BONES: The Sense in the Sacrifice

Our Bones coverage this year is limited to highlight big moments and bigger bad guys so Palant’s long-drawn out plan potentially coming to an end is powerful enough for a recap.

Christopher Palant is back again, but this time the entire Jeffersonian team is trying to smoke him out before he can kill again.

Unlike most other cases, our victim is a man who donated his body to the Jeffersonian, which the team is degrading and destroying as a means to force Palant out of his hiding. This victim now resembles a body killed in the style of Prometheus, who was punished by having his liver eaten by an eagle every day.

Special Agent Flynn is back to help, because he’s been forced into desk work forever because of Palant.

So far, this episode, as a way to catch and punish Palant seems atypical, but I suppose that’s the point.

Flynn, it seems, did a good job. Palant left a flower on the body that they discovered, and the body has bullet wounds that were not on their original pre-planned corpse. Flynn, it appears, is now the sacrifice for the whole team, though I’m not sure that they wanted any of that to happen.

In looking at Flynn’s body, Palant mirrored some of Brennan’s techniques, as well as mirroring the myth that the team wanted to use. Flynn was still alive when his liver was removed.

Booth, while examining Flynn’s apartment, won’t believe Sweets when suggesting that Flynn was the one to tip off Palant. Brennan soon discovered that Flynn had a very expensive surgery for one of his injuries – too expensive for someone in Flynn’s position. Later, a discovery of money and passports only confirms what Booth doesn’t want to believe.

Stubborn to a fault, Booth refuses to believe all the mounting evidence about Flynn’s surgery. But as Booth and Brennan interview the doctor who performed Flynn’s surgery, they learn that the doctor only remodeled ten fractures, but there were eleven Brennan found at intake.

That eleventh fracture was created and leads Brennan to investigate a case from nine years ago, still unsolved. In the Bone Room, Palant finds Brennan and without cell service, there is nothing she can do, but talk to him.

Palant set off a device that will kill both of them, but Palant tells Brennan that all of these unsolved cases are the result of one killer who changes patterns. Palant, saying he’s better than Brennant, will find who the killer before she does.

Palant’s device is a fake, but Palant’s story of an unknown female serial killer sets Booth off more than he already was. Cam found a piece of Flynn’s tooth in his stomach, and Brennan had boosted to Flynn about solving a case with only a tooth.

Brennan, unsure of what to do, goes to see Booth’s friend the barkeeper to ask for advice. Booth will do anything for Brennant, he tells her, which comes off as a shock.

Palant managed to switch bones from drawers, and Brennan assumes its another clue. In the same way, Sweets comes to Booth with the idea that Palant is seducing Brennan away from Booth because Brennan is quick to change her mind on people.

Angela, Cam and Hodgins all come to the conclusion that Palant is working out of an old power plant in Maryland. As the they continue to work their way through the timetable, Brennan’s car arrives at the plant, well before Booth can leave from the FBI.

In true Palant style, he left her a series of clues for her to find his location, recreating a constellation with unsolved victims. As she walks her way into the factory, Palant’s face is mirrored on a number of screens; he worries about when Booth will arrive.

Of course Palant had bugged Flynn’s car and planted the money, and unlike every other time, Brennant is not willing to let Palant live to save them all. One very quick shot to the chest, and Palant is finally dead and finally out of their lives.

Booth and Brennan are having one final heart to heart about how things will go in the future. Booth finally opens up about why he was unwilling to marry Brennan, but with Palant dead, the threat no longer exists.

Booth and Brennan can finally get married!