On the Season 8 finale of the Fox drama series Bones, evil tech genius Christopher Pelant (guest star Andrew Leeds) returns to toy with the Jeffersonian team, and this time Booth (David Boreanaz) is the target. A long-running problem for the team and Brennan (Emily Deschanel) for some time now, his return should make for quite an intense season finale, as he’s proven to be one of the most formidable villains on the show.
During this recent interview to discuss the end of the season, actress Emily Deschanel talked about just how close to home things will get in the finale, how far Brennan is willing to go to keep those she loves safe, what Brennan’s mind-set is at this point, that there will be some closure with the Pelant story but it will continue next season, and where Pelant ranks among the villains that they’ve had to go up against, throughout the seasons. Check out what she had to say after the jump, and be aware that there are some spoilers.
Question: What can you tease about the return of Christopher Pelant, and the fact that he’ll be using Booth to target Brennan?
EMILY DESCHANEL: Obviously, the last time we saw him, Booth had injured him. He shot him. So, at this point, Pelant has set his sights on Booth, it seems. Last season, he seemed to be targeting Brennan, so it appears that he’s targeting Booth now. In fact, the body that we discover, Booth knew the victim. It’s very close to home, involving the FBI and a case Booth is involved with, so it feels like it’s very targeted towards Booth and, of course, that’s terrifying to Brennan because she realizes that Pelant could get him and that Booth is in danger. Pelant hasn’t gotten to any of us yet, on the team. He hasn’t really hurt us. But, he’s really taking it up a notch, and you’ll see how he affects their lives.
How far do you think Brennan is capable of going, to keep those that she really loves safe?
DESCHANEL: I think Brennan is willing to go farther than she’s ever gone, to protect somebody that she loves, and there are really no bounds to her protection. You saw that she’s willing to go pretty far to save someone that she loves, and now she’ll do the same for other people that she loves, to protect them and to protect her life with them. I’ll leave it at that.
Brennan has had so much going for her, emotionally, this season. What do you think about her mind-set, going into the finale, especially when Pelant is attacking again?
DESCHANEL: It’s scary. They thought that they were going to lose one of their own already, with Arastoo, and Pelant is scary. He’s somebody who is brilliant. Maybe Brennan’s a little bit smarter than him, but it’s hard to say. She hasn’t seen somebody quite as terrifying and challenging as him, targeting them. She’s been raising her child with Booth. There are so many things that have happened, in the last two years, and they don’t really have a moment to think about their lives and their relationships. You see Booth and Brennan get together. They get pregnant right away, and then have to raise a child together. And Brennan has always been this person who said, “I’ll never have children. I’m not going to get married. I’m not interested in that.” She’s not forced to really examine her life or her relationships. So, when this happens with Pelant, it really forces her to look at her life, herself, her relationships, her feelings, and why she feels certain ways about certain things. It makes her questions some of her core beliefs. It’s a very pivotal time for her.
This season has shown a lot of personal growth with Brennan, where she’s been gaining a bit more self-awareness. How do you think these developments strengthen her, and how do you think it makes her more compatible with Booth?
DESCHANEL: I think becoming self-aware, no matter who you are, is always a positive thing. To Brennan, it may have seemed like a weakness to be more vulnerable and open, but now, hopefully, she’s realized that it actually can be a strength and that it can make her stronger for having opened up and shown some vulnerability and admitted that she’s not always made of steel. It can only help a relationship when someone opens up more and becomes self-aware, so I think it definitely benefits their relationship. It’s also a wonderful thing for somebody to try to change themselves to help their relationship and themselves. Just the fact that she’s even trying to do that is a great thing, and hopefully Booth sees that and appreciates it.
Given how personal this case is for the entire team, what can you say about what goes on at the Jeffersonian in the season finale?
DESCHANEL: We may see multiple victims from Pelant. It actually feels more targeted toward the FBI than the Jeffersonian, but we’re partners with the FBI, and Booth is Brennan’s partner in life and in their work. So, it feels personal, even though nobody seems to be specifically targeted at the Jeffersonian. It’s really the FBI. But, we are working feverishly to solve this case, to find Pelant, to stop him however possible, and to figure out what he’s doing because he always has a hidden agenda, as we’ve learned. He’s not just killing some person at random. There’s a reason he’s chosen the victims that he’s chosen. There's a reason he’s killed them, in the way he has, and there’s a meaning behind it. It affects not only Booth at the FBI, but it affects Sweets. Pelant has taken information that he’s learned from Sweets and is toying with him, as well, while he’s on this killing rampage. So, Pelant may be involving other people in his plot. We’re trying to investigate and figure out how he’s doing it, so it gets scary when he’s probably recruiting other people to do work for him.
After two seasons, are viewers going to get closure on the Pelant storyline, or is there a chance that he might come back next season?
DESCHANEL: There will be some closure, but the story is definitely ongoing. That’s a tricky answer, but I don’t know how better to answer it. The story continues into next season. That’s not to say that we haven’t captured him, in some way, by the end of this season, but with Pelant, it’s never as simple as we think, as we’ve learned. He’s changed his complete identity. He’s very tricky. He’s very wily, in his ways. So, the story does continue with Pelant into Season 9.
Where does Pelant rank among the villains that you guys have faced off with, over the years?
DESCHANEL: I don’t know. I find him terrifying, with that calm, steely way about him. You’d think his nerdiness would make it less scary, but it makes it more scary. And if you know the guy who plays him, Andrew Leeds, he is the friendliest, sweetest person, so it’s just really strange. But, you have this brilliant person who’s able to really get around the law, in so many different ways, whether it’s getting out of an ankle bracelet, or finding ways around not being able to use computers, or changing his name and identity and DNA records, so that he is known as a completely different person. That is so terrifying and so brilliant that I think I’d have to rank him as the number one, for serial killers. The Grave Digger was terrifying. Brennan and Hodgins being buried alive was pretty terrifying. And Gormogon was very scary. But, I rank Pelant as number one, right now. Hopefully, we keep building upon things and make them scarier and scarier, if we have more serial killers.
Bones airs on Monday nights on Fox.
