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May. 21st, 2008 12:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stillaneOkay, having just caught up with the Bones finale, I believe my reaction can be summed up as follows:
What the fucking fuck?
No, seriously. What? They... what?
To my mind, they dropped the ball twice over here. First off, I'd actually be perfectly okay with the "Booth comes to his own funeral! Surprise!" approach - is anyone shocked that the "Character A is dead... Just kidding!" storyline is one of my very favorites ever? - but it needed a little more setup than that. The fact that it went from a fade-to-black straight to the funeral didn't work; there needed to be an episode in between, to let the audience go through a full round of visceral surprise, extreme skepticism, and finally grudging worry. They needed to get us to the point of doubting our own TV-watching expertise, and they didn't do that. Also, and this is just a guess, but I'm assuming other people had issues with the whole thing being a plot to catch someone totally random. I would have actually liked that angle, if it were played right; with a good emotional hook, it could have been really effective at putting us in Bones' head in terms of frustration with our own lack of knowledge about what was going on. With the whole shooting turned into a five minute diversion, though... not so much.
You really only get one shot per series at the death fakeout storyline, and I'm rather bummed about the lost mindfuck opportunity here. *sigh*
Now let's talk about the mindfuck they did go for.
Zach. Just... Zach? Really? I'm supposed to believe this in any way at all?
They set the whole Gormagon theory up as being dependent on a weak personality being commandeered by a strong one. I have a couple issues with this as applied to Zach. One being that he is, in fact, a weak personality. Confused about societal interactions? Definitely. Awkward as all hell sometimes? Sure. Willing to chuck it all in pursuit of a fun-filled career in killing and eating people just because some crazyass occult fanboy says, "Hi! Come to the Dark Side. We have human cookies!"? Not damn likely.
However, let's for the sake of argument pretend that Zach is a giant blank slate with no deep-seated values of right or wrong. We're supposed to believe that Gormagon popped up with his magic chalk and went to town, and that Zach remained otherwise fundamentally unchanged (when he wasn't off committing ritualistic murder, practicing amateur oral reconstruction, and worshiping at the feet of his Master)?
The internal consistency of this idea just doesn't jive. On the one hand, there's the whole time factor. In three months, Zach went from the guy who secretly adores his big, weird family and fights to distance himself from the horror of a child's murder to Cannibal In Training? If nothing else, where the hell did he find the time? He works for Brennan. It's like a perpetual Workaholics Anonymous meeting in that lab. Given the hours they seem to keep, I'd be amazed if any of them have time for a regular yoga class, let alone for picking up an extracurricular murder hobby.
And then there's my biggest problem with it all. They make a big point of Zach's holding everyone he works with in the highest esteem - from blaming Hodgins' theories for kicking off the whole mess to the Big Box O'Love at the end - and yet they conveniently let him miss out on the concept that serial killers are bad, m'kay, which everyone in his sphere of interaction adheres to emphatically? Huh uh. I don't buy him deciding that an outsider who has proven exactly zilch to him is more rational and correct than these people who he cares for. There had to be a void for the cannibalistic nutjob to step into, and I don't believe that there was one with Zach. He was full-up on role models already.
Okay. So that's the reasoned, logical thought process behind why I hated this twist. The completely illogical, emotional reaction is more like: *gibbers incoherently* That is a crappy thing to do to any character, but especially one you've invested so much time into treating delicately. You don't just build up someone as delightfully complex and oddly sweet as this and then stomp on them with iron boots. Just no. No.
I'm kind of furious. For a show that's so often gotten their surprising moments exactly right, this was such a huge letdown. This is the same show that gave us Max, for god's sake; if they can make a guy who shoots, guts, and torches other people as a statement into someone unquestionably likable, surely they could have handled this better.
No, seriously. What? They... what?
To my mind, they dropped the ball twice over here. First off, I'd actually be perfectly okay with the "Booth comes to his own funeral! Surprise!" approach - is anyone shocked that the "Character A is dead... Just kidding!" storyline is one of my very favorites ever? - but it needed a little more setup than that. The fact that it went from a fade-to-black straight to the funeral didn't work; there needed to be an episode in between, to let the audience go through a full round of visceral surprise, extreme skepticism, and finally grudging worry. They needed to get us to the point of doubting our own TV-watching expertise, and they didn't do that. Also, and this is just a guess, but I'm assuming other people had issues with the whole thing being a plot to catch someone totally random. I would have actually liked that angle, if it were played right; with a good emotional hook, it could have been really effective at putting us in Bones' head in terms of frustration with our own lack of knowledge about what was going on. With the whole shooting turned into a five minute diversion, though... not so much.
You really only get one shot per series at the death fakeout storyline, and I'm rather bummed about the lost mindfuck opportunity here. *sigh*
Now let's talk about the mindfuck they did go for.
Zach. Just... Zach? Really? I'm supposed to believe this in any way at all?
