BONES Scoop: Emily Deschanel Talks the Intense Season 8 Finale

One of BONES most notorious and deadly villains returns for a heart-stopping finale.  Pelant is not normally a name to send shivers down your spine, but as long-time fans well-know, that name should.  Super-psychotic, super-intelligent and utterly without remorse, Christopher Pelant (Andrew Leeds) is a sociopath you never want to ever encounter.  He has wrecked havoc in the lives of our beloved BONES heroes for over two years now and the latest person in his cross-hairs is Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz).  In a recent press conference call, star Emily Deschanel gave all the scoop on how difficult this latest encounter with Pelant is going to be and the emotional toll it takes on Dr. Temperance Brennan.

“Bones”

What can you tease about the return of Pelant as this time he seems to be using Booth to target Brennan?
EMILY: In this episode, Pelant returns.  Obviously the last time we saw him, Booth had injured him.  He shot him.  So it seems at this point, Pelant has set his sights on Booth now it seems.  Before, as you recall last season, he seemed to be targeting Brennan.  So it appears that he’s targeting Booth.  In fact, the body that we discover, Booth knew the victim.  It’s very close to home involving the FBI and a case Booth is involved with, and So it feels like it’s very targeted towards Booth and of course that’s terrifying to Brennan because she realizes that Pelant could get him, that Booth is in danger, and Pelant hasn’t gotten to any of us yet on the team.  He hasn’t really hurt us, but he’s really taking it up a notch this episode, and you’ll see how he affects their lives.

Brennan has proved that she would go to measures to protect somebody that she cared about because she stabbed a needle into the guy to get the location of the anecdote.  So how far do you think she’s capable of going to keep safe those that she really loves?
EMILY: As you see in this coming-up episode, Brennan is willing to go farther than she’s ever gone to protect somebody that she loves, and I think there’s really no bounds to her protecting—what’s another word to use because you can’t say certain things about the episode and your season…?  So you saw that she’s willing to go pretty far to save someone that she loves, and now you’ll see that she’ll do the same for other people that she loves to protect them, to protect her life with them.  I’ll leave it at that.

How much does Pelant’s return factor into Brennan’s decision about having a relationship with Booth?  Do you think it still would have happened if he hadn’t returned now?
EMILY: I think that Pelant’s presence and intense presence and targeting Booth and feeling Booth’s mortality and the possibility of him being in danger and the concept of even living without him kind of brings things to the forefront for Brennan when she thinks about Booth and Brennan’s relationship, and I think that she would be thinking about things in that way, but I think that Pelant kind of makes things happen more quickly and maybe in a more intense way.

“Bones”

What do you think about her mindset going into the finale especially when Pelant is attacking again?
EMILY: It’s scary.  They just thought that they were going to lose one of their own already with Arastoo, and Pelant is scary.  He’s somebody who’s brilliant.  Maybe Brennan’s a little bit smarter than him, but it’s hard to say.  She hasn’t seen somebody quite as terrifying and challenging as him and targeting them.  It’s pretty scary.   She’s been raising her child with Booth.  There are so many things that have happened in the last two years, and they kind of don’t really have a moment to think about their lives and themselves and their relationships.  You see Booth and Brennan get together.  They get pregnant right away and then have to raise a child together, and Brennan’s always been this person who said I’d never have children, I’m not going to get married, I’m not interested in that, and she’s kind of going along, but she’s not forced to really examine her life in that way and her relationships.  So when this happens with Pelant, it really forces her to look at her life and herself and her relationships and her feelings and why she feels certain ways about certain things and make her questions some of her core beliefs.  It’s a very pivotal time for her.

