'Bones' rebounds from last week's confusing return with a much more solid turn. Plus, Tina Majorino!

After last week’s reimagining of the birth of Christ-ine Brennan, Bones returns after the titular character takes a maternity leave – when was the last time a workplace drama didn’t time jump for a lead’s maternity leave? I’m not sure if most people were as turned off by Bones’ return last week, but “Bump in the Road” was a return to the more trustworthy formula that Bones has employed most of this shortened season.

Between Finn and Michelle’s relationship and the new parent’s shenanigans with Booth and Brennan, there is little that I didn’t appreciate more about this episode than I did last week’s installment. But instead of focusing on the more time-consuming plotlines, I’d much rather focus on an addition that consumed only a very few of the scenes that made up this episode.

Bones needs more Tina Majorino. This isn’t a new opinion of mine, but the return of Special Agent Shaw represents another opportunity to wax rhapsodic on how much of a great addition she’d make to the show. I’ll stay far away from telling you how great Majorino is (because if I have to tell you, I’m wasting my time). But this show has spent seven years – albeit slowly – expanding the universe of the Jeffersonian, but we’ve seen very little expansion of the law enforcement side of the crime fighting team.

I’m not ignoring Caroline Julian and Dr. Sweets. In fact, I’m bemoaning the decreasing screen time of the former, and the special agent-ification of the latter. I love Caroline and her special brand of “brutally honest,” though I recognize that she can’t be in every episode. And I love Sweets too, but his personality is much more representative of the Jeffersonian than the FBI. And while I didn’t have a big opinion about his being issued a sidearm at the time, it has become increasingly illogical to me in the meantime.

But Shaw is a Special Agent who has completed more than just some simple firearm training. She’s obviously beyond capable, but the utility of her character goes beyond that. At some point, Bones might find that they’ve run out of crazy experiments to show in the lab – especially when no one stakes their claim on “King of the Lab” when the task is complete. When that happens, even a slightly larger focus on the FBI side of the equation will be a welcome relief.

Notes & Quotes

“I told the [day care] director to send a photo every half an hour.” – Brennan

“Wow, I didn’t know they did that.” – Cam

“They don’t, usually, but I told her because of my position I could have her fired.” – Brennan

“Wow, I didn’t know they did that.” – Cam “They don’t, usually, but I told her because of my position I could have her fired.” – Brennan “This lady was dragged along the highway for quite a space. I’ve seen this before.” – Finn

“Really? A lot?” – Hodgins

“On the bones of a deer that was snagged by a pickup and dragged a few miles.” – Finn

“I miss so much growing up in the city.” – Hodgins

“Really? A lot?” – Hodgins “On the bones of a deer that was snagged by a pickup and dragged a few miles.” – Finn “I miss so much growing up in the city.” – Hodgins OK, I get that the squinterns are uber-smart, but Finn being able to determine what type of motor oil was found on the victim by looking/feeling/smelling it was a bit much.

“I didn’t kill anyone, I just like to look pretty” might just qualify as the weirdest line of the night.

Kind of think you recognize Chad? Yep, that’s Grey’s Anatomy intern Steve Mostow.

“[Looking at a picture of baby Christine] Awww, she’s cuter than a june bug in a jumpsuit.” – Finn

“I’ve never seen that so I can’t make the comparison.” – Brennan

Photo Credit: FOX