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We've got another poker-winnings episode this week on "Bones." Tamara Taylor must have won big against the writers, so they gave her the starring role in a tale of a dead ex-fiancé, a painful past, and a child she left behind.
A chewed up corpse is found in the tiger area of a wildlife park, which is apparently under federal jurisdiction. Or Booth just jumps at any case that may involve monkeys. Anyway, the corpse wasn't killed by the tiger -- he bled out after being beaten and then stabbed in the femoral artery. The body belonged to Dr. Andrew Welton, a surgeon. He apparently died during a hospital benefit at the animal park. Cam is shocked: She knew him.
Cam's backstory
In fact, Cam had been engaged to Andrew about 10 years ago. She lived with him and his daughter, Michelle, for two years, when Michelle was between 4 and 6 years old. Cam loved Michelle like crazy, and she expects a welcome even though it's been a decade. But Michelle claims she doesn't know Cam, and wants nothing to do with her.
But when Cam checks up on Michelle later, it's a different story: Yeah, I remember you -- and you suck! You told me you loved me, that we were a family, but then you just took off one day and I never saw you again! I looked for you every day! Why did you leave?
Cam confesses that Andrew cheated on her, often and with great vigor, even when they were engaged. Michelle isn't impressed -- maybe you just weren't good enough for him. Maybe he would have settled down with the right woman. Cam's heart breaks again.
Brennan finds Cam mooning over a small ceramic cat, half a salt-and-pepper shaker set. When she left Andrew, she gave Michelle one of the shakers. When you miss me, she told her, look at this and know that I'll be thinking of you. Cam kept that shaker all these years, and she still looks at it.
After the murder is solved, Cam goes back to Michelle to ask her to come live with her. She puts the shaker on the table. Michelle stares at it, then runs upstairs without a word. Cam cries silently and prepares to leave. Michelle reappears: She's got her shaker, and puts it on the table so it embraces its mate. She's kept it all these years, too, and she's never forgotten -- or stopped loving -- Cam. Sniffle!
The crime
But enough heartwarming domestic drama. We've got a crime to solve!
The investigation leads to the usual school of red herrings:
- Dr. Bailey, the chief administrator of the hospital, who frequently argued with Andrew about policy matters.
- Brandon Casey, who sued Andrew for malpractice after his wife died under his case. Andrew got a restraining order against Casey, but Casey was at the benefit. He claims was just there to apologize, and under hypnosis, he describes a woman he saw arguing with Andrew.
- Diana Annenburg, a major donor to the hospital, who argued with Andrew at the benefit because he rejected her med-student son from the hospital's residency program. Bah! I expressed my disappointment, but I didn't the man!
- Richard, the son in question. He's looks like a good fit, because the team figures out that white particulates in the wound came from a disposable plastic knife, which was probably used to enlarge the wound so someone could tie off the femoral artery and prevent the good doctor from bleeding out. Yep -- Andrew's killer tried to save him. But Richard says he begged Andrew to reject him, so he could get away from his mother.
- Dr. Bailey again, who also had the medical knowledge, plus she was having an affair with Andrew.
The murder weapon turns out to be a snake-handling pole. Mica-like flecks in the wound were actually snake scales. But they didn't come from any snakes in the reptile house -- nope they came from a snakeskin handbag belonging to nurse Nancy Lauder. She, too, was sleeping with Andrew, and she didn't leave when she found out he was cheating -- she beat him with a pointy stick, which cut the artery and killed him.
The Lab Rats
Yay, Clark NotZack is back! Brennan assured him that everyone would be strictly professional. Alas, Angela reacts to celibacy by drooling and hitting on everything within range, including Clark. Not! Professional! He squeaks. Eventually, he brings his partner, Nora, a gorgeous woman-studies professor and fellow vegan, into the lab to tell Angela to back off. Nora ends up freaking Clark out even more by suggesting that Angela get a vibrator. She also confirms that Clark is dynamite in the sack.
Highlights, thoughts and odds and ends
- No Booth and Brennan moments this week, because the ep wasn't about them. They were supporting players in The Cam Show. Fortunately, the story was compelling enough -- and Tamara Taylor was good enough -- that I didn't really miss them.
