The Mastodon in the Room

Season 6, Episode 1, Aired
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Seven months after both Bones and Booth left the country at the end of last season, Caroline calls them back to the Jeffersonian to help save Cam's job, as they work with her and the rest of the team to solve a controversial case.
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Fan Episode Reviews (13)

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  • Disappointing.

    5.5
    "Mediocre"
    By This_Years_Love, Oct 17, 2011
    I kinda lost interest in this show over the summer. I didn't like the 5th season finale and I didn't like the sound of some of the spoilers I've heard about the 6th season. I do still like the show but I don't love it as much as I did before. It used to be my no1 favourite show. I was hoping this episode would revive my interest in the show but it failed to dramatically. I thought the case about the child and Cam losing her job was way too unbelievable for me. Hart should have done a much better job with the plot. It didn't make sense. How could Cam not know the race of the child? I thought that was one of the basic things forensic pathologist learn in their first year of school? And how was Caroline able to get Booth back like that?? I thought Caroline was just an ADA? Isn't the American army really strict about their rules? If you sign on for a years duty, you've got to do the full year unless you get medical discharge.

    I was expecting more in this episode in terms of character development. After 7 months apart, the characters haven't changed all that much. I was expecting more of a change from Brennan. I figured, even with her lack of social skills, she would be missing Booth like crazy and thinking about him constantly and by the end of those 7 months, she would KNOW she loves Booth. But Brennan still seemed to be the same person as when she left. And that whole Booth and his 'serious girlfriend' thing just turns my stomach. I don't think I'd be able to put up with 5 or more weeks of that!moreless

  • Bones continues to degenerate.

    4.0
    "Poor"
    By noelveiga, Oct 17, 2011
    Come on, what had we said about not getting in over our heads with political stuff, Bones? We'd said don't do it again.

    Oh, well, let's get the easy part of the argument out of the way quickly. This is old timey TV back to status quo stuff, ok? Nothing more, nothing less. The gang reunites for a rather superfluous case and even more superfluous reasons, everybody has a superfluous change in looks or personality that I'm sure they'll all get rid of mid-season and so on and so forth.

    Seriously, there is nothing new here, not just in Bones' lore, if such a thing exists, but in TV tropes in general, period. At this point, NCIS is edgier and more playfully meta than Bones by a mile, and that's saying something.

    So why the anger? Well, besides Deschanel and Boreanaz running out of steam ages ago for the show not to move on from the URST marshes into originality land (hint: Chuck and House already did it. RST is the new URST), there's the politics.

    And hey, last time I wailed on Bones because of the politics it at least was for some overt statements. This time it's just plain old assumptions that the world works in some ways that it just... well, doesn't.

    I mean, let's count the ways in which Bones reached almost The Unit-esque levels of being dumb about what the world outside the US is like in this episode:

    Booth is on a rather unclear mission in Afghanistan to seemingly rescue a child from some generic bad guys. I can't even begin to break this down. Booth doesn't shoot the guy. Another soldier doesn't shoot the guy. The kid's mom schizophrenically goes from thanking the soldiers to complaining that her husband is a soldier fighting for somebody else, although he's actually an Afghan soldier, so her statement makes no sense. Then somebody calls Booth on the phone and suddenly he's no longer in the military. Don't ask me how that works.

    Anyway, moving on, a North Korean family defects to South Korea, but then decides to emigrate to the US leaving half of their family behind again, despite theoretically having defected to reunite with them. For some reason. Then somebody claims that "The US is like heaven to them", which is not as much offensive to North Korea but to South Korea, which is the place they were living in before. Also, somebody states that they thought they were going to be executed or deported for a lethal accident with their child. I get the impression that the characters may be more self-aware than the writers in that one.

    But the one that I get to be directly offended for, me being Eurotrash? The one that is subtlest of all?

    Angela and Hodgins decide to stay in the US to have their baby. Hodgins asks Angela if she's doing it because of his aspirations to become a bad guy-hunter again and she says no.

    She says "I'm doing it for the baby".