How personal this case is for the entire team, what can you say about what goes on at the Jeffersonian in the season finale?
EMILY: In the season finale that was important. We may see multiple victims in this episode from Pelant.  It actually feels more targeted toward the FBI than the Jeffersonian, but of course, we’re partners with the FBI as a whole and then Booth being Brennan’s partner in life and in their work.  So it feels personal even though nobody seems to be specifically targeted at the Jeffersonian.  It’s really FBI, but we are working feverishly to solve this case, to find Pelant, to stop him however possible, to figure out what he’s doing because he always has a hidden agenda as we’ve learned.    He’s not just killing some person at random.  There’s a reason he’s chosen the victims he’s chosen.  There’s a reason he’s killed them in the way he has, and there’s a meaning behind it.  It affects not only Booth at the FBI.  It affects Sweets. Pelant is targeting Booth, but it’s affecting Sweets as well, and Pelant has taken information that he’s learned from Sweets and is toying with him as well while he’s on this killing rampage.  So Pelant also in this instance may be involving other people in his plot.  We’re trying to investigate and figure out how he’s doing it, and So it gets scary when he’s probably recruiting other people to do work for him.

Pelant is one of the most unique villains BONES has really ever seen because he’s a little bit nerdy but that doesn’t make him any less deadly.  So where does he rank among the villains that the characters have faced off with over the years?
EMILY:  I find him terrifying in his calm, steely way about him.  His nerdiness — you’d think would make it less scary, but I think it makes it more scary, and if you know the guy who plays him, Andrew Leeds, he is like the friendliest, sweetest person. So it’s just really strange.  Some of the actors had never met him and I ran into him with Tamara Taylor who plays Cam Saroyan, and she said “oh my gosh, he’s so different from his character.”  She had no idea.  She’d only seen him on screen.  So I thought that was very interesting.  But I think we’ve gotten better and better with our serial killers, we’ve gotten better and better.  That sounds like such a silly thing to say, but to me, it’s more terrifying. You have this brilliant person who’s able to really get around the law in so many different ways whether it’s getting out of an ankle bracelet or finding ways around not being able to use computers and changing his name and identity and changing the records of DNA so that he is known as a completely different person.  That is so terrifying and so brilliant that I think I’d have to rank him as the number one for serial killers.   The Grave Digger was terrifying and that Brennan and Hodgins (TJ Thyne) being buried alive was pretty terrifying, and you have Gormogon which was very scary, but I rank Pelant as number one right now.  Hopefully, we keep building upon things and make them scarier and scarier, if we have more serial killers that is.

Do you find filming emotional scenes more challenging?
EMILY: It depends.  It really depends on what it is.  It depends on the emotion and the way the scene is written and the circumstances.  I find it challenging to switch tone like we do on our show.  It’s definitely challenging to go from comedy to humor and lightness to sadness.  It really depends on the particular scene and what it is.  Sometimes emotion comes easily for me and sometimes it’s more challenging whether it’s because we are laughing and being light a moment before or for whatever reason it’s not as — So it really depends on the scene what the challenge is, but I think changing tone really can be very challenging for me and it really depends on the scene for me and what it’s about and why. I think that when you’re supposed to have emotion out of nowhere, that’s challenging for me.

“Bones”

Can you talk about the change between the relationship between Brennan and Booth with Sweets this season since he was staying with him and now he’s gone?
EMILY: Well, we had a fun kind of parent/child relationship for a while where we had Sweets staying with us.  He’s kind of like our child in a way, or we’re kind of treating him that way, and we don’t believe he’s able to move out on his own and then he does.  So we as Brennan says in an episode, he’s the only person that she could think of living with them ever.  He’s a person that Booth and Brennan both like equally and where you can qualify emotions.   So I think they’ve become very close with Sweets having lived with him, and I think it’s hard when he moves out.  It’s hard when he’s dealing with stuff from feeling affected by Pelant as well in this coming episode.  We feel it when he’s affected.

