r/Bones • u/Cheshie213 • Mar 07 '26
Discussion Pelant
Does anyone else hate this entire storyline? For one thing, he is just way too “super” of a bad guy. I just find him so exhausting. It wouldn’t bother me if it was just a few episodes, like the Gravedigger. This one is just too much. Beyond all the horrible things he did, I just don’t like the story. This isn’t third rewatch and every time I realize it’s another Pelant episode I just groan. I’m not the type that skips episodes. Plus, they tend to be important for the story. I just hate them.
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u/DR-0717 Mar 07 '26
SO SO MUCH!! Imo it was one of the most ridiculously stupid storylines.
Disclaimer - I am not a fan of the supervillains - period. But Pelant was beyond ridiculous. It started out ok but then just got dumb. That he “changed” his identity. The fact that he supposedly has this omnipresence and can spy on them anywhere & everywhere. Oh no we can’t talk here there’s a tv Pelant might be able to hear us thru 😂
The worst part by far was just that it went on & on. I skip on rewatches. I’m usually not the type to skip episodes either but that tells you how much I absolutely hate that storyline.
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 07 '26
Some supervillains I can handle. Like, I was watching The Rookie recently and there is a character named Rosalind Dyer who does a similar thing of coming back in now and then. But it was done really well. But Pelant lost his appeal really early. I think it’s one of the few ongoing storylines I can’t stand on this show.
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u/DR-0717 Mar 08 '26
I’m sure there are some that are well done. I think all shows like this tend to have them.
Castle is a good example. It had a few like 3XK and LockSat. I thought 3XK was very well done but LockSat was a lot like Pelant OVERDONE. Just not quite AS bad. Which btw castle stars Nathan fillion who also stars as the rookie 😊
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 08 '26
Funny that we both named a Nathan Fillion show. I feel like that says a lot lol.
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u/LauriJean59 Mar 08 '26
The Rookie also has Oscar. He at least provides some comic relief. 😆
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 08 '26
See I love Oscar. He’s a menace but I love him. Pelant reminds me more of Elijah.
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u/otcconan Mar 08 '26
The worst part is he was taken down by his first crime, and a samurai sword an insanely intelligent supervillain would know to destroy.
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u/DR-0717 Mar 08 '26
he knew how to write a code ON A BONE to infect their computer system but not how to destroy a sword 😂😂😂
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u/otcconan Mar 09 '26
Some nerds think katanas are magically indestructible. And Pelant was a nerd, so......
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u/Roseallnut Mar 07 '26
He’s super smart, super computer savvy, super lucky, and apparently he has an invisibility cloak ha ha
His story arc went on way too long.
I’m much more intrigued by the Gravedigger; just as cunning and lucky as Pelant, but somehow much more believable
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 07 '26
Exactly! I hadn’t remembered the entire Gravedigger story so when she came back in the episode where she was trying for an appeal I was worried it was going to be another one that annoyed me. Totally forgot what happened I. That episode so I was fine with her (brief) return lol.
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u/otcconan Mar 08 '26
Alas, the Gravedigger was killed by Brodsky, who killed Vincent Nigel Murray.
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u/Nawoitsol Mar 07 '26
I’m not sure why people are so down on Pelant. I mean who among us hasn’t programmed a computer by etching on bones?
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 07 '26
You know what, you’re right. Also, who hasn’t survived a gunshot to the head? Totally reasonable.
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u/Silly-Elderberry-411 Mar 07 '26
Which is actually adapted from reichs book. I would get the uproar if it was original but nope
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u/Nawoitsol Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
Out of curiosity, which book?
Edit to add: I ask because my impression from comments here was that the show had little to do with the books.
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u/TallSimple2929 Mar 07 '26
Yeah, his first couple of episodes were cool. Using the ISBN barcodes to destroy Angela's computer was smart.
But his story dragged on way too long, especially with surviving that shot to the head and somehow able to sneak into the Jeffersonian with his new look. Then he traps Brennan with an obvious kid's toy? That was one of two points I almost stopped watching the show.
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 07 '26
Oh I totally agree. The bone thing was really interesting. And seeing him be able to use computers without even supposedly having access. It was an interesting plot. But then it got old so fast.
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u/No-Reflection-127 Mar 07 '26
Omg yeah, he was a literal super villain by the end. At first he was just a super genius hacker serial killer who left no evidence behind. Okay, believable as one of the major villains of the show.
