BONES Recap: ‘The Dude in the Dam’
November 12, 2013 by Sarah Curtis
Hello, BONES fans! Here we are with our first episode of the week (don’t forget that a new episode airs THIS Friday at 8 PM!), and I’m curious to hear what you thought of “The Dude in the Dam.”
You may or may not know that the episode was written by Kathy Reichs (the real-life author of the Temperance Brennan novels) and her daughter Kerry Reichs (also an author). Ms. Reichs also wrote season five’s “The Witch in the Wardrobe,” and I think it’s great that she is still involved in the show when she can. There is a lot to discuss about this episode, so let’s get to it!
THE CASE:
The Scene of the Crime: Two college age-students are checking out a beaver dam, when they spot some human remains. Booth, Brennan, Hodgins and Cam arrive to the crime scene. Brennan identifies the victim as a young man, and some FBI techs tell Booth there are traces of blood trailing from a nearby hill. Meanwhile, Hodgins collects some slugs to take back to the lab for investigation.
The Victim: Sean Noland, a wannabe model most recently employed by selling his sperm to a local sperm bank.
Primary Suspects:
- Veronica, Sean’s girlfriend. The team figures she won’t be pleased at the idea of Sean selling his sperm.
- Judith, the owner of the sperm bank. When it is revealed that Sean was lying about his prestigious background, she knows she might have a lot of angry customers on her hands.
- CC Creach, Sean’s drug dealer. Brennan and Wendell identify high levels of natural testosterone in Sean’s body. Booth brings him in for questioning, and he insists that he is innocent, but his story takes a hit when Booth asks him about physically fighting Sean.
- Mr. Robertson, an angry customer. He and his wife used Sean’s “product” but couldn’t conceive, leading Sweets to question him on the possible motive of feeling cheated.
The Case Progression:
Judith tells Booth and Sweets that Sean was fired from the donation lab for his lies, leaving the team wondering why he continued to take the testosterone supplement designed to increase his sperm count. They eventually find online ads Sean created, selling his sperm.
At the lab, Wendell, Brennan and Cam identify perimortem and postmortem marks to the skeleton, including some finger breakage and a gash to where the femoral artery would be, leading them to believe it was sliced. With cause of death identified, they have to figure out the murder weapon.
Wendell and Hodgins try out several weapons, but have very little luck until they find a three-edged hoe. Angela recreates the crime, showing that the hand injuries likely came as a result of Sean protecting his pelvis. Wendell and Hodgins declare this means a woman is the killer.
Meanwhile, Brennan and Booth speak with Judith again, and Brennan realizes she is pregnant. Judith admits she slept with Sean — they were in love and were going to raise their child together.
Booth, armed with this new information, talks with Veronica again. She laughs at the suggestion that Sean and Judith were having a child/in love, telling them Sean never wanted children and viewed his sperm donations as trophies.
The Verdict: Brennan finds a small piece of a fingernail in the skull. Booth brings Judith back in for questioning. She confesses to the crime, admitting she was angry when Sean laughed at the idea of having a child with her.
THE SQUINTS:
The main squint subplot involved Hodgins being a host for a fly, from gestation to birth. That was pretty gross, and I wasn’t necessarily a fan of the storyline. There were a couple of laughs, and I still like the Hodgins/Wendell friendship in the lab. I was struck by how much nicer Angela is to Hodgins than she is to Brennan.
I thought Sweets was good in this episode, and it was nice (if not a little out of the blue) that he came to the lab to talk to Brennan about her TV interview.
BOOTH AND BRENNAN:
I liked the “rival author” storyline for Brennan in this episode, but I didn’t like how the whole “tact” spilled to every other interaction she had. It wasn’t necessary for her to be rude to Booth, Wendell, etc. for the storyline to be viable, and it ventured on cartoonish, in my opinion. I thought the tv-show scene with “Tess Brown” (played by Nora Dunn) was hilarious, especially the way the interviewer kept trying to pull the conversation back to happy ground.
It’s rare that Brennan’s books are mentioned, and we’ve had that happen two episodes in a row, so it will be interesting to see if that is a trend in the rest of season nine.
I liked the end scene, with Booth and Brennan doing their playful bickering thing.
Okay, enough from me…what did you think? Did you like this case? Were you surprised by the killer? How about Hodgins and the bug delivery? The comments are open. See you on Friday night!
