Why Brennan's Pregnancy On Bones Split Fans
For Bones' Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz), it was always a matter of when they would get together, not if. Back when the show was still airing, fans eagerly awaited the break in their obvious romantic tension, but when it finally did happen, the series turned what may have been a beloved moment into a serious sore spot: After sleeping together one time, Brennan ends up pregnant.
Based around the conflicting partnership of anthropologist Brennan and FBI agent Booth, Bones tackles a different murder mystery each episode. For six seasons, fans wondered when the two leads would get together. It finally happens near the end of season 6, when they sleep together, resulting in a sudden pregnancy. The next season jumps ahead several months and we see Brennan and Booth in a relationship, eagerly awaiting the birth of their child.
While the 12-season series came to an end in 2017, and the cast has since moved on to other things, old fans are still rewatching it and new fans are still discovering it. This ongoing adoration inspires Reddit discussions, and Brennan's first pregnancy comes up again and again. Some fans liked how it played out, but most take serious issue with it, either because it rushed the much awaited Brennan and Booth relationship or because it reinforced negative stereotypes about women without children.
Where's the honeymoon phase for Bones and Booth?
While fans certainly had issues with multiple parts of Bones, including some of Booth's behavior, the shocking jump between season 6 and 7 is one of the most disappointing moments of the series. Brennan and Booth went from having slept together once to being in a full-fledged grownup relationship with a baby around the corner. In truth, real life impacted the show's plot, as Brennan's pregnancy was inspired by actor Deschanel's own IRL pregnancy. However, fans point out that other TV series have dealt with this same obstacle in more creative ways.
A few years after the series ended, Redditor u/skinnyjeanfreezone still isn't happy with the pregnancy and time skip. They posted in the Bones subreddit: "I know Emily Deschanel was pregnant in real life, but do we not get ANY of the story on how they got together, how she told everyone, how they fell in love?! I'm VERY frustrated!" Many fans share this frustration, lamenting that their relationship was rushed and the beginning parts were skipped over.
For u/WailingOctopus, Brennan having a baby and getting married didn't seem true to her character. However, a few fans liked how the pregnancy affected Brennan. For those fans, this was an important step in the typically cold and low-empathy Brennan's character growth. User Princesspoisonivey commented in a different thread: "I think it's interesting. You get to see Brennan grow as a person after becoming a mother."
While user u/bones-447 agreed that the transition between seasons 6 and 7 was disappointing, they ultimately liked how the pregnancy impacted the show: "For Brennan (my favourite character), s7-8 are about her getting strong enough to finally lose her last of her imperviousness, to be able to fully in love [sic] with Booth and her family."
But while these are the main complaints brought up in r/Bones, across Reddit people are discussing Brennan's pregnancy for a different reason.
Childfree viewers did not appreciate Brennan's sudden maternal turn
In episode 11 of season 1, a journalist asks the bestselling author Brennan, "What will you tell your kids about the horrors you see every day?" Brennan simply says that she's not going to have any children. "Really?" the reporter asks. "Yes, really," Brennan responds. Later in the episode, Booth gives Brennan feedback on her interview and says, "Never say you don't like children." Of course, Brennan never said that at all.
For anyone who's publicly chosen to not have children, the "Are you sure?" questioning and the assumption that they don't like children are both very familiar and very unwelcome. While the show might initially have been refuting these common misconceptions, its childfree fans were sorely disappointed when Brennan did what everyone insists childfree people will ultimately do: She changed her mind.
u/wyrdwoodwitch posted in the childfree subreddit about Bones: "I was warned. I should have heeded it ... I'd heard it got bad later on. I'd heard it got mired in too much relationship drama. I heard that Booth and Bones get married. I even heard that Bones started out childfree and eventually changed her mind. But I was NOT PREPARED for just how AWFUL this actually is."
Brennan actually first sheds her childfree ways in season 4, when, amidst a therapy word game, she suddenly announces she wants a baby: "I should have a progeny. It's selfish of me not to." When she tells her friends and coworkers, they're just as surprised as the fans. But while her friends eventually came around, the childfree fans of Bones never did.
Brennan alienated the show's childfree fanbase
While Brennan was once a role model to girls and women who had no interest in having children, her change of mind alienated those fans. Redditor u/tansypool commented on a childfree subreddit post, saying, "I remember looking up to Brennan a lot when I was about thirteen — strong, smart, independent, academic, didn't want kids. I also remember a relative saying to me when I was about fifteen — 'Oh, Bones changed her mind!' Like thank you, dear aunt I see about once a year, for going for an inconsistently written argument to make a teenager feel awkward about not wanting kids."
Meanwhile, u/tacopartyinyourmouth didn't think Brennan ever offered good representation of a childfree woman: "It's a show that compromises pretty much everything I hate about prime time television and has probably the worst characterization of a (formerly) child-free atheist. She is supposed to be intelligent, self-confident, and an empowered woman but the only way the screen writers seemed to think something like that would work is if she was also social inept and lacking empathy."
While many fans cringe at Booth throwing an expensive engagement ring into a pool, the depiction of Brennan as a low-empathy childfree woman-turned-happy-mother-of-two is what really leaves a sour taste in these fans' mouths.