Emily Deschanel Previews Bones Season Finale: Pelant’s Return, Brennan’s Confidence Shaken

Bones will air its final episode of the season this Monday April 29 with “The Secret in the Siege,” an episode which sees the return of persistent serial killer Christopher Pelant (guest star Andrew Leeds).

Emily Deschanel sat down with ScreenSpy and assembled Press today to discuss the final episode of the season, and how Pelant’s terrifying return will shake Brennan’s core beliefs concerning her relationship with Booth in one of the season’s most personal cases yet.

“In this episode Pelant returns!” says Deschanel. “The last time we saw him Booth had injured him. This time Pelant has set his sights on Booth. The bodies that we discover – Booth knew the victims. It’s very close to home involving the FBI and a case Booth was involved with. So it feels like it’s very targeted towards Booth, and of course that’s terrifying to Brennan because she realizes that Pelant could get him and that Booth is in danger. Pelant hasn’t gotten to any of us yet on the team. He hasn’t really hurt us but he’s really taking it up a notch this episode and you’ll see how he affects their lives.”

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Sources have teased that the finale will see Brennan (Deschanel) ‘re-evaluating’ her relationship with Booth (David Boreanaz), a concept that leaves many fans anxious for the couple headed into a ninth and possibly final season. Although Deschanel doesn’t admit to a season 7 finale style split, she does provide insight into Brennan’s mindset, and why things may not be so straight-forward for the couple going forward.

“Pelant’s intense presence, his targeting Booth and the possibility of [Booth] being in danger, and even the concept of living without him, kind of brings things to the forefront for Brennan when she thinks about Booth and Brennan’s relationship,” explains Deschanel.

“Pelant is scary. He’s somebody who’s brilliant. Maybe Brennan’s a little bit smarter than him. It’s hard to say, but she hasn’t faced someone quite as terrifying and challenging as him before. It’s pretty scary. There are so many things that have happened in the last two years. They don’t really have a moment to think about their lives and their relationship. They got together and got pregnant right away!” she laughs. “Then they have to raise a child together. Brennan’s always been this person who said ‘I’m never going to have children. I’m not going to get married. I’m not interested in that.’ She’s not forced to really examine her life and her relationship in that way. So when this happens with Pelant it really forces her to look at her life, her self and her relationship and her feelings, and why she feels certain ways about certain things. It makes her question some of her core beliefs. It’s a very pivotal time for her.”

Monday’s episode will see Pelant providing macabre clues to a string of murders tied to FBI agents close to Booth.

Brennan (Emily Deschanel, L) worries about Booth (David Boreanaz, R) in “The Secret in the Siege.”  ©2013 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Beth Dubber/FOX

“We see multiple victims in this episode from Pelant,” Deschanel confirms. “[Pelant] always has a hidden agenda as we’ve learned. He’s not just killing some person at random. There’s a reason he’s chosen the victims he’s chosen. There’s a reason he’s killed them in the way he has and there’s a meaning behind it. It affects not only Booth at the FBI. It affects Sweets as well. Pelant has taken information that he’s learned from Sweets and is toying with him while he’s on this killing rampage. Pelant may in this instance be involving other people in his plot. We’re trying to investigate and figure out how he’s doing it. It gets scary when he’s possibly recruiting other people to do work for him.”

With Pelant ramping up his efforts to hurt those he feels have wronged him, will his storyline wrap up anytime soon?

“There will be some closure but the story is definitely ongoing.” She laughs. “I know that’s a tricky answer, but I don’t know how better to answer it. The story continues into next season. That’s not to say we haven’t captured him in some way by the end of this season but with Pelant it’s never as simple as we think. He’s very tricky. He’s wily in his ways,” she muses, going on to admit that she feels Pelant is the show’s number one villain to date.

“I find him terrifying in his calm steely way,” she admits. “You would think his nerdiness would make him less scary but I think it makes it more scary. If you met the guy who plays him, Andrew Leeds, he’s just the friendliest sweetest person, so it’s just really strange. Some of the actors had never met him. I ran into him and Tamara Taylor who plays Cam said ‘Oh my Gosh. He’s so different from his character!’ She had no idea. She had only ever seen him on screen. I thought it was very interesting,” she laughs.

“I think we’ve gotten better and better with our serial killers, which sounds like such a silly thing to say but to me, I think it’s more terrifying when you have this brilliant person who is able to really get around the law in so many different ways – whether it’s getting out of an ankle bracelet or finding ways around not being able to use computers and changing his name and identity and DNA records so that he can be known as a completely different person – that is so terrifying and so brilliant that I think I’d have to rank him as the number one serial killer. I rank Pelant as number one right now.”

However formidable Pelant is, the Jeffersonians – and Brennan in particular – will not go down without a fight. “As you will see in this upcoming episode, Brennan will go is willing to go further than she’s ever gone to protect someone that she loves,” teases Deschanel. “There are no bounds. She’s willing to go pretty far to protect the people that she loves.”

Don’t miss Bones’ season finale episode “The Secret in the Siege” Monday April 29 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

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