- Cam reveals the cheating part of the story to Angela and Brennan. Brennan is curious that the cheating bothered Cam. "How many times do I have to tell that most people don't like to be cheated on?" Angela says. "The only people who don't mind have given up," Cam says. "Or are very, very rational and above those archaic notions of monogamy," Angela says quickly, looking significantly at Brennan. "Right," Cam says. "Yes, of course, I'm not quite evolved enough."
- Booth asks Brennan to forego her usual investigative role in this case, and let Cam do the legwork with him. Brennan grumbles: She'll stay in the lab, and "you and Cam can rely on your statistically inaccurate guts to solve the case."
- The hypnosis scene was an excuse to put an ostrich or emu behind Sweets. Why? Who knows! Apparently, someone thought Sweet + large flightless bird = comedy gold.
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Zap2it Twitter Talk 
I like the poll things you have added. Neat. OK, so you GOT it! The reference to Pinky and the Brain! One of the very best cartoon series ever, alongside Animaniacs, both of which were done by Steven Spielberg by the way! OK, that said, I enjoyed that this episode was more Cam than anyone else. It is a wonderful change of pace to concentrate on another character once in a while. In the 2nd poll, I voted for one of the nonzachs because I think once in a while, shifting focus and highlighting another character is a GOOD thing, as Martha Stewart says. I do not know what it is about Tamara Taylor's eyes, but I could get lost in eyes like hers. And Angela's comment about Clark being compact and squeezable was a priceless moment as was the banter between the two later in the episode and then there was that moment with Sweets when Sweets said, "I need you" and she said, "To do what with...", but 2nd to the Pinky and the Brain reference...
I love giraffes. They are SO graceful when in motion. By the way, did you know they have exactly the same number of vertebrae in their neck as you and I do?
(After proofreading, this is a bit long ... but I'm a writer ... and I can't sleep ... feel free to skip.)
I like Tamara Taylor, and her routine perplexment with the labrats/cats she must herd, but I thought most of this episode was a failure. In the end, it revolved around the character growth of the doctor's daughter, and I thought her character was completely mishandled. No daughter of a successful doctor, having her heart cut open from the death of her father, would be so heartless and cruel as this one was to Cam - unless she is the next candidate for the (dead) Gormagon's protege'. Losing a parent makes you sensitive to the world's pain (if you haven't ever lost one). It happens almost instantly, and the daughter acted more like a bright young sociopath. You just knew, when the cruelty and "I don't know you." and "you weren't good enough" came out so sharply and so forced that you were going to have the resolution at the end. I felt in most of the scenes Tamara was a little bit like a remote controlled car: the emotional situations were so false and forced all she could do was drive around where the controller said. How many times can you feel hurt - and the same hurt (cut off from a family you loved in your past) - in the same episode? I especially felt she was on remote control in the last scene, where she is again rejected, gets up, goes to the door ... and ...
Also, again a bit trite with not-Zack Clark's girlfriend being the ultra-achieved, PhD'd Georgetown professor in Woman's Studies. And of course not-Zack is a great lover - yawn! - you knew that was gonna happen the moment she showed up in the scene. not-Zack was so awkward introducing his girlfriend it would have been much better if his girlfriend made fun of HIM (because he was acting like a clown) and then the two chicks get along like sisters, leaving him on the outside again (and this would have blended well with the Hodgins/Male/HateYou moment at the conference table later). It seemed like a scene created to stroke the ego of the actor.
On the good side of the ledger, I do like the way they are giving Hodgins some dignity and not having him fall all over Angela and be at her beck and call. He gets a little annoyed and impatient with Angela's (increasingly apparent) sexual immaturity.
And that, fellow "Booth's People", is the rub. This show has a very strong moral center. Last week's episode where the high school sperm supplier gets a lesson in fatherhood is an example. There are, of course, others, and the coming point is thatBooth's previous commentary about "making love" raises a very high standard for an eventual Booth/Bones union. I hope that they don't make it some casual, let's-just-get-the-actors-naked type of thing. I also hope that these episodes (there have been many now) where Booth and Bones have limited interactions (Angela's previous episode, for example) are party favors for the cast so that (eventually) they can get out of the way and let the writers take their time and great care in bringing these two wonderful characters together. If done poorly, they could ruin the show. Anyone else so worried?
Lastly, loved the bit - even if just for a moment - where B&B interrogated the hospital chief of staff and they were bouncing things off each other, completing their sentences ... just a little wink at the audience: "We're still here. We can still do this."
