BONES Season 9 Finale Recap: ‘The Recluse in the Recliner’

Hey BONES fans! It’s hard to believe season 9 is over — but what a year it’s been! Several plots converged in this David Boreanaz-directed finale, “The Recluse in the Recliner,” culminating in an intense end scene. Let’s discuss!

The episode begins in a hospital, with a bleeding Booth being wheeled on a gurney, fighting for his life. Brennan is trying to keep up, but she’s being blocked by the hospital staff, and in the next moments, the episode flashes back to earlier in the week.

Booth and Brennan have breakfast, and while Brennan tries to coach Booth on the German language, he admits that his promotion isn’t a done deal yet— he still has to appear in front of the congressional sub-committee hearing.  Meanwhile, he gets a call from a mystery man who tells him he has information on the McNamaras that Booth should know. Booth agrees to meet him privately, much to Brennan’s concern.

Sweets tells Booth that the man called him on a burner phone, and while they can trace the location, they won’t be the first on the scene — the fire department is already there. Booth’s informant has been incinerated.

The team traces a tattoo on some remaining skin to Wesley Foster, a former journalist known for conspiracy theories. Brennan, Fisher, Cam, Hodgins and Angela all work together to discover that he was held down by two men while a third shoved a funnel down his throat and filled his stomach with alcohol before blowing up his trailer.

Booth, Sweets and Caroline attempt to learn what Foster possibly had on the McNamaras and whether or not there is an informant within the FBI. Sweets and Caroline question Booth’s insistence on secrecy, even to FBI Director Stark, but Booth wants everything on the DL. They learn that Foster previously worked as a janitor for a security company owned by the McNamaras, but the company’s owner is less than cooperative toward the investigation, claiming that one life (Foster’s) is hardly worth giving up information on their high profile clients.

Hodgins knows that Foster would never leave information on his hard drive, and sure enough, the team finds a piece of the victim’s nipple with a nipple ring attached. On the ring are all of the sensitive files Foster was researching, including a surveillance photo Booth recognizes…because he’s the one who took the photo. He thought it was for a routine drug bust but realizes it could be more.

Brennan thinks Booth should utilize additional FBI support offered by Director Stark, but Booth still has misgivings. He also has an important lunch with Stark and Congressman Hadley to prepare Booth for the congressional hearing. Both men assure Booth the hearing will be very straightforward.

Fisher and Brennan continue to identify Foster’s skeleton, and skin tissue and fracturing show that his assailants were Delta Force trained — three men whose DNA are not coming up in the database.

Brennan grows frustrated with Booth and suggests they are in over their heads. It’s too late to wait and see what happens, because what’s next could be dangerous. Booth wants her to lie and say Foster’s death was an accident. It would buy them time to continue the investigation while Booth deals with his hearing. Brennan agrees to the arrangement. I was shocked that she was willing to lie. I’m not saying it wasn’t the right move, but I think the past she might have pushed more for another solution.

Either way, the plan doesn’t work, as Booth is verbally attacked by Hadley in the congressional hearing. Hadley accuses him of murder during his time in the military. Booth holds his own and stays cool, but it’s clear that whoever killed Foster has also gotten to Hadley. As Booth and Brennan flee the building, Booth wonders if the entire promotion was a setup in the first place. Brennan begins to fear for Booth’s life anthropologically, knowing that in a chaotic society, death to an “enemy,” even by murder can be seen as a triumph. Director Stark doesn’t help matters by telling Booth that he’s on administrative leave — FBI speak for fired.

At the lab, Hodgins and Fisher identify an alloy from a Delta Force watch, and Cam figures to work backward to see which three are no longer listed in the DNA database. Angela has found blackmail material on Hadley, a photo of him kissing another man. It’s likely the information held against him that made him turn on Booth.

Brennan visits Booth as he is cleaning out his office under officer guard. She offers to help him and leans close, kissing him and also handing him a note — they know how they turned Hadley. Booth pays Hadley a visit in the parking garage, who tells Booth to just go away “like they want him to.” Booth says he’s not going to do that, and after their meeting, we see Hadley make a call.

At Booth and Brennan’s home, we see Booth preparing for an intense showdown. Brennan is surprised — as are probably many of us — at the artillery Booth has at his disposal, including bomb materials he’s apparently had in their garage. He is completely on edge, insisting that Brennan take Christine and leave. Brennan argues that they work better as a team, but he’s not hearing it. This is bigger than anything they’ve fought before, and he wants her out of there. She tells him she hates him for telling her to walk away. As she leaves, he calls out to her, telling her that he loves her. She tells him she loves him too and commands him not to die. They kiss and are both visibly upset. This scene was interesting, because I thought it was a little over the top for Brennan to go to “I hate you”…something about it felt a bit petulant. But at the same time, it was a very emotionally charged scene, and ultimately her words didn’t come between them at all.

While the Jeffersonian team tries to read the rest of the hidden files on Foster’s nipple ring, Booth prepares for war at home. He’s not left waiting for long, and soon an explosion of gunfire begins. At least three masked men enter, and there is major gunplay between them and Booth, as he sacrifices his home and tries to take down each man. Meanwhile, the Jeffersonian’s computers are hacked from a failsafe on the sensitive material, but Angela says she prepared a failsafe during the Pelant days.

Booth is successful at keeping his attackers at bay, using guns and bombs to take most of them out. One gets a shot on Booth and is about to finish the job, but Brennan shows up and shoots him, killing him. When another man goes after Brennan, Booth attacks him and breaks his neck. But his injuries are too much, and he collapses. Brennan tries to help him, once again desperately commanding him not to die.

The flashback is over, and we see Booth fighting for his life at the hospital and Brennan alone in the waiting room. The rest of the team soon shows up, and a doctor comes out to tell Brennan that Booth is alive. She wants to see him immediately, but the doctor says that is not possible. When a nurse comes out as well, Brennan takes the opportunity to rush back to where Booth is located.
But she is stopped by FBI officers, and Director Stark tells her she can’t be there and that Booth is responsible for killing three FBI officers. Brennan insists Booth was only defending himself, but her efforts are futile. The episode ends with Booth waking up to find himself handcuffed to his hospital bed while Brennan is carted away by the FBI for questioning, screaming for help.

All in all, I enjoyed this episode. B&B worked together and talked together throughout this episode. I loved the cute scene at the beginning of the flashback, and I liked the camaraderie right before Booth’s hearing as well as the immediate scenes afterward when Brennan was right there with Booth, defending him and helping him get out of there.

With B&B possibly physically separated, and Booth’s job with the FBI likely on hold, season 10 definitely will start out differently. But I really prefer this type of intrigue over the sad relationship-blocking angst between B&B of the past few season finales.

Looking forward to season 10 — see you then! For now, let’s discuss this finale. Do you have any guesses as to who is behind these attacks? Were you surprised at the end? How successfully did the show utilize the flashback literary device? And what do you think will happen between B&B next season? The comments are open; speak your mind!