After the excitement of the last two stellar episodes of Bones, this week feels a bit like a return to routine. Everyone is concerned about Booth, especially Brennan, and the emotional drama of the episode centres around his loss of faith due to all the recent traumas.
However, back to business, a murder must be solved! A man has been found half eaten, by stoats of all animals, in a storm drain. It is pretty disgusting and ‘new guy’ Agent Aubrey’s squeamish expressions are priceless as the ‘squints’ happily work away. It quickly gets a whole lot more gruesome, as Hodgins excitedly discovers a stoat’s den filled with evidence, including of course an eyeball, tongue and ear.
The assistant this week is Rodolfo (Ignacio Serricchio), who previously made the mistake of trying to make moves on Brennan. He and the team quickly identify the victim as a right-wing radio ‘shock jock.’ It takes them much longer to figure out that the man was into S&M, despite identifying chemical levels pointing to pleasure experienced before death, and evidence of him being bound and beaten. When Rodolfo finally says he should have ruled out torture earlier, I couldn’t help but agree.
S&M confirmed, the episode plunges gleefully into sex dungeons and dominatrix. Slowly, the lies are untangled from the truth as further evidence comes to light. The case isn’t that compelling, and seems needlessly complex with a series of false assumptions. Yet, there are some funny and cute exchanges between the team. ‘King of the Lab’ is briefly revived, and the discover of deer fur on the victim sets Hodgins up for the great line, “Bambi, why are you an accomplice to murder?” It finally appears to be the radio show’s co-host who is to blame, after Angela discovers he attempted to impersonate the victim on the phone.
Emily Deschanel aced that particular ‘Bones’ sense of humour again; bringing some much needed laughter with Brennan’s unique perspective. She tells Aubrey off for attempting to simplify her findings in the interrogation, “I will not have my science dumbed down because you don’t know Latin.” The character of Aubrey (James Boyd) is a great addition to the show, but the storyline of his and Booth’s trust issues wore thin quickly.
While it is a relief not to be dealing with complex conspiracies and heavy emotional drama, the episode felt a little flat, only kept alive by Brennan’s humour and the fantastic dynamic between her and Booth.
Review Score: THREE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Bones screens on Channel 7 in Australia.
———-
