Bones: The Bone That Blew

Posted by: Jolee  •  November 30, 2008 @ 1:50am

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

Pieces of skull and bone are found in a tree. They probably got there by wind. Also, Cam has hired Brennan's dad, Max, as a science teacher at the Jeffersonian. Brennan is not happy.

But really, Brennan is never happy about much of anything, unless it is decaying and has a skeleton. So out they go to check out the crime scene, where Bones is sniffing the charred remains, and Booth is grossed out.

The Case

The bones are fresh, and burned, probably postmortem. They find an ID in the armed forces registry, a guy who used to work for the Marines, but now worked as a nanny for some high up political people.

They find a suspicious prescription, and think the Man-ny stole a prescription and dealt drugs. B&B search his house, and find his passport, foreign currency, and a key-card for a fancy kids school. Booth goes to check out the school, which is like a high security prison, only with teachers. Also very strict, the school kicks you out after one violation. The Man-ny had a key-card to the school because the kids he looked after go there.

In visiting the Man-ny's employers (the parents), we find out that they really liked Man-ny, and he was paid very well. Booth talks to the kids, who are incredibly stuck up, Chinese-speaking snotbags. Typical "I'm rich and you're not" kids. They point to the Doctor (with the prescription pad) as a possible suspect.

The Doctor is also a pilot, and she knew the Man-ny. Hodgins figures out that the body was burned with aviation fuel, which automatically points to the Pilot Doctor. Her flight logs show that she and the Man-ny had spent a lot of time together, often going away for weekend affairs. She points to Mr. King, the Man-ny's employer, as a suspect, because the Man-ny was giving out private information on Mr. King's company to benefit from the stocks. Also, she was in San Antonio, and her alibi holds up.

Using weather charts, Angela and Hodgins find out where the bones were when they were blown into the tree. B&B find the rest of bones, and the burn site, all of which is only walking distance from the Kings' residence. They also figure out that the murder weapon was a shotgun.

They question Mr. King, who has several shotguns. He had no idea that the Man-ny was giving out inside information on his company. There seems to be no motive for Mr. King to be the suspect, but there is a fancy looking car, and I guess Booth knows his cars, because he uses his tie to get a sample of the gas in the tank. Apparently this type of car uses aviation fuel!

Evidence on the broken neck suggests that the Man-ny was killed by someone much shorter than Mr. King. First they suspect the wife, but Sweets knows (from an interview) that she is covering for someone. "I had to protect my family," she says.

The shotgun was fired by someone even shorter than the mother... like a child. B&B bring in the daughter, who apparently had a really crappy Ancient Greece assignment to do, and the Man-ny caught her paying someone else to do it. He was going to tell on her to teach her a lesson, which would have got her kicked out of the fancy school. She shot him - then Mommy came in to clean everything up. Case closed.

The Squints

Cam tries to get Hodgins to do some "experiments", another attempt to help Hodgins get over Zack being in the crazy ward. Hodgins is hesitant, but with Max's help, he remembers his love of "figuring stuff out in amusing ways", and does a cool wind tunnel experiment. Hodgins seems to be finally getting back into the swing of things... he's had a rough season so far, this is good to see!

Daddy Issues

As soon as she finds out that Max is working at the Jeffersonian, Brennan is upset, and wants Cam to fire him. Her reasoning is that he is "a criminal, and shouldn't be around evidence". Cam assures her that he's a teacher for the kid groups, and won't be around any evidence.

Brennan: This is a crime lab! My father is a bank robber and accused murderer.

Cam: Booth's killed more people than Max has, and he works here.

Booth: Don't bring that up. Why did you have to bring that up?

Sweets thinks that Brennan has other reasons for not wanting her dad around – memories of him leaving her, the last time he was around. She doesn't want to feel abandoned when he (inevitably) leaves again.

When Max helps Hodgins with an experiment, Brennan finally has a (flimsy) excuse to fire Max – he was helping with the investigation, which isn't technically his job. She fires him, and Max looks like a kicked puppy.

In other Daddy news, Booth starts to feel inadequate because he is sending Parker to a public school, instead of some fancy private school. Max asks Booth to talk to Brennan for him, and Booth agrees because Max is helping Booth's son, Parker, learn science. After the case, Booth realizes that those fancy private schools isn't always the best choice for kids.

Booth talks to Brennan about keeping Max at the Jeffersonian, telling her that he is a natural teacher. Booth asks her to keep him on as a favor to him, because he was helping Parker learn so much that Booth isn't able to teach him. Brennan gives in, obviously proud of her dad at that moment. Looks like Max will be staying at the Jeffersonian, for now.

Tags: Bones, Emily Deschanel, David Boreanaz

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