Bones Series Finale: Did Fans Get the Ending They Deserved?

Bones voyage!

Fox's longest-running drama came to a bittersweet conclusion on Tuesday night after 12 seasons and 246 episodes. The forensic anthropology procedural blew up a lot of things in its final two episodes, but it ended in the best way it could for its devoted fans -- with Booth (David Boreanaz) and Brennan (Emily Deschanel) hand in hand walking off into the night.

The Jeffersonian as we know it is gone, but is being rebuilt in a future that fans may or may not get to see. That is not as important as knowing that the core characters are getting the resolution they deserve. Bones, despite its gruesome subject matter, has never been about the darkness or the masked killers the team hunts down every week. It's about the team that solved the cases, their relationships and their lives outside of the lab. The series finale promised fans that those lives will continue on in harmony, which is all fans could hope for after a trying season of running from Mark Kovac (Gerard Celasco).

A happy ending for Cam (Tamara Taylor) and Aristoo (Pej Vahdat) meant taking time away from the lab in order to start a family of their own. Work has always come first for Cam and now she'll have six months to welcome their three adopted sons into their home. Her personal life will come first.

Angela (Michaela Conlin) and Hodgins (TJ Thyne) have teamed up in a creative endeavor to write a children's book featuring characters based on all of their friends. They'll also welcome a new bundle of joy into their family after Angela managed to escape the Jeffersonian explosion with no damage to their fetus. Hodgins was also made the new "King of the Lab," a promotion that shows how much he's grown, especially since he became paralyzed a season and a half ago. Aubrey (John Boyd) will stay in D.C. after all, keeping the entire team together as they move forward.

The Bones cast shares their fondest memories from set

David Boreanaz, who also directed the series finale, maintained all season that the most important thing about bringing Bones to a close was to give a satisfying conclusion for Booth and Brennan. The explosion temporarily caused Brennan to lose her ability to compute complex thought, essentially removing the "Bones" part of her personality. For most of the final hour, the forensic anthropologist struggled with how she would move on if such a core part of her identity never returned. Booth sweetly reassured her that being a genius was never what made her the woman he loved, and they would continue to be the dynamic best-friend-wedded couple they had grown to be.

A shot of adrenaline in the form of bringing Kovac to justice did restore Brennan to her normal cognitive abilities, though. In the end, Brennan and Booth found peace with exactly who and where they are.

The Bones cast reflects on the end of the series

In the end Bones tied a nice bow on its historic run. The main characters reached a final conclusion that allowed fans to imagine them walking off into the sunset and all of the demons they were fighting over the course of the series were put to rest. There didn't need to be some life-altering twist at the end or a convoluted inversion of the premise. While there has already been talk of a Bones reboot in the future, the series didn't have to blow that door open and leave fans hanging and desperate for more answers.

A large part of Bones being able to deliver a successful and satisfying series finale is because it was given the warning that this would be its last season. It had 12 episodes to wrap up loose threads and to craft an ending that felt organic to the show's DNA rather than rushing to bring everything to a close. Of course there are fans who wanted to see the procedural continue until Brennan ended up in a nursing home, but in reality this is the most gratifying farewell they could have received.

Plus, Bones actually will live on in endless syndication, so don't fret. Check your local listings and you can check in with Brennan and her team any time you feel the urge.