Bones is the popular FOX TV show that tells the story of a forensic anthropologist named Temperance Brennan who writes novels about a forensic anthropologist named Kathy Reichs in her spare time. The reality is that Kathy Reichs is the forensic anthropologist who writes the best selling novels that star temperance Brennan.
The real Miss Reichs works for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the State of North Carolina and also the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaries et de Medecine Legale for the Canadian Province of Québec. The author says that the series gives her a great outlet for the ideas she doesn’t use in her novels. She also feels the idea for the series was brilliant. It is her hope that faithful readers of the book series will get a kick out of what she has done to the character of Tempe Brennan. She says that it is just another manifestation of Tempe and we are all in on this inside joke.
Well, I didn’t get it. I was a faithful reader of the novels and enjoyed them very much. They took a little getting used to as much of the dialogue can be French influenced, not only in language, but customs as well. I enjoy reading the Temperance Brennan novels and her relationship with the hunky policeman. I can only say that when I tuned into the show, I had absolutely no idea what this show was. Tempe was nothing like I had pictured her and her relationship with the cop played by David Borealis is definitely not what I was expecting.
I tried to be fair and watched it one more time, but it just wasn’t there for me. I didn’t like it and I haven’t watched it since. I guess I set myself up expecting the series to follow old mysteries from the books and treat the characters as they were in the novel.
Just because I don’t like the show, it doesn’t mean it is not worth watching. It is merely my personal taste. All the mysteries on the TV show originate from Kathy Reichs experiences with the field she has the most expertise in, and that is specializing in identifying remains that are so badly decomposed, badly burned or destroyed that traditional methods of identification are all but useless.
What both Tempes do have in common is their blasé attitude towards the hideousness of those same remains that they seem to handle with compassion and understanding. It is no big deal, handling the dead, even in the horrible conditions she finds them in, is not something to dread or to be repulsed by. Both Tempes have the same dedication for the person who the remains belong to, that spursthem on to find out what happened to this person and find out who they are so they can lay them down in peace. That is the part of both Tempes I like, as well as her independence and candor which may rub some people the wrong way.
Bones is a great show for those who like their mysteries a bit gory, and without the blood. These dead bodies rarely have any blood, the shedding of that was done long ago. Check it out one night and see if you like it. Hey, you never know.
