'Bones' sets up finale with a big twist

THE SHOW "Bones"

WHEN | WHERE Thursday night at 9 on Fox/5

REASON TO WATCH Major plot twist, and setup for May 19 finale.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) has finally drawn a bead on former friend and mentor -- who turned into a homicidal sniper -- Jacob Broadsky (Arnold Vosloo). Or, is it the other way around?

Thursday night's episode wraps an arc that began in January, when the serial killer (and former U.S. attorney) Heather Taffet -- aka The Gravedigger -- was killed by a sniper, who turned out to be Broadsky. He is now the hunted, and so are "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel), Booth, and others you know very well.

MY SAY If I were to ask you what the most important show on Fox after "American Idol" is, would your perfectly reasonable answer be . . . "House"? Well, ratings are way soft, while next season (the eighth) will almost certainly be the last, so (sorry), but that answer might not be so reasonable. How about "Glee," with all its albums, and hype, and Gleeks? Buzzer again. Fact is, "Bones" is the king of Fox's scripted shows. That's right, "Bones." Deal with it, or -- if you're one of the 11 million "Boneheads" -- savor it. Of course, having an "Idol" tailwind doesn't exactly hurt, but this stealth hit got to the top the way "NCIS" did for CBS -- character-driven storytelling that doesn't require a PhD in the show's history or various plot strands.

"Bones" is not deep TV in the same way that "Monk" was not deep TV, but they're good shows in the exact same way: They know precisely what fans want and deliver. Naturally, a spinoff that began as a backdoor pilot a few weeks ago has just been picked up by Fox. Starring Geoff Stults ("7th Heaven"), "The Finder" is based on the Richard Greener books that aren't radically different from the Kathy Reichs novels that are the bones for "Bones." The kingdom is about to get bigger.

BOTTOM LINE As mentioned, there's a huge plot twist, and even the barest hint of what is to come between Brennan and Booth next week. Do fans need to be told to watch? I don't think so.

GRADE B+