Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Bones: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie Review

"I love you. In a professional, 'atta girl' kind of way..."

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown October 20, 2010

He's a wise-cracking, time-traveling forensic geologist haunted by the unsolved murder of his future ex-wife and obsessed with early 21st Century pop culture. She's a disgraced runway model turned crack-shot investigative journalist with an inexplicable passion for Lost in Space cosplay and a sweet spot for cherry-rum baklava. Together they're... probably scheduled to grace the airwaves this fall. It's safe to say television procedurals haven't exactly evolved over the years. They've simply become quirkier and more eccentric. Ever since CSI armed its larva-loving science geeks with guns and badges, procedural showrunners have given audiences weirder characters, dreamed up increasingly bizarre storylines and concocted countless ways to temporarily stump their do-or-die do-gooders with the strangest murder scenes imaginable. Be that as it may, when the procedural stars align, even the most offbeat series can be terribly entertaining. Castle creator Andrew W. Marlowe managed to successfully pair a streetwise female homicide detective with a snarky mystery novelist. (Which is fine by me. Nathan Fillion makes everything he touches worth watching.) The Mentalist mastermind Bruno Heller found a way to team a former psychic medium (now a self-professed, semi-reformed conman) with a squad of straight-shooting CBI agents, and I haven't missed an episode in three seasons. And then there's Bones. As much a clever comedy as it is a sleek procedural, Hart Hanson's Fox hit (currently in its sixth season) is admittedly an acquired taste. But to those who acquire it, Bones is a blast.

"I envy your ability to substitute optimism for reality."

For the timid or uninitiated among you: Bones' peculiar peas-in-a-pod are pathologically rational, socially awkward forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and sharp-shooting, fast-talking FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz, sticking an effortless post-Buffy/Angel landing). Tasked with assisting the FBI with a variety of cases, Brennan and her Jeffersonian Institute associates -- pathologist and division head Dr. Camille Saroyan (Tamara Taylor), excitable entomologist and resident conspiracy theorist Dr. Jack Hodgins (T.J. Thyne), demure craniofacial reconstruction specialist Angela Montenegro (Michaela Conlin), well-intentioned division psychologist Dr. Lance Sweets (John Francis Daley) and a slew of upstart interns -- are armed to the teeth with colorful personalities, sharp minds and just enough interpersonal conflict to keep their professional and not-so-professional relationships interesting. And while the various scientists' romantic lives can be a bit distracting at times, Brennan and Booth's idiosyncratic, will-they-or-won't-they two-step actually elevates the series (for the record, the two have yet to become an item), giving Hanson and his fellow showrunners ample opportunity to dissect everything that makes the two corpse-crossed lovers perfect for each other.

Season Five ups the ante in every conceivable way -- the bodies are more bizarre, the mysteries more elaborate, the cases more difficult, the personal drama more substantial and Booth's desire to confess his love for Brennan more unbearable than ever -- but never so much that Bones loses its way. Booth, after recovering from brain surgery, gets back to his wily, rebel-with-a-cause antics in no time (sorry Stewie fans, no animated hallucinations this season) and finally deals with his feelings for a certain forensic anthropologist. Quick wit in one pocket, a renewed sense of mortality tucked neatly in the other, Boreanaz is as capable and confident as ever, lending side-splitting humor and convincing tension to a series that might otherwise be devoid of both. Meanwhile, Brennan, now the author of a best-selling book, slowly begins to emerge from her shell, confronting emotional attachments she would have avoided in previous seasons. Deschanel doesn't phone it in either, matching Boreanaz's bravura with a much-needed hint of vulnerability; a crack in Temperance's carapace that allows the good doctor to evolve in new, unexpected directions. Don't worry, Brennan is still a bookish brainiac and Booth is still a patriotic troublemaker, but over the course of the season, the gap between their polar extremes narrows, and each character is better for it.

Say what you will about the series' formulaic trappings (of which there are many), Bones is full of surprises. Booth and Brennan's fifth season cases range from wacky (a man dressed as Santa accidentally blows himself up during a bank robbery) to whimsical (a dwarf's green skeleton is found buried at the end of a rainbow... in a manner of speaking); light-hearted (a char-grilled mummy and a dead museum curator attract attention) to unsettling (the Grave Digger, the show's recurring serial killer, faces justice); and imaginative (the team is ordered to examine the carefully preserved, forty-seven-year old remains of an unidentified gunshot victim Hodgins suspects is JFK himself) to meaningful (the series' Boreanaz-directed 100th episode digs into the past and uncovers the seeds of Booth and Brennan's professional partnership and personal friendship). But no matter how freakish or outlandish the cases become, Hanson and his writers rarely go too far. Even when an episode requires tremendous suspension of disbelief, Booth, Brennan and every one of their supporting players are so irresistible, so intensely likable that the most inane developments are delightful rather than distracting. No, Bones doesn't transport me out of my family room or make me forget I'm watching a pulpy, gimmick-driven procedural. And no, it doesn't offer the hearty meat and potatoes more critically acclaimed dramas tend to bring to the table. But it's all so much fun that I honestly don't care.

