David Boreanaz and John Francis Daley in BONES - Season 8 - "The Method in the Madness" | ©2012 Fox/Patrick McElhenney
Stars: David Boreanaz, Emily Deschanel, Michaela Conlin, TJ Thyne, Tamara Taylor, John Francis Daley, Joel David Moore, Galadriel Stineman, James Patrick Stuart, Abraham Benrubi
Writer: Keith Fogelsong, series created by Hart Hanson, based on the life and writings of Kathy Reichs
Director: Kate Woods
Network: Fox, Mondays @ 8 PM
Airdate: November 5, 2012
BONES treads an interesting line in “The Method in the Madness.” This series usually doesn’t dwell on the pain and suffering of the victim, but tends to be quite graphic in examining the remains. Since part of what is going on in “Madness” is that our heroes believe they’re tracking a serial killer, pain comes to the fore here. BONES being what it is, though, it veers away from turning into an episode of CRIMINAL MINDS with better banter by offering up an explanation for the death that is accidental rather than depraved.
Artisan applesauce maker Jessica is found in multiple pieces in the garbage (by singing trash collectors). Booth (David Boreanaz) and Brennan (Emily Deschanel) check out the dead woman’s community of fellow craftspeople. These include Jessica’s business partner Brooke (Galadriel Stineman) and Dr. Cole Reese (James Patrick Stuart), who was not only treating Jessica for sexually transmitted diseases, but also purchasing her professional services in her other line of work, prostitution.
Lab assistant Colin Fisher (Joel David Moore) theorizes that, due to evidence of Jessica having been bound and still being alive when her skin was removed, they are searching for a modern-day Jack the Ripper. Booth doesn’t buy it, as serial killers display their victims rather than throwing them away in the garbage. However, Dr. Reese seems a likely suspect, especially when Booth and Brennan burst in on him dressed in nineteenth-century garb, holding a knife, with a tied-up prostitute in Victorian lingerie on the bed.
However, it seems the good doctor is just into role-playing. Jessica did injure her wrists in his bed, as the restraints genuinely upset her and Dr. Reese released her immediately. Finally, after a lot of exclaiming about how precise the cuts on the body are, Brennan deduces that they were made by a machine. Sure enough, upon being confronted, Brooke tearfully confesses that Jessica wanted to sell the business. Brooke slapped her and Jessica fell into a piece of machinery. Brooke couldn’t rescue her and wound up dumping the remains in the trash.
In the B plot, Booth lets Sweets (John Francis Daley) stay with him and Brennan while Sweets searches for an apartment, having given up his previous one to ex-girlfriend Daisy.
The comedy mined from the latter is mostly a little too broad to be funny, though there is a great bit at the end when Brennan and Sweets dance to celebrate Sweets’ freedom.
The comedy is actually better within the procedural arena, with poor Angela (Michaela Conlin) having to physically as well as digitally reconstruct the victim’s face in order to make an identification. For once, lab director Cam (Tamara Taylor) gets some decent screen time. Taylor and Moore have appealing comedic chemistry together, with Cam trying to puzzle out Colin’s inside-out emotional reactions.
For genre fans, “The Method in the Madness” is a mini-bonanza in terms of the guest cast – Moore was one of the leads in AVATAR, Stuart was the season-arc villain Dick Roman on last year’s SUPERNATURAL, Stineman was on TRUE BLOOD and Abraham Benrubi was Olaf the Troll on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and Vincent in SLEEPWALKERS (plus Jerry in E.R.).
As BONES episodes go, “The Method in the Madness” is good enough, diverting and memorable in its gore factor, but otherwise in the decent-but-not-classic category.
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Article: TV Review: BONES – Season 8 – “The Method in the Madness”
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