BONES Recap: ‘El Carnicero en el Coche’

Hello, BONES fans! This episode, “El Carnicero en el Coche” had a different feel to it, and I think it was a good blend of the case and the characters’ personal lives. The case was dark but had an optimistic end, which is, in my opinion, a secret to the show’s early success.  This episode also now takes first place in the “grossest body ever” contest, with that “peel back the skin” move in the lab. GROSS! There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s get to it.

THE CASE:

The Scene of the Crime: Two tow truck drivers compete over an abandoned car, but when a human skeleton is found inside, Booth and the team are called to the scene.

The Victim: The victim is Jaime DelCompo, a member of an aggressive gang, Estrellas Locos. He was known as El Carnicero (the butcher) and for chopping up his victims and leaving their parts around town. The Estrellas are involved in gang wars with several other gangs as well. DelCompo suffered bullet wounds to the head.

Primary Suspects:

• Geoffrey Middlebury, owner of the car. Booth brings him in for questioning, and his “left my car to get some money to buy cocaine to impress a girl” alibi is shaky at best.
• Maria, Jaime’s girlfriend. When Booth and Sweets go to speak with her, she shows signs of being physically abused and a strong allegiance to the gang. She also has a son, Javier. Sweets knows Javier from his recent work at a community center.
• Curtis Martin, leader of a rival gang 520. Booth arrests him when they see him retaliate in a drive-by shooting.

The Case Progression:

Hodgins meticulously tries to recover skeletal parts from the car, and he comes across a pair of earrings. He also finds a bullet, and the team is able to trace it to a gun used in the murders of several other people, all from gangs EXCEPT for 520. The gun is missing, part of what Booth figures is a gun library — unregistered weapons loaned out to gang members.

Booth and Caroline speak with Curtis Martin, and he tells them that he knows there was an informant in the Estrellas Locos.

At the lab, Wendell and Brennan examine the skeleton and see what appear to be two bullet entry wounds, with no exit wounds. Angela is able to recreate a possible scenario, and Brennan realizes that Jaime was shot only one time, and the second entry wound was actually the exit wound.

When a seventh victim, Adriana Garcia, from the same gun is reported, Cam, Brennan and Angela examine her severed head. She was one of Jaime’s victims before his death, and the team discovers three main things:

• Her earlobes had been ripped, likely signaling the found earrings were hers.
• She was sleeping with Jaime, likely making Maria jealous.
• She was the informant to the police.

Booth brings Maria to the FBI for questioning, but it’s a standoff of wills, as neither Maria nor Booth will budge. Sweets suggests bringing in some crime scene photos, but he meets up with Javier in the FBI lobby.

The Verdict: Sweets convinces Booth to let him talk to Javier with Maria present. Through a series of questioning, the truth comes out — Javier killed Jaime to protect Maria, to keep her from being hurt again. The scene turns ugly when she slaps him and verbally abuses him for his betrayal to the gang.

Booth, Brennan, Caroline and Sweets talk with Javier and get his help to find the gun library. Booth and the FBI complete a bust to capture guns, money and other items.

The Squints:

The non-case part of the episode centered around Sweets and his need to take a break from the FBI work. I like this storyline, mainly because I think it’s realistic and because I think Sweets’ character has been misused some in the past few seasons. I liked seeing the Booth and Sweets friendship/brotherhood here. It made me laugh, and I particularly loved the scene where Booth suggested he talk to someone. It was a good role reversal there, and both actors played it right. I also think it’s good that Booth is the one to ultimately encourage Sweets to take more leave for a while. My take is that most of the other characters would be cool with Sweets doing something else; their main concern is that he not feel guilt over what happened with Pelant. Thoughts from you?

As for the rest of the squints, they were mainly focused on the case in this episode, and that worked for me.

Booth and Brennan:

This episode was sort of B&B-lite. It wasn’t bad — it just means there isn’t a lot to talk about. I actually thought the scene in the diner felt a little strange. Not that Brennan wouldn’t be mad if Booth was shot and she didn’t know about it, or that they wouldn’t come up with that kind of deal between them…I don’t know, it just felt shoved into the episode and didn’t quite fit. I did like the way they discussed Sweets (and how Brennan later told Sweets that him being around meant a lot to Booth) and I liked the end scene.

If there is anything else to nitpick at, it’s that Booth DOES have a little brother he doesn’t get along with.  For him to say Sweets was the little brother he never wanted but was glad he had just felt slightly off. It really IS a reflection of the relationship they have, and it’s better than his relationship with Jared. I’m gonna just stop nitpicking and leave it alone now.

Okay, enough from me. What did you think of this episode? Were you surprised with how the case turned out? What are your thoughts on this Sweets storyline? The comments are open, so sound off!