There's a fine line between comedy and parody, and an even finer line between drama and melodrama; razor-thin lines Bones' fifth season doesn't always traverse with sure-footed grace. Pregnancy scares and impromptu nuptials are as contrived as they sound, guest stars instantly earn our suspicion, Booth's lineage is milked to unfortunate (albeit short-lived) ends and there's slightly more spoon-feeding than in previous seasons. (Procedurals rely on nonstop exposition to keep audiences up to speed, but the series' writers spell out a bit too much this time around, particularly when it comes to Booth's psychological motivations.) Does any of it derail the show? Not at all. Does Bones ever jump the shark? Stone-cold series newcomers might think so (especially if they start with one of season five's stranger cases), but I grinned and laughed my way through all twenty-two episodes and didn't flinch once. As inventive as formula-fueled procedurals come, as entertaining as quirky dramas go, as funny as any solid comedy on TV, Bones continues to shatter my expectations with each passing season and, in sickness and in health, keeps me coming back, week in and week out. Best of all, it's as accessible as it is amusing, meaning newcomers can hop in and enjoy The Complete Fifth Season almost as easily as those who've been with Booth and Brennan from the beginning. My advice? Give it a rent, give it a spin... whatever you do, give it a chance.

Bones: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Blu-ray edition of Bones: The Complete Fifth Season picks up where Fox's fourth season release left off. Spread across four BD-50 discs, Booth and Brennan's latest 1080p/AVC-encoded cases rarely show signs of overcrowding and, on the whole, offer series' fans a vibrant, sharp and proficient twenty-two episode presentation. Clinical yet colorful, Bones' high-tech palette is bristling with exacting primaries, smartly saturated skintones, absorbing body-bag blacks and fittingly gruesome splashes of gore. Contrast is consistent as well (barring a few source-born mishaps) and, despite Gordon Lonsdale's stark lab-rat lighting, delineation remains forgiving throughout. In fact, combined with the transfer's penchant for dazzling detail, The Complete Fifth Season comes close to perfection on more than one occasion. Remarkably resolved fine textures reveal every tiny nick, calcium scuff and micro-fracture on the remains Brennan examines, edge definition is distinct and natural (without any egregious ringing to spoil the fun), the series' somewhat noisy disposition isn't intrusive and overall clarity renders the discs' standard DVD counterparts irrelevant. Hints of faint banding, infrequent artifacting and a few easily explained instances of elevated noise pop up here and there, but each brief, fleeting issue is easy to overlook in the grand sixteen-hour scheme of things. All in all, Bones has never looked better.

Bones: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

While Bones' hard-working, well-intentioned DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track doesn't amount to anything special, it certainly gets the job done. Dialogue is bright, clear and precisely prioritized, dynamics are decidedly decent and Sean Callery's sinewy series score darts from channel to channel with ease. LFE output is reserved for more intense encounters, but unleashes its weighty wares on cue. Likewise, the rear speakers are typically tasked with little more than ambient support, but get assigned more aggressive duties whenever Booth and Brennan close in on a suspect. Front-heavy? At times. The words "enveloping" and "immersive" didn't exactly come to mind while digging through this fifth season release. Flat? Hardly. Even at their worst, the show's sprightly sonics are in line with those of every other television procedural (which is to say chatty but involving). Be that as it may, Bones' soundfield is still convincing on the whole and directionality, however limited, is accurate. Will newcomers be blown away? Pleased, I'm sure. But blown away? I doubt it. Will series fans be satisfied? Most definitely.

Bones: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 4-disc Blu-ray release of Bones: The Complete Fifth Season isn't exactly bursting with special features, but with two audio commentaries and two extended episodes in tow, its supplemental package is better than its Complete Fourth Season predecessor.

• Audio Commentaries: Actors Tamara Taylor, John Francis Daley and Michaela Conlin laugh their way through "The Proof in the Pudding," offering more anecdotes than production details, while creator Hart Hanson, writer Stephen Nathan and director Ian Toynton deliver a far more informative dissection of "The Beginning in the End," as well as the whole of Season Five.
• Two Extended Episodes (HD): Original broadcast and extended versions of "The Tough Man in the Tender Chicken" and "The X in the File" are also available (additional scenes are reinserted via seamless branching).
• The 100th Episode with Director David Boreanaz (HD, 7 minutes): Cast and crew joke, jab, pay respect and wax poetic about Boreanaz and his efforts behind the camera as director of the series' 100th episode.
• The Bodies of Bones (HD, 11 minutes): A look at the unsung heroes of Bones: the corpses.
• The Nunchuck Way (HD, 3 minutes): Brief and aimless, this murder weapon quickie is expendable.
• Deleted Scenes (HD, 4 minutes): A trio of semi-decent scenes, presented in high definition with lossy audio.
• Gag Reel (HD, 4 minutes): Wait... outtake reels can be funny? Apparently so.

Bones: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bones shouldn't work. Other shows have tried and failed to strike a balance between the eccentric personalities and quirky sensibilities Hanson's series has mastered in just five seasons. It isn't without it's faults -- I'll be the first to admit that -- but it is addictive, entertaining and, ultimately, tremendous fun. I'd be a fool to ask for much more. Fox's 4-disc Blu-ray release is worthy of your consideration too. With an excellent video transfer, an effective DTS-HD Master Audio track and a decent supplemental package, it's primed to please series junkies and Bones inductees alike.