The Bones And Criminal Minds Crossover Fans Would Love To See
If you were a fan of criminal procedural TV shows in 2005, you likely spent every week of that holiday season glued to the screen with the weekly installments of what would become two of the most pivotal shows of the next decade. On September 13 of that year, Fox debuted their new series, "Bones," following the exploits of forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) of the Jeffersonian Institute as she consults with FBI Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) on murder cases. Brennan is one of the top minds in her field and flies all over the world identifying bodies for whoever needs her talents. She finds herself loaned out to the FBI when they have an unidentifiable body. While she initially resists the assignments, she ultimately comes to enjoy the work and develops a strong bond and relationship with Agent Booth.
About a week later, on September 22, CBS answered with their crime drama, "Criminal Minds," following the cases of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit as it assists local law enforcement in finding the country's most dangerous criminals. While there are some similarities between the two shows, one core aspect of the series is causing fans on Reddit to ask for a crossover of epic proportions. So, could a crossover between the shows actually work?
Temperance Brennan would identify the victims
Redditor u/ideayemugs posted a desire to see two similar characters from their respective shows — Temperance Brennan, aka Bones, and Dr. Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) from the BAU — working together. Their individual personalities and unmatched IQs within their own spheres offer rare opportunities to speak with others on their level.
Brennan's character was pulled from a series of novels by author Kathy Reichs, although the TV character is based more on the author herself than the book's character. TV Brennan is an author of crime novels, naming her character — you guessed it — Kathy Reichs. In a possible crossover, the BAU would pull her from the Jeffersonian and put her on the private jet with the BAU, whisking her away to a grisly crime scene where she would do her thing and identify the victim. She would, of course, communicate with her team back at the lab, sending them samples in a similar way to what she did in Season 1, Episode 4, "The Man in the Bear."
There would be two very compelling aspects to this episode. One, Brennan would almost definitely find Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore) attractive. Anthropologically speaking, he is a very high-value mate. The jealousy that Booth would feel (while denying it, of course) would be par for the course. And two, the flight to the crime scene would see Brennan bond with Reid over everything from mommy issues to intellectual superiority. It would be one of the first times in either series where the rest of the cast is out of the loop when references are dropped. But how would Reid fare at the Jeffersonian?
Spencer Reid would identify the killer
Let's face it, the team at the Jeffersonian identifies bodies of people long dead and helps Booth catch the culprit by finding the most minuscule clues. Booth is, at his core, a soldier. He is strong, determined, and unshakable. That isn't to say he isn't intelligent by any means, but his ability as an investigator comes from his street smarts and ability to read people.
The FBI loaning Dr. Reid out from the BAU in a situation where there are no minuscule clues and no leads to go on isn't far-fetched at all. For Booth, Reid would be one more "squint," a brainy agent who subscribes to psychological mumbo jumbo. However, it wouldn't be long before Reid would endear himself to the group, and Booth specifically by profiling the killer in ways they had never seen and using that profile to prevent further deaths.
This episode would be compelling for its own reasons. First, the "Squint Squad" is pretty territorial of Brennan. There's a good chance there will be a lot of resistance if they encounter another scientist who combines Brennan's intelligence with her fascination for law enforcement. Also, exposing Booth to things outside his comfort zone and seeing him squirm always makes for some of the best moments in the series.
What do the fans think?
At the end of the day, these are two similar shows with similar dynamics among their characters. Each features one character with very high intelligence who doesn't understand social cues due to their intellect taking everything logically, as well as another character on their respective team who bonds with them and tends to be the pop culture translator. Booth is to Brennan what Morgan is to Reid. But what do the fans say about the crossover?
Redditor u/craycrayswagger wrote, "This is the crossover I never knew I needed." u/mimmiiXio agreed with the sentiment by saying, "Yes!!! Now my life will be forever ruined unless we get a crossover. I can also accept a fanfiction." However, it isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Some fans have sounded off on their belief that Brennan's and Reid's intelligence levels would cause them to butt heads. They would likely take things too literally, constantly rubbing each other the wrong way.
On the other hand, u/spaceyvision chimed in with their viewpoint that their mutual respect would ultimately win the day. "Reid isn't the 'shrinkie' type that Brennan tends to dislike," they wrote. "He's very statistic and data-based, and I'm sure his various PhDs in chemistry, engineering, and mathematics would win some brownie points. Brennan's own qualifications would be impressive to him as well, of course, so I feel that they would enjoy speaking to each other as presumably intellectual equals (something they don't often get to do)."
With these two characters being the intellectual center of their respective teams, the conversations and back-and-forth banter would potentially make for some of the best dialogue either show would have seen throughout their seasons. Also, we shamelessly would love to see the alpha male-off between Agents Morgan and Booth as they come at a case differently. Given how both "Bones" and "Criminal Minds" have since been canceled, whom do we write a letter to make this happen?