The Ron Mexico episode

One of the most tried and true ways to keep a show in the minds of its viewers is by setting up sexual tension between two principle characters. Perhaps the most infamous examples of this is the old 80’s detective show “Moonlighting”. Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepard spent several years playing the ‘will they/ won’t they’ game with their audience. Everyone knew that at some point the star-crossed lovers would take the plunge and it was water cooler talk for years. Eventually, the writers had to make it happen. The show almost immediately took a nosedive in the ratings and ended up a footnote in American TV history. This technique has been used so often it has become one of TV’s biggest cliches. Bones is no exception.

Last week we got a steady dose of this sexual tension as Booth sabotaged Bones’ various boyfriends. I was beginning to think that this season’s overarching theme would be that sexual tension. I was wrong. Instead, we get Hodgins internal conflict. I like Hodgins generally, and in normal circumstances, I’d welcome a little character depth on this shallow show. In general, it comes off flat. This guy has just had his fiance break it off with him and a close friend turn out to be a serial killer. You’d figure he would have just a tad bit more emotion.

This episode’s meaty corpse was a vet who had been killed by a dog with filed teeth. Eventually, the investigation turns to a dog fighting ring (hello, Michael Vick). Bones and Booth find a pit behind a barn which had obviously been used to bury the remains of some dogs. Their reaction is simply ridiculous. They are repulsed and horrified. Seriously? This is the show that displays the most bloody and gruesome corpse porn on network TV and the principle characters are repulsed by a dog jaw? At this point I should noted that Cesar Millan (the Dog Whisperer) was a featured guest on this episode. I was reminded of the classic 80’s TV crossovers when the Jefferson’s would visit Archie Bunker. Only on Bones, crossovers include dog killers and a bloody corpse. Bones and Booth finally bury the euthanized dog that served as the murder weapon. Bones had become attached to the dog and even teared up as she said a prayer over the grave. I’m sad to admit I snickered a little at this point.

I’m as much a dog lover as the next person, but I had a hard time swallowing the after-school special-like message of this weeks episode. I think we can all agree dogfighting is cruel and disgusting. I however, find it slightly less disgusting that killing a man and throwing his mutilated corpse in the woods.