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'Bones' gets a Zack attack
It's all about prodigal sons this week on Bones -- sons returning, sons fleeing, sons trying to make good, and sons being grumpy as hell. Plus there's a mysteriously purple pool, toilet-candy therapy, a missing head, and a peevish psychologist. Good times!
This spoiler urges you to hold it until you can get to a bathroom.
A headless corpse hacked into 12 pieces shows up in an evaporation pool. Icky! Careful study of the bones reveals a rare illness. Careful study of the footwear reveals that the deceased had whimsical taste in shoes. Putting those two bits together, the team identifies the corpse as Jared Addison, a sci-fi novelist with a raging case of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
But Jared has been breaking out of his OCD habits -- he's started dating a (much) older woman, and he's been undergoing an experimental desensitization therapy. Booth and Brennan think that maybe Jared snapped during therapy and the leader of the workshop killed him, but he insists Jared was his best student. One of Jared's fellow suffers confesses to killing Jared, but that's just a part of his disorder -- he believes if he doesn't eat at a precise time, someone near him will die. Well, he delayed a meal and now Jared's dead. See?
Evidence on the body suggests Jared was killed in a warm, moist place -- maybe a flower shop or plant nursery? His girlfriend worked at just such an establishment with her son. Brennan sees flies clustering around a specific shovel, and preliminary tests show it may be covered with blood. Nope -- potato gunk. Oh well.
Sweets tries to put himself in the mind of the killer, but it takes a REAL killer to set them straight. Hodgins gave Zack the file on the case so Zack would have something to do in the loony bin. Zack saw what no one else did: Jared wasn't the only one with OCD. His mother was obsessed with the number 12. The only thing that deviated from the 12-things pattern was one lonely birdbath. Booth and Brennan dig under it and find Jared's head. He was taking control of his OCD and was ready to move on with his life. That upset his mother's obsessive pattern, and she went nuts and killed him.
Booth and Brennan
Booth is pissing Brennan off by jumping to her defense and protecting her -- I can take care of myself! she fumes. Booth doesn't seem to care -- we're partners, we do things for each other! Brennan notices that said "things" do not include Booth letting Brennan manipulate his sore back. I can't say I blame him there.
But Booth proves his worth as a friend and confidant after Brennan hears something she doesn't like -- Jared's publisher says she's just an ok writer, and that it's her picture and image that really sell books. She throws out her newest manuscript, but Booth stops her and admits that he not only has read everything she's ever written, he also knows her reviews by heart. Awwww. Brennan finally gets to heal Booth's aching back with a nice (thoroughly platonic, but still kind of sexy) clinch.
Booth lets Brennan in on the secret life of the opposite sex: "The way you really help me is to make me a guy. It's a guy's thing to fix things, to make them right. When I fix things, I feel like I'm one with the universe." All of a sudden, my last couple of boyfriends make a lot more sense.
The Lab Rats
This week's NotZack has the distinction of also not being Ryan Atwood from the OC. Therefore I dub him Ryan Notwood. When Brennan asks him if he's ever slept with an older woman, Ryan Notwood thinks she's hitting on him -- a reasonable assumption, with anyone else. He tells Angela about it, and also confesses that he "owes people money." Angela assumes he owes money to the mob. Nope -- he just means that his entire neighborhood chipped in to get him through college, and he wants to do right by them. Whatever, Ryan Notwood -- you're gone!
Hodgins is still using hate as his coping mechanism, and Cam finally calls him on it. About time! Everyone in the lab has a great time when Zack shows up -- they're happy to hug him and take him out to the diner even though he ostensibly killed someone and was the apprentice to a cannibalistic murderer. The only people not enchanted by Zack's presence are Booth, who knows Zack belongs in jail, and Sweets, who Zack duped by stealing the magnetic strip off his security card. Doh! Still, Booth seems to care about Zack, making sure Sweets knows how to make it look like Zack was out under his supervision.
Sweets has his own reason to reconsider Zack -- Zack confesses that he never actually did the deed himself. No, not sex ("Why doesn't anyone ever believe I've had sex?") -- hands-on murder. He's responsible for a death in that he told the Master where to find a victim, but he didn't actually kill the man himself. He refuses to let Sweets tell his friends.