They do it so well.
Um, Clark's stated several times he is gay. I mean continuity is not why I watch the show, but come on.
I like the show, even though the basic premise of the show (that the FBI needs some help in the crime lab area from some museum researchers) is silly. The characters and the dialogue are normally well done, so I enjoy each show without worrying about the premise. But every now and then, there's a lazy moment on "Bones" that shakes me right out of my suspension of disbelief.
Tonight, Angela did her little computer reconstruction of the crime to show that the murder weapon was "a pole about five foot long and ten centimeters in diameter," and Bones accepts this description without question. Two problems:
1. Angela mixed measurement systems, akin to saying "I'm 167 centimeters tall, and I weigh 130 pounds."
2. A pole ten centimeters in diameter would be a post that would be too heavy to use as a weapon in the manner described: ten centimeters is about four inches.
If Angela had said the murder weapon was "about five feet long and an inch thick," the measurements would have been consistent, but viewers would rightly have wondered why highly educated scientists were using the English system of measurement. She should have said "about one-and-a-half meters long and a couple centimeters thick," which would have conveyed both the correct use of the metric system and the lack of precision in Angela's reconstruction.
I thought this ep was totally sweet. Yes, Angela's teenager sized hormones need a good dose of (insert your own dirty joke here) but aside from that, it worked for me. I, too, like that Hodgins is showing some backbone and NotZack Clark always amuses me with his supercilious attitude. (Oh fun! How often do you get to use "supercilious" in real life! Not often enough, I say!)
I liked that B&B stepped aside to let Cam take over an ep. While B&B are the leads, it's still a group effort. Why not let the rest of them get some quality screen time in? And Tamara Taylor worked those emotions!
Next week we get TWO eps of Bones, so woo and a hoo!
Worst episode ever. Cam's back-story was boring and I didn't buy any of it. Half way through I just wanted to fast froward any Cam scene. The plot was as if they wanted to more humanize her so they just came up with this story last minute. They spent so much time on her plot the murder of the week reveal was a complete let down.
Get Angela and Hodgins back together. If you need to do another non-bones or Booth story, do one on Hodgins and his millions because he is a fun character and his strict story was okay, but then stop do them.
I enjoyed the episode - wish we knew more about some of the other characters' pasts -hope they do back stories on more of them - it's a great show with great characters and the crimes of the week are always fun to watch being solved.
I liked the ep and loved the hypnosis scene. It was imaginative and I haven't seen it handled this way before. I've seen the subject remembering in scenes but not the hypnotist/therapist and sketch artist there. I liked that they were in costume, the drinks, Angela taking one was funny, the guy was hungry and Sweets goes, here's food. I really enjoyed it.
@Matt: I don't recall Clark ever saying specifically that he was gay, except as a way to close off talks about his personal life. I guess he figures, "I'm gay," is a conversation-stopper, which smacks more of ****phobia than frustration. Eh, whatever. Until they bring Zack back, I'm fine with the rotating cylinder of squints-of-the-week.
The hypnosis sequence was quite funny, even if it was over-the-top and probably doesn't happen that way in real life. It's like security cameras--if they're not pointed at the right spot, you can't magically make it zoom at a location behind a column in its line-of-sight. Still, it was a welcome relief from the soap opera elements of Cam's plotline.
Since I've looked on imdb.com and couldn't find it, can somebody tell me in what else the actress who played Michelle Welton has been? She looks very familiar, and I'm sure I've seen her in something just recently. I've been wracking my brain since I first saw her. TIA! :)
Clark has never said he was gay. I believe you are thinking of the intern from "Intern in the Incinerator" who worked with the victim. He was also a young black man with who looks a lot like Clark.
I really enjoyed this episode. It reminded me of earlier seasons of Bones with Booth "being the cop." I love when David plays strong, not silly. I can only take Booth as comic relief in small doses. Also in response to the previous poster, what does being the daughter of a successful doctor have to do with anyone's behavior. Her fathers success has nothing to do with her. Most teenagers of that age think of themselves first-it's their age. I thought the scenes with Cam played out well. Lot's of strong emotions shown without being sappy. I like episodes that are not just all Booth and Brennan all the time. This show has always been about the group as a whole and I think it plays out best when the writers keep to that strength.