Bones really isn't coming back to the Fox schedule appreciably later than most other network dramas. But while most of the other hour-long shows had episodes to get them into the new year, Fox, knowing it had American Idol to keep Tuesdays covered all winter long, deliberately held back the last few completed pre-strike episodes of Bones until such time as it ran out of other options late in the season. With the strike over and production on the show resumed, we're finally going to get a new episode for the first time since November 27.

The interruption of Bones took place at a fateful time for fans of the show, since the pre-strike finale featured the first kiss between forensic specialist Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and FBI Agent Booth (David Boreanaz). While it wasn't a romantic kiss officially -- Bones was forced to agree to kiss Booth under the mistletoe in order to have a favor done -- fans of the show brought two and a half seasons' worth of anticipation to that little moment.

While Bones is in no danger of becoming a romantic comedy, the proverbial sexual tension adds lighter undertones to what is, when you get right down to it, another show that features a lot of dead people. And like the best romantic comedy pairings, Bones and Booth haven't always appeared particularly close in the past, but have slowly drawn closer over time.

Bones has tried something a little different this season by periodically returning to a continuing storyline involving a serial killer, who ties in somehow with secret societies of the past, and who appears to have been the apprentice to another serial killer. The plotline has been somewhat controversial among fans of the show, in part because it's confusing; the fact that the killer is known by two different names, Gormogon and the Widow's Son, typifies the problem. But we won't have too much longer before our resolution, as producers are promising to wrap it up in the six episodes remaining.

The introduction of Gormogon coincided with John Francis Daley becoming a full-time member of the cast as the therapist Dr. Sweets. We first saw Sweets helping Bones and Booth through a difficult time in their working relationship, and a few weeks later he was hanging out spouting theories about Gormogon even though his job doesn't have anything to do with the work of the other characters on the show. Sweets's obvious intellect -- he's a full-fledged doctor who is the age of a college senior and looks like a high school senior -- and his suspiciously deep knowledge of the ins and outs of secret societies led many to believe he had to be Gormogon. Others in turn said that it can't be Sweets because the producers would never be that obvious. Anyone who believes obviousness is a major drawback in a television script cannot be very familiar with the medium. But the betting line right now is that Gormogon is someone we haven't met yet, and is a prodigy like Sweets, but one who went very wrong somewhere along the line.

The biggest weakness in Bones is the supporting cast, or rather the treatment of the cast. They usually get one subplot per episode, but none of them have really caught on even though Michaela Conlin (Angela), Eric Millegan (Zack), T. J. Thyne (Hodgins), and Tamara Taylor (Camilla) are of better than average attractiveness. Angela and Hodgins seem to be moving towards the altar, so that could be popping up for season's end. All in all, however, the show sees Bones and Booth as its bread and butter, leaving the character development of everyone else as something that can wait.

It's hard to argue with that stance when actors as appealing as Deschanel and Boreanaz (one of a small number of actors to be a key part of three hit series before turning 40) are at the center of things. Bones has not always been treated with great respect by Fox, which seems to regard it as reliable schedule filler but not something that can be developed in its own right. But the series has a chance to use the next month to rebuild some momentum.

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