ABONES, a darkly amusing procedural entering its sixth season, is inspired by real-life forensic anthropologist and novelist Kathy Reichs.
DR. TEMPERANCE BRENNAN (Emily Deschanel) is a highly skilled forensic anthropologist who works at the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington, D.C., and writes novels on the side. When the standard methods of identifying a body are useless (when the remains are so badly decomposed, burned or destroyed), law enforcement calls on Brennan for her uncanny ability to read clues left behind in the victim’s bones.
While most people can’t handle Brennan’s intelligence, her drive for the truth or the way she flings herself headlong into every investigation, SPECIAL AGENT SEELEY BOOTH (David Boreanaz) of the FBI’s Homicide Investigations Unit is an exception. A former Army sniper, Booth mistrusts science and scientists – the “squints,” as he calls them – who pore over the physical evidence of a crime. But even he cannot deny that the combination of his people-smarts and Brennan’s scientific acumen makes them a formidable duo.
Aside from Booth, Brennan is most comfortable with her equally brilliant colleagues at the Jeffersonian’s Medico-Legal Lab. ANGELA MONTENEGRO (Michaela Conlin), an artist who specializes in reconstructing facial features and crime scenes, is Brennan’s earthy and bawdy best friend; DR. JACK HODGINS (TJ Thyne), affectionately known as “the slime and bug guy,” is a conspiracy theorist and expert on insects, spores and minerals; and DR. CAMILLE “CAM” SAROYAN (Tamara Taylor), the street-smart and centered coroner, must wrangle all the geniuses under her purview. Lending his professional expertise to Brennan and Booth is DR. LANCE SWEETS (John Francis Daley), a brilliant young FBI psychologist who is equally adept at profiling murderers and providing impromptu therapy to his co-workers.
Last season, Booth revealed his true feelings to Brennan, who told him she was not able to reciprocate, so he decided he needed to move on. In the emotional season finale, Brennan, Booth and the team each decided to take on new challenges in their lives, with Brennan and Booth both leaving Washington, D.C., for life-changing experiences and vowing to reunite one year later.
As Season Six begins, Cam finds her job as a federal medical examiner and her reputation in danger due to the politics surrounding a stalled case involving the remains of a child on her pathology table. One by one, the team members come home in order to solve the mystery behind the child’s death and to preserve the reputation of one of their own. Also this season, Booth has moved on emotionally, as he told Brennan he needed to do, and has entered into a serious relationship with a war correspondent.