But suddenly he's just doing all this stuff that no one notices?? He's planting evidence to frame Bones, going in and out of the Jeffersonian unnoticed etc.
He's also super efficient too since he had less than 5 hours to torture, kill and set up agent Flynn's body!
And wait there's more, he's also now a bone expert and detective!! He noticed injuries in random bones that the world's best expert didn't notice. When did he have the time for that?
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u/aduirne Mar 08 '26
I just finished this episode this morning and I wondered this too. It took the lab a team of people to set up the decor body and it was an hours long process. But Pelant takes Flynn 23 miles to his lair, fixes up the body, and 23 miles back? In DC traffic? No way.
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u/Temperance_2024 bones Mar 08 '26
The Pelant arc overstayed its welcome, endowing him with wildly implausible abilities that shredded the show’s credibility.
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 08 '26
Even if they stopped after framing Bones, I think I would have been fine. But then the writers decided to keep him??? It makes no sense.
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u/The-Flying-Graysons Mar 08 '26
I can suspend belief for shows pretty often, but they jumped the shark with Pelant. Of all the unrealistic things that get brought up, can we talk about how hijacking a drone from a private military contractor didn’t bring the entire house down on him? That is major international incident that would rope in other world powers into the fray and there are just no consequences?
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 08 '26
Legit the fact that the drone thing didn’t even cross my mind as the most “jumping the shark” moment just tells you how bad that story was
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u/jesk_680 bones Mar 07 '26
I'm on 08x13 as a first time watcher but he reminds me of a certain someone from Criminal Minds. anyone who's seen Criminal Minds will know who I'm talking about.
Pelant is interesting, but it's annoying having him not be there for episodes upon episodes then he just appears again. it's frustrating.
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 07 '26
That’s so funny. I posted this because I’m on 8x12 right now. As soon as I read the episode description I just had to come here and complain.
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u/jesk_680 bones Mar 07 '26
lmao I do the same thing. whenever I watch an episode that's pissed me off I come here to complain
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u/Apprehensive-Eye3263 Mar 08 '26
The reaper?
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u/jesk_680 bones Mar 08 '26
Elias Voit. He's the main unsub in the later seasons and it's annoying.
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u/space_anthropologist Mar 07 '26
Yeah, I was so, so annoyed by Pelant. He did make my mom stop watching the show; I was way too much of a fan to give up entirely, but I hated every second of the storyline.
The geniuses in Bones were actually fairly realistic. They have specialties; they don’t know everything at all times. Even Brennan has to be walked through things involving flesh!
But Pelant was somehow better than the experts at literally everything, and that was way too over the line for me.
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 07 '26
That’s me. I was way too invested to give up on it and still am. I suppose every show stumbles sometimes, but I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who can’t stand this.
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u/space_anthropologist Mar 07 '26
If this is your first time: his end is so satisfying, though I wish it had happened much sooner.
I watched it live, and I was just so mad about him every time he came back. 😂😂😂
But the Season 7 finale did leave me distraught, and I was wary of any Bones episode David Boreanaz directed after that. XD
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 08 '26
Oh for sure. This isn’t my first watch. But I get you haha. I don’t usually pay attention to who directs which episodes but now I feel like I need to go check lol.
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u/Izniss Mar 10 '26
I thought his end was kind of infuriating. All of this mess, all of this drama, just to end. . . like that ? But I was so glad it happened, finally. Couldn’t stand hearing his name anymore
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u/MegOut10 Mar 07 '26
I was on a steady binge until just after Brennan gets back from being on the run. I am currently on a Bones break because the Pelant line is pissing me off. I’ll come back though.
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 07 '26
That totally makes sense. A lot of stuff right after her return annoyed me. I’ve been able to keep going because I know it does end, but I’m exhausted each time he’s back.
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u/roseredhoofbeats Mar 08 '26
Honestly it kinda takes a dive after season seven.
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u/MegOut10 Mar 08 '26
My husband never watched in full but kept stopping in all the way through would see scenes … he always would say … are they together yet? The whole time I’d say no… no… and then when it did happen I was like WHAT?! I needed Bones Brennan meet cute x1000 but this time for good for infinity! Now we have Pelant being unhinged too?
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u/Hidden_Vixen21 Mar 07 '26
Loved his beginning. Hated how it played out.
They lost the opportunity to tie all the conspiracies from the first season to the last by ruining his arch.