    Hey, you know what? Paris isn't the nicest town in the world, I get it. Good luck getting a drink in a bar without asking for a mortgage on it first, but... seriously? The US? Somebody hasn't been checking the rankings in health care and education lately, because if that work visa is still valid those two should get in a plane ASAP and fly right back.

    Again, NCIS comes to mind. I get it, it's American media. Americans like America, particularly the type of American that sits down to watch procedurals starring still handsome middle aged actors. It's fine. But you can do that showing some respect and a modicum of interest in the places and situations you choose to depict or not. Bones chooses not, which makes it not just a bland procedural and plodding, boring romance, but also brain poison.

    I say stay away and go check any of the more interesting shows based on identical premises out there. Let this one die in peace and its actually talented cast move on to better things.moreless

  • I feel a bit disappointed.

    5.0
    "Mediocre"
    By mobilehead, Oct 17, 2011
    I don't know what to think. On one hand it is good that "Bones" is back but on the other, if the writers are going to continue it this way I am pretty sure the next season is going to be the last.

    What do we have here? Same old story - some might say. Team that fell apart (by the way, it could have been great finale for the whole show) is together again. Reasons why they're back are rather artificial and strictly American-ish. Patriotism against parenthood, career over justice, having a baby in Paris over having it in US (oh, bummer!). Oh, I've almost forgotten - the greatest coroner seems to be not able to figure out the cause of death. She needs five other people to determine what is available in the plain sight. And they did it in one night! She's been all alone for the last seven months and she couldn't deal with a simple case which brought her nearly to the end of her career. How naive...

    Booth met somebody in Iraq. Does it mean that Dr. Brennan will be competing with her for the whole season? Last time it was Booth who cared and finally managed to break the ice but she rejected him. And now the sides seem to have turn?

    I watch "Bones" mainly not for the cases they're solving but for these relations among main characters. But frankly speaking I am feeling a bit awkward. I am not sure if I want to see it that way. Brennan over Booth, Angela and Hodgins over baby, Daisy over Sweets.

    Of course I'll be watching "Bones" further expecting things to change.moreless

  • bones has definitely run its course

    4.5
    "Poor"
    By ALSCC, Oct 17, 2011
    I was starting to suspect all the way through series 5, that the writers of bones were starting to run out of ideas for new material. booths new girlfriend and Angela's pregnancy are examples of this, they're just cheap and easy ways of stirring things up. also the reasons for Brennan and booth being apart are wearing thin, so the whole other side of the world from each other plot was really weak.

    mastodon in the room brings all the members of the team back together, in order to help cam solve a highly publicised case, which could result in her losing her job. the ease of which the case is solved once the team gets back together highlights how simple the case was, and makes cam look really incompetent. a coroner that can't actually tell the difference between a Caucasian and an oriental is unlikely. the case itself is unoriginal and the tension between booth and brennan is rightly awkward, but not in a good way, they could have made it funny and entertaining. instead its cringe worthy and lacks chemistry.moreless

  • Nothing trascendental

    8.0
    "Great"
    By OnePerCentClub, May 23, 2011
    Except that everybody came back? Well I guess they had too. Booth's "move on" speech to Sweets was good and scary at the same time. He knows it, he knows that he doesn't have a chance with Brennan and he has to look for love somewhere else. I wonder what will make these two get together... If they ever do.

    Hodgins saying he was going to be a daddy was very sweet. I love him, he's not my type but I could easily date someone so sweet and caring. Angela doesn't deserve him but I'm sure she knows by now the kind of man he is.

    I've officially become a Daisy hater. Her character has got to be one of the most annoying on TV.

    The cases were interesting and entertaining. Rushed, but good.moreless
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  • TRIVIA (2)

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    • Booth's body count is now at 10. Given the three Taliban that Booth shot in the opening scenes, his total for the series of the number of people he has killed on the show is now at 10.

