Bones (TV Series) The Hope in the Horror (2017) User Reviews

Poor ending

[Dondergod · 7/10 · 10 October 2019]

So overal I really enjoyed this episode, but the ending just fell flat. Seeing this was a three episode story with a great and creepy buildup, you expect a similar ending.

However, the killer is completely underdeveloped. No background, motive or anything else. His role was so small you had almost forgotten him at the great reveal moment. Meaning the hints of him trying to influence the investigation also fell flat.

My suspicion went out completely towards Karen and I think the script wanted to sidetrack us with her role. That it ended up not being her is actually disappointing. There were so many hints to her.

It felt like they wanted it to be her and then for shock value at the last moment decided to make it someone else. In my opinion people should be rewarded for finding the clues.

On With the Next Episode

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 24 March 2023]

Zack is back and he is at the center of the Puppeteer thing. He is beyond genius and has a world of his own to move around in. So he gets accused of the series of murders where people's bodies are made into marionettes. Imagine how much movement in an out of places, the ability to find and carry people places, on and on. The same goes for the guy who is eventually caught although he is at least able to be out in the world. If this were a Sherlock Holmes episode, we would have the denouement where the "how he did it" would have taken place. Here, Booth shoots him, and move on. The only thing I'm glad about is that they didn't use up ten episodes to get to the end of this.

Disappointing...

[foghorn_clj · 5/10 · 2 February 2017]

OK full disclosure right up front... I was OBSESSED with Bones until the end of Season 5 when I stopped watching because (in my opinion) the quality of the writing had significantly decreased.

Since then I have only caught random moments of the show until I caught this episode while I was randomly channel surfing one night. And as soon as I saw Zack I knew had to watch the whole thing (I never liked that they made Zack a killer in the first place but I understood the logic).

So I was excited that Zack was back... but that excitement last for about 10-20 minutes. I understand the nostalgia in bringing him back and there were a few moments that were good (like Hodgins finding out that Zack was pretending to be a doctor to help him try and walk again or Sweets visiting Zach every week) and the rest was what I had come to expect from Bones, convoluted and filled with plot holes.

Firstly they never clearly explain why Zack has a deep hatred for Booth (is he secretly in love with Brennan or is it just that Booth was getting between him and his mentor and he blames Booth for why Brennan never visited him in the loony bin). Secondly we get no explanation to why the Doctor became the serial killer. He had a conjoined twin... so what? And lastly (and probably really the worst thing about the episode) after 9 years they pull the "He never could've killed anyone in the first place!" convenient plot twist that suddenly makes everything better.

In summary, nice dose of nostalgia but the horrendously lazy writing and pacing leaves much to be desired.

What?

[welshone-17339 · 2/10 · 2 May 2022]

No, really, what?! Look, I love Bones, but this episode is a mess. Zack breaking out to prove his innocence is more in-character than I expected but now after nine years we're supposed to believe he never killed anyone? Sweets visiting him every week never yielded this revelation?

As for the Puppeteer... lazy writing. The shrink looked good for it, he knew at least three of those involved (the victim Melissa, the suspects George and Zack) and he had the medical background (he said in the S11 finale that psychology wasn't his original job). Was it a bit too obvious? Perhaps. But it would have been a far more satisfying conclusion. Did they only switch the murderer to a new character just so the end scene where he's caught could happen? We're to believe this random doctor just found victims and people to manipulate on a whim? No hint of explaining the motivation from the original episode.

Seems like the conjoined twin thing was another afterthought by the writers, who then realised the therapist couldn't have hidden that information from the FBI's original background check. Seriously, I'd have bought Delfs as the Puppeteer if that was the case.

It gets 2 stars because the cast do what they can with the awful writing. And I liked that Zack tried to help Hodgins. Those are the only redeeming aspects of this episode.