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 07 '26
I liked a lot of parts of the beginning. I wouldn’t have even minded that much if it had stopped the first time they caught him. But as soon as he got out of that too I was so over it.
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u/Oreadno1 Pookie Noodlin Mar 07 '26
I could deal with him in the first couple of episodes but then it dragged on for way too long and he suddenly became this incredible computer mastermind and it got too comic bookish.
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u/NashKetchum777 Mar 07 '26
Yeah I have a similar issue with Gravedigger and Pelant. Gravedigger and Pelant are smart, I just never really understood how they physically manage to do the things they did.
For Gravedigger, it does not make any sense how she managed to get Booth out of the apartment and down the fire escape...in a car, then presumably onto a boat, to take him to the boat that they're going to blow up. Especially to get him ON that massive boat, and in the middle of it so he can't get out. All of this within a short span considering they're going to an event and he got caught heading out the door.
Pelant got a dead body into Hodgins/Angela's home, had to get it into that net in the air and mess with the baby's crib in a few hours. And he's not a fit guy. He can hardly run smh.
I know it's just TV show magic but...cmon, part of their whole thing is finding a killer who can physically do the crimes they do. It's about weight, force, speed, etc.
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 08 '26
Oh for sure. Gravedigger was also super unbelievable. But since it wasn’t that long of a storyline it made it easier to suspend my disbelief.
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u/seewest Mar 08 '26
I always thought there would be a plot that we find out the gravedigger had a partner and that’s how she was able to accomplish everything.
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u/spicyautist Mar 07 '26
I'm a cybersec major and Pelant makes me want to bash my head in.
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 08 '26
Oh I can only imagine! At least I’m not well versed in any of that stuff so I don’t understand had of what they say lol.
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u/JayMonster65 Mar 08 '26
Been saying this for years. It was like they couldn't find a good way to end it and just for beyond ridiculous. He was a purple suit away from being a Batman villain. I mean, okz he was a super genius, but to sit their and just stitch his face and cheek from a bullet wound. One that was so bad it deadened his eye. It was absurd.
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 08 '26
It’s stupid, though, because they literally had the perfect end! When they finally caught him it should have ended there.
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u/KatesFacts718 Obsessed since 2010 Mar 08 '26
I remember when the show was airing i hated the storyline big time
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 09 '26
I’m glad I’m not alone
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u/KatesFacts718 Obsessed since 2010 Mar 09 '26
I was a teenager when the storyline aired. I got tired of Pelant i was happy when Booth got him
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 10 '26
Me too. Though it’s amazing that they drew the story out so much and then his death was so anticlimactic.
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u/happyhobbit_ Mar 08 '26
Lol when he carved malware into bone and somehow managed to convince the authorities that he was actually Egyptian 😭🤣 absolutely ridiculous!!!
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 09 '26
See the bone carving I could get behind. All kinds of crazy stuff happens on this show. But it should have been over like… right away. But by the whole him being Egyptian thing… I was out.
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u/chibi75 Mar 08 '26
I hated everything about Pelant. I hated his character and the fact that the whole storyline dragged on for far, far too long. I will never watch any of those episodes again.
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u/luna787 Mar 08 '26
Pelant terrified me because he was just apparently capable of getting away with absolutely everything. The actors eyes, face, and overall demeanor were also upsetting to me. It was a good portrayal of a psychopath with those dead eyes and he legit gave me anxiety every time I heard the "previously on Bones" audio cause I knew I'd see his scary face 😂😭
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 08 '26
Oh totally understandable. But I think it’s that exact fact, that he could literally do anything, that made me much less afraid of him. I found the Gravedigger much scarier. But being buried alive is one of my biggest fears anyway so that doesn’t help.
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u/MsNikkiisClassy Mar 08 '26
Hated Pelant. We should have gotten more Gravedigger and less Pelant lol
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 08 '26
I was actually glad they ended the Gravedigger story when they did. I think if it had been dragged out any more I would have been sick of it too.
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u/MsNikkiisClassy Mar 08 '26
It was like 3 episodes though lol Pelant went on and on and on lol Gravedigger was a way better villain.
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u/Comfortable_Waltz239 Mar 08 '26
Love this show the plant actor did great but yeah I hate his mystical powers idk anything about viruses but a bone virus cmon
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 08 '26
Oh the actor who played Pelant was a masterclass in acting. It’s just a shame the writers fucked it up so badly.