BONES has obviously been tremendously successful.  Why do you think it resonates with viewers.  What do you think the appeal has been for them?
EMILY: People ask me this question or similar questions and it’s hard to have an answer, but I can guess that the reason why it’s been a popular show is that it has a lot of different things for so many different people.  When people are interested in solving a case and they like the puzzle of that or somebody’s interested in the science or somebody loves watching the kind of repartee between the characters or the sexual tension between Booth and Brennan or between other characters., the dynamics of the relationships of the characters whether they’re friendships or partners in life or partners in work and there are some episodes that seem like a farce and some episodes that seem like an action film and some that just seem like a good old-fashioned mystery, and I think that it offers so many different things and that can be a negative thing for us and it can be a positive thing for us, and I’ll have to say that I think that may be a reason why we’ve lasted for so long, but it may also be why we’re not the number one television series on TV, but it can work both ways.

This season has shown a lot of personal growth with Brennan where she’s been gaining a bit more self-awareness.  How do you think these developments strengthen her character and how do you think this makes her more compatible with Booth?
EMILY:  I think becoming self-aware, no matter who you are, I think is always a positive thing, and I think that it may, to Brennan has seemed like a weakness, to be more vulnerable and open emotionally before, but now, hopefully she’s realized that it actually can be a strength and that it can make her stronger for having opened up emotionally and showing some vulnerability and admitted that she’s not always made of steel.  I think that it can always help her relationship when someone opens up more and becomes self-aware, and so I think it definitely benefits their relationship and it’s also a wonderful thing for somebody to try and change themselves to help their relationship and themselves.  I think it’s a wonderful thing and just the fact that she’s even trying to do that is a great thing and hopefully Booth sees that and appreciates it.

After two seasons, are we going to get closure on the Pelant storyline or is there a chance that he might come back next season?
EMILY: There will be some closure, but the story is definitely ongoing.  That’s kind of a tricky answer, but I don’t know how better to answer it.  The story continues into next season.  That’s not to say that we haven’t captured him in some way by the end of this season, but with Pelant, it’s never as simple as we think as we’ve learned.  He’s changed his complete identity.  He’s very tricky.  He’s very wily in his ways.  So the story does continue with Pelant into season nine.

To see if our heroes come out of this latest encounter with Pelant unscathed, be sure to tune in for the 8^th season finale of BONES on Monday, April 29^th at 8:00 p.m. on Fox.  And remember:  evil never truly dies.

Where to find this article:

 

http://www.thetvaddict.com/2013/04/29/bones-scoop%C2%A0emily-deschanel-teases-tonights-intense-eighth-season-finale/

 

 

From CASTLE to BONES: Is the MOONLIGHTING Curse Still Relevant Today?

In Hollywood, there is no more dreaded catch phrase than “The Moonlighting Curse.”  For those old enough to remember, MOONLIGHTING was the hot comedy-drama of the 1980’s, starring Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis.  The show consistently scored high ratings until one disastrous night – its core characters David and Maddie slept together at the end of the show’s third season.  After achieving its highest ratings ever, it was all downhill from there – at least in the ratings. 

"Moonlighting"

MOONLIGHTING went from 9^thplace the Nielsen list to 14^th  place during its next season, and then was cancelled after limping through one more final season.  Ever since then, shows that are dependent on the “will they or won’t they” hooks to their premise religiously avoid killing the cash-cow and make sure their hot couples never get together, or to postpone it as long as humanly possible (such as waiting until the series finale).   The thought being that popping the “romantic-tension bubble” spells doom for any television show.

Yet, there were a combination of factors that are conveniently forgotten when alluding to “The Moonlighting Curse.”  For one, Cybill Shepherd was pregnant with twins that following season and was unable to work as much as she had before.  In addition, there were cost and scheduling overruns that made the show extremely expensive.  So the show was headed for trouble whether or not its characters ever slept together and became romantically involved, simply due to a collision of outside factors.  Yet all the audience remembers, and which is now a part of Hollywood lore, is that popping the “romantic-tension bubble” will kill a show.