Highlights, thoughts, and odds and ends
- Sweets, to Zack: "A sane person would regret murdering someone more than being taken in by a line of crap." "Define crap," Zack says. "Drivel," Sweets responds. "Blarney. Nonsense. Uh, balderdash. Twaddle. Bull. Bunkum. Hooey. Like that." Zack looks at him sincerely and says "Well NOW I realize it was drivel-blarney-nonsense-balderdash-twaddle-bull-bunkum-hooey. Then I perceived it as logic." His delivery -- running all the terms together without taking a breath --- makes the scene.
- The FBI agent who leads Booth and Brennan to the remains says the missing head is an anomaly. I've got to side with Brennan -- the water turning purple when it got peed into fits the word better.
- And about the purple water... it was completely superfluous. Unless I missed something, it didn't have anything to do with the case. It was just a weird thing to throw in. Why?
- Sweets evaluates Jared's room: "The action figures? They're awesome."
- I wish Ryan Notwood had been handled better. He had potential, if they just let information come out over time. Instead, Brennan introduced him as "my best scholarship student," thus telegraphing he's a scrappy kid form the wrong side of the tracks. Again, why?
- When Zack solves Hodgins' puzzle, he dubs himself "King of the Loony Bin." Oh, Zack...
- Ralph, the fellow OCD sufferer who "killed" Jared, recommends that Booth "only put me next to terrible people who deserve to die." That WOULD save the State money on executions...
- I know the lab rats all love Zack, but taking him to a diner when he escaped from a facility for the criminally insane? Doesn't that make them accessories of some sort?
- I loved this exchange when Brennan is throwing away her book: Brennan: "I don't want to be sexy scientist!" Booth: "That's like me saying I don't want to be the sexy FBI agent. We can't change who we are." That's right -- Booth is sexy, and he damn well knows it.
Awesome recap. Thank you! Of course, they're sexy!
TempeBooth | Sep 24, 2008 8:42:22 PM | #Yeah, it was good seeing Zack again, but I agree that taking him to the diner was a bit much. Eagerly embracing a friend that has betrayed you (and as far as they know murdered someone)is a tad out of character for most anyone. Well, except maybe sociopaths.
I can forgive them though, because it's Zack.
oneblood | Sep 24, 2008 8:44:56 PM | #I enjoyed the episode. I had the same thoughts about the diner and the purple water, but it didn't bother me that much.
Thank goodness for the scene with Brennan and Booth and her novel at the end. They are always great to watch ("You're right, we have to drain it"), but there hasn't been any great amount of substance to their scenes so far this season (except for the dog-fighting ending/hug too). I don't just mean like B/B substance either, I mean they haven't even really had good discussions/topics. Yeah, they talked about monogamy and such, but it has been more intellectual in the past. So Brennan's writing was as good a topic as any I guess, and it was a good scene.
I like the small interjections about Angela and Hodgins' relationship, like Zach saying he was sad about it, and Angela not trying to blame Sweets, but being unable to quite deny that she kinda does blame him. Oh, and Cam telling Hodgins to cool off, despite his personal issues. It's been pretty subtle I think, instead of hitting the audience over the head, which I think really lets the supporting cast shine.
Great episode, nice recap. You hit all the same thoughts I kinda had about the episode.
Sarah | Sep 24, 2008 10:00:54 PM | #I agree with the recapper's quibbles about some of the logic of the episode. I feel bad for Zach, though. He's like a cross between Hannibal Lector and Malcolm in the Middle. I'm glad they finally addressed the impact his departure has had on the other squints. The stuff between Cam and Hodgins was some of the best of the episode in my opinion. I'm liking Cam more and more as time goes by.
I'm kind of sick of Angela being the Voice of Wisdom though. Wouldn't it be nice if someone showed Angela that she doesn't know everything?
Siansonea | Sep 24, 2008 10:06:25 PM | #Interesting that Zach didn't actually kill anyone. I wonder where they are going with this? Also, I adored all I saw of the intern of the week, Ryan Notwood. He was hot, sweet and a total fish out of water, which is something I wanted to see out of these interns. They all seem to try and jump in like they know what they are doing, but really, who could figure these crazy people out over a couple of days?
Mandy | Sep 24, 2008 10:46:31 PM | #a pretty great episode and i agree with Sarah about the notZack character, we got all this info on his character and then we're not going see him anymore? c'mon. and also the thing with zack escaping... even if he somehow escaped the facility without anyone noticing at first, there's no way that there wasn't some kind of cell check by guard who would have noticed him missing.
still, i enjoyed the overall episode and booth/bones dynamics.
joits | Sep 25, 2008 3:19:48 AM | #The purple water was not superfluous - if you listened to Hodgins explanation he said that the teen peeing in the water agitated the algae in the bottom of the pool thus exposing the presence of the larvae of the white fly found in the nursery of the victim's girlfriend where B&B first thought Jared was killed.
