BONES: A Not So Gentle Wind

Episode 7.05: The Twist in the Twister

Case of the Week: When, Scott Braley, a “storm chaser”, is found dead at a summer camp with multiple post-mortem injuries, the team suspects that the body may have been picked up after death and carried to the camp by a tornado. Cause of death is determined to be blunt head trauma. Booth and Sweets locate the victim’s armored motorhome in North Carolina and this leads them to a bunch of other storm chasers who are in North Carolina in anticipation of a powerful line of storms. They find out that an IMAX movie about tornadoes is being made and the contract is worth a hefty half million to the chasers involved. Booth and Sweets focus on Toni, a rival of Scott’s who got the IMAX contract and was accused by Scott of putting sugar in his gas tank to keep from a big storm.

Booth and Sweets confront her as a huge tornado forms in front of them as they watch. Everyone takes cover in a storm shelter when the storm gets too close and the team uses the time to question the chasers, including Misty, one very warm and fuzzy rainbow lover. Booth follows some leads that take him to the victim’s brother, but he isn’t the killer.

Angela tracks back the tornado that carried away the victim and triangulates the area from where the body originated. She and Hodgins search the debris field from the storm and find one of the victim’s data probes, proving that he was there immediately before the storm came through. They take the debris back to the lab and find some broken glass from a reusable water bottle – painted with a rainbow – the murder weapon. Maybe Misty isn’t as warm and fuzzy as she seems? Turns out she cheated on her boyfriend, one of the filmmakers, with a member of Scott’s team in his motorhome. The Jeffersonian team is able to prove that her boyfriend lied (and that he killed the victim out of jealousy) by analyzing data from the tornado and proving that he had footage from the tornado that moved Scott’s body and so must have been with Scott when he died.

Character Development: Booth is getting a bit over-protective of Brennan. When she dismisses his concerns, he lies to her about going to a storm zone in North Carolina with Sweets to interview the storm chasers. Just as they take shelter with some chasers in a storm cellar to ride out a large tornado, Brennan shows up and barely makes it into the shelter in time. She’s mad at Booth for lying at her. They emerge from the shelter to find a tree has landed on Booth’s car. Brennan’s car is unharmed and she gets in and drives away, leaving Booth standing by his wrecked car. They later discuss it at home and Booth admits that he just wants to keep her safe and she tells him that he needs to trust her. They have another heart-to-heart at the end of the episode and Booth tells her that he knows that he can’t always be there to protect her, so being overprotective makes him feel less helpless. Then he notices her bare feet and tells her to put some slippers on.

Angela and Hodgins’ baby won’t sleep, so they are both exhausted and running on fumes and quarts of coffee. Meanwhile, Angela’s father is in town and wants to spend alone time with the baby which makes them both very uncomfortable. When Hodgins is desperate enough to design a mini simulated tornado to lull the baby to sleep, they finally decide that they need to just trust him. When they get home from work, they find their baby in his crib with a press-on tatoo (“Grandpa”) and loud music playing – but he’s asleep!

Joel David Moore returned as squintern Colin Fisher who has just finished a sojourn in a mental hospital. Apparently he’s having mother problems – he’s living with his overbearing mother (his cell phone ringtone for her is the song “don’t forget to call your mother”) who calls him constantly. He meets a girl at a bar and takes her home with him, leaving her at home with his mom when he goes to work. Apparently the girl really likes him because she actually befriends his mom so she will let her spend more time with him.

Memorable Quotes:

“Human sexuality is a gem with innumerable facets” – Sweets

“FBI. Open up! Come out with your hands up and your pants on” – Booth

“This little baby has gotten me lots of tail”  – former employee of the victim, gesturing to the victim’s ancient armored motorhome

“That was supposed to be a whistle. My tongue is coated with cheese” – Sweets

“Mother Nature is so incredible” – Misty
“Mother Nature isn’t real!” – Brennan

“We’re actually considering strapping our precious baby into something a meth-addicted carnie wouldn’t ride, but we won’t leave him alone with my own father” – Angela

“Unlike you, I trust my partner to be able to take care of himself” – Brennan to Booth

Catch BONES on FOX on Thursdays 9/8c. The next new episode is slated for Jan 12, 2012.