Spoiler warning for anyone who hasn't seen the Season 12 premiere for Bones.
Bones kicked off Season 12 tonight, meaning 2017 is starting off both very exciting and kind of depressing for longtime fans, since this is also the Fox drama's final season. But rather than solely pushing a new story forward, the premiere was a solid wrap-up to not only Bones' last season finale and the Puppeteer mystery, but also other storylines. (Which is exactly what the show's creative team wanted to do with this last leg of the series.) Things got pretty crazy and ridiculous, and here are the biggest shocks that "The Hope in the Horror" delivered to viewers.
The Puppeteer's Identity
Last year introduced the Puppeteer, who logically serves as Bones's final serial killer, since he was quite fond of skeletons himself. Everyone thought the killer was returning character Zack, except for Brennan, at least until the point when all the evidence was pulled together (including a newly discovered fourth victim) and even Brennan and Zack himself thought it was Zack, committing the crimes via blackouts and a separate identity. Which, of course, is when Booth decided to be skeptical about it, and it was revealed in the final minutes that the Puppeteer was actually Zack's physician, Dr. Roshan. (Dum-dum-dummm.) Ravi Kapoor's Dr. Roshan would have killed Zack, too, if it weren't for those meddling anthropologists.
Hodgins' Legs Aren't Really Getting Better
When the episode started with Hodgins having such a hardcore stance for Zack being the killer (and all the other bad things) that everyone thinks he is, it was clear that would head down an interesting story path. And it definitely did, as it was revealed Zack's outside-the-psych-hospital duties included checking up on his former colleagues' emails, as well as creating the false persona of the world-renowned neurologist keeping optimism alive that Hodgins will regain feeling in his legs. And while it initially seemed like a good thing, causing Hodgins to be nice to Zack again, the accused killer then revealed that there is very limited hope. That's a bummer that was kind of more realistic than anything else.
The Return of Karen Delfs
Okay, so maybe this wasn't the biggest shock, since Sara Rue's behavioral analyst Karen Delfs did return last season in regards to the Puppeteer plotline, but it turns out she might be here for good, and she isn't back on the most honest of terms. Karen arrives with a story about why she left her gig in Kansas City, but it's revealed later in the episode that her supervisor had a different tale. But it was one that we didn't get to hear, because he couldn't "legally" comment on it. And it seemed like we might find out when Brennan was paranoid Karen was the killer, but that fell through. All red herrings, or is something else coming?
With new directions on the way for Brennan and for Booth as this twelfth and final season really gets underway, Bones airs on Fox every Tuesday night. Head to our midseason premiere schedule to see all the other shows you have been and will be following for years to come.