"Bones"

So for the past two decades, everyone has shuddered to imagine what would happen to a TV show if a show allowed its principal couple to take their relationship to the next level.  Daring to flip-the-bird at the alleged “curse,” showrunner and creator Hart Hanson allowed his show’s core characters of Brennan and Booth to consummate their relationship and have a child together on BONES.  It may have seemed risky, but with BONES heading into its 7^th season, the risk was nominal.  Its core fanbase and popularity was rock-solid.  In fact, the ratings barely registered a blip as a result.  (Though the recent move to Mondays has put the show in the ratings spotlight as it is so much harder to secure an audience on Monday nights versus Thursday nights — perhaps explaining why it feels so gun-shy about the “curse.”) 

Despite Hart Hanson’s fortitude and willingness to “go there,” not every show currently on television is ready to tackle the “curse.”  One good example is the detective series CASTLE.  (It is also noteworthy that BONES airs on Fox, whereas CASTLE airs on ABC, the same network that MOONLIGHTING was broadcast.)

"Castle"

On CASTLE, for the better part of four seasons, the show has danced around the romantic-tension between Detective Kate Beckett and Richard Castle.  The dance has been fantastically drawn-out and has left fans panting with anticipation.  So much so that last season, in an episode where Detectives Ryan and Esposito were kidnapped, Beckett and Castle posed as a couple on a date and shared a passionate kiss.  Better make that two passionate kisses.  Rewatch that scene, you’ll see exactly what I mean!  (See my article “CASTLE: A Kiss Is Never Just A Kiss”.)  Anyway, that kiss and the lingering tension finally culminated in last season’s finale with Castle declaring his love to Becket when she was shot by a sniper.  So when the show returned for its fourth season, fans were anxious to see how Beckett would respond.  But for the better part of this current season, all those feelings were left unsatisfied and unresolved as Beckett proclaimed that she did not remember anything after she was shot that fateful day.  It was not until the recent episode “47 Seconds” that we found out that Beckett had lied about that.  She remembered everything and had not said a word to Castle.  Once Richard Castle found out that she remembered his declaration of love but had never said anything, he felt embarrassed and a fool.  He had continued loving Kate while she had tried to pretend that his declaration had never happened.  It has forced the characters to veer off in wildly tangent directions as Castle attempts to move on in his life, which Beckett has noticed and may be attempting to move on herself. The characters seem to be moving on – or are they?

Rumors have abounded.  The cast and creator Andrew Marlowe have teased.  Previews have shown Beckett regretting not telling Castle sooner that she knew he loves her.  Will there be a final culmination of the détente of “will they or won’t they”?  Will it finally end?  And if it does, will it be a ratings “death knell”?

"Burn Notice"

20 years has passed since the demise of MOONLIGHTING.  Isn’t it time to stop fearing the myth of such an old “curse” when characters come together romantically?  In the intervening years, so many more shows have avoided the “curse” by simply having their characters connect romantically right away.  One good example is USA Network’s BURN NOTICE.  From the very first episode, Fiona and Michael have been a couple and it has only fueled the fiery passion of both the series and the fans’ amorous love for the show.  Frankly, BURN NOTICE would have suffered greatly but for the sexy hot relationship of Michael and Fiona.  Another USA Network series that has not hesitated to taunt the “curse” is PSYCH.  In a fun turn of events, in the show’s fifth season, it allowed Detective Juliet O’Hara and fake psychic detective Shawn Spencer to have a romantic relationship, which delightfully continues through the show’s sixth season. In fact, a large number of today’s current television shows have avoided the “curse” successfully and have allowed their characters to enjoy wonderful romantic relationships, such as COUGAR TOWN, WHITE COLLAR, NIKITA, GRIMM, FRINGE, THE FINDER, THE SECRET CIRCLE, GREY’S ANATOMY, ROYAL PAINS, GLEE, LOST GIRL, GOSSIP GIRL, PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, HOUSE.  Even shows like THE GOOD WIFE and ONCE UPON A TIME have briefly allowed their core characters a chance at happiness.

The old adage that for “will they or won’t they” type shows that they will wither and die should they burst the “romantic-tension bubble” seems to be crumbling and falling by the wayside as more and more television shows are discovering that audiences and fans are more than willing to allow their favorite couples to explore romantic love. 