    • Goof: When Bones handles the snake, she says she is only scared of snakes when Booth is around. The first time she came in contact with a snake, was in "The Man in the Morgue." Booth was there, and she wasn't scared. She was scared, though, when she was with Booth in "Mummy in the Maze."

  • QUOTES (9)

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    • Angela: Did you think about Booth at all when you were away? Brennan: Yes, I did. A-a few times I actually … dreamed about him. Angela: Oh, well there you go! Dreams are very meaningful. Brennan: I dreamed about the work we do. I dreamed about catching murderers and getting justice for people who were killed. What does that mean? Angela: It means you're going to die loveless and alone.

    • Booth: Why do we only solve crimes when we have a dead body? Cam: Seriously? Because I'm a pathologist, and she's a forensic anthropologist. Fresh dead, long-time dead.

    • Brennan: Booth fell in love in Afghanistan. Angela: Oh. Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry. Brennan: Why? Are you in love with Booth?

    • Wendell: If you don't mind me asking, Dr. B, why do you keep staring at the X-ray? Brennan: Because I'm suffering the nagging certainty that my eyes are seeing something which my brain refuses to process.

    • Brennan: What happened? You're no longer in the Jeffersonian, all my interns—gone. Cam: What happened is you put your own desires ahead of everything else when you left. Brennan: Are you angry with me? Cam: Yes, I am angry, Dr. Brennan. We had a great thing going. You just … you let it fall apart.

    • Brennan: (about Hannah) Is it serious between you? Booth: Serious as a heart attack. Brennan: Heart attacks are very serious. Booth: Yes, they are. Very serious.

    • Sweets: Talk to me. Caroline: That is no way for an adult holding a PhD in psychology to answer the telephone. Sweets: (playing a piano) Ms. Julian? I'm on sabbatical. Caroline: Doing what, installing elevators? Because I can hear the music.

    • Sweets: Hey, uh, Booth, can I ask you a personal question? Booth: Oh, that depends. About you or me? Sweets: Me. Booth: Shoot. Sweets: Okay. Daisy just wants to pick up where we left off. And I don't know whether to— Booth: Move on? Sweets: Yeah, like you did. Booth: You know what? You asked my opinion, right? I'm gonna give it to you. You listening? Give yourself a chance to be happy, move on. Sweets: And that worked for you? Booth: Yeah, it did. It did.

    • Brennan: I'm finding it interesting that I'm only scared of snakes when Booth is around to jump on.

  • NOTES (1)

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    • Original International Air Dates:
      Canada: September 23rd, 2010 on Global
      Australia: October 17th, 2010 on Channel Seven
      United Kingdom: October 20th, 2010 on Sky1/Sky1 HD
      The Netherlands: November 1st, 2010 on RTL
      Spain: November 11th, 2010 on FOX
      Norway: December 2nd, 2010 on TV3
      Sweden: December 5th, 2010 on TV3
      Latin America: February 23rd, 2011 on FX
      Slovakia: August 24th, 2011 on JOJ
      Germany: September 22nd, 2011 on RTL
      Finland: February 22nd, 2012 on Sub
      Czech Republic: April 10th, 2012 on Prima family

  • ALLUSIONS (4)

    ADD ALLUSIONS

    • Title: The Mastodon in the Room This is a paleontological play on the phrase "the elephant in the room"—making it more Bones-appropriate—referring to an obvious truth or problem that is being ignored or going unaddressed by a group of people, generally because it causes embarrassment or is taboo or no one wants to discuss.

    • Caroline: Now, saddle up, Sir Galahad, get yourself back here … Sir Galahad is a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend.

    • Caroline: The whole Scooby Gang's comin' back. Caroline makes a reference to the team of Mystery Inc. which was formed in the Scooby-Doo series, but it's also a double reference as in David Boreanaz's first big break of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the "Scooby Gang" was what Buffy's closely-knit group was called.

    • Caroline makes a reference to the character of "Angel" played by David Boreanaz when she tells Booth to come back and convince "The Powers That Be" to keep Cam. The Powers That Be were the mystical beings to whom Angel reported in Angel.

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