It’s amazing that Bones has been on the air for ten seasons, reaching a milestone 200th episode! The tenth season of Bones starts off with a bang as a shocking series of events causes our favorite crime-solving team to lose one of their own and pour their hearts and souls into solving the murder. The season premiere also introduces a new partner for Booth (David Boreanaz), a junior agent named James Aubrey (John Boyd), which adds a fun new dynamic to the series.

If you are already familiar with the series, the tenth season gives more of the same—the usual blend interesting cases and character drama mixed with a touch of humor. As always, episodes start off with the gross reveal—this season bodies appear under a merry-go-round, in a sewer grate, in a tree trunk, and many more even-stranger places. Some of this season’s cases involve a body at a forensic science convention, the world of competitive mini-golf, the death of the TV celebrity chef and a possible Pelant copycat killer. The show’s milestone 200th episode is a fun technical 1950’s film-style tribute to Alfred Hitchcock where Booth and Bones take on the Carey Grant and Grace Kelly To Catch a Thief-type roles.

Some of the character drama this season finds Booth and Brennan clashing over child rearing techniques, and after Booth goes undercover as a high stakes gambler, some old gambling urges resurface, causing new issues for the couple; and Arastoo’s decision to make a risky return to Iran to see a dying relative puts others at the Jeffersonian in harm’s way. There are also a lot of lighter, fun moments this season, like Wendell and Hodgins trying to cover up breaking a clock and Brennan discovering Twitter.

When the season finale was being written, the series creators were still unsure if the show would be picked up for an eleventh season, so they decided to err on the side of caution and wrote the finale as a satisfying series finale. So there are a lot of big life-changing decisions made by the characters. I’m really interested to see how they follow this up in the eleventh season!

There is only a DVD release for the tenth season, even though the series originally aired in HD. However, the picture quality looks really good, and the audio track provides clear dialogue and a satisfying soundtrack. The bonus features are a little lean, but entertaining—there are two featurettes, four deleted scenes and and a gag reel.

If fans of the show can get over the initial character loss at the start of the season, I think they are in for a treat. I really liked the addition of the James Aubrey character as someone Booth can mentor on the job. He adds a fresh energy and new dynamic to the the investigations, and feels more realistic and relevant to the cases.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (988 min)

• All 22 Episodes of the tenth season:
  “The Conspiracy in the Corpse”, “The Lance to the Heart”, “The Purging of the Pundit”, “The Geek in the Guck”, “The Corpse at the Convention”, “The Lost Love in the Foreign Land”, “The Money Maker on the Merry-Go-Round”, “The Puzzler in the Pit”, “The Mutilation of the Master Manipulator”, “The 200th in the 10th”, “The Psychic in the Soup”, “The Teacher in the Books”, “The Baker in the Bits”, “The Putter in the Rough”, “The Eye in the Sky”, “The Big Beef at the Royal Diner”, “The Lost in the Found”, “The Verdict in the Victims”, “The Murder in the Middle East”, “The Woman in the Whirlpool”, “The Life in the Light”, “The Next in the Last”
• 480p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Surround Dolby Digital 2.0
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese
• Closed Captioned

Extras:

• Sweets’ Sweetest Moments (7:54)
  Executive producer/writer Stephen Nathan and the cast talk about the evolution of the character of Sweets, and some of their favorite scenes with that character. Includes interviews with cast members T.J. Thyne (“Dr. Jack Hodgins”), Tamara Taylor (“Dr. Camille Saroyan”), Emily Deschanel (“Dr. Temperance ‘Bones’ Brennan”), Michaela Conlin (“Angela Montenegro”), Eugene Byrd (“Dr. Clark Edison”), Michael Grant Terry (“Wendell Bray”).
• From Script to Screen: Creating the 200th Episode (10:20)
  A behind-the-scenes look at the milestone 200th episode of the series directed by David Boreanaz. Includes footage of 200th episode party, the cast giving their ideas for the 300th episode, and interviews with executive producer/writer Stephen Nathan, costume designer Robin West, editor Bill Lynch, and stars T.J. Thyne, Emily Deschanel, Michaela Conlin, Michael Grant Terry, John Boyd (“Special Agent James Aubrey”), Eugene Byrd and Tamara Taylor.
• Deleted Scenes (5:51)
  Four deleted scenes are spread across discs 4-6. Scenes are included for episodes 13, 15, 19 and 22.
• Gag Reel (7:11)
  Lots of fun with the cast flubbing/forgetting their lines, a montage of Aubrey eating, and musical montage of general fun and dancing on set.

Final Thoughts:

The tenth season of Bones gives fan another solid collection of 22 episodes, including the creative 200th episode which is a throwback to the technicolor films of the 1950s that pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock. While the season does lose a fan favorite character, it does add new character James Aubrey, who I really enjoyed. The audio/video presentation of the DVD is solid, and the discs contain a minimal but entertaining collection of bonus material.