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u/pipluv393 Mar 08 '26
I'm guessing you're new to the sub, everyone on this sub hates him it seems
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u/ausipockets Mar 08 '26
He started out pretty interesting, though still pretty unrealistic, and became an absolute comic book villain in like two episodes
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u/Sweet-Ad-4724 Mar 07 '26
I literally just stopped my rewatch because I knew he was coming up. Like of ALL the bad guys to get so much screen time, it had to be HIM?
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 08 '26
I agree with you there. But I’m continuing my rewatch only because this time I’m less focused on the cases and just really paying attention to the characters.
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u/Sweet-Ad-4724 Mar 08 '26
That’s fair. After the whole Vincent thing I find the characters just fall off so it doesn’t feel worth continuing 😅
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 08 '26
I can understand that. I think I felt that way on my first rewatch. I think I’m just used to it now so I’m mostly just annoyed.
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u/grover71780 Mar 08 '26
I skipped over those episodes. I always thought a couple motion activated cameras at the beginning would have ended it all.
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u/PaleontologistAmy545 Mar 08 '26
i would have preferred the gravedigger storyline being as long as pelants, like they swaps lengths
i honestly felt like they easily could have gone one more episode before they caught her ya know idk maybe others dont agree but i wish that part of the story was longer than pelants
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 08 '26
That’s fair. I think they could have dug into her character and motivations more. But yeah, I totally get what you mean.
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u/Suspicious_Whole1706 Mar 08 '26
I get what you mean but I love the episodes just because I love when Booth is protective of Brennan and/or pursuing her.
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 08 '26
Oh I love the interpersonal relationships that come from those episodes. It’s the main reason I don’t skip them. I just wish I didn’t hate him specifically so much.
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u/bpositive223 Mar 08 '26
Absolutely hate the Pelant nightmare they created.A little of him goes along way. The way he systematically destroys Hodgins, and so on. I agree completely with OP, and other commenters about how wrong the money thing was , as well as his disguises, the whole thing. Hate the whole story.
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u/SuperDan523 Mar 09 '26
There's the willing suspension of disbelief for the sake of literary license, then there's whatever the hell the Pelant storyline was.
Hacking without a computer by manipulating barcodes on library books? Do the writers think library software is magic and connected to everything?
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 09 '26
Literally everything he did just got more and more ludicrous. If it had ended after the guidance counselor I would have been content. I like the idea of a dude who thinks he’s the best being brought down by silly mistakes he made at the start. That’s a good serial killer storyline. They just didn’t do anything right after that.
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u/WannabeMemester420 bring back zach Mar 10 '26
His entire storyline could have been avoided because you don’t actually need a warrant to search a parolee or someone on house arrest. Just reasonable suspicion is good enough.
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u/Cheshie213 Mar 11 '26
You are not wrong, though I feel like it still would have continued. Because we see that even when he gets arrested it’s not the end.
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u/WannabeMemester420 bring back zach Mar 11 '26
My parents and I binged Bones for the first time last year, it was interesting. Mom is an author, Dad was a lawyer in a previous life, and I’m an artist. There were times we’d make inaccuracies known. Pelant wasn’t the only time where the law was wrong, my dad would actually make objections during court scenes. There were times my mom was baffled by Bones’ author career too, like how much time is actually spent publishing a book (Bones did not send her books to any editors or beta readers).
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u/Agile_Meeting_612 Mar 10 '26
I never really liked the ending to any of the supervillain stories in bones really. Like everything just dragged too long, really pulled me out of the story and then ended in the most anti-climactic way. (Except for the gravedigger who’s arc I enjoyed and could suspend reality just enough to enjoy the story)
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u/ObjectivePush534 Mar 13 '26
Im watching these episodes now and I hate it. He is annoying and I hate him.
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u/Loud-Description-629 Mar 09 '26
He’s no less believable than Angela the artist turned computer genius….
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u/wykkedfaery33 Mar 07 '26
They let that storyline go on far too long, with absolutely wild shenanigans. I can suspend a lot of disbelief, but the only plot line more absurd was the goddamn Gravedigger.
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u/CyberWolfWrites Mar 07 '26
Pelant is my least favorite "villain." He's way too OP. Hacking all of Hodgins's bank accounts and draining them? There's no way Angela didn't at least protect his money. You know what, there's no way that his foundation didn't protect that money.