BONES Recap: Discount on Death in Aisle 3

Bones 7.08 The Bump in the Road

BONES has never been afraid to tackle story lines about those on the fringes of society – circus performers, competitive eaters, alien aficionados, league bowlers, and Jersey shore denizens, to mention a few. So it was no surprise that BONES would finally tackle…extreme couponers!

Case of the Week:

A family on the way to a camping weekend one morning hits a rather large bump in the road, which of course turns out to be a headless corpse. The remains of the body are found spread over a quarter mile stretch of highway. Hodgins and Finn Abernathy (the southern genius squintern with a rough past that we met in the fall) detect diesel fuel and automobile grease on the remains – the kind used by semi-tractor trailers. They also find a ton of small pieces of paper in the victim’s bra and the rest of her clothes. The papers turn out to coupons.

At the FBI, Special Agent Overeager Shaw is on the case and she figures out that they can use the difference in weights of semi trucks between two weigh stations on that stretch of road. From reviewing the weight logs, she is able to determine that one truck had a 120-something pound difference between the two stations – the estimated weight of the victim. She then called the owner of the truck, Fields Market, who tracked the GPS. She has determined that the truck is near Baltimore and she has the address all ready for Booth.

Booth and Brennan go to interview the driver and check out the truck. They find the rest of the body, including the head, under the truck. It seems that the victim was crouching under the truck for some reason when it was turned on and her hair got caught and her body was pulled up into the drive shaft of the truck, severing her head, but not releasing her body, allowing it to be dragged underneath the truck (you’d think the driver would be able to smell a decomposing body on the undercarriage of his truck!). The driver (who wears woman’s panties!) denies that he knows anything about the victim and convinces Bones and Booth.

Back at the lab, Hodgins and crew examine the head and get the idea to  check the nasal passages for pollen to help them pinpoint where the victim was picked up by the truck. They find chestnut pollen in the nasal secretions and use them to pinpoint the farm where she lived. Using this information, they are able to identify the victim as woman named Barb. Booth visits the victim’s husband and finds out that she was *really* into coupons. He last saw her when she left the house the night before to go to Field’s Market in Frederick.

Booth visits Fields Market and talks to the manager while Bone investigate the parking lot and finds part of the victim’s skull. They find out that the victim was a regular there and the manager shows them surveillance footage of her fighting with one of the cashiers, who was sick of dealing with her dozens of coupons. The cashier, Crystal, denies being involved in her death and suggests that they check out the women in her coupon club as they’d do anything to save a few cents.

Once the Jeffersonian team reassembles the skull, they realize that the victim was hit in the head before her body got caught in the drive shaft, with a weapon made of aluminum.

They investigate the coupon club and Angela finds a bunch of emails from club members, including a woman who wrote threatening emails to the victim. Booth and Sweets go to a meeting of the club and find the women in a state of frenzy over a bunch of coupons. They arrest the woman who claims to be her best friend, who was the one who was threatening her online. She has a coupon box on her, but it doesn’t match the murder weapon and she has a solid alibi – a bunch of receipts for stores at the time that the victim was killed.

Agent Shaw finds that the victim’s husband was spending a lot of money at fancy restaurants at the same time that the victim was out shopping. Even better, he wasn’t eating alone! Booth questions him and he tells him that he started cheating because his wife was more interested in coupons than him.

Finn finds a dye around the wound on the skull that they identify as marker. Brennan remembers that the manager at Fields Market carried an aluminum clipboard and used a large magic marker. They go to the store and Brennan finds a bone chip on the corner of the clipboard. He admit that he hit the victim when he found her climbing in his dumpster looking for coupons – she and her friends were getting in the way of his attempts to make the store more upscale. After he hit her, she ran off, apparently hiding under the truck.

Character Development:

It’s been 6 weeks since little Christine was born and Brennan is headed back to work. Christine will be going to daycare at the Jeffersonian for the first time. Brennan is of course, her usual neurotic self, and makes the daycare director send her a picture of the baby every 30 minutes (this is after Brennan made her turn over her grad school transcripts) and later gets in a childcare pissing match with her during a visit to daycare. Brennan otherwise tells everything that she’s okay not being with Christine all day, but then she catches Angela sneaking Michael into the lab and decides that she really misses Christine so she’ll sneak her in too – every day!

Cam’s daughter Michele is enthralled with a new man. Much to Cam’s dismay, it’s squintern Finn. Michele is taken by Finn’s southern charm, but Cam remains concerned about Finn’s past, even though the rest of the team has put it behind them. They all try to convince Cam that Finn’s a good guy, but she’s not convinced now that he’s interested in Michele. Finn goes to Cam and says that he won’t spend time with Michele if she doesn’t approve, and predictably, Michele doesn’t take this well. She and Cam fight in Cam’s office and Michele turns to go and there is Finn. He tells Cam that he can’t stop seeing Michele and he won’t walk out on her just because Cam is pressuring him. He offers to quit the Jeffersonian. Cam thinks about what he’s said, then apologizes for acting “old” and basically gives them her blessing.

Turns out that Agent Shaw has a three year old son, Danny

Booth gets in on  couponing after solving the case, but swears Brennan to secrecy

Memorable Quotes:

I am lactating, so make it fast, Mr. Abernathy – Brennan

At this stage, I’m only equipped to handle the concerns of a 6 week old. So unless you have a diaper that needs changing or need to be breastfed, I can’t help you.   – Brennan to Finn when he asks for advice on why Cam is so upset that he is interested in Michele

Remember me when you take over the bureau! – Booth to Shaw

There’s no need for embarrassment – even the Norse warriors were frequent cross-dressers – Brennan

Crystal’s been working here since before carrots were in juice – manager at Fields Market

You shouldn’t hit people. You should use your words. That’s what all the books say! – Brennan