They set the whole Gormagon theory up as being dependent on a weak personality being commandeered by a strong one. I have a couple issues with this as applied to Zach. One being that he is, in fact, a weak personality. Confused about societal interactions? Definitely. Awkward as all hell sometimes? Sure. Willing to chuck it all in pursuit of a fun-filled career in killing and eating people just because some crazyass occult fanboy says, "Hi! Come to the Dark Side. We have human cookies!"? Not damn likely.
However, let's for the sake of argument pretend that Zach is a giant blank slate with no deep-seated values of right or wrong. We're supposed to believe that Gormagon popped up with his magic chalk and went to town, and that Zach remained otherwise fundamentally unchanged (when he wasn't off committing ritualistic murder, practicing amateur oral reconstruction, and worshiping at the feet of his Master)?
The internal consistency of this idea just doesn't jive. On the one hand, there's the whole time factor. In three months, Zach went from the guy who secretly adores his big, weird family and fights to distance himself from the horror of a child's murder to Cannibal In Training? If nothing else, where the hell did he find the time? He works for Brennan. It's like a perpetual Workaholics Anonymous meeting in that lab. Given the hours they seem to keep, I'd be amazed if any of them have time for a regular yoga class, let alone for picking up an extracurricular murder hobby.
And then there's my biggest problem with it all. They make a big point of Zach's holding everyone he works with in the highest esteem - from blaming Hodgins' theories for kicking off the whole mess to the Big Box O'Love at the end - and yet they conveniently let him miss out on the concept that serial killers are bad, m'kay, which everyone in his sphere of interaction adheres to emphatically? Huh uh. I don't buy him deciding that an outsider who has proven exactly zilch to him is more rational and correct than these people who he cares for. There had to be a void for the cannibalistic nutjob to step into, and I don't believe that there was one with Zach. He was full-up on role models already.
Okay. So that's the reasoned, logical thought process behind why I hated this twist. The completely illogical, emotional reaction is more like: *gibbers incoherently* That is a crappy thing to do to any character, but especially one you've invested so much time into treating delicately. You don't just build up someone as delightfully complex and oddly sweet as this and then stomp on them with iron boots. Just no. No.
I'm kind of furious. For a show that's so often gotten their surprising moments exactly right, this was such a huge letdown. This is the same show that gave us Max, for god's sake; if they can make a guy who shoots, guts, and torches other people as a statement into someone unquestionably likable, surely they could have handled this better.
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-21 05:45 am (UTC)I'm not upset about Zach leaving, because I really wasn't invested in the character that much. But the fact that, as you said, this show that usually gets things SO RIGHT, got this SO WRONG. It just really bugs me. Bones is usually my safe show...but this one was just so...ugh!
no subject
Date: 2008-05-21 06:36 am (UTC)The problem, I think, is that we know too much about them all, and they know too much about each other. In order to be a proper serial-killing secret baddy, you really have to have some degree of mystery. There's got to be room for the crazy to seep in, you know? With these guys, we don't really have the gaps you'd need for that to work plausibly. You could maybe do it with Sweets, you could very remotely have a shot at doing it with Cam, but the rest... We know what they go home to, and it's not a creepy lair.
And the explanation...it was logical? Huh?
Right there with you. *headshake* No one as hard-science based as Zach is going to accept "Because I said so" as an argument for brushing his teeth, let alone committing murder. Science is this kid's religion, and no half-assed conspiracy theory is going to sway him. Real logic, maybe, but it would need to have proof behind it. To get to the point of believing an entire society is worth wiping out for the good of humanity, that would have to be some darned good proof, and I can't quite see ol' Gormagon the Magnificently Bonkers accomplishing that.
Bones is usually my safe show
I know what you mean. I've caught episodes here and there as long as it's been on, but only recently settled down to watch the whole thing consecutively. It was just a solid, happy place to hang out for a while... which sounds odd to say about a show with frequently appearing corpses, but there you have it.
I'm sad to see Zach go just on principle, but I'd have handled it much better if he'd been a casualty of Gormagon, instead. I was thinking during that final scene that it would have worked perfectly well as a post-death grief session. At least that plot would have made some sense.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-21 06:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-21 07:19 pm (UTC)You know, that one still just doesn't work for me. I could get behind him seeing logic in removing certain people, definitely; Brennan herself makes a case for the death penalty at one point, after all. I could fully understand him believing that someone who is harmful to the whole should not be allowed to stick around. What I don't get is how The Mystical Teachings of Gormagon the Wise and Fluffy somehow provided the proof he would need that these people fit that category. Zach's a scientist, trained by a woman who is almost pathologically focused on having proof of every supposition, and short of having video of one of these guys nailing kittens to walls or something, I don't see Zach taking that next step.
And yeah, you're totally right about the cannibalism. If they're arguing that Zach suddenly decided that ritualistic underground societies are very, very bad, it's best not to turn around and have him sign up for membership in a long line of guys who have candlelight dinners with their victims.
