LemurBean

The End in the Beginning – An Over-analysis
AKA
Invertebrate Zoology is boring.

Under the assumption that everything which happened and all that was said was not random, these are my thoughts.

Voiceover analysis

“People say that you only live once, but people are as wrong about that as they are about everything. In the darkest moments before dawn, a woman returns to her bed. What life is she leading? Is it the same life she was leading half an hour ago? A day ago? A year ago? Who is this man? Do they lead single lives, or a single life shared?”


The last part is obviously about Booth, Brennan and their symbiotic relationship. The day/year could be a reference to perhaps Critic, then Wannabe/Pain. The comment about “only one life to live” could be a direct reference to the fact that this is AU – Brennan and Booth are technically living a second life.

“A storm approaches. It’s still over the horizon, but there’s lightening in the air. Are either of them aware of the gathering turbulence? Can they feel the crackle of electricity in the wind? Or are they only aware of the power they generate between themselves? The first hint of the storm is not a thunderclap, but a knock.”

On the first level, this could be directly correlated to the AU storyline. “A storm” was approaching, the death of the man in the nightclub and the corresponding ramifications, for both Booth and Brennan. However, it could also be a metaphor for the Booth/Brennan relationship, the storm approaching being them finally becoming a romantic couple, while the “electricity” could be another word for the chemistry that it shared between them, that us as viewers see, while the “power” could represent what they see between themselves, the comfort and friendship and partnership they have currently in real life.

It could also be a rather intense sexual metaphor, but lets not go there, shall we?

“Violent death, murder, it sends out shockwaves. The closer you are to it, the greater the shock.”

This could be analysed on two levels. On the first and possibly most basic, is about the case in the AU world. Brennan and Booth, unused to murder cases, are close to the case in point (being owners of the club) and hence are feeling the shockwaves emanating from it. The second could be a reference to Pain in the Heart and the Gormogon arc. Both Booth and Brennan were very close to that case, and hence would have felt the brunt of the shockwaves radiating from it.

“If you love someone, you open yourself up to suffering. That is the sad truth. Maybe they’ll break your heart, or you’ll break their heart and you’ll never be able to look at yourself the same way. Those are the risks.”

This could be about Booth and Brennan. She is ready to take that risk, to open herself, to him (metaphorically!) and to take the risk of a broken heart – because she loves him and is suffering because he is not there with her when she needs him.

It could also be another reference to Pain in the Heart/Gormogon. Brennan loved Zack almost like a son, and he broke her heart by being in leagues with Gormogon. She opened her heart to him, by allowing him into her family and he betrayed her.

“You see two people, they belong together, but nothing happens. The thought of losing so much control over personal happiness is unbearable, like wings. They have weight. We feel that weight on our backs, but they are a burden that lifts us. Burdens that allow us to fly.”

Personally, I think the first line is a bit of a shout-out to the B&B shippers. We’re waiting, Hart, not patiently either. However, it is also, quite obviously, about Brennan and Booth. Although Booth coming into her life changed her, she feels it has changed her for the better. Her love for Booth (and it is love!) has given her a burden to carry, the burden of losing control, of losing her happiness because of him, but that burden has allowed her to fly, it’s allowed her to become someone different, someone better than who she was previously. By allowing Booth in, and him allowing her in, they have become better people.

References to other episodes

Con Man in the Meth Lab – “They bust up and you finally get a shot at her. That’s what you want, right?”

Season 4 as a whole – “Kind of a cold fish”

Yanks in the UK – “I’m English, we don’t use guns, we head butt people”

Man in the Cell – “Anyone touch it?” “Zack”

Aliens/Hero – Max about the cellphones: “Big Brother always knows where you are”

Gormogon – “…to use the word ‘gnaw’ so aggressively”

Pain in the Heart/Gormogon – “Some people think I’m Gormogon, I’m not”

Woman in the Garden – “Angry gangbanger in an alley”

Man in the Wall – “I’ve been here before”

Gravedigger/Hero/Thomas Vega in Aliens – “You tell the Gravedigger, unless he’s willing to kill me, it’s over. Oh. One more thing. If anything happens to my wife, it’s you I’m coming after”

Hero in the Hold – “You helped us, now please let us help you”

Critic in the Cabernet – The pregnancy thing

Hero in the Hold/Beaver in the Otter – (About Jared) “He’s going to walk”

Aliens in a Spaceship – “I told him if he doesn’t leave us alone, I’d kill him”

Pain/The Perfect Pieces – “You’re the type of moron who goes to jail for a murder he didn’t commit”

Perfect Pieces – “So you two conspired to keep this big secret from us?”

Booth and Brennan metaphors

“Why is it so difficult for your husband to see the ways of the world?”
“Because he wants me to be proud of him”

Booth wants Brennan to be proud of him in real life. He wants her to think of him as a good man – regardless of the ‘ways of the world’. Brennan’s opinion of him matters more to him than he is probably willing to admit.

“A storm approaches. It’s still over the horizon, but there’s lightening in the air. Are tiehr of them aware of the gathering turbulence? Can they feel the electricity in the air? Or are they only aware of the power they generate between themselves?”

Discussed previously, but this also asks whether either Brennan or Booth is fully aware of the love between them. Are they only seeing the power, or do they see the sparks ready to ignite?

“We’ll discuss it – since we’re partners”

A direct reference to real life B&B, who are partners in almost every sense of the word.

“People know the best way to hurt him…”
“…Is to hurt you”

This is true of both AU B&B and Real B&B. People have used this against them in the past, most noticeably in Hero in the Hold where the Gravedigger took Booth, specifically because he/she knew that Brennan would do anything to get him back. If this is Booth’s coma dream, then it could lead to something deeper. His fear of stepping over his line (Man in the Cell) could be popping up again. Perhaps, deep down, he feels that if he does not take that step, he doesn’t risk her in that way and is using that as an excuse.

