Bones 3x15: The Pain in the Heart

[kerravonsen]

I've been watching the end of Season 3 of Bones while doing crochet.
Yes, I haven't been commenting on Bones for many many episodes now, but I had to comment on this one.

One word: Whoa!

I did NOT see that coming. And yet it made sense. I take my hat off to the writers. Zack is the last person one would suspect, and yet he is also the kind of person who would be peculiarly vulnerable to skewed logic.

BRENNAN: Zack responds to logic, Booth.
BOOTH: Really? Cause I'd love to hear the logic of killing and eating people to change the world.
ZACK: The Master's logic is irrefutable.
BOOTH: Irrefutable?! I saw him choking a child at the bottom of a pool.
ZACK: If you knew what I know, you'd understand. You'd be proud of me.
BRENNAN: I've always been proud of you, Zack. I've never met anyone more rational or intelligent. But there's a fault in your logic.
ZACK: With all due respect, you aren't cognizant of his logic.
BRENNAN: Assumption #1: Secret societies exist.
ZACK: Accepted. Hodgins has been explaining this to me for years.
BRENNAN: Assumption #2: The human experience is adversely affected by secret societies.
ZACK: Accepted.
BRENNAN: Assumption #3: Attacking and killing members of secret societies will have an ameliorating effect on the human experience.
ZACK: Accepted.
BRENNAN: All of your assumptions are built upon a first principle, Zack. To wit: The historical human experience, as a whole, is more important than a single person's life.
ZACK: Yes.
BRENNAN: Yet, you risked it all so you wouldn't hurt Hodgins.
(Brennan puts her forehead against his, as a single tear rolls down his cheek.)
ZACK: There's - You are correct. There is an inconsistency in my reasoning.
BOOTH: Bones, I need a name.
BRENNAN: We know.

That scene was so perfect I immediately rewound it and watched it again.

(Transcript thanks to http://www.bonesfansonline.com/transcripts/314.htm)

This is probably the most impressive example of a major character being written out that I've seen. And yet if you told me what happened, I wouldn't have believed it.

Comments

[vilakins]

I'm very glad I gave up on that show when I did.

[kerravonsen]

But I thought you gave it up because you couldn't stand the gore.

[vilakins]

So I did. I'm really glad I missed all the stuff I heard came after.

And why would my previous statement invalid what I said anyway?

[kerravonsen]

I think I was confused.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

One of the most unexpected, bitterest, and most true and accurate scenes I've ever watched on television. I know a lot of fandom got up in arms about this, but it's too plausible for Zach--the moment Brennan started talking him through it, I knew she was right, although I had entirely not seen this coming.

*shivers* Well done, Bones writers.

[kerravonsen]

I can understand why people would be up in arms about it; it is tragic and heartbreaking and comes completely out of left field, and yet... and yet... it works. And it works because we've had three seasons of Zach being overly literal, unsocialized, utterly logical, naive, and trusting. Someone ripe for the plucking. And his friends could not protect him.