"Hart Of Dixie"

After all, what is more intoxicating than watching people who are in love?  Looking across the television landscape, there seem to be more shows than ever before that have broken the “curse.”  There is love blossoming all around.

While there will always be a few hold-out shows that are fearful of “The Moonlighting Curse” and who continue their dance around their core couple (HART OF DIXIE, JANE BY DESIGN, COVERT AFFAIRS, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES and SUITS), we remain hopeful and confident that the day those show’s writers decide it is time to take the leap that we will be on the other side to catch them.

Until then, rest assured that the “curse” is only as powerful as writers chose to believe it is – for as ONCE UPON A TIME has taught us, “true love’s kiss” can break any curse.

Where to find this article:

http://www.thetvaddict.com/2012/04/10/from-castle-to-bones-is-the-moonlighting-curse-still-relevant-today/

EP’s Hart Hanson and Stephen Nathan Tease the Remainder of BONES Season 7: Brennan, Booth and Baby Make Three — and a Perfect Family!

As the second part of this season of BONES continues, it will be with twists, turns, surprises and a super-villain. By far, the biggest change will be the bundle of joy that arrives April 2nd in a special episode misleadingly entitled, “The Prisoner in the Pipe.” Sure, there is the expected murder, body and mystery, but for fans, this season has been counting down to the arrival of Brennan and Booth’s baby and what kinds of changes that will bring to the hard-working duo. In a recent conference call with press, executive producers Hart Hanson and Stephen Nathan shared what to expect for the remainder of the season and how much of it will be baby-driven versus the weekly murder-and-mayhem.

How is the number of episodes for the rest of the season going to play out?
STEPHEN: You haven’t heard a definitive answer, because there isn’t one yet. All we know is that we have a season ender, and that will leave us with four extra episodes that have to be able to be slotted anywhere at any time without notice. That’s all we know.
HART: There’s been no word from Fox when they want to air it, whether they want to air them in the summer, or whether they want to save them for next season or slot them in next season.
STEPHEN: We just don’t know, so that actually made from some four kind of interesting episodes.
HART: Yes. I mean it might be that the executives at Fox just watch them at lunch just amongst themselves. We haven’t been told.

"Bones"

Will the FBI become an obstacle for Booth and Brennan at work, especially now that they’re going to have the baby and are they’re living together?
HART: We’re not planning a storyline in which the FBI says, “You can’t be partners.” We discussed it and then we thought, “God, if we tell that story, there isn’t a single audience member who’s going to go, ‘oh my God, I wonder if they’ll never be allowed to work together again?’” So we just decided not to do it—it may come up time to time, especially from Sweets that it’s odd to have a couple working together, but it’s not the oddest thing in the world.
STEPHEN: No, I think the most important thing for us is to keep the show on the same footing it’s been for seven years, which is this is a murder show, and Booth and Brennan are always going to be working together to solve these murders. So we don’t ever intend to take that away. That’s not to say that it won’t be incredibly difficult for them, but it won’t be because of any bureaucratic nonsense that it will make it difficult. It’ll just be them working together, the difficulties they have working together as they always have.

In the spring premier Daisy is back and then the following episode it looks like Finn Abernathy returns. When working on an episode, where in the process do you decide which intern is be used?
HART: It’s a twofold thing. One is we figure out who we haven’t seen for a while. Two, we figure out who would best fit the story, and then three, we find out if that person is available. Usually all three of those things don’t occur at the same time.
STEPHEN: Sometimes we have finished a script, are very, very excited that the intern of our choice is going to be in it, only to find out that they’re unavailable, so we have to rewrite the script. But we’ve been very fortunate, because these stories were very, very specific. We wanted Daisy, definitely wanted Daisy to be in the episode where the baby is born, and things are starting an arc in the episode following, so we were glad that worked out, too. She’s just been a phenomenal addition to the show.

