The number 447 played an important role in Bones, both for Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan, and it appeared in multiple episodes and episodes throughout the series.
Like an Easter egg, the 447 mystery may be discovered and discussed by fans. It dropped hints about the characters’ backstories and the hidden connections between their lives.
The lack of explanation around 447 provided entertaining fodder for fans to debate. Ultimately, though, it didn’t change the tale or the characters very much at all.
In multiple seasons of Bones, the mysterious number 447 played a significant role. The collaboration between Agent Booth (David Boreanaz) and Dr. Brennan (Emily Deschanel) in solving crimes made this a crucial factor. Booth’s alarm clock displayed 4:47 in a dream sequence in which Brennan climbed into bed with him in season 4, episode 1 “The End in the Beginning,” marking the first appearance of the mystery number. Booth’s coma-induced dream realization in seasons 5 and 6 began with digital clocks displaying the correct time. Later, it was used as a number on labels and at significant locations.
Observant viewers of Bones could spot clues to the 447 mystery hidden among the characters’ backstories and motivations. At the end of season 12, the Easter eggs were hinting at a major reward and sometimes appeared many times in a single episode. Fans could relate to Booth and Brennan, whose lives seemed to be connected together by a number that kept repeating, whether or not it had anything to do with a serial killer’s terrible schemes.
By the end of the show, the mystery around 447 had been (mostly) resolved.
After “The End is the End,” the final episode of Bones’s twelfth season, Brennan packed a clock that had stopped at 4:47, the time at which the Jeffersonian lab had been bombed. Brennan preserved the timepiece to recall the precise moment “when things were about to end, but didn’t.” The time 4:47 was significant during times of great change and upheaval. When Booth got the call from Angela revealing the identity of the victim, when Christine was born, when Brennan and Booth attended Christine’s baptism, and when Pelant gave them a new alarm clock displaying the time 4:47, all of these events were noteworthy.
Booth and Brennan’s identities were called into question during the show’s final season. A constant symbol of their love for one another and a way to demonstrate how their destinies were intertwined was the number 447. Both Brennan and Kira came dangerously near to losing their identities several times throughout the episode. They had each come so far on their individual paths, and they still had so much further to go as a team, and Episode 447 was a reminder of that thanks to the fact that the unthinkable hadn’t happened.
Which “447” Skeletons Have Yet to Be Closed?
Bones’s response to queries varied greatly from person to another. Hart Hanson, Stephen Nathan, and other key cast and crew members all had different interpretations of what 447 meant. There are too many options for just one fan to love. A mystical explanation for the 447 mystery was hinted at by the skeletal remains. He saw it as a portent of a major turning point in the lives of the two protagonists, as if their destinies were predestined to be intertwined. The code for Booth’s pistol case, for example, was part of everyday life.
Making 447 an ever-present constant makes it simple to assign significance to it without much effort. Finally, it had to be more than a simple Easter egg if it was going to keep viewers engaged. Something had to happen to alter the course of Brennan and Booth’s lives, but merely demonstrating that their destinies were intertwined didn’t make things any clearer than the fact that they kept picking one other in times of turmoil and unpredictability.
What went wrong with Bones’ “447”
In the end, the significance of the number 447 was unclear. In spite of the fact that 447 affects viewers in different ways, it ultimately doesn’t matter so much. If it hadn’t been used for so many other purposes unrelated to Booth and Brennan’s friendship, it might have been significant for their relationship. It was used in a variety of contexts, as though the writers were stretching to find a use for it. They settled on the idea that it ought to have the most effect on the bond of friendship between Booth and Brennan.
Although their repercussions were meant to be heavily foreshadowed, they ultimately don’t have much of an impact. The number 447 was simply recurring in the show. It was clever in theory but less so in execution, and fans had a good time hunting for it. Booth and Brennan’s innate spark and chemistry in Bones makes it inevitable that they will grow closer as they face obstacles, making the show enjoyable even as it ignores the 447.