Although the quality of the 21 second-season episodes of "Bones" speak for themselves, the 6-disc DVD set includes bonus features that emphasize the show's casual sense of humor and seamless character development, both of which help set it apart from the numerous other forensics shows on the air.

"Bones" centers on the brilliant but socially stunted Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel), a forensic anthropologist who teams up with FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) to solve murders in which the victims' bodies have been decomposed to the extent that special efforts are needed for identification. With the help of her team of "squints," Bones gets to the bottom of the deaths as well as maneuvers through her rather tumultuous life.

It's telling that the cast's reminiscenes in the featurette "The Memories in the Season," seldom refer to the episodes' "body of the week" and instead focus on their respective character arcs and cast interaction. Highlights from the season include the intense episode in which Bones and Dr. Jack Hodgins (T.J. Thyne) are buried alive in a car, Hodgins' full-blown romance with forensic facial reconstructionist Angela Montenegro (Michaela Conlin), Dr. Zack Addy's (Eric Millegan) makeover, Bones' romance with Sully (Eddie McClintock), the introduction of Dr. Camille Saroyan (Tamara Taylor) to the cast and the genius of guest stars Ryan O'Neal and Stephen Fry.

"Visceral Effects: The Digital Illusions of Bones" surprisingly starts out with a non-forensic effect, revealing how green screen technology, wire work and 3-D graphics were used to create the zero gravity "vomit comet" that Bones and Booth experienced. This is just one example of the flawless way that the production adds effects that aren't obvious -- such as the numerous scavenger critters like ants, maggots and flies that weren't present during filming. The coolest effect by far has to be the "Angelator," a 3-D tool that Angela's character uses to reconstruct the faces and bodies of the victims.

The first audio commentary is found on "Glowing Bones in the Old Stone House," which Deschanel's father, cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, directed. Father and daughter join executive producer Stephen Nathan to point out how Boreanaz doesn't like rats and is in fact afraid of most animals. There's also good banter between the Deschanels on how they worked together. The second commentary -- on the season finale "Stargazer in a Puddle" -- offers Nathan, exec producer Barry Josephson and creator Hart Hanson to pick on Boreanaz again, revealing his rather fastidious nature. Viewers also learn more about how Angela and Hodgins' romance started and background on the Sea Chimps. Both commentaries are lighthearted with just the right combo of behind-the-scenes technical info and fun trivia.

Neither the gag reel nor deleted scenes are really riveting or innovative, but are worth a look for diehard fans.

EXTRAS: "The Memories in the season" featurette; "Visceral Effects: the Digital Illusions of Bones" featurette; audio commentary on two episodes; deleted scenes with optional commentary; gag reel
PRICE: $59.98