One Of Bones' Biggest Episodes Was Ultimately An Homage To Alfred Hitchcock
You probably know the premise of "Bones." Set in Washington DC, forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and FBI agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) solve murders by studying the mortal remains of the victims. Or do they?
For the show's 200th episode, "The 200th in the 10th" (season 10, episode 10, aired in 2014), the team decided to do something totally different (and non-canon). In this episode, the show moves to 1950s Los Angeles, where Brennan is an LAPD detective pursuing Booth, a jewel thief. At his latest robbery, Booth finds a burnt skeleton while safecracking and is immediately labeled as suspect No. 1 of the murder. Brennan, knowing it's not Booth's MO, recruits her quarry to solve this new case together. Hey, after 10 seasons, a show has earned the right to swing for the fences!
"The 200th in the 10th" is made in the style of Old Hollywood thrillers, especially Alfred Hitchcock's 1950s technicolor noir films. From the stylized text on the title card and cast credits, rear projection during the driving scenes, and a brighter color palette, the episode sells the illusion that it could've been made in the year it is set. If there's a specific movie being homaged, it's 1955's "To Catch A Thief." Cary Grant plays John Robie, a retired cat burglar framed for a new string of robberies. While trying to clear his name, he romances the heiress Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly).
So, does Brennan and Booth's chemistry match that of Hitchcock's greatest star and starlet?
Bones does Hitchcock
Boreanaz, who directed "The 200th in the 10th", rejects the idea of the episode only being a Hitchcock homage. As he told interviewers at the time, he didn't review any Hitchcock films before shooting, nor did he try to emulate the director's filming style (there are no "Vertigo" dolly zooms, for instance).
The episode's writer, Stephen Nathan, was more enthusiastic about the comparison in an interview with Collider; he names not only "To Catch A Thief," but also "The Man Who Knew Too Much," "Notorious," and "North by Northwest" as influences. Indeed, there's a scene pulled right from "North by Northwest" when Booth is getting information from Aubrey (John Boyd), only for the latter to be stabbed in the back mid-sentence. Booth pulls the bloody knife out and the crowd assumes he's the murderer.
Then there's the musical score. Many of Hitchcock's Hollywood films were scored by Bernard Herrmann, with grand, sweeping orchestral compositions. "Bones" composer Sean Callery had to throw out his playbook. "This is the equivalent of a complete rebooting of the series, almost like we were doing a pilot episode," he told The Hollywood Reporter.
The episode opens with Booth entering a mansion for a heist, while Brennan follows behind him. There's no dialogue, but the score is timed to accentuate the mood; like a true Bernard Herrmann composition, the score is no background player. To get the sound right, Callery had to supplement his electronic composing with a real orchestra: "I lobbied very strongly to at least get a string section to play the score for the episode, and I was lucky enough that Fox found the resources so we were able to get about 20 instruments."
A romantic thriller mystery worthy of Hitchcock
Still, why "Bones" and Hitchcock? The master of suspense made some murder mysteries, sure, but what's the connection here? Nathan tells Collider: "Coming up with this, conceptually, we wanted to go back to something that was classic because, after ten years, we're moving into the classic category. Not many shows last for 200 episodes."
Nathan adds that the homage was a chance to underline "the romantic nature of the show." By season 10 of "Bones", the romantic tension between Brennan and Booth was an actual romance. This episode resets their characters and throws them into a romantic thriller. Even in season 1, their snappy banter felt like an old Hollywood romance, so why not embrace that?
Despite his love for Hitchcock, Nathan affirmed that his goal with his script was a great "Bones" episode, not winking to the Master of Suspense — he complimented Boreanaz's direction for not using homage as a crutch.
"What we didn't want to do, and hopefully we avoided, was an episode that was just a wink and a nod to [Hitchcock's films], and that had to rely on costumes and props and cars. What we tried to do was do another great 'Bones' mystery. It's a mystery and story that exists and was sustained on its own merits, and it was cloaked in this style."
He added that the leads are "essentially the same people" too, despite their different occupations. "Booth is still this honorable man who has been through the war and who is trying to right wrongs. Brennan is somebody who is stubbornly holding onto a set of beliefs that no one can shake from her, and she will be proven right, in the end."
"The 200th in the 10th" is "Bones" first, Hitchcock second.