I am so very glad I originally started watching mid-season three.

[vanitashaze]

1. Terrorist Arabs! Mystical Indian beliefs = cannibalism! Promiscuous but gorgeous black woman who serves as a contest for two white guys! (And, admittedly, gets them back in the end.) Hitting suspect over the head in complete violation of the law!

The first season of Bones is so BAAAAAAAADDDDDD!!!!

Thank God it improved so drastically over the next few seasons. The characters, too - Bones is apparently one of those shows where the characters are better off for knowing each other, which is not too uncommon in television (SGA, SG-1, White Collar - the ultimate obverse of this would be Supernatural), but damn, this is probably the most overt case I've ever seen. Especially Brennan, Booth, and Hodgins. Wow.

2. As of this past weekend, New York City was crowded, dirty, noisy, and extremely impolite. AND I LOVED IT.

Comments

[sinkwriter.livejournal.com]

Hi! Came over from your post on my f-list on LiveJournal. :) Finally got Dreamwidth's Open ID to work for me -- I think -- so hopefully this will post without issue.

I can definitely agree with the sentiment about Bones in regard to the first four episodes. I think they're terrible, for all the reasons you list and for other issues, too (like heavy-handed writing, especially in the pilot, having character after character tell us that Brennan needs to connect more with human beings after being so 'stuck' in her lab with bones, instead of simply allowing us as viewers to see that through Brennan's actions and ways of not-really-relating-very-well to other people).

However, I do not think the entire season was bad. In fact, after episode four, I think things get much, much better. I stopped watching the show after the first three episodes because I disliked certain aspects of the writing, but when I came back to the show and gave it another chance, it was episode five and beyond that kept me watching.

Episode five has some beautifully done scenes involving Brennan and that foster boy, and we see her humanity in depth through that. We also see her take a leap and trust Booth, betting on him being able to pull enough strings to get the kids to stay with their foster mom. And we learn an intriguing secret about Jack Hodgins, which I loved.

There's also the terrific, fun "Man in the Fallout Shelter" which has very funny stuff with Jack and Zack, a poignant mention of Brennan's past and some interesting development about Booth (we find out he has a son, and a complicated relationship with his ex).

And there's plenty of wonderful episodes that highlight beautifully all the different relationships on the show. "The Graft in the Girl" shows Hodgins looking out for Angela; "The Skull in the Desert" not only shows Brennan's lovely friendship with Angela but also Booth's care for Angela too; "Two Bodies in the Lab" is very exciting, not only for what happens to both Booth and Brennan (an explosion, and being betrayed and almost killed by one of 'their own,' another FBI agent), but it also allows us to see another dynamic of friendship (Booth and Hodgins, which we really hadn't seen a lot of before); "The Woman in Limbo" is a fascinating development for Brennan's character and also shows how the entire team rallies around her in any way they can because they know how difficult this news must be (identifying her own mother's bones). And I could go on. :)

I usually skip rewatching the first few episodes, like the racist Man in the SUV or the culturally insensitive Man in the Bear (though I don't think there's any indication that the courier is promiscuous; I don't necessarily think that's a fair assumption just because she liked flirting with the squints in the lab) and I do think some of the writing could be made smoother, but in an overall sense, I really enjoy season 1 of Bones.

Just my opinion, for what it's worth. :)

[vanitashaze]

Oh, it's worth a lot! "The Man in the Fallout Shelter" was actually the first Bones episode I ever watched - "The Truth in the Lye" the second - and it was what got me hooked on the show in the first place, so I knew that was good. (I probably should clarified my post, in that I meant WHY IS THE FIRST BIT OF THE FIRST SEASON SO BAD? Which it really, really is. Euch.) But thank you for the heads-up about episode five - I was about to skip the first half of the first season (i.e. all the episodes up until "The Man In the Fallout Shelter") entirely, and now I'll give ep5 (and onward) a try.

Perhaps "promiscuous" isn't the right word, but there's something that's still grating about her portrayal.