“You don’t see it because you don’t use your head. You believe in what you can feel.”

Jared, Booth’s alter-ego (at least in my world..) is telling Booth that he’s not seeing what is right in front of him. We know from previous episodes that Booth has almost an inferiority complex, shown noticeably in Con Man in the Meth Lab and Science in the Physicist. He, perhaps, feels that he is not worthy of her love because he isn’t a perfect guy, he’s battered and he’s bruised and he’s been through a lot. However, Jared is saying that he should rely on his head, he should see his relationship with Brennan for what it is, true love, as opposed to always feeling that he could never do right by her and therefore should not take that chance.

It could also be non-AU-Booth trying to tell him that what he’s feeling isn’t right or true, that this isn’t actually a real reality.

“That’s what they do – drive wedges.”
“It wouldn’t be irrational to think I was having an affair.”
“I’d feel it. If the energy was bad between the two of us. I’d know. Same that you would know I couldn’t murder someone.”
“I believe you would murder someone for me, and I believe you would lie so I wouldn’t have to carry that burden.”

Booth – real or AU – would kill for Brennan, but he wouldn’t murder, a distinction that Booth grasps, but perhaps Brennan doesn’t yet. However, Booth still relies on his gut, and his gut is telling him that she is faithful to him. He trusts in that more than his head (quite rightly, if his head is producing cartoon babies out of thin air) and he trusts in Brennan.

“You would kill for me, I know that (then there was an explanation of what happened, which I didn’t quite catch). You would never do that. Jared is different”
“My brother killed a man to save my wife. What are we going to do?”

Brennan directly compares Jared and Booth. Like in Con Man, Booth comes out as the better man. He is the man with morals, regardless of the situation. Booth is the Booth that she wants to be with, that she regards more highly, while Jared sacrificed himself (metaphorically) to save both Booth and Brennan, Booth from having to murder someone and Brennan from being hurt. There is a parallel here to Hero in the Hold, where he also sacrificed himself to save the pair.

“If you love someone, you open yourself up to suffering. That’s the sad truth. Maybe they’ll break your heart, maybe you’ll break their heart and you’ll never be able to look at yourself the same way. Those are the risks.”

As described above, this is Brennan thinking about her relationship with Booth. Although there are risks, and high stakes and everything to lose, it is worth it because it’s love.

“You see two people, they belong together but nothing happens. The thought of losing so much control over personal happiness is unbearable, like wings. They have weight. We feel that weight on our backs, but they are a burden that lifts us. Burdens that allow us to fly.”

As discussed above, a direct discussion about Brennan’s relationship with Booth from her point of view. She has decided that losing control, and taking that risk and stepping over that line is worth it, because in return, she receives Booth’s love and gives her love in return, and metaphorically, regardless of the burden it entails, it allows them both to fly.

Discussion about Booth’s character

Jared, to me, was a Booth (trust me, this gets confusing, I never thought I’d say it, but too many Booths!). Through the entire episode, he affects Booth’s mannerisms, such as the hands on the hips. He even dresses like Booth. I thought this was shown most prominently in the scene at the diner. Jared looked like Booth would, while Booth looked…like AU Booth, with what were quite possibly, the ugliest shoes in existence. Jared even wore Booth’s cocky belt buckle, which led me to believe that we aren’t seeing Jared and Booth, we’re seeing two halves of Booth.

Jared represents Booth as he sees himself, as a cop and as a person, while Booth is who Booth, subconsciously wants to be. He is a free agent, with Brennan on his arm, who has nothing to do with death or destruction. He is successful, well-liked and respected, while keeping his moral integrity.

“You don’t see it because you don’t use your head. You think everything you feel is true” / “You need to grow up”

Jared, ie Booth as he sees himself, feels that Booth-as-he-wants-to-be needs to grow up. Booth cannot be a totally free agent, as he wants to be. He is still tied down by his more rational side and the part of him who is an agent and a Ranger, regardless of how much he wants to free himself from it. However, with that side comes his wisdom and his rationality. However, in Jared, he is also seeing the parts of himself that he doesn’t like, the working for the Gravedigger, withholding evidence and he’s beginning to believe that what he is sees himself as isn’t really what he’s like.

“I believe you would murder someone for me. And I believe you would lie about it so I wouldn’t have to carry that burden.”

“You would kill for me, I know that……you would not do that. Jared is different”

Booth has stated before that he has killed, never murdered. I believe, and I believe he believes that he would kill for Brennan if he had to. However, I also believe that Booth is worried that he may murder to prevent anything happening to his family (be it Jared, Parker or his squints) and he doesn’t like the side of himself that he currently is as much as he originally thought.

“You have helped us. Now please let us help you.”

Brennan is speaking to Jared as if Jared was one half of Booth, the part of Booth that Booth himself sees. Brennan wants to help him find himself, and to be at peace with who he is, which is a mix of the man he believes himself to be, the cop, the protector and the man who would do anything and everything to protect the people he loves, and the man with morals, and with a good heart who values human life over everything, even after the things he has seen.

“You see two people, they belong together, but nothing happens. The thought of losing so much control over personal happiness is unbearable, like wings. They have weight. We feel that weight on our backs, but they are a burden that lifts us. Burdens that allow us to fly.”

This is Brennan, about her and (real) Booth from her point of view. She feels that her love for Booth is a burden which impacts on her in ways she hadn’t realised previously. Booth is a good man, and has allowed her to become a better version of herself. He has introduced her to the world at large, and he has convinced her to love again, and especially to love him.