mind.