The He in the She

Everyone at the Jeffersonian needs to leave Mr. Nigel-Murray ALONE. He's adorable and the only good thing about this episode. Why do TV characters always hate the guy who's full of fun facts? Fun facts are awesome. People love fun facts.

I do not acknowledge the scene where he weirdly hits on Angela. So forced and unnecessary. But I really feel like Cam is hitting on him in his last scene, and honestly, I ship it.

Anyway, good for him for knowing his own worth and quitting at the end. Love that for him. (Btw, Jeffersonian people, if one intern left because you were all too distracted by your drama and he wanted to focus on work, and another one left because you were too focused and didn't appreciate his minor distractions, maybe YOU ARE THE PROBLEM.) Obviously the rest of this episode is garbage, but you can't expect much better from TV made in 2008. All I'll say is that if you find yourself trying to explain trans people to someone like Booth by drawing distinctions between "transgender" and "transsexual" and giving detailed explanations of gender reassignment surgery...you're doing it wrong.

This episode is just about our favorite episode of our favorite series, because the characters have serious and intelligent discussions of a couple of our favorite subjects, religion and transgendered persons. Even more important, the scientists treat the deceased woman, who happened to be born as a man, with the utmost respect. Even the conservative Catholic Agent Booth insists that "she" will be referred to as such, because that's what she was at the time of her death. During the investigation, Brennan and Booth discuss, between themselves and with other characters, the relationship between religion and the LGBTQ community, especially regarding people with gender identity issues who choose to act on their innate tendencies. In the end, identifying the guilty party who's responsible for the woman's death becomes less important in the episode than what happens with the relationships and work that the deceased person had before her transformation and those to which she'd dedicated her life after she became the self she felt herself to be. And besides the fact that, as usual, the contrast between Brennan's atheism and Booth's mainstream faith adds a level of insight and humor, the added factor of the liberal religion of the deceased and her fellow worshipers give rise to some of the best parts of this episode. All in all, this episode gives B & B one of their best chances to do what they do very well!

I disagree with some of the criticisms of the nomenclature of this episode. Issues of transgender are just now being dealt with and pronouns are just being used correctly. This episode came out fifteen years ago when people had to hide. As for Booth, he is a boorish lump who talks like a fourteen year old and judges people. His religion is based on lack of questioning. I think that Brennan, while intractable in her own way, makes some great points. When that woman started in on the God's image thing, Bones pointed out her plastic surgery and her died hair. There are so many religious people who only believe things when they apply to others. This is a really well crafted episode and shows growth in the series.

Modern TV shows often rely on formulaic plots, recycled tropes, and shallow character development, sacrificing originality for mass appeal. Great example here, as it prioritizes shock value or political messaging over meaningful storytelling, becoming more like a social commentary sermon than entertainment. It lacks the heart and substance that made earlier episodes memorable. The music score is the cherry on top.