With the arrival of the baby, can we still expect the same format of primarily focusing on that case of the week, or will there be more time spent on showing the new parents and what it’s like at home for them?
STEPHEN: There’s always been that balancing act in the show of their personal life and the cases, but we’re a murder show, so that will not change. But when we do go home, they have a new arrival, which changes their lives, so the baby will be a part of the show, because it’s a part of their lives. But somebody is still going to be murdered in a heinous and cruel way, and we will be revolted at the beginning of the show as we always have been and hopefully we’ll catch them.
HART: The balance won’t change, but the context will.

"Bones" - The Prisoner in the Pipe episode

Can you address how the arrival of the baby is going change Brennan?
HART: We’ve always seen Brennan as a character who, because of her upbringing, was kind of afraid of life, did not want to engage with life, or had to be protected by a veneer of rationality and logic and science. The first thing to come and challenge to breech those walls was Booth who made her confront, lead a more dangerous life, at least emotionally in that her happiness is contingent upon another person’s happiness. And now she has a child, and you might be able to avoid a lover as someone whose happiness, your happiness is contingent upon, but definitely not a child. So that’s what she is contending with, she is now a big open bruise because of another human being and she will find that very disorienting.
STEPHEN: Brennan is so objective even about herself that she is caught off-guard by all these new feelings. I think that’s what’s great for us in terms of writing the show. We get to see a character who is as astonished by these new feelings and this new behavior as the audience is. We saw that in the first six episodes when the hormones were going crazy and she was crying, which she had never done before. She has different emotions that she’s unaccustomed to, so all of that will continue.
HART: There’s a story in one of our four hanging-chad stories. One of the victims is a kid, and Brennan turns to Booth and says in a very shocked way, “I find I have a great need to go see Christine,” and it makes no rational sense; and that’s sort of what Stephen is talking about is she’s just shocked that someone has gotten so deeply into her heart.
STEPHEN: We’ve done that actually in the second episode back. It’s the first time she is going back to work, and she has to deal with leaving Christine for the first time. Emily just did a wonderful job. It’s a great new area for us to explore.

Booth has been a father before and he has a son. But he was really kind of chauvinistic in that he didn’t want them to buy a house and use Brennan’s money, so they found this house. Is the house going to be ready, and is Booth going to give at all on the issue of the fact that she makes more money, and she can do more for this child maybe financially?
STEPHEN: They’re dealing with it. It’s back and forth. It’s what happens in any couple. The need to compromise and the ability to do so are not always the same.
HART: I’m really glad you said that because a lot of feedback that we get is that Booth is perfect and Brennan isn’t, and Booth is not perfect. He’s not perfect, and he has to, in his own way, has to give up as much as she does in this new life, and that is an ongoing, what is it, field between them that they have to plow. It’s like how much is she going to pay for and how much is he going to pay for? We get a lot of comedy out of it, as well as character stuff. It’s a good, fertile field for us.
STEPHEN: But the house is not in the shape it was in the last episode.

Can you talk about the decision to reveal Brennan’s pregnancy before you kind of revealed that Booth and Brennan were lovers?
HART: Or had ever had sex, I can’t stand the word “lovers.” I can’t stand it. I think only English people can say that. We always knew that the end season six would be the reveal that Booth and Brennan had slept together. We knew that they were going to sleep together. What changed everything was when Emily confided in us that she was pregnant, and we decided to adjust the storyline for season seven accordingly. So season seven would have been the story of how Booth and Brennan come to grips with the fact that they are now intimate and sexually involved. We threw out probably a half a season there, perhaps more and inserted that they were going to have a child. So really the only thing that changed in season six was the very last scene where she turns to Booth and says, “I’m pregnant and you’re the father.” That scene, of course, would not have existed. Otherwise mostly that season would have been intact as it was. What we have to do now is show the romance in a couple that’s been together and has a child. What America is going to miss is the unfolding courtship of Booth and Brennan and we could not be happier to avoid that.

