TV Review: BONES – Season 11 – “High Treason in the Holiday Season”

By RACHEL REITSLEFF / Contributing Writer

Posted: December 15th, 2015 / 11:02 AM

Emily Deschanel in BONES - Season 11 - "High Treason in the Holiday Season" | © 2015 Patrick McElhenney/FOX

Stars: David Boreanaz, Emily Deschanel, Michaela Conlin, TJ Thyne, Tamara Taylor, John Boyd, Ignacio Serricchio, Callard Harris, Rachel Melvin, Dayo Ade, Lochlyn Munro, Gavin MacIntosh, Michael Dempsey, Rob Evers
Writer: Jon Cowan, series created by Hart Hanson, based on the life and writings of Kathy Reichs
Director: Anne Renton
Network: Fox Network, Thursdays @ 8 PM
Airdate: November 19, 2015

It’s not unusual for BONES to be topical, but it is less common to have lasting controversy between the characters. In the Season 11 episode “High Treason in the Holiday Season,” FBI Agent Booth (David Boreanaz) doesn’t just disagree, but gets angry at wife Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and goes so far as to tell Hodgins (TJ Thyne) that he has no right to an opinion when it comes to an NSA whistleblower known as the American.

The American, whose identity is a closely-guarded secret, is an Edward Snowden-like figure who has been talking to star Washington, D.C. newspaper reporter Vivian Prince. When Prince’s corpse is discovered at a high-end golf course, her reporting comes under scrutiny, as it’s possible that the NSA killed her to shut her up. Booth’s position is that Prince abetted high treason, since her stories blew the covers of operatives around the world. Brennan thinks that history may judge Prince’s actions as patriotic and Hodgins is all in favor of exposing government secrecy (which is when Booth jumps in and says that since Hodgins didn’t risk his life in the military, as Booth did, his opinion is invalid).

Divided as opinions may be around the lab, everyone can rally round their resentment of the NSA’s eavesdropping, which becomes very clear when that agency knows every move the Jeffersonian team is making. It turns out that the representative (Dayo Ade) of the NSA’s contractor agency Gray Stream Solutions (any resemblance to Blackwater is strictly intention) tortured Prince for information. He didn’t kill Prince, though. The murder is “the American,” who is actually NSA agent Ryan Gill (Callard Harris). Gill killed Prince when her career ambitions made her refuse to listen to his cautions about not exposing active-duty agents. This conveniently means that there’s no question of anybody viewing Gill as a potential hero, so the arguing stops in time for Thanksgiving.

With Thanksgiving, the writers pleasantly acknowledge a lot of story facts that have gone unmentioned in awhile – Brennan is an animal-loving vegan, she has a brother named Russ (who is mentioned as being away with Brennan’s dad, explaining the absence of both family members) and Booth’s son Parker, now a teen played by Gavin MacIntosh, is brought in by Brennan as a surprise for his dad. The continuity is very welcome.

Meanwhile, while “High Treason in the Holiday Season” is not an especially in-depth exploration of the topic of the potentially dangerous political expose, it does at least raise the matter in a way that may cause people to at least consider it at greater length.

Related: TV Review: BONES – Season 11 – “The Promise in the Palace”

Related: TV Review: BONES – Season 11 – “The Senator in the Street Sweeper”

Related: Exclusive interview with BONES showrunner Michael Peterson on Season 11 and the BONES/SLEEPY HOLLOW crossover event

Related: TV Review: BONES – Season 11 – “The Donor in the Drink”

Related: BONES: Michaela Conlin gives the scoop on Season 11 – exclusive interview

Related: TV Review: BONES – Season 11 – “The Brother in the Basement”

Related: TV Review: BONES – Season 11 – “The Loyalty in the Lie” – Season Premiere

Related: TV Review: BONES – Season 10 – “The Next in the Last” – SEASON FINALE

Related: TV Review: BONES – Season 10 – “The Life in the Light”

Related: TV Review: BONES – Season 10 – “The Woman in the Whirlpool”

Related: TV Review: BONES – Season 10 – “The Murder in the Middle East”

Related: TV Review: BONES – Season 10 – “The Verdict in the Victims”