'Bones' recap: Brennan puts Booth above the truth. Love it or hate it?

Could we have ourselves another Bones episode that will divide fans? Or am I the only one not sure how she feels about Brennan placing Booth’s sense of self and country above the truth about the JFK assassination? I can see why she halted her investigation prematurely, the development it’s supposed to show in her character, and the depth of feelings for Booth it reveals. And you could argue that she was never going to be able to say with 100 percent certainty that those were the bones of JFK with the time and testing limitations placed on her, so it wasn’t worth leaving Booth rattling in a state of limbo and doubt. But I think the odds that JFK’s scarlet fever would have resulted in an undiagnosed case of osteomyelitis — which Brennan said 1 in 100 people who had scarlet fever get — might be greater than those of there being a man with all the other tells JFK’s bones would have had having his head blown off in the same way, no?

I also think, in some way, Brennan concluding that it’s not JFK because an arm didn’t sink in pudding — which meant the man had osteomyelitis, which JFK wasn’t known to — takes away from how strong a man Booth really is. She was proud of him for wanting the truth even though it could hurt him, and yet she didn’t have faith that he could handle it. Part of me thinks Booth would be so touched by Brennan’s gesture that he would forgive her; part of me wants him to find out about it someday and be angry that she didn’t push for the truth about something that was this important to him. At first, Brennan thought Booth cared so deeply because he’s sensitive about assassins since he’s related to John Wilkes Booth (did we know that before?!), but Cam figured out the real reason: He made all those kills as a sniper because he believed his country when it said it was the right thing to do. If he finds out it lied about this, it could have lied about any of those. (From what I understood, Brennan determined that an exit wound was actually another entrance wound, which means the man on the table was killed by two gunmen. So the only question was whether or not that man was JFK. And by the way, shouldn’t Brennan have been able to spot whatever was on the skull that made her conclude entrance wound on her initial examination of the body? Or did we really have to find a secret door in the Jeffersonian and conduct an experiment to see how a bullet tore apart a melon first?)

Maybe this was supposed to be an episode for David Boreanaz — we got to see him bust some Michael Jackson moves (Fox censors said no crotch-grabbing at 8 p.m.?), fire two shots from the FBI replica of Lee Harvey Oswald’s shotgun in 1.6 seconds (in unnecessary slo-mo), and kick some General Services Administration agent ass in addition to having his identity crisis. But for me, TJ Thyne (Hodgins) gave the episode’s best performance. His controlled freakout when reporting that he’d found a pink wool fiber was utterly believable and appropriate. Him telling Angela “congratulations” for her surprise (and ultimately false-positive) pregnancy — not for how she felt about it today but for how she’d feel about it someday — was the perfect response. When they still thought the test Cam had found was correct, Hodgins told her that he was Her Guy, the one she could be tied to forever, even though the baby was Wendell’s — and then he walked away. No pressure. Just comfort. Again, the perfect response. Do I think Hodgins managed to work through all of his Angela issues last episode by blowing off the top of Melon Angela’s head? No. But just go with it! He was cured. When Angela told him that the at-home pregnancy test was wrong, Hodgins said they could just forget about all he said. Angela said she’d never forget it, and they walked off arm-and-arm. It was a sweet gesture, not a sexy one. How soon until they get back together?

What did you think of the episode? Did you buy Booth’s explanation that the GSA agents were letting them use their cellphones during a lockdown because they thought they were that untouchable? If finding out the whole truth wasn’t the point of this, what was? Are we supposed to think these agents were just interested in seeing if a modern forensics team could figure out cause of death on the remains if the congressional committee decide to exhume JFK’s body? (Which we saw at the end of the episode, it decided against out of respect for the family.) Are you loving Booth’s boss now, too, that he’s admitted Booth’s a better agent and a better person, and was 10 seconds late arriving with his megaphone to proclaim the Jeffersonian a facility under the jurisdiction of the FBI? Who did you think Angela’s facial reconstruction looked like most? I was partial to the James Garner suggestion myself.