Bones (TV Series) The Man in the Fallout Shelter (2005) User Reviews

Everyone is stuck in the lab at Christmas.

[emma-at-dropswell · 9/10 · 3 November 2007]

Its my favourite episode of the first series and is very funny and emotional. I love all the parts where booth is stoned however it is also quite series as you learn more about the characters families and past as well as some of Brennan's memories of Christmas. My favourite scene is at the very end when Brennan opens her Christmas present from here parents for the very first time. I also like it when the exchange presents from their secret Santa's, as it is the first time there is a small connection between Hodgins and Angela. (I'm also very happy there was a firefly comment since i am a huge fan.) Its a good episode that is both sad and happy at the same time.

Very emotional

[mitchrmp · 10/10 · 10 July 2016]

This episode made me cry! We learn so many sad details about Brennan and see just how alone in the world she really is. She has her co-workers, but other than that she has nothing. We see her cry several times in this episode and we watch as she walks off alone while the others enjoy their Christmas with each other.

We also learn about Booth's family. Everyone introduces their sig others (Since Hodgins is the only remaining member of his family, we see his girlfriend in a bizarre way.

There is one pretty intimate moment between B & B, but he's half stoned from medication, so I guess we can't put much stock into that one...This is probably one of my favorite episodes from season 1 (and I think I've said that already on a different episode)

The One On Christmas...

[taylorkingston · 9/10 · 1 August 2016]

This episode is really good. I really enjoyed this episode. I love holiday-themed episodes, so a Christmas one was bound to be enjoyable. And considering this is the first Christmas episode, it does pretty damn good.

In this episode, Angela tries to get everyone to go to her Christmas party, and you know Bones doesn't want to. Anyway, after Booth gets her a present which she has to love; a fifty-year-old corpse, they stay and solve the mystery of what happened to that corpse. We also discovered that Booth has a four-year-old son, and Bones' parents disappeared on Christmas Eve decades earlier.

Best part of this episode: Nothing in particular.

Worst part of this episode: Nothing in particular.

Overall, I give this episode a 9 out of 10, which in my ratings book is: Amazing.

So like 2020

[shell_webb · 9/10 · 18 December 2020]

I've seen this episode quite a few times over the years but decided to re watch coming up to Christmas. The quarantine aspect of it really hit home. I personally haven't seen some family members at all in 2020 so Christmas takes on a special meaning this year. I think it's a one to watch in these times.

A Rare episode - of any TV show

[hansenmv2002 · 10/10 · 16 January 2015]

This ep I never fail to watch: early in the show run - the creator/writer overlays everyone with detail here - early, and often. Funny, heart-warming, shocking, bizarre - several times over. This is an ep - that few shows ever manage so early - and it is actually a study in - "oh yeah? - then you write this stuff." The convolution of the different characters - blaming, sharing - is not something you bang out on a slow weekend. OK - to hit 10 lines - this is a way of softening the main character for the future. The other shows i think of - seeing this - I don't want to spoil anything such as possible anymore/years later --- X-Files "Jose Chung" - ST:TNG "Cause and Effect" - they highlight the show in one 45 page ep; "The Wedding" / Seinfeld - the 'backwards' episode - all come to mind. I made 10 lines? WHAT a LAME requirement.

Awesome Christmas episode

[Lythas_85 · 10/10 · 5 April 2021]

Tear jerker and extremely important for character development.. that's funny how modern tv series lack that.. every episode some bits and pieces of the character's pasts.

Bones is so alone and everybody agrees she's the one who most evolved from the begining of the series to the end.. from being completely lonely and weird socially to a pretty much regular person who is friendly and able to connect to anyone she meets.

Pretty Good Christmas Show

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 8 January 2023]

This was so sad in some ways. The writers did stack the deck but it still brings a tear. We learn quite a bit about the characters. First of all, Angela is the daughter of one of the guys in ZZ Top. Booth has a child, whom he sees sparingly, from an encounter in the past. There are others as well. The case involves a man brought in from a fallout shelter from decades ago. Shortly thereafter, a contaminate is released and everyone must be quarantined for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Yes, I recognize the heavy Christian thing going on. It is a bit too much, but the human element of the story overrides that one sidedness. The ultimate focus is on Brennan who lost her parents just before Christmas and is having a bad time. We hear a heartbreaking story. I would watch this every Christmas if I remembered it.

Bah! Humbug!

[smegma23 · 6/10 · 27 July 2016]

This is a middling effective tearjerker marred by a few specific things: First, the absolute insistence that everybody and everything is Christian. (How do you actually tell someone you don't know over the phone to tell somebody else you don't know "Merry Christmas"? How rude is that if they are any other religion?) Yes, some scientists have religious faith, but two thirds of a given group of scientists believing in the actual divinity of Jesus of Nazareth? Please. Which brings us to the scene where Booth and Brennan argue about faith; the scene ends with Booth saying, "You don't know if you're sick, but you're more than willing to take drugs just in case. Seems to me you should give the man upstairs the same benefit of the doubt that you do an invisible fungus." And he walks away while Brennan looks contemplative, like she needs to think about that argument. But the argument is complete rubbish: the fungus might be invisible to the naked eye but its presence has been tangibly established by evidence nonetheless; and even if it were a fair comparison, the best it amounts to is Pascal's wager, the argument that one should believe in God just in case he's real and wants to send non-believers to hell. This show clearly wanted to side with theists—not just theists but Christian theists—over atheists, and it uses bogus rhetoric and tear-jerking to do so. Bad! Bad TV program! ((Smacks 'Bones' with newspaper.))

Finally, this episode is marred by the most egregiously awful rendition I ever hope to hear of "Have Yourself oh! Merry Little Chruhmuh", courtesy of Tori Amos. No doubt Ms. Amos has considerable talent and appeal as a musician—I remember liking a thing or two from "Little Earthquakes"—but this performance was a catalog of WTF ARE YOU DOING TO THIS SONG?! moments: mangled pronunciation, bad microreadings, worse vocal habits... Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Stinky! ((Smacks Tori Amos with newspaper.))

They didn't really solve the case but it's ok

[interestingstuff · 17 May 2022]

So they find 60-year old bones from a fallout shelter and conclude that the person must have been killed by someone greedy because he had a valuable coin collection by using pure imagination even though the entire episode our doctor tells people "we are only collecting evidence" even though they use none to actually solve the case.

This case remains unsolved but it's ok, still a fun episode to watch overall. It was fun watching them pretend they solved a case that they didn't really solve.