# Bones: The Complete Ninth Season - DVD Review



## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=27929[/img] 
*Title: Bones: The Complete Ninth Season* 

*Movie:* :4stars:
*Video:* :4.5stars:
*Audio:* :4stars: 
*Extras:* :3stars: 

*HTS Overall Score:*82




[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=27937[/img]*Summary*
“Bones” has always been a comfort food show, ala “Castle”. It never takes itself too seriously and likes to revolve around episodic adventures that are tied together with a loose shawl of character relationships. Just like “Castle” its comfort comes from the fact that you can skip an episode and really not miss a whole lot. Booth and Brennan still are working out their romantic issues and there is ALWAYS a murder to solve. Previously in season 8 we had seen a much larger story arc taking precedence with the evil hacker Pelant trying to be an arch nemesis of Booth. Strangely enough it seems that most fans didn’t like the idea of huger story arcs and the series wraps him up fairly in order to get back to its more simplistic roots.

The opening episode has to be one of the most painful and exhausting episodes of the series, as you quickly wish that they would just end this storyline about the all-powerful Pelant. Luckily the Pelant storyline is wrapped up in episode 4 and the series can recline back into the familiar territory of “find a murder, solved in in 42 minutes…..rinse and repeat”. There still are several smaller story arcs that pop up in the background, but they mostly happen between murders and just weave themselves into the plotlines rather organically. Booth and Brennan FINALLY get married, but their troubles aren’t over as Booth starts having some job issues with the FBI (and a cool little cameo by Freddie Prinze Jr. as a CIA agent). Angela and Jack are still happily married, but having to live with within their means as middle class folks after Pelant drained their bank accounts last season (mini rant. This particular plot point has never made much sense since Pelant drained bank accounts that SHOULD have been covered with insurance for cases like these. It’s not like money vanishes without a trace and isn’t covered, especially for people like Jack who are worth a fortune and have security checks out the yin yang. But I digress). However, now Jack comes to the realization that he has a mentally handicapped brother that he never knew anything about, and that throws a monkey wrench into his seemingly normal life. Well, at least normal to him. Dr. Camille Saroyan goes through a couple of hiccups this season as well, as her life is turned upside down by identity theft, and I am happy to say the show deftly handles the level of devastation that can happen to a person’s life, and the flaws in the system that allow people to be punished for it, quite realistically. This all leads up to a conclusion to the season which is almost as farfetched and ridiculously reaching as this season of “Castle” was.

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=27945[/img]
One of the other charms of this long running series is the mixup of the interns. Ever since Zack was sent off to prison for helping a mass murdering psychopath (still one of the most amazing characters this show has ever seen, as his chemistry with Jack was beyond palpable), we’ve had a rotating array of interns that switch ever episode or so as they try to impress Dr. Brennan. We have the handsome and classic character of Wendell Bray, who happens to get a bombshell dropped in his life due to being diagnosed with cancer. Arastoo is back again as the romantic partner for Dr. Saroyan, which ends up being one of the sweetest relationships shown in the series to date. The crazy and rather annoying inclusion of Dr. Sweets ex-girlfriend, Daisy and the good old boy nature of the sweet Finn Abernathy (my personal favorite, as he brings fresh air to the series interns, which had been growing a bit stale), and a close second with amusingly depressed (and nihilistic) Colin Fisher. Now, they also decided to bring in a batch of fresh interns in the form of Jessica Warren, who ends up being just as annoying as Daisy is, and makes the same mistake of targeting Dr. Sweets with her romantic inclinations. Add in one final intern in the form of Dr. Rodolfo Fuentes, a Cuban Rico suave who thinks that he’s god’s gift to women. Sometimes these new interns work, and at other times they don’t and is one of the small flaws in the series as I felt the inclusion of too many cooks in the intern kitchen got a bit confusing and left less time to focus on some of the more interesting regulars. 