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Overall I enjoyed the episode more than expected. Before watching this episode I was worried that Brennan was going not going to come off in a good light. So it was nice that it turned out that the other author was baiting her. I agree with you Sarah that it wasn’t necessary for her to be rude to Wendell for the plot. I thought the point about Brennan they were trying to get across is that she doesn’t sugar coat the truth. The hodgins part was really funny but very gross. Hodgins was so cute about the whole thing though. I thought Angela was amazingly supportive.
I am bit tired of the Brennan learns she comes across tactless for the first time plot. She already knows she is abrasive from the “Pinocchio” episode in S6, she already worries that she comes across as mean in “blood from the stones”. She already doesn’t want her failings to be passed on to Christine in terms of “over-compettitiveness” from “archeologist in the cocoon”. Yet they have her learn a lesson only to come back to it again and again. So hopefully this issue will be addressed once and for all. I am bit concerned that the Fury in the Jury plotline is going to be Brennan admitting she can be wrong about something– which will just annoy me considering she already mentioned this season that “working with Booth has made her question herself”.
This was actually the first episode I’ve truly liked since season 6. What we saw last night was the old Hodgins, not some wimpy guy begging his wife not to kiss another dude. Angela still grates. B&B were cute–it’s better when they aren’t trying to convince us that they have sex.
The one thing I didn’t like was that Sweets had to tell Bones what the other author was doing. I get that Bones is stunted emotionally but she’s still a genius. In the writers’ attempt to make her more relatable, they’re really dumbing her down.
Ken Levine (writer for MASH, Cheers & Frazier, among many others) wrote on his blog last week about writing an episode for Frazier in S8, and the challenges it entailed because the way Frazier was characterized and how he spoke in S8 had changed so much from his original creation, and that ultimately he decided to just write the Frazier he knew versus how the current writers were writing him. Karine Rosenthal seemed to do this with The Woman in White, and I had hope that Kathy Reichs would do the same thing, since she did a great job on The Witch in the Wardrobe. So I was a little disappointed to see the ‘Brennan realizes she’s an abrasive, tactless jerk’ theme yet again. The comments that both Booth and Angela made to Brennan were the same kinds of comments that Brennan found hurtful in S6. Didn’t Hart Hanson say the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? So come on, writers. This horse was dead three seasons ago.
That said – I liked how Brennan ultimately came away as the bigger person in the diner with Tess Brown – perhaps this little storyline was a fictionalized version of the rivalry between Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs IRL? I also absolutely loved the Hodgins B plot. It is so totally Hodgins for him to grow larva in his neck, and I thought he was absolutely adorable. And I especially loved the fact that everyone was grossed out about it except for Brennan, who didn’t bat an eye, and that Angela ultimately was there to help Hodgins “deliver.” That’s love!
That thing with Hodgins was disgusting and honestly ruined the whole episode for me… I just didn’t see the need for it. Yes, it fit with his personality but was gross and probably highly dangerous!
As for the whole tact thing with Brennan, it felt forced, yes, she has no tact and just like Sweets said, she is blunt and tells it like it is. Is that good, sometimes, can she learn to have tact, sure, but I agree is bordered on comical. This was just an ok episode in my book. I mean, she has changed and evolved in many great ways, all the characters have, but it seems that it is always “teach Brennan a lesson” when that doesn’t always have to be there. Hopefully Episode #2 of this week will be better!
I think this was a great episode. It was classic bones! I love the whole hodgins plot it seemed like something he would do and I love that Angela was so supportive. And I also think the Brennan plot was believable and I love it when booth and her bicker
This show ended for this fan on Oct 21. Last two episodes have been epic failures. Here is why:
It is very very simple. I, as a fan of this show since Episode 1 aired, feel as though the lead character has become mentally challenged. Mentaly ill is another word for what I am trying to say. Bones was blunt, honest and comfortable in her own skin in Season 1, 2, 3, 4. but then something went bonkers with the writing on the show. I am just tired of Bren getting schooled by Sweets and Booth about her…..being her. She was just plain written better many years ago.
I can’t comment much about the case, as I switched channels to watch Monday night Football. I had ever intention of going back for the usual cute scene of verbal sex between Booth and Bren, but did not bother. I will assume that they were in the front living room of the house drinking (cause evidently they have to be liquored up to have sex- hey! that’s where the show always ends so I am going to go “there”).
Cant’ believe I am to the point of just turning the channel- and I didn’t even feel like using the DVR for this one……..or the one on Friday, and I know I won’t be home to watch that one.
This used to be a great show. Really.
Thought it was a well played, well written episode. Starting to feel at home again with Bones after Pelant. Its getting a little more light – which I love. Pelant was very heavy for me although interesting. I love Bones and will follow to whatever day of the week. What else can I say.
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