There is some justification in the assumption that successful series begin to slump in the fourth season (as budgets are reduced, the original producers and writers often move on, and fresh plotlines become more difficult to create), but happily, "Bones: Season Four" is an exception, with some of the brightest, wittiest episodes yet! While I have to warn you, the collection is missing the first four episodes (which are actually included as a bonus at the end of the "Season Three" "Bones" collection), the remainder of Season Four (in far slimmer plastic packaging) is complete in every other way, and very entertaining for fans of Tempe, Booth, and the 'Squints'. Booth (David Boreanaz) shines, as we discover more of Seeley Booth's childhood, with an alcoholic father and a younger brother (Brendan Fehr) who relies a bit too heavily on his big brother to bail him out of scrapes. Tempe (Emily Deschanel) continues to attempt to view life through a forensic microscope, but has to deal with the increased presence of her father (Ryan O'Neal), and her desire to have a child. Cam (Tamara Taylor) becomes the guardian of her ex-lover's 16-year-old daughter, Hodgins and Angela (T.J. Thyne and Michaela Conlin) are trying to work through their break-up (with Angela turning to an ex-girlfriend for comfort), and Sweets (John Francis Daley) continues to have his profession as a psychologist belittled by Booth and Tempe, finding comfort in the arms of a 'Squints' temp, Daisy (Carla Gallo), as we discover his past wasn't as easy as everybody thought. And then there are the 'Squints in Training', jockeying to replace the imprisoned Zack (Eric Millegan, who happily does appear). Besides the oversolicitous (and oversexed) Daisy, there's eternally glum Colin (Joel Moore), 'serious' Clark (Eugene Byrd), devout Muslim Arastoo (Pej Vahdat), trivia-addicted Brit Nigel-Murray (Ryan Cartwright), and likable, street-smart Wendell (Michael Terry). While I miss not seeing Zack in the lab, each temp is engaging, and given moments to shine. There are dramatic developments (a brain tumor is discovered in Booth), but the humor level is consistently high. My favorite episodes include a 'freeze-dry' murder at an intellectual 'think tank', where everybody sounds and reasons like Tempe (and Angela's father...ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons...arrives to extract a unique 'punishment' on hapless Hodgins), a murder on a flight to China, with Booth and Tempe racing against the clock to find the killer before the plane lands, and a very funny episode at a funeral, with Tempe's discovery that the corpse was actually murdered, forcing her and Booth to 'kidnap' the body! And don't miss the season finale, with the entire cast (and a few surprise past-season characters) in a film noir send-up that features an event many "Bones'" fans have been waiting to see. It was a fabulous season, and is a great collection to own!