The series is great for those of you who don’t feel the incredible urge to have a serialized plotline and can just watch episodes at will without worrying that you’re missing a huge plot point if you missed last week’s episodes. None of the episodes are really out of the ordinary for the series, as mentioned they find bodies in weird places, have to struggle to figure out what happened to them and then they move on to the next one. The series charms rely heavily on the personal interactions between the characters on screen solving the murders and it’s been as fun ride as we’ve been able to see all of the lab partners grow and change over the last nine years. 



Episode Rundown is as follows


*
The Secrets in the Proposal
The Cheat in the Retreat
El Carnicero en el Coche
The Sense in the Sacrifice
The Lady on the List
The Woman in White
The Nazi on the Honeymoon
The Dude in the Dam
The Fury in the Jury
The Mystery in the Meat
The Spark in the Park
The Ghost in the Killer
Big in the Philippines
The Master in the Slop
The Heiress in the Hill
The Source in the Sludge
The Repo Man in the Septic Tank
The Carrot in the Kudzu
The Turn in the Urn
The High in the Low
The Cold in the Case
The Nail in the Coffin
The Drama in the Queen
The Recluse in the Recline
*


*Rating:* 

Not Rated.



*Video* :4.5stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=27953[/img]“Bones: Season 9” was unfortunately not released on Blu-ray like the last 4 seasons or so, but the resulting 1.78:1 encoded 480p transfer looks simply amazing, considering it's source. Filmed digitally it looks about as bright and clean as a show can with some excellent cinematography. The show shows a lot of outdoor scenes as well as brightly lit lab areas, so the series tends to look nice and “shiny” for the most part. Colors pop off the screen and saturate the outdoor landscapes well. The contrasts are nice and balanced throughout with some excellent skin tones. Detail is excellent for the most part with this season I didn't detect the natural softness I had in previous HD seasons. While the series is nice and “shiny” it also looks as sharp as a tack, and crystal clear without any major blemishes. Blacks are very pleasing for the most part and only exhibit a minor amount of black crush or grey blacks in a few scenes. Overall a very pleasing transfer that has nothing to be ashamed about and does the series justice. 









*Audio* :4stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=27961[/img]If you’ve seen the previous seasons of “Bones” on Blu-ray, than you know what to expect. A very nice 5.1 Dolby Digtal soundtrack that does everything just right without going into the realm of high end film mixing. The surrounds are used mildly, but there’s always some nice surround use going on in an episode. Never intrusive they aren't used WILDLY, but just as nice ambient noises, the bustling of the lab, the crunch of a foot in the forest crime scene etc. Since the show is a procedural there’s a LOT of dialogue and it’s a very front heavy mix. Vocals are locked into the center channel and sound crisp and clean as a whistle. Dynamics are fairly mild and kept to a minimum, so don’t expect a whole lot of pounding LFE as its left to accompanying the score and adding some sense of dread to the murder sequences. “Bones” has always had a very pleasant sound design and this season is no different in that respect. 





[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=27969[/img]*Extras* :3stars: 
• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel
• Commentary on Select Episodes
• "Bones" at Comic-Con 2013 
• Promo Trailers
• Walking Down the Aisle "Bones" Style











*Overall:* :4stars:

Bones is one of those shows that just keeps on ticking, last season pulled the show out of a three year slump and I think that season 9 actually topped it. focusing less on serialization this season, but keeping just a loose set of major themes allows the show to focus on what made it good, murders. Bones and Booth's chemistry is much more natural this year and it seems that you can see how she's actually grown over the years instead of being forced into her feelings like season 7 tried so hard to do. With Pilant out of the way it seems that people can breathe easy, as the show seems to learned from it's mistakes and pushed the show to greener pastures. Even though no blu-ray means no high definition, the DVD looks amazing and the audio is right up there. Definitely a pickup for Bones fans.

*Additional Information:*

Starring: David Boreanz, Emily Deschanel, Michaela Conlin
Created by: Hart Hanson
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 MPEG 2
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish DD 2.0
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Rated: NR
Runtime: 1041 minutes
DVD Release Date: Sept 16th, 2014



*Buy Bones: The Complete Ninth Season DVD on Amazon*



*Recommendation: Watch It​*







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