Wow.  What a bittersweet season finale, huh?  Last night’s episode of Bones, “The Beginning in the End” sure introduced a lot of changes.  Kind of makes you wonder how different things will be at the start of Season 6, doesn’t it?

So, if you have not yet seen this episode, I urge you to do so before reading this.  I will definitely be talking about some big spoilers, so, consider yourself warned.  Now, let’s get right down to it.
   
The case on this week’s episode of Bones dealt with a hoarder, and I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been very intrigued by hoarders.  Personally, if it were me, I’d throw all the crap out, but, then again, I really don’t understand the disease.

At the beginning of the episode, the ceiling in a little boy’s room collapses, and a multitude of miscellaneous items fall through, including human remains.  As is customary, Booth and Brennan arrive to investigate.

Going to the apartment above, they discover that their victim was a hoarder, and they call in Hodgins and Cam for back up to sort through the endless piles of junk.  The whole apartment is a health hazard.  Looks like this will be a tough one.

Back at the lab and thanks to dental records, the victim is identified as Timothy Murphy.  Returning to the Jeffersonian is Daisy Wick, who respectfully tells Dr. Brennan that she made an error when surveying the victim’s head wounds.  Totally uncharacteristic, I know, but she had personal issues to deal with.  We’ll let it slide.

There is evidence of bone remodeling which means that the victim was not dead after the initial blow to his head and died instead of starvation most likely because he was stuck under a pile of the things he had been hoarding.  Talk about a horrible way to die, right?

With help from Sweets, Booth and Brennan learn Timothy was also agoraphobic, and in order to perhaps learn why he was killed, they speak to an old coworker of his, Elaine Akusta.  Elaine says that she last saw Timothy a year ago but spoke to him on the phone about a month ago.

Apparently, he got an offer for $50,000 for one of the objects he had collected.  Given his condition, however, Booth thinks it was highly likely that he would not sell, and thus was killed for not handing over the object.  It all fits, right?

The issue now is finding this particular object.  Thanks to one of Angela’s programs, it is discovered that the apartment was rearranged, particularly in one area.  Hodgins and Sweets go to check it out and discover fish eggs that never hatched.  Hodgins can study them and see what was on top of them.

Turns out, it was a Fiestaware Christmas Gnome made in 1941, and its age and rarity are what made it worth so much.  Booth tracks down a local Fiestaware collector named Rocky who recently acquired the same gnome that Timothy had and accuses him of murder.

Yet, this man confesses only to stealing the gnome, nothing more.  He is not the murderer.

It is Sweets and Hodgins who hit the jackpot.  When looking at some of Timothy’s books, they open one and find pictures of him and Elaine.  She didn’t tell Booth anything about this.  Suspicious?  I think so.

Back in the interrogation room, Elaine confesses.  She says she loved Timothy and wanted to try and help him with his disease.  However, when exposing him to the sunlight at his window, he snapped and attacked her, forcing her to grab a fan and hit him with it.  Apparently, though, she had no idea she had killed him.

So, that’s it for the case.  I must say it was kind of strange in that it was not as developed as it usually is.  However, this was due largely in part to the amount of character stuff going on in this episode, and I for one was not complaining.

Brennan is asked to head up a project in the Maluku Islands in Indonesia, one she hopes will uncover secrets of human evolution never known before.  Thanks to a letter of recommendation she wrote for Daisy, she will also be accompanying her on the one year expedition.  

At the same time, Booth is recruited by the army to be a Sergeant Major in Afghanistan where he will train soldiers to apprehend insurgents.  He has the opportunity to save many lives, and it is one he decides to take advantage of, given that Brennan is leaving.  

Hodgins manages to survive Angela’s father’s test of retrieving his car from an angry bunch of bikers, and he and Angela decide to make a pretty big change as well.  Not wanting to break in another FBI agent and forensic anthropologist, they decide to go to Paris for a year.  So sweet!

At the same time, Sweets’ and Daisy’s relationship takes a hit as Sweets decides not to follow Daisy to Indonesia, and the pair agree not to wait for each other.  I guess this means they’ve called off their engagement.  How sad!

So, at the end of the episode, it seems as though the only people remaining in Washington D.C. are Cam and Sweets.  However, everyone gathers at the airport to see Brennan and Daisy off.

Here, Brennan shows some major character development, hugging Cam and telling Hodgins she loves him too.  Booth really has taught her so much.  

Yet, on that note, I must say that I am terribly disappointed.  So, before Brennan boards the plane, she takes one last look around the airport for Booth and sees him.  She goes to him, and he tells her he snuck off the base to come and say goodbye to her.  Now that’s dedication right there.

Booth tells her to be careful in the Indonesian jungle while she tells him not to be a hero.  The two then hold hands and part ways, agreeing to meet back in a year.  They look back one final time, but then continue on their way.

So, I don’t know about you, but at this point in the episode, I was totally shocked.  Brennan can tell Hodgins she loves him, but all she can do before saying goodbye to Booth for a year is hold his hand?  Yeah, I’m sorry, but I see something seriously wrong with that.  

When the camera showed both of them turning around to have one final look at each other, I was anticipating a run back and a kiss, but, oh, wait, that didn’t happen either.  

I feel like we as fans have been more than patient on the issue of these two and their relationship, and now it’s time for the Bones writers to get to work on bringing us something momentous in Season 6.  Who’s with me?  

So, those are clearly some of my opinions about this episode, but what did you think?  Did you like the Season 5 finale?  Leave a comment below!

Oh, and check back on Tuesday for my more in-depth analysis on the Booth and Brennan relationship in this episode and some fantastic spoilers on Season 6.

(Image courtesy of FOX)

Nicole Bessette

Contributing Writer, BuddyTV