Bones - Season 5

Good Writing, Excellent Acting, consistently good quality stories.

Absorbing and at times breathtaking in its surprises.

Nice to see the Actors are all obviously enjoying this series.

Cant wait for the next one!!

It just keeps getting better. Love the duo! Love the team! And love every single episode. It has everything you need to be entertained!

Gets better and better. I am still reading the books - completely different to the series. Can't wait for the next disc! I could watch this all day and not be one bit bored! Each story line is unique.

American TV loves to flog a dead horse, keeping once great TV shows on the air far too long and at the pace of 26 episodes a year. One show that has passed its apex, but is still reasonable, is ‘Bones’. Season 5 follows on directly from events in Season 4, and for the most part is interchangeable with any set of episodes throughout the 5 year run so far. Most episodes stand alone as a murder mystery that Dr Brennan and Agent Booth must investigate and bring the culprit to book. The formula is a well worn one and in previous years the show survived harsh criticism by combining bleak murders with light characters and humour. Unfortunately, as the won’t they-won’t they relationship of Booth and Bones drags on, the characters become increasingly bland. The spark between them is being starved of oxygen by writers who are trying to drag the love based tension on far too long – 5 years people! You can be married and divorced at least twice over in that time.

The writers are also to blame for the blandness of many of the episodes, at times the entire season feels like filler. The episodes lack spark and so do many of the characters, Hodgins and the rest of the squints fall into the same ruts and Sweets is now nothing more than a character who is used to end a scene by pulling a face and the camera panning over him. There are also a very limited number of sets; I imagine that a lot of the show’s budget now goes on cast wages and not the actual bricks and mortar.

There are moments that still make the show worth watching. The special effects are very good with the make up used for the corpses up there with ‘CSI’. There are also a few episodes that pose an interesting mystery, with funny sections that can be laugh out loud. Season 5 will be looked back upon as the series that ‘Bones’ stagnated, no longer pushing the envelope, but happily sitting in the comfort zone. Hints at the end of the season do suggest that thing may be shaken up for Season 6. Hopefully, this is the case as the writers in particular need a wake up call.

You know when you put this on you are in for a treat, between the seriousness of it, you know you'll have the odd chuckle.

So can't wait to get season 6!!