BONES Recap: ‘The Corpse at the Convention’

Hello BONES fans! What did you think of this episode, “The Corpse at the Convention”? It had intrigue, jealousy, witty inventions, and even a member of the Jeffersonian team as a suspect. There is a lot to discuss, so let’s get to it!

THE CASE:

The Scene of the Crime: A hotel hosts a national forensics science convention, and it is squint paradise. Smart glasses that record crime scene info, special evidence gloves, etc. — and even more so, each of the Jeffersonian team members are treated like celebrities. Everyone wants a piece of their time and approval. But Brennan is there to give a speech. Just as she is beginning, it is interrupted by screams and a fire alarm. A body is burning in a small stairwell, and an extinguisher doesn’t seem to be working. Eventually a fire rescue team is able to put the fire out, and the team has to work to remove the body after it was fused to the concrete floor and stairs. A single shoe print also gives them a start.

The Victim: Cam finds a burned lanyard on the victim, and Angela is able to trace the whereabouts of most convention attendees. They learn the victim is Leona Saunders — an attendee and nemesis of Hodgins.

The Suspects: The forensic science convention is chock full of neat inventions and tools…and people more than willing to offer up their expertise to help solve the case, especially with someone as illustrious as Brennan. But they are also more than qualified to pull off a clever murder.

• Hodgins. He is horrified/annoyed to learn he is a legitimate suspect, and for the most part, Booth tells him they just have to cover all angles for a potential prosecutor review. But he has motive (Leona stole plans for an invention in college), means, and his DNA is found on a band-aid on the victim’s body.

• Malik. The team finds knife wounds on the victim and when they find traces of oils in the shoe print, they figure it came from the hotel kitchen. Malik is an employee trying to leave the hotel, and his shoe matches the print.

• Dr. Edward Harkness. He’s the host of the conference and holds Brennan in very high esteem. He definitely has the knowledge to commit a crime like this, and when Cam finds traces of chocolate, strawberries, and very expensive wine in Leona’s system — it is all traced back to Edward’s hotel room.

• Tess Brown. Brennan’s literary wannabe rival is back, and she’s at the convention for “research” purposes. Booth figures she would kill someone to get a book deal, but the real motive is that, as Edward’s mistress before Leona, she was very jealous of the younger woman.

The Case Progression:

Brennan and Wendell examine Leona’s skeleton and find several knife marks. Hodgins finds traces of obsidian in the knife wounds, leading the team to figure an obsidian knife is the murder weapon. Tess used a similar object in one of her novels. But when she lawyers up, the team has to keep digging.

Brennan finds evidence of a possible third accelerant used to set the body on fire. Hodgins invites a conference attendee (played by Sean Gunn!) to the lab. I didn’t catch his name, so I’m just going to call him Kirk. Hodgins wants his advice. They are interrupted by another attendee, Aldus Carter. He manufactured a card with a magnetic strip and entered the lab illegally. Hodgins is fine with it, but Kirk is not. They argue and challenge one another’s credibility, ultimately ending up in a physical altercation. Cam kicks them both out, but one of them leaves behind some aluminum foil, which gives Hodgins an idea.

He pairs an acid used with chloride and watches as the aluminum foil works as a delay to the accelerant. This gives them another clue but also means he (and the other suspects) no longer have alibis.

Brennan identifies another mark on a rib, this one not caused by the obsidian knife. It is the real cause of death, with the other knife wounds serving as a decoy. Hodgins figures the wound was caused by a thermo-probe, invented by Aldus Carter.

The Verdict: B&B bring Carter in for questioning. He rebuffs all of their accusations and claims his innocence, but Brennan has a counter for each of his arguments, including that the gloves he invented were sliced by the aluminum, causing him to leave his DNA with the victim. Carter concedes defeat; he is all the more impressed by Brennan’s brilliance. Booth is less impressed and wants to know WHY Carter did it. He admits he was angry to find out Leona was only sleeping with him for his scientific invention plans.

THE SQUINTS:

I really loved this episode, and I especially liked how respected and revered the whole Jeffersonian team was. It was refreshing and fun to see them at the convention, enjoying their field of work. I liked how they all pitched in to solve the case, and I liked that, even though Hodgins was technically a suspect, they all pretty much let him keep working on the case.

I thought Wendell’s reintroduction to the team at the crime scene was a litttttle heavy on emotional exposition, but overall, it is really great to see him back in the lab. I did like seeing how concerned Cam and Brennan were about him when he was late, and the Booth and Wendell scene at Founding Fathers was just terrific.

As far as Aubrey goes, I really like that we are seeing Booth obviously is alpha in that work relationship. I think they can still go a little overboard in making Aubrey quirky, and his interrogation skills aren’t very intimidating at all. But in general, I thought he was pretty good in this episode.

BOOTH & BRENNAN:

I loved all of the B&B scenes in this episode too. I liked the opening scene where Booth encouraged her about speaking at the convention and that she was going to impress everyone just by being her brilliant self. I loved the cute little scene at the diner, where she had already ordered him pie and he called her sweet. I liked that he encouraged her again and was willing to put money down on it — also liked that she told him not to do that, and he told her that as a genius, she shouldn’t say stupid things. It was a very lovely little scene.

I liked the way they finished up the case in the interrogation room together, and I loved that Booth came to Brennan’s re-do on the speech. I am glad Brennan told her Schrodinger’s cat joke (and that it killed with the audience) and that she told Booth’s moon atmosphere joke (and that it mostly bombed), and the nice look they shared over the moment.

All in all, I thought this episode really worked. It was smart, funny, interesting, and while a lot of the team got to shine, it particularly made Brennan and Booth look like the superstars they are — personally and professionally.

But what do you think? Did you like the case? Were you surprised by the killer? The comments are open—speak your mind!

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