Dear Sweets,

It's totally Booth! I don't know if I was supposed to take the retitling of your book to Bones - The Heart of the Matter to mean that you believe Brennan is the one who is constantly struggling or not. That said, the new title gave me that exact impression, and you could not be more wrong!

My wife and I watched both Wednesday's special episode and Thursday's regular one back to back last night. While cuing up the second episode, I told Irma that I wonder if we're supposed to believe that they both know they are in love with the other, or if they're both supposed to be oblivious, or if just Brennan is oblivious. My vote was for the last of these options. David Boreanaz plays Booth too well for me not to believe that he is in love with Brennan and doesn't pursue it because he's afraid it would jeopardize the status quo.

I was tickled pink when the very next hour had Gordon telling us that one of them is constantly having to suppress their feelings of love for the other. Huzzah! Success! I knew it was Booth. And while I'm not ready for them to get together and ruin the show (a la Moonlighting, Dawson's Creek, and former lead-out House), I do love that this angle was at least acknowledged.

Now, quick evidence that I am right and Sweets is wrong about it being Brennan.

1) Brennan is always the first to deny a relationship is going on between them when some outsider observes their bond, as in the bridal store. She always denies first, rationally, and emotionlessly.

2) Brennan desires to be more passionate and head-over-heels in love. She would not tell the man she loves that she desires this if she already was and simply had to reject it.

3) One of the funniest things about the show is its premise - emotional person enters world surrounded by logic-driven people, hilarity ensues. It's not that different from The Big Bang Theory here, folks, except for the formulaic procedural aspect that helped it get on the air in the first place. But, back on point. Booth is the fish out of water on the show, not Brennan. He entered her world, and he is the one being logical to meet the needs of her world. If she was the one struggling with her emotions, then she'd just let them out. She'd become a part of his world, and more like the other, less rational squints. It's not interesting to watch her become like everyone else because she has nothing at stake. It's interesting to watch him try to maintain the front that he's like everyone else, when he is really not. If he reveals that he can't be rational enough to avoid a workplace romance, he risks being removed from their world.

All of this is assuming a lot, based only on a grin from Sweets, and the new title of his book at the end of the episode. Nevertheless, I feel that the grin told us that he thinks she's suppressing her connection, and the title change confirms it. But our little death metal-ian is just plain wrong.

Psychoanalytically,

Patrick James