BONES Season 10 Premiere Recap: ‘The Conspiracy in the Corpse’

Hello BONES fans! Welcome to season 10—and what a premiere it was! What did you think of The Conspiracy in the Corpse? There is a lot to discuss, so let’s get to it.

THE CASE

The episode begins three months after the finale, with Booth in prison and Brennan and the team working hard to get him out. It’s clear Booth is being mistreated, and Brennan fears for his life. She blackmails a federal prosecutor to get him out. It works, but Booth is less than pleased with her methods.

At the lab, Brennan and the team continue to exhume the body of Howard Cooper, and they figure he is a point of origin for the entire conspiracy. Howard had leukemia, but the team figures out that the cancer didn’t reach his bone marrow, and he died from other causes.

Once at home, Booth has information on Hugo Sanderson, and he wants to immediately go to interrogate him. Sanderson owns a large chemicals company. Sweets suggests he’s more out for vengeance vs. justice, but Booth doesn’t seem to care either way — he doesn’t need FBI permission to finish this case. He pays Sanderson a visit and accuses him of killing Cooper in order to get a permit for an estuary. Sanderson tells Booth he’s friends with the Director of the FBI and Booth has made a mistake. We then see a man in a suit following Booth. When Booth takes him down, he quickly admits he’s an FBI Special Agent — James Aubrey. Stark sent him to make sure Booth doesn’t get into trouble.

Brennan and Angela examine the skeleton, and Brennan realized the damage is a result of a car accident, not falling down the stairs, which was originally listed on Cooper’s medical reports. Booth and Brennan visit a Dr. Durant, who was an ER physician and worked on Cooper. Now he is an analyst, and he doesn’t want any trouble. He gets agitated, but agrees to help them in any way he can.

Angela finds out that on the same night Cooper was treated by Dr. Durant, a homeless man was also brought in and died as a result of a car accident. Dr. Durant was the doctor of record there too. Cut to his office, and Booth is there, all dark and menacing. Durant admits he was being blackmailed for selling oxycodone, but he doesn’t know who his blackmailers were. Cam and Angela are able to verify Durant’s story on Foster’s records.
Brennan and Clark examine the bones and Brennan notices an imperfection on a bone, as a result of an IV needle. It seems unintentional, and there wasn’t anything suspicious in Cooper’s tox-report. Clark and Brennan suspect that the killer didn’t mean to stab him in the neck, but did so when Cooper tried to fight back.

Agent Aubrey pays Booth and Brennan a visit at home, letting Booth know that Stark wants him off the case, giving Booth another reason not to trust Stark. Aubrey has information on the head of security when Durant was practicing — Gerald Norsky. He was given a job at Hugo Sanderson’s company a few years later.

The case seems to stall when officials arrive to the lab the next day to re-claim Cooper’s remains, a clear attack from the conspirators. Brennan is visibly upset, but Caroline convinces her that she won’t do anyone any good if she’s arrested for blocking due process. In an interesting twist, Hodgins is one step ahead of the bad guys — he kept some of Cooper’s bones behind. Brennan will be able to analyze them to determine cause of death. She looks at the marrow and finds evidence of an antacid. Seemingly innocuous, it had a lethal effect when combined with chemotherapy, creating a near-perfect murder. When the antacid has a history from Sanderson’s chemical company, all of the signs point in the right direction.

Booth wants to go take him down, but Sweets convinces him to pay Norksy a visit instead. As B&B are questioning the older gentleman, Booth gets a call. He and Brennan rush back to the city, where they find Sweets, bleeding internally. He tells them that he fought back, makes them promise to talk to Daisy, and reminds Booth that the world is a better place than he thinks it is at the moment. Sweets dies, with Brennan and Booth tearfully at his side.

Later, the team begins the autopsy process, and the conspiracy continues.

THE SQUINTS

Very interesting to say the least. I’m holding out judgment until future episodes on the idea of making Daisy pregnant with Sweets’ baby when he was going to be killed off. It seems unnecessarily cruel, and emotional manipulation. I did however really enjoy the Booth, Daisy and Sweets scene at Sweets’ apartment; it felt very natural, and I think it was a wake-up call for Booth that Sweets considered him family.

I really liked all of the Angela and Brennan scenes in this episode, and I thought Cam and Clark were very much in character. Likewise, Hodgins was on point, sharply in tune with the conspiracy. When he revealed he’d been exchanging Cooper’s bones for those in limbo, my immediate reaction was “SO UNETHICAL!,” but…well, no buts about it — that is crazy! I can totally see where he would feel that they are in a war and everything is fair game though.

I thought Agent Aubrey was very awkward, and somewhat unlikeable. We definitely don’t need another “baby duck” so to speak, so hopefully that evens out a little bit more in future episodes. What was with that “I gotta get me one of those” line about Christine? WEIRD!

BOOTH & BRENNAN

I’m glad that B&B still are able to communicate honestly with one another. They are both fierce about protecting one another and fierce in their love for one another, and that was evident throughout this entire episode. Like we’ve discussed several times, one of the show’s major strengths is when it’s B&B vs. the world (or enemies or injustice, etc.), and I think that will continue. Brennan called Booth determined and indicated it was one of his core traits. I agree with her, but it’s clear she is just as determined in her way. I liked how she brought him to their new home. I loved, loved, loved how she was able to immediately identify his injuries, and I liked that she took him to bed in an effort to bring him back to himself.

I’m glad they were also together with Sweets at the end, and I like that each one of them had a special moment with Sweets beforehand in this episode; those scenes felt very natural (if not foreshadowing in hindsight!). My favorite B&B moment was actually at the very end, when they squeezed one another’s hand in support at the lab before Brennan went in for the autopsy. To me, that communicated so much.

When I heard that a new FBI agent would be becoming an assistant of sorts to Booth, I figured that meant John Francis Daley wouldn’t be in many episodes because of his successful writing and movie career. I never could have imagined Sweets’ death, though if I have to choose, I think I would rather him die on the good side than be part of the conspiracy and be eliminated that way. I am too shocked to cry at the moment, but I’m sure that the next time I watch Season 3, I’ll be more upset. Sweets’ life brought a lot to the show over the years, and it will be up to the writers to prove his death is just as meaningful.

Enough from me. What did you like or not like about it? The comments are open, and I’m curious to know what you think.

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