Bones: “The Dwarf in the Dirt” – Review

An SUV falls into a sinkhole, uncovering a small green skeleton. While Brennan and the team try to determine cause of death, Booth seeks an unofficial opinion from psychiatrist-turned-chef Gordon Gordon Wyatt (Stephen Fry) after a poor showing on his way to being re-certified to carry a gun.

This episode continued the season-long theme of Booth becoming less sure of himself and more dependent on Brennan. As an old friend from Season 2, Wyatt is about the only person with whom Booth can discuss both his professional and personal lives. As always, Fry portrayed Wyatt with seemingly effortless eloquence.

The chance to hear Wyatt’s opinion and watch him interact with Booth, Brennan, and Sweets was more interesting to me than this week’s casework. The green skeleton was identified as a former midget wrestler, the Iron Leprechaun. The team figured out that while on parole, he tried to rob a cash-for-gold store to prove himself a good provider for the woman he loved, who happened to be his brother’s wife. After that, it was obvious who his killer was, but still resonated well with Booth and Brennan’s as-yet-unconsummated relationship.

While the sillier cases usually turn me off, the lighter case here allowed Sweets and Wyatt more time to wax psychological about Booth’s inability to shoot straight. I’m usually not a fan of characters analyzing other characters aloud, but again, Wyatt/Fry’s disarming delivery makes it palatable.

It occurs to me that the only time I enjoy Brennan’s dry tone is when she’s talking with Booth. In turn, Booth tells Brennan that talking with her makes him feel better. “It makes no logical sense, but it does.” They understand each other in a way no other two characters do. In this episode, Booth gets it when Brennan, in her way, makes a joke.

Finally, while previous episodes have hinted at Booth’s reliance on Brennan, this episode gave hard evidence: Booth performs superbly at the firing range after taking Wyatt’s advice to bring Brennan along.

In closing, I think Bones has succeeded where other shows have failed to balance personal and professional elements; Brennan and Booth’s personal interaction has always been part of the show. I only hope it stays fresh through future episodes and seasons.

About Gerald So

Gerald So covers THE BIG BANG THEORY, BONES, BURN NOTICE, NCIS, NCIS: LOS ANGELES, and PSYCH each week for BSCreview. His personal blog is If You Want to Know About My Life.