The PTSD... you know, I really liked that they kept it relatively subtle in the episode where he came back. I wouldn't have minded some more of it in later eps, either, but I don't think any degree of it would have convinced me that he was vulnerable to this. He'd have to be in a pretty advanced state of screwed up, and I don't buy that none of the lab crew would have noticed and stepped in. If nothing else, that hospital scene proved that.
So, yeah. Character assassination. *growls*
no subject
Date: 2008-05-21 10:30 am (UTC)Yes, i could see it being Zac, but not the way they did it. I'd rather last weeks was the finale and then the Zac/Gormagon/Booth dead thing being done over a few weeks as a season opener.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-21 07:24 pm (UTC)You know, that's a whole other point, too. Gormagon wasn't just some wacko off doing his thing separate from the team; he actively engaged with them, and put them in harm's way. He tried to blow up Booth and Bones, for god's sake. I don't buy that Zach was hunky-dory about his idol, let alone his friend, getting strafed with dental shrapnel. No way.
I'd rather last weeks was the finale and then the Zac/Gormagon/Booth dead thing being done over a few weeks as a season opener.
Yep. It definitely suffered for being mushed into one hour. Chalk another one up to the Strike of Doom, I guess. (Although, honestly, it would have taken a heck of a lot to get me to buy into the Zach thing.)
no subject
Date: 2008-05-21 01:02 pm (UTC)I'm still in the irrational phase, because WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK WAS THAT?? Seriously, what?
no subject
Date: 2008-05-21 07:35 pm (UTC)That said, the actors did a beautiful job with the batshit in that last set of scenes. I didn't much care for earlier when they were all a little too eager to believe it was one of their own - because really, someone says your friend is a serial killer and your first response is, "Well, hey. That makes sense!"? Honestly? - but when they were allowed to care, it hurt. I even managed to lose half my brain to the ow, despite the other half being permanently stuck in WTF? mode.
I just can't get over the fact that there's no way to fix this. They didn't leave any retconn wiggle room at all. Shy of finding out that everything else from here on out really is a trippy dream, we're stuck with this as canon. *sigh*
no subject
Date: 2008-05-22 04:53 pm (UTC)Yeah, I read this interview and I felt really bad for Millegan.
If you're going to pull off something brilliant and gloriously twisted, I can almost forgive you, but this... This was not either one. This was like someone's trippy dream given writing license.
Seriously. I hate that season finales have to be SHOCKING. Just make it good, dammit!
but when they were allowed to care, it hurt.
My heart really broke during those scenes. :(( :((
Shy of finding out that everything else from here on out really is a trippy dream, we're stuck with this as canon. *sigh*
Yeah, the PTB said that Bones & co might go visit Zach in the psych ward, but I'm not sure I want to watch that.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-22 12:09 am (UTC)You so wonderfully summed up and articulated my exact feelings on the subject.
B) I know, for real!
This was just so out of character and left field. I mean, as soon as they said 'surprise twist' I knew that it would be my beloved little Zach that was it, if only because while he's my favorite, I understand that he's really the least loved on the show. So if they were gonna serial-killer-ize one of them it would be him. Despite the whole 'wtf-ness' of it being someone from the lab.
This episode threw me off for an entire day after watching it because it was just so WRONG. Bones normally gets things so right that I'm speechless but making Zach Addy the cannibal-in-training has made me lose complete interest in the show.
Plus, anyone who really believed Booth was dead deserves a smack upside the head. We're not stupid, there was no way in hell that he was actually dead. Trying to make us believe that makes me wonder how dumb the writer's think we are. *rollls eyes*
The only way that I could see them "fixing it" is if they made it some sort of elaborate double agent-y thing, like with Colby on Numb3rs. Which, despite the crack the writers are on, isn't going to happen. :( I'm really going to miss the show, but I can't watch it after this complete desecration of such a fundamentally awesome character.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-22 03:17 am (UTC)B) as soon as they said 'surprise twist'
I went in knowing that my flist was freaking out, and that it involved Zach, and that was about it. I thought the big 'oh noes!' bit was the explosion, up until they really got into it all. :(
So if they were gonna serial-killer-ize one of them
You know, I still contend that that's only a plot twist that works on a show whose characters are more distant. You could do it on something like one of the C.S.I.s, maybe, early on, but this show is too much about its characters. From the Christmas quarantine on, it just doesn't fly. We know them, and they know each other, way too well. I just don't see room to make any of the real regulars into this.
Trying to make us believe that makes me wonder how dumb the writer's think we are.
Hee. I think their strategy was something along the lines of "HIt them fast with the funeral so that they don't have time to think about it too much." Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly fast enough. I have to say, I liked the funeral bit itself, particularly the Bones-starts-unrepentantly-beating-on-people portion; it just didn't work with the way it was all timed. In a perfect world, they would have been smart enough to leak that one of the main cast members was leaving in a shocking way, and then spoiler control like it was going out of style. With a full ep to make us grudgingly start to wonder, it might have been really interesting.
I think I'll probably keep watching the show, but I doubt I'll really forgive them for this one. You can't just burn a character that harshly and that irreparably without losing something. *sigh* Why'd they have to go and screw up like this?