BONES Recap: ‘The Psychic in the Soup’

Hey, BONES fans! Welcome back! The show has returned with its 201st episode, “The Psychic in the Soup.” If you’re reading this, you survived the hiatus, and that’s great because there is a lot to discuss — so let’s get to it!

THE CASE

The Scene of the Crime: A woman’s body is found inside a soupy mixture in a fallen tree, which of course is brought to the lab.

The Victim: Justine Simmons, a psychic.

Suspects:

• Alex, a local park ranger. He has Justine’s blood on him and is visibly in shock when Aubrey questions him, hoping to pin her death on him. Alex insists he was just cutting down a dead tree, and the body was inside—causing additional damage to the body and blood to spray all over. Alex might be the first person to vomit in the interrogation room. Congratulations!
• Desmond Simmons, Justine’s father and a local pastor. He states that he and Justine had reconnected recently and that she was trying to turn her life around. He disproves of her psychic job.
• Anthony Taylor, a psychic competitor of Justine’s. They were once partners until Justine filed a restraining order against him.
• Lona Jackson, a local bank teller. When money is found in Justine’