One of the perks to working at CliqueClack, which is a pretty giant perk, is getting DVDs to review, and it’s an especially big perk when the DVD in question is the newly released fifth season of Bones, which is a pretty great season full of pretty great episodes. (Think — the Gravedigger trial, the famous 100th episode, that season finale, just to name the biggest ones.)
As far as I can tell, there are exactly two things wrong with this DVD set. One, there are only two commentaries (the finale with Hart Hanson and Stephen Nathan, the two showrunners, and some of the cast comment on “The Proof in the Pudding”). Two, the packaging is a pain in the butt. It’s nice that it can all fit in a normal-sized DVD case, but the listing of which episode is on which disc is hidden on the back of the cover, which is covered up by the first disc, so you have to take it out every time you want to see if you should put in disc 4 or disc 5. Would a little paper insert that clipped in have been so hard?
That aside, there’s plenty to keep avid Bones fans excited. There’s a look into the 100th episode being directed by David Boreanz, there are extended cuts and deleted scenes, there’s the classic blooper reel, and there are two small featurettes — one on learning how to use nunchucks (a stunt that appeared in “The Devil in the Details”), and one on how the make the corpses, which is something I’ve always wondered about. I should warn you — the corpses featurette is delightfully gross. I watched it on a day where I’d already spent the morning dry-heaving, and it nearly made me restart all over again. If you are faint of heart, weak of stomach, or the kind of person who doesn’t actually remove their hands from their eyes until the body is de-fleshed every week (like me), don’t watch this. And do not say I didn’t warn you.
Bones fans are generally of two minds about Season 5. There are those who loved it (like me) and those who became utterly disenchanted with it (like Ivey — there’s a reason I took over reviews). If you, like me, fall in the loving it camp, this DVD set is absolutely something that should go on your Christmas/Hannukah/non-denominational gift-giving holiday of choice list. Or better yet, you should just splurge and get it right now.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to re-re-re-re-rewatch the 100th episode and make some suspicious choking and sobbing noises into my pillow. Again.
(Disclaimer: This review is based on a gratis promotional copy of the respective DVD set, provided by the distributor.)
Clacked by Julia Hass 
on Nov 02, 2010 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
