The Guide to Thursday TV

Always a popular (if sometimes contentious) topic in my Ask Matt forum, Fox's Bones refutes any notion that its heart isn't in the right place in this week's ultimately touching episode (9/8c). Ralph Waite (forever Papa Walton to many of us, though nowadays better known as Jethro's dad on NCIS) makes a welcome return as Booth's grandfather, bearing some unwelcome news that has the very pregnant Bones (Emily Deschanel) wondering how best to reach out to a closed-off Booth (David Boreanaz, who's in especially fine form). "I should be able to help Booth, shouldn't I?" she frets to a sympathetic Angela. Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones and the uncomfortably swelling breasts, but Bones relaxes her guardedness enough to see her guy through an emotional rough patch that conjures up memories both bad and good. As for this week's case, which brings back Tina Majorino as gung-ho Agent Shaw — who'd do anything to impress Booth — let's just say it gives new meaning to the post office's "dead letter" operation. Piecing together this puzzle means putting together a body discovered in multiple shipping boxes — just another day on the job for the squints.

Source: The Guide to Thursday's TV at TV Guide
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