"Bones"

 Brennan going back to work, will there be a time-gap or will she return to work right away?
HART: It’s actually a short amount of time.
STEPHEN: It’s a short amount of time. There’s probably six weeks or so, maybe eight weeks between the time the baby arrives and she goes back to work.
HART: She gets oddly about the same amount of time as Emily had. We did not want to do a story where our main crime solver was at home for a number of episodes. That seemed to us to be a really good way to lose a ton of viewers and momentum, so it’s right back into the fray. Mind you, we do contend with, as Stephen said, we have to contend with who’s going to take care of the baby, and how is Brennan going to juggle her being a mom living with Booth, how is Booth going to juggle her and the baby and do their jobs. But they’re still doing their jobs.
STEPHEN: Yes, we didn’t want to turn the show into some sort of domestic show where the murder was a secondary aspect. The murder is still the primary focus of the show, and their domestic lives are crucial and important and what we love about the show, but people are still dead.

With the shortened season and the four episodes that have to stand alone, were there any character arcs or some more serialized storylines that you had to push off until next year?
STEPHEN: The four actual episodes will not be arc-related. They have to be able to stand on their own. So those four episodes we were able to do stories that we wouldn’t have normally done in a regular lineup.
HART: Very, very standalone and maybe even a bit odd with the gags to them, what’s the word? They have “conceits” to them.
STEPHEN: They’re more stylized than we normally would do, and we were able to try to tackle stories that we might not normally have tackled, because we don’t know how old the baby is going to be. We don’t know what’s going to happen between relationships between people, so these really were standalone.
HART: We knew what was coming when we started the season, so it’s not like we started some and then withdrew them; but we have many, many arcs and ideas, a bin-full of ideas for them that we simply didn’t pull out, because it wasn’t going to go in this year. I’m pretty sure the one that we would’ve gotten to, had we had a normal length of a year would be some more Booth family stuff. I still want to do a Hodgins family surprise. But those just went away, because of the shortened season and because we had these strong B stories, character stories connected to the baby.
STEPHEN: I enjoyed it. There are five fewer episodes, so that’s a lot of missing arcs, but they’ll be back if we’re back.

When people have babies, it usually brings in extended family. Are we going to be seeing more of that on the show?
STEPHEN: Yes, yes, we will. We’ll certainly see some of the people, we’re going to see Brennan’s dad. He’ll return. We’ve already seen Booth’s grandfather this year under sad circumstances. Certainly going into next year, we’re going to see the extended families.

"Bones"

What’s going on with Cam for the rest of the season?
STEPHEN: She’s been very heavily involved this season in the lab with our people kind of as the boss. She’s sort of taken that role, that role has been expanded a bit, so you’ll see that in subsequent episodes. We have a lot planned for Cam personally, but as Hart said earlier, our hands were a little bit tied this year because of the five fewer episodes, we weren’t able to give some of the other characters that we love, Hodgins and Cam, more extensive arcs. We will be doing that if we get picked up.

In seasons one and two, Angela and Brennan were very close, always had heart to hearts and fans really seemed to enjoy those. Are there going to be more now that they’re both sort of in the same place in their life, new mothers in very strong relationships?
HART: Stephen, I’m looking at you with consternation in my face. There are two episodes that we’ve done in the last month that have good Angela and Brennan stuff in them. It’s not all over the baby, by the way, not all over the fact that they are moms. That’s certainly helps.
STEPHEN: But we’ve had a few, especially one where Angela and Brennan kind of leave the lab and play hooky. We do have them, and Cam is also now involved in sort of that kind of relationship. She’s become a bit closer to Angela and Brennan. But Angela and Brennan do, we do see them quite intimately in a few episodes.
HART: Angela has her own issues with how she’s changed, being a married woman with a child that we explore a little bit; and so she is better situated to understand what Brennan is going through feeling that she’s changed, although Angela is more nostalgic for who she used to be I think than Brennan is. She’s more reflective. But yes, in my mind it’s come up at least three times in the last six episodes and, in fact, at least one really strong storyline. I think in the season ender the audience will get a very good feeling for how close Angela and Brennan are. In some ways Angela knows Brennan better than Booth does in that way that another friend of the same sex can understand you more than your partner.
STEPHEN: And she knows Brennan better than Brennan does.

