Before I say anything about our last Bones episode until at least the end of March (insert hissy-fit and various expletives here), I would like to wish our fearless leader, Hart Hanson, a speedy recovery. The creator of our beloved show took quite a spill off his beloved motorcycle earlier this week and is laid up with a broken talocrural joint… that’s Bones speak for ankle. Here’s hoping he heals well and uses this down time to write a few extra episodes for our abbreviated season.

Now, onto the review.  In “The Crack in the Code,” we are introduced to the big baddie of the season, Christopher Pelant (guest star Andrew Leeds), while the team struggles to figure out how to pin their latest murders on Pelant since he’s under house-arrest and constantly monitored by a GPS ankle device. Meanwhile, Booth (David Boreanaz) and Brennan (Emily Deschanel) search for their dream home with a mere six weeks until Baby Girl Booth (BGB) arrives. Here’s The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of “The Crack in the Code”

The Good:

I like to think I’m a Brennan – rational, decisive, not ruled by my emotions – and sometimes I am, but I always realize I’m more of a Booth when I see episodes like this one. From the very first shot, a seemingly peaceful sky, I get this feeling in my gut; and it’s not one of those giddy, happy, peaceful butterflies inhabiting my gastrointestinal tract feeling. It’s a this “episode is going to rock my world, freak me out, and change the way I watch this show” feeling. Everything about “Crack in the Code” is good.

The writing is phenomenal, everything we expect from the series. The characters know how bad the newest villain is, they take him very seriously, and the writing and acting reflect that. However, when things get too tense in the Jeffersonian or at the F.B.I, there are moments with just the right amount of levity to remind us this is Bones and in Bones nice guys finish first, eventually.

I love the use of the amazing supporting characters since Brennan isn’t in every single scene this season. I love seeing Angela (Michaela Conlin) and Hodgins (TJ Thyne) working together late at night and calling it a date. I love Sweets’ (John Francis Daly) interactions with both Booth and Brennan as he tries so hard to simultaneously please them because he’s their baby duck, but also prove to them he’s not a kid playing dress up. I love Cam (Tamara Taylor) for knowing when to put up with nonsensical experiments and then when to buckle down and speak the truth when nobody else wants to admit it. I love Caroline Julian (Patty Belcher) in all her snarky, prickly, and loving glory.

The Bad:

This is our last episode until late March at the earliest, that’s not just bad, it’s depressing, disappointing, disheartening, discouraging, despicable and lots of other ‘d’ words.

There is not much else bad about “Crack in the Code.”  I suppose I could go more figuratively with the bad. Pelant is the worst serial killer this series has seen, not worst as in poorly developed, poorly acted, poorly cast; but worst as in he is the baddest baddie our wonderful writers have ever created. He looks sweet and innocent, but underneath that angel face is a sociopathic murderer. I think what makes him so bad is that everything he’s done and is yet to do seems more likely to happen in real life than the murders of previous serial killers like Howard Epps and Gormogon.

The Ugly:

Hart Hanson and Executive Producer Stephen Nathan promised fans some of the most disturbing bodies ever this season, and they have not disappointed. Between the spine reassembled with human gut-string and poor journalist Ezra (Robert Cicchini) and is unrecognizable face I’m  not sure I’ve ever been closer to losing my dinner during an episode.

The ugliest of the ugly though, is the fact that Pelant doesn’t seem to be targeting Booth as I initially thought. The writers build this episode up making me think Pelant is going to uncover something about the F.B.I. or Booth since he’s so focused on cover ups and corruption in the government – but those last precious minutes of our show reveal Pelant may be after Brennan and Max (Ryan O’Neal) because of her testimony in “The Verdict in the Story.”

Random Thoughts:

• Man Cave and Anthropologist Cave. Nice. I wish I thought of an argument like that when I was buying a house. I could use a Writer’s Cave.
• I love when Hodgins gets all conspiratorial and excited because of serial killers. He’s such a weird little freakazoid.
• Caroline Julian is going to be such a cute little surrogate grandma to BGB. Cannot WAIT to see that interaction.
• We need more SPAM experiments in our lives.
• We’ve had two consecutive baddies with bones to pick with the government – coincidence?
• Oh hell no! That evil genius fried the Angelatron. I’m a huge advocate of technology and those who push the envelope of it – but only when they use their power for good like Steve Jobs.

I am so sad that we won’t get another new Bones episode for months, but considering what “Crack in the Code” set up for our remaining episodes, it’s going to be worth the wait.