And of course, Zack has had sex. i distinctly remember an episode (just when Angie and Hodgins were noticing each other) when Zack was getting dumped by a girl in accounting for being bad in bed and he couldn't understand what he'd done wrong! I don't know who, other than Sweets, who is really coming into his own now in the therapy lark even though he's still only 12, doesn't believe Zack has had sex as everyone in the lab knew - it being a very public break-up!
Well, it was nice having an episode finally that didn't half-revolve around who's sleeping with whom...but still, the sloppy writing was just distracting.
There were nice moments, sure, but really...I'm supposed to believe Zack somehow magically removed the mag stripe off Sweets' card and put it on another card without Sweets or anyone else noticing? Or that he walked out of a secured mental institution without anyone noticing? Or that no one noticed he was gone - say, perhaps, at meal time? Don't even get me started about the 'it made logical sense at the time' nonsense - that has never made any sense at all.
And the way everyone but Booth carries on as if he hadn't betrayed their trust, murdered someone (as far as they know), etc. Give me a break.
And speaking of clues that went nowhere - the whole 'died in a warm, moist environment' was nothing more than an excuse to make them 'get thee to a nursery!' In the end, it had no bearing on anything. Just a convenient plot device to throw in another red herring.
DanC | Sep 25, 2008 6:38:20 AM | #I liked the episode but they should have let Zack solve the crime from inside the loony bin. Him escaping was totally unbelievable. Also, I like the Ryan Notwood character. I hate calling him that but can't remember his real name. I think we may see him again. :)
Billy | Sep 25, 2008 7:39:44 AM | #I enjoyed the episode - I had started questioning things at the end of last season and the beginning of this one - it almost resulted in not watching the show anymore - I find myself being entertained once I suspend my disbelief and questions - it's just a TV show - not brain surgery. And I'm good with it and at peace about it. I love Bones at the end of the day.
daisyrose | Sep 25, 2008 9:59:14 AM | #Good episode. except when did Zack become a uber-genius? Yes he was always a bone guy, but when did he know how to smoothly swipe key-cards and switch magnetic strips and recognize the patterns of 12 seemed off also. Zack was never one to care about anything but the science.
Also crazy ass "killing people and eating them is Okay" walks in and the gang acts like grandma came for visit, come on!!
jbw | Sep 25, 2008 10:04:54 AM | #jbw, families (and the Bones characters are one) are strange. My ex-girlfriend's uncle raped both his daughters and God knows how many other young teenage girls over a forty year period, yet he still gets invited to family reunions. So it doesn't strike me as the least bit odd that the squints would welcome Zach-the-precocious-Hannibal-the-Cannibal's-not-quite-so-evil-sidekick-and-lone-minion-wannabe with open arms. People tend to turn a blind eye to such things, for whatever reasons. Not that it's right (or, in the case of my ex-girlfriend's uncle, legal), but there it is.
I perceived the purple pee in the pool ploy as preposterous, really. Don't know what the guy at the beginning and his girlfriend were drinking, but I'd stay away from it if at all possible. Makes me wonder just how the Caf-Pow!s that Abby on NCIS drinks affect her innards. Bleah. Seriously, I couldn't figure out how a man urinating into a pool could suddenly bring a bunch of body parts to the surface, even after Hodgins explained it (sort of). Ah, well, some times purple pee in a pool is just...ahem.
Seeing Zach was cool, admittedly, but if the season is going to be one long "how did Zach escape this time?" running gag, it'll get old in a hurry.
I was annoyed with the previews, because it made it seem as if Brennan was going to be in slut mode for three episodes running. At least this time, it was the intern who was the one who misunderstood things. I thought his backstory was clunky as hell, though, plus he reminded me too much of a blonde version of Diedrich Bader in the update of The Beverly Hillbillies to be believable as Jeffersonian intern.
The new intern every week joke has now gotten old. It was funny on Murphy Brown, with the different secretary every week, but in a working environment such as the Jeffer/Smithsonian, there needs to be some level of consistency. It's just not working well on Bones, so hopefully they'll quit it.