In the episode coming up on April 2nd, we find out that Brennan gives in to Booth and allows the baby to be baptized. Are there going to be any other concessions?
STEPHEN: The baby is not baptized in that episode.
HART: Yes, my glib response is every single episode where they have anything to do with home and kids is a constant trade-off between the two, as to what they are willing to give up for the other one for the other.
STEPHEN: We’ve seen seven years of these two people having such a different view of life and that will not change.

Hart, did the cast of BONES feel concerned that your attention would not be 100% focused on the original show, since you have THE FINDER?
HART: Yes. BONES is a pretty tight theatre company. We’re a pretty tight bunch. We’ve been together a long time, and there was concern, but it was of that nature. I don’t think they thought the show was going to fall apart. Stephen Nathan has been here since the first episode, and it’s not like if I died, the show would go on. There might be more jokes in it and more references to bagels, but otherwise, Stephen is perfectly capable. So they weren’t worried on a professional level. It’s just like what is going to happen to our plucky gang. It’s mostly a pleasure to work on BONES and we like each other, so I think it was more like as if I was moving a block away or something. But my office is in the same place. Both shows are shot on the lot. Stephen and I, we share a, what do you call this thing, Stephen, a porch? Our offices share this ugly little porch. We cannot get away from each other, and the actors are just a stage away, so they wander into my office. I think they mostly realized that since I wasn’t physically going anywhere, that they had nothing to worry about. And as I say, Stephen Nathan is a very confidence-inspiring guy. He just stepped into the gap that I left. Now THE FINDER hasn’t been shooting for how long now, Stephen, a month, maybe more. We’re enjoying working more closely again, but did that answer your question?

Why was it that only John Francis Daley and TJ Thyne guest starred on THE FINDER?
HART: We, being BONES, BONES shut down for a period of time and wasn’t shooting. It was during that time that we could use BONES actors on THE FINDER, so we figured out very quickly, John was the first one, because the story of having someone down to look at Walter’s mental competency was a good storyline for us and a really natural fit. And then the next story that suggested TJ was a conspiracy theorist story. If it had been another kind of story, then we would have brought down Cam or Angela. Of course, Emily couldn’t be in it because she was busy having a baby. David, we could have had him in an episode, but he very much wanted to direct an episode, so that’s when he directed was during that downtime. I hope, I’m knocking on wood, we have an uphill climb, but if THE FINDER comes back, then eventually everybody will be on it.

What is the story for this season’s big finale?
HART: Pellant is going to scare the crap out of people in the season finale.
STEPHEN: Yes, there will be no crap in people anymore after Pellant’s episode. He really is going to turn the series on its head for a little bit. He has much more power than any of our serial bad guys have had in the past.

Whether those extra four episodes are aired or not this season, the only thing we can count on is that amidst the baby-glow of motherhood and fatherhood for Brennan and Booth, crime stops for no one and there will still be plenty of bad guys and criminal masterminds to combat and conquer. Fortunately, our dynamic duo is up to the task – although a bit more sleep deprived. Pity the villain that tangles with them at this particularly prickly time in their lives! BONES returns will all new episodes starting Monday, April 2nd at 9:00 p.m. on Fox.

Related:

“Fun candid photos and video interviews with the cast and producers of BONES at PaleyFest 2012″

“More fun candid photos of the BONES cast at PaleyFest 2012″

Where this article may be found:

http://www.thetvaddict.com/2012/04/02/counting-down-the-remainder-of-bones-seventh-season-eps-hart-hanson-and-stephen-nathan-talk-brennan-booth-and-a-baby/http://www.thetvaddict.com/2012/04/02/counting-down-the-remainder-of-bones-seventh-season-eps-hart-hanson-and-stephen-nathan-talk-brennan-booth-and-a-baby/