re: "Bones": The Sex Doesn't Count If It's All In Your Head

Lenny — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 21:46:22 GMT

I'm a huge opponent of the "dream" cop-out. However...

Calling the episode a dream is misleading. It wasn't a dream (or even a daydream). It was a character's deliberate fictional narrative, visually enacted for benefit of the audience. Rather than merely being told, we were shown. At worst it was wishful thinking.

From frame one, we knew that something was way off. Booth wasn't a badass former sniper turned Feeb, and the only bone Brennen cared about was the one Booth was giving her. All episode long I was dreading the reveal as being a coma dream, and was rather impressed with the device they used, paralleling my feelings towards the Life On Mars finale. A show which can't be dismissed as a dream, tough that's precisely what it was, in the sense that we knew all along that what we were witnessing wasn't real, thereby allowing us to accept and become attached to the imagined characters, but more importantly allowing us to remain that way post reveal.

Once More, With Feeling, while a great episode is a poor example of alternate reality. A better example would be the first appearance of Dawn.

"Dream" episodes can definitely ruin an ep, but luckily a show will usually have more episodes to recover. When it comes to films however, you're left with a rather sour taste in your mouth.

***Spoilers***

The device ruined the otherwise terrific High Tension. And while it was no masterpiece, My Bloody Valentine 3D was incredibly entertaining up until the final "twist". Surprisingly though, I don't feel that Identity was tarnished by it. But that probably had more to do with the twist upon the twist. And yes, I obviously consider split/alternate/multiple personalities to fall in the "dream" category.