# Bones: Season 8 - Blu-ray Review



## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=12860[/img] 
*Title: Bones: The Complete Eighth Season* 

*Movie:* :4stars:
*Video:* :4stars:
*Audio:* :4stars: 
*Extras:* :2.5stars: 

*HTS Overall Score:*77




[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=12861[/img]*Summary*
With a long string of horror films and horror television series we are given a slight break with something a bit more episodic and lighter than your typical serialized show. Bones is one of the longer running police procedurals out there right now with a ninth season just starting a few weeks ago. Like “Castle” it’s one of those shows where you really don’t have to watch EVERY week’s episode to be in the loop, so to speak. Bones has always been a police procedural first with a very minimal serialized story going on. As with “Castle” the main underlying story that stretches from season to season is the strained relationship between Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and FBI special agent Sealy Booth (David Boreanz). With Bones being such a hardcore scientist, and Booth being a down to earth “blue collar” type of man, they’ve always been at odds, both in and out of a relationship. My main complaint throughout the WHOLE series has been the lazy scriptwriting with the Bones character. EVERYONE in the series has grown, adapted and changed dramatically both personally and character wise since the first season with the exception of Bones herself. It got so frustrating that I almost ended up quitting the series around season 5 and 6. However, with the advent of Emily Deschanel’s real life pregnancy during season 7 (which resulted in Bones becoming pregnant in the show) prompted the writers to finally have her adapt and have her character mature for the better in the show. Now we’re actually seeing real change and growth in bones that has kept on going since Season 7.

Right at the end of season 7 the series new recurring villain, Pelant, has framed Brennan, forcing her to go on the run to protect their newborn child. This leaves Sealy in charge of finding Pelant and bringing him to justice so that he can bring Bones and his new daughter home again. While Pelant continues to evade the FBI, with the help of Bones and Sealy they are able to bring the state to conclude that Pelant actually IS guilty of murder and start a nationwide manhunt, clearing Bones in the process. With Pelant out of the way the show now reverts back to its “murder of the week” storylines. More murders are present and that means more times for the eccentric interns to make their appearances and help the crew solve the murders. 

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=12862[/img]
Bringing forth another major change, Dr. Sweets (John Francis Daley) decides to break up with longtime girlfriend/Intern Daisy (Carla Gallow) and ends up moving in with Bones and Booth for a majority of the season. This creates even more friction between the couple and actually creates a unique bond between them at the same time. However, Pelant isn’t done with them just yet, now becoming THE MOST recurring villain in the series history he rears his head once more and starts terrorizing not only Booth and Brennan, but upon Angela and Jack as well. This prompts Booth to start locking in on their nemesis and make a startling decision in his relationship with Bones at the same time. 

The episodes for this season are much better than the meandering ones of season 7. With the hiccups that Season 7 had I was worried that season 8 would suffer, but thankfully that wasn’t the case. Some of them like “Ghost in the machine” was a little bit weak, but the series made up for that one with some fantastic episodes about Pelant and what I consider to be the BEST episode of the series “The Patriot in Purgatory”. Now that Bones is finally maturing the show is once again back to its former glory and the addition of an overarching villain has added a much needed focus to the show that was starting to waver. While not being as light hearted and goofy as “Castle”, “Bones Season 8” manages to keep itself utterly fascinating in the procedural way that they hunt solve these cases, and the gruesome level of the victims is about on par with some of the more disturbing things in “Hannbial”, just without the terror and dread associated with that series.

*Rating:* 

Not Rated.



*Video* :4stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=12863[/img]“Bone Season 8” is presented with a very solid 1.78:1 AVC encode. 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 show 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 only some minor softness during the series. While the series is nice and “shiny” I do notice that soft covering tends the keep the show from being perfectly sharp. 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=12864[/img]If you’ve seen the previous seasons of “Bones” on Blu-ray, than you know what to expect. A very nice 5.1 DTS-HD MA 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 much sonic use of the LFE channel. All in all it’s a very good mix, a solid entry for a mid-budget television show. 

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=12865[/img]*Extras* :2.5stars: 
• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel
• Commentary on Select Episodes
• Dying to Know: Bones Answers Your Questions
• Bare Bones: Total Fandom-Onium











*Overall:* :4stars:

Bones went through a bit of a slump for about 3 seasons, but season 8 has pulled it back up to their former glory, with some tweaks and changes to Bones it allowed the series to get out of their rut and move on. While it’s not the BEST procedural show out there, it’s still quite an excellent show and is a series to watch when you only want to watch an episode or two at a time and not feel as if you have to watch every single episode NOW to find out what happens next. With great video and solid audio it’s a definite pick up for fans of the series. 

*Additional Information:*

Starring: David Boreanz, Emily Deschanel, Michaela Conlin
Created by: Hart Hanson
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Rated: NR
Runtime: 1041 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: Sept 24th, 2013



*Buy Bones: The Complete Eighth Season Blu-ray on Amazon*



*Recommendation: Watch It​*







More about Mike


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## tripplej (Oct 23, 2011)

Thanks for another well written review. Wow, this series is already on season 8. I lost touch with this series to be honest. I always thought it was good but just didn't have the time to catch all the episodes. Will have to check this season as well as the previous seasons out. Thanks.


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## snowmanick (Oct 16, 2007)

My wife still watches this series, but I gave up on it after the whole, 
*Spoiler* 



"Zach's a cannibal"


 story line several seasons ago. Maybe I'll try giving it another shot based on the review.


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## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

snowmanick said:


> My wife still watches this series, but I gave up on it after the whole, * SPOILER * story line several seasons ago. Maybe I'll try giving it another shot based on the review.




After Zach left the series lost its footing for a while but some of the replacement interns have really filled in the gaps


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