As Dr. Temperance Brennan and Special Agent Seeley Booth, Emily Deschanel and David Boreanez were the heart of “Bones”. But almost as important were the so-called “squints” — the team of scientists who work under Brennan at the fictional Jeffersonian Institute Medico-Legal Lab. That team also comprised the “squinterns” — a rotating cast of interns at the institute who work with Brennan on various cases. So integral to the show were these supporting characters that saying goodbye to the “squinterns” for the season finale caused Emily Deschanel to break down in tears.
Agent Booth used the term “squints” to refer to Brennan and her team in the very first episode of the series back in 2005, and the term stuck throughout the show’s 12-season run, right up to its 2017 finale. As Boreanez explained it:
“It’s a term that I’d never heard of until we started the pilot […] [The scientists are] always down, squinting at their pieces of paper. They’re always in the formation of looking at, what if it’s a decomposed body or they’re theorizing in their head, they’re squinting […] It’s true it’s a true word, they use it.”
But where did this term come from? Who, exactly, uses it? Well, it turns out Boreanez was right that “squints” is a “true word,” as it comes directly from a real-life detective who lent his expertise to “Bones.”
The origin of Bones’ squints
Though “Bones” balanced its macabre subject matter with a light-hearted tone throughout its run, the show was still a police procedural drama focused on forensic anthropology, forensic archaeology, and the inner workings of the FBI. That meant the writers frequently had to use specialized language to sell the idea that Seeley Booth, Temperance Brennan, and her team of “squints” actually knew what they were doing. Luckily, the show had the expertise of real-life anthropologist Katherine Joan Reichs, who authored the 23 novels in the “Temperance Brennan” series that inspired “Bones.”
Dr. Reichs, who remains certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, also worked as a producer on the series, writing several episodes, and even showing up in a cameo role as a professor in the season 2 episode “Judas on a Pole.” But while Reichs was indispensable when it came to the anthropology element, the “Bones” writers still needed the expertise of some law enforcement types. In “Bones: The Official Companion Book,” executive producer Barry Josephson recalled how series creator Hart Hanson carried out early research for the show. It was this that led to the discovery of the term “squints.” Josephson explained:
“Outside of the information from Kathy [Joan Reichs], Hart was working with a police detective named Mike Grasso, and Mike was the one who referred to the scientists as squints. So it became a really unique thing for us: the squints. Who are the squints? And how do we define them as scientists? Always with a little bit of a sense of humor about the work.”
Mike Grasso is a former LAPD detective who actually served as the police technical advisor for “Bones” during its run. The term “squints” is surely one of his biggest contributions.
Source link