The two-hour season debut of “Bones” at 8 p.m. Wednesday Fox is just a little too cute for its own good.

Do we dare utter those fatal words “Jump the Shark”?

But fans will be forgiving because we like this charming little romantic crime drama. 

The special episode Wednesday has forensics expert Temperance “Bones” Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and FBI agent Seely Booth (David Boreanaz ) visiting England where she has been invited to lecture at Oxford and he is addressing Scotland Yard.

She fits right in while he turns into a big, dumb, ugly American.  He’s a loud lout who can’t drive on the left side of the road. He’s also baffled by tea and lost without a gun.  All the dumb cliches are here.  You would think this guy has never traveled nor does he have a clue. The goof also stumbles when he rents a little Austin instead of the James Bond favorite Astin.

Bones however is smarter, more sophisticated and wiser in the ways of the world.

She also has come to terms with their relationship, which runs more cold than hot.  She is the “logical empiricist” while detective Booth is the “intuitive humanist” as she puts it Wednesday night.

During their visit, an heiress is found dead and her American father wants these visiting U.S. experts involved in investigating the crime. Thye meet a British team that are their counterparts. 

The British cop Inspector Cate Pritchard (Indira Varma), is an attractive woman who seems drawn to Booth while the handsome, skirt-chasing British forensics expert Ian Wexler (Andrew Buchan) hits on Bones.

This also is transparent as a plot devise.  Also strained is how Bones’ stateside forensic team in D.C. gets involved in long distance crime solving.
But they are having hijinx of their own.  The estranged husband of Michaela Conlin’s Angela Montenegro shows up and he’s almost perfect, handsome and noble.

He doesn’t want to give her a divorce so she can marry office nerd Jack Hodgins ( T.J. Thyne). There’s a fun fight scene that ends in a garbage truck.

The reject hubby finds solace in the arms of Dr. Saroyan (Tamara Taylor) which is another far-fetched plot twit. But the only serious on this show is the forensics stuff.

Before the episode ends, they have a second crime to solve.

Getting more screen time this season is John Francis Daley ("Freaks and Geeks") as the comedic-relief psychologist \. Interesting that Eric Millegan, who played the geeky lab assistant who turned into a serial killer is still shown in the credits.  In a shocking finale last season the character was carted off to a psychiatric facility.  Apparently, he’s not done yet.

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