Who’s Ever Heard of a Forensic Podiatrist? Only in Canada – S on Bones 6×17 “The Feet on the Beach”

Last week I started to bug out a little over the lack of forward momentum in Bones these days. There was pretty much zero forward movement this week too, actually, with Brennan’s absolute cluelessness she seems to be going backward. At least there were a few adorable clueless moments.  Luckily the lack of actual hook ups wasn’t as noticeable since there was less focus on the Booth/Brennan coupling and more on the case and Canadians.

Unless you forget your long john’s it’s a piece of cake

We get it Hart Hanson; you’re Canadian, and so is Kathy Reichs, the author of the Temperance Brennan novels…

…and as a Canadian who loves a good shout out when she sees one, good on you – this was a fun one.

We kick off the episode at the Canadian border where a rookie is being trained in the dark Canadian night. They happen upon a scattering of feet. Yup, that’s it, just the feet. This is the cue for Dr. Filmore a podiatrist and a self-declared forensic podiatrist.

Who would have thought of such a thing – a TV show revolving around him would be on par with the “Who Nose” gag from last week’s 30 Rock, a show about a detective who solves crimes despite his lacking a sense of smell. As we’ll discover, despite his limited area of expertise, when that very specific part of the body is key to cracking the case he is very competent, even earning stilted recognition from the very discerning Bones… let’s talk about that.

This is not the first time that Dr. Filmore the podiatrist has encountered Dr. Brennan.  Since there is no such this as the academic field of Forensic Podiatry Dr. Filmore, the leader (only?) in his yet-to-be-recognized field had been fighting to get it recognized. He felt that he was so close until a very thorough and analytical paper came from the one and only Dr. Brennan refuting the legitimacy of Forensic Podiatry. Dr. Filmore was so wounded by her stinging academic attack that he became literally paralyzed in one arm.

Understandably so, Dr. Filmore is holding a quiet grudge and holds the feet on the Canadian side of the border hostage. This is where it gets fun; Bones is getting good at being a real girl, sort of. She extends a self-serving olive branch to Dr. Filmore inviting him to the Jeffersonian to “help” with the case due to his specialized expertise matching the nature of the case, plus she hopes he will bring the Canadian feet.

I was very pleased to see how the Dr. Filmore story panned out. While he wasn’t the sole factor in solving the case of the person missing a foot (the rest were attributed to cadavers from a school that has a specialty in forensics) he was instrumental in finding key evidence to take down the suspect, a PHD student who had his work destroyed by the victim’s pot farm.

Confrontation is not for me, I’m – Canadian.

There was even a resolution to Dr. F’s story, Bones figured out a method to make people think that she is apologizing without actually doing so. She stated facts that she did believe in without actually uttering a technical apology, it actually sounded like a fantastic apology. Which awesomely, he did not accept.

There was the running joke throughout the episode about the non-confrontational, overly polite Canadian (did Hart Hanson ever live in a city because I’m from Toronto and… anyway). It was only after Dr. Filmore refuses Brennan’s non-apology and lashes out at her venting his frustrations does his arm begin to work again.

Again awesomely, Sweets decided to test the theory that the paralysis was indeed a result of emotional trauma brought on by Dr. Brennan a little too early, throwing something for Dr. Filmore to catch but really hit him in the head. Luckily his arm started moving only moments later, I think the Jeffersonian is safe from the Canadians once again.

I know what kind of person you are and I want to let other people in on the secret too

Bones and Booth really did have some moments this week. Mostly him trying to get her to behave like a human in front of other people, there is a side of her that few have seen that he wants her to be able to put forth to the rest of the world. For example, consideration of other people’s feelings, or tact.

Bones has been improving in terms of understanding some sarcasm (when she isn’t super focused on a case) and understanding small social cues and acceptable behaviours, although this is generally limited to people she is already very comfortable and accept her quirks and all.

It’s always nice to see Booth and Bones in the car together, there’s something that’s always comforting and hilarious about those scenes. Plus, after Booth’s explanations of the use of an apology, watching Bones go overboard with it in the Founding Fathers was hilarious. She’ll figure it out soon enough.

Cam/Michelle

I’m always happy to revisit Cam’s storyline where we learn this week that her application on Michelle’s behalf to get into Colombia was a success. We haven’t seen much of her since her cute new hairdo.

It’s hardly surprising that Derek broke up with Michelle right before collage, just because that’s what kids do. Collage is a new and exciting experience and a chance to grow on your own. I’m pretty sure this was part of Cam’s mentality about getting Michelle into a different collage instead of blindly following her high school sweetheart… right behind the fact that she didn’t think the school was good enough.

Michelle proved herself to be honorable and hardworking; Cam glowed like the proud mommy she has become, while simultaneously wanting to slide under the table with embarrassment over what she had tried to get away with.

Other Little Things:

• I noticed that Brennan had a certain respect for the PHD candidate (before he turned out to be a murderer) she noted his work and accomplishments it’s always creepy when Brennan so heavily identifies with very dangerous and damaged people (I still miss Dr. Zack Addy)
• Such creepy gross sound effects with the reenactment of the mower running down the victim
• Amazingly gross field of corpses, a round of applause to the special effects and make up people
• On that note, don’t any of these crazy people wear masks while around decomposing dead people?
• Watching Booth’s face as Brennan unflinchingly compared herself to Galileo and Copernicus – he look simultaneously shocked, then hardly surprised with her setting herself against such high standards of academic/scientific fame
• Don’t let the Americans take my shoes – please!

Did you love the Canadian shout outs? But really, do you feel like Brennan is growing as a person, or continuing to revert as Booth coddles her? Is Booth helping her by explaining all the bits that come with being a person who knows how to relate socially? I kinda think he’s also got the ulterior motive because once she’s whole they can be together, it’s sort of really sweet in a strange Bones kind of way.

– S