BONES Recap: Girl Power

Bones 8.14 The Doll in the Derby

Two police officers are called to an abandoned slaughterhouse. They separate and one of the officers trips and falls onto a dead, mostly liquified, dismembered corpse (are there any other kind on this show?).

The victim is female and died about 8 hours prior, however the body is melting because it was doused in a corrosive liquid which continues to liquefy the remains. Cam gives Hodgins permission to spray the remains down with a power washer to remove the liquid (which sounds like a very bad idea to me!). Brennan is worried about damage to the bones, but she is overruled by Cam.

Back at the Jeffersonian, the body is examined further and injuries suggestive of domestic violence, from the past year or so, are found. They identify the body by the serial number on her dental bridge – a woman named Melinda Perkins. Hodgins finds particulates in wounds on the skull and he identifies them as from a roller skate wheel. Cam finds ecstasy,  marijuana, Ritalin, and hydrocodone in the victim’s tissues.

Booth asks Sweets if it could be the work of a serial killer, but he doesn’t think so. Sweets thinks it more likely to be the victim’s boyfriend or husband. Sweets interviews the husband, an ER trauma surgeon. They had been separated for about a year. She had told him that she wanted a divorce. He denies abusing her  and says was working in the hospital at the time that she died.

Melinda had a fancy sports watch that collected data on her heart rate as well as GPS data. Her heart rate was near max for the two minutes before she died. Booth and Brennan go to the last known coordinates of the victim – a warehouse near the slaughterhouse. A woman with blood on her face comes out of the warehouse, but goes back into the warehouse after refusing their offer of help. They follow her inside and find a roller derby rink.

They meet the owner of the team, Nick Bennett, and the bleeding woman, Susan Carol, AKA Emily Kickenson who identify a picture of the victim – she was a member of the team, which explains her many injuries in the past year. Melinda had not gone out with the rest of the team after their match the night before. Another teammate, Ivanna Kickass, also didn’t show up for practice. Booth asks for her address and cell number.

Booth interviews Ivanna, who tells him that she missed practice because she had to study for an exam for her physical therapy program. She tells Booth that she and Melinda were friends and that the victim was really a party girl – drugs, sex, the whole 9 yards.

Angela (AKA Smackie Kennedy) offers to go undercover and try out for the Derby Dolls. Hodgins is not fond of the idea, until he sees her in her skimpy, tight outfit. Angela’s pretty good, but the team is determined to put her in her place, again and again. Later on, she’s hanging out in the locker room when Ivanna approaches her and tells her that she did a good job. Left alone in the locker room finally, she uses a UV light to check out everyone’s skates. Not too surprisingly, they all have blood on them.

Just as she’s finishing checking out the skates, Emily Kickenson comes in and tells her that she made the team and warns her that there have been thefts in the locker room. Angela invites her out for a drink at the Founding Fathers. About 6 beers later, they are both very drunk but have really bonded.

Booth arrives as Angela called him to ask him to drive her home. She pretends that he is her boyfriend and even kisses him to sell it. He tells her that she’s bad at undercover work, but she tells him that she’s found out all kinds of info, including that the team owner was skimming money from the team. She’s tricked him into coming to the bar so Booth can arrest him, but he can’t do anything without more evidence.

Wendell believes that a wood saw was used to dismember the body. Brennan remembers the owner of the team told him that he made the wooden skating track by hand. Cam realizes that victim was also stabbed, in addition to being hit on the head with a skate.

Booth interrogates Bennett, who tells him that he gives 25% to the team. Money was definitely going missing from the cash box, but he suspected Melinda. He didn’t do anything about it though, because they were sleeping together. They ran into her ex at a bar and she went out of her way to make him feel jealous.  She threw a drink at him and a day or two later, she was dead.

Wendell finds microfractures on the sternum suggestive of CPR, but the victim also has cuts in the areas of the femoral arteries – the killer cut the arteries then pumped the heart to bleed her out more quickly so she could be dismembered with less mess.

Booth confronts the husband again, who doesn’t have an alibi for one hour around the time the victim died. He tells Booth that he was napping, but soon lawyers up.

Hodgins finds vitreous humor (fluid from the eye) on the victim’s shirt – she was stabbed in the eye with a key. The husband doesn’t have any keys – his house and cars are keyless. Booth and Brennan collect keys from all of the Derby Dolls. The key for the team bus is the right size and the ignition switch is positive for body fluids. Ivanna Kickass was the one with the keys – she stabbed the victim after she caught her stealing from the locker room and the cash box. She used her knowledge from PT school to dismember the victim. Booth arrests her.

Character Development

While Booth and Brennan are driving to the crime scene, Booth tells her that he has to stop by the hospital later that day. She offers to go with him, but he assures her that he can handle it. Later, Angela overhears Booth call Brennan from the hospital to tell her that he’s going to be late. She asks Brennan about the call, but she refuses to give her any information. Angela asks Cam, but she doesn’t know why Booth is at the hospital, either and they both start thinking the worst.

Cam goes to the hospital and speaks to a doctor there who knows Booth. She won’t tell her anything about why Booth comes to the hospital except that he insisted on keeping it secret. The doctor is a specialist in neurofibromatosis, which is a genetic disease that effects kids, but that’s about all the info Cam is able to get.

It’s the day before Wendell’s 29th birthday and he’s rather depressed. On her 29th birthday, Cam was the deputy chief coroner of New York and Hodgins was at the lab, where he’s been ever since. Hodgins asks Wendell about his “before 30 bucket list” and tells him that his one regret is that he never posed naked for an art student. Wendell has, although not for an art student. He posed for Angela, back when they were dating, which is not what Hodgins wanted to hear.

Wendell confides in Hodgins that his brother bet him that he’d still be a loser at 29. Hodgins assures him that he’s not a loser. Hodgins convinces him to go to his brother to collect the money. Angela, Wendell, and Hodgins go to the bar for a few drinks. Wendell gives Hodgins a canvas where Angela has painted him. He’s naked from the waist up, but now the bottom half is covered with goofy boxers. Hodgins is amused, but Angela feels like he ruined the piece.

Cam takes Brennan to a carnival where kids from the hospital are playing. Booth organized it all but doesn’t want anyone else to know because he feels that charity should remain anonymous.

My Thoughts:

This week’s episode was rather lighthearted and entertaining and I was glad to find out that Booth doesn’t have any serious health issues (presumably he’s forever recovered from his brain tumor a few seasons ago) although with the big deal that Brennan and Booth made of it, I should have known that it was nothing serious.

Wendell’s definitely my choice for favorite squintern and his past relationship with Angela was used well in this episode. Angela pretending Booth was her boyfriend was hilarious; that scene and Hodgins, Angela, and Wendell celebrating his birthday made me realize how few scenes have taken place in the Founding Fathers this season compared to in the past.

Memorable Quotes:

Slaughterhouse is fine. French doesn’t make murder any classier. – Booth

I wish they hadn’t sent rookies. One of them ended up rolling around in the remains – Cam

No, it was not a serial killer, unless this was someone’s first kick at the serial killer can – Sweets

This is the second Friday in a row where you’ve been evasive – Sweets

I should give names to my interns…Peter Patella, Timothy Tibia… – Brennan

And her real name, if it’s not Ivanna Kickass – Brennan

Agh…sometimes I hate being an adult! – Hodgins

Whoa, blood tie dye. Not exactly peace and love! – Cam

The mass spectrophotometer told you to butt into my family’s business? – Wendell

Watch BONES on Mondays at 8/7c on FOX!