Finally, Angela's not the Voice of Wisdom, really. That would be Cam. If Angela were the Voice of Wisdom, she'd never have married some stranger after too many mai tais in a tiki bar. Also, considering how badly she mucked up with NotZack, she seemed rather stupid to me. I don't advocate violence in a general sense, but every once in awhile, I sure do wish some female guest star would slap that toothy grin off her face. Otherwise, I still like Angela, and I wish they'd bring back that cool 3D imager she worked with so much in the earlier seasons.
Revenant | Sep 25, 2008 12:30:15 PM | #This was an okay episode. I am glad to find out that Zack did not murder anyone. No way could they ever bring him back to the Jeffersonian in the future had he actually committed murder. I agree that the intern of the week has run its course and they need a regular replacement for Zack already. Also, I'm glad to see writers back to making Booth the sarcastic tough guy rather than acting like a silly baffoon.
LK | Sep 25, 2008 4:49:14 PM | #Zack or Zach? Can we all get on the same page here, people? It's Zack.
end rant
oneblood | Sep 25, 2008 8:02:34 PM | #Sorry, oneblood. Zachary is my middle name, so it's sometimes difficult to remember to spell the short version with a K instead of an H (even in the same post, alas). Maybe I'll just call him CrazySquint instead...kinda hard to misspell that. :P
Revenant | Sep 25, 2008 8:20:26 PM | #Why the weird picture of Zack? Why is he wearing eyeliner, lipstick and half a pound of foundation?
Amarantha | Sep 25, 2008 9:59:26 PM | #Excellent recap of the episode. By the way, the people who do the closed captioning spell it ZACK. And the intern's name was Wendell. Angela calls him by name when she finds out about how he owes people money. I'd really like to know how Zack swapped Sweets card stripe with his "looney bin library card" stripe and I, too, wonder about that diner scene. I knew Zack must have done something when Sweets card failed, but swapping stripes with a library card? HOW did he DO that? The reason why Zack stands on doctor/patient confidentiality and refuses to let Sweets tell that he did not actually kill anyone really, was clearly stated at the end with Zack stopping Sweets from calling his friends and saying that if Sweets told anyone, he (Zack) would end up in jail instead of the institution he is currently in because he still IS an accessory to murder and Zack was assured by Hodgins that prison was a place he would not do very well in. I liked at the end when Zack said to Sweets, "We should go in. I don't want to get you into trouble." All in all, another good episode in my opinion.
xyzzy | Sep 26, 2008 10:00:27 AM | #Revenant, you receive a pass on the Zack vs. Zach thing. You do know Latin after all.
But, the rest of youse guys...and gals are on notice.
end semi-rant
oneblood | Sep 26, 2008 11:07:00 AM | #The purple pee was neat, but Booth letting Zack roam free while he finished the case was completely out of character. Booth believes Zack is the super smart homicidal apprentice of a cannibalistic serial killer who managed to escape from a high security mental health facility - and he lets him head off to the diner with a group of civilians? And tells Sweets to just hang out by the looney bin doors - because of course there are no cameras or security guards out there to wonder what he's doing? Implausible and superflous way to cram Zack into a case. Also, not out of character but highly illegal, Hodgins passed a case file to Zack? And Cam didn't call him on it? I'm positive they'd have to sign confidentiality agreements with the Jeffersonian preventing them from giving out case information.
melissa | Sep 26, 2008 3:08:19 PM | #Guy's breath, it's just a show!! Glad we found out Zack wasn't a killer, even tho he didn't want sweets to tell anyone, so he wouldn't have to go to jail, seems hodgins told him he wouldn't do well in there--LOL!! The purple substance in the water was caused by the algae--if I'm correct!!
Michele | Sep 30, 2008 4:53:01 PM | #"Ok, one crime at a time, murder first." LOOL(dunno if its exactly right). In Booths head, murder has priority over Zack's escape. Maybe. I'm just guessing here. Oh and Hodgins did something rebel-like (giving zack the case/file/thingy) and then maybe didn't tell Cam? I dunno. The camera things a good one, I can't think of a counter-arguement for that. I'm dieing to see Zack again, even if the excuse is a bit wierd.
CrazySquint | Dec 14, 2008 7:09:04 AM | #I have been away from the show for a while. Why is Zack in the loony bin?
SuzyQ | Jan 8, 2009 11:55:36 AM | #If you want to write fox about Bones, is there an easy way to comment.
Sad to see Zack go. Has there been any interviews since he left?
He was the McGeee of NCIS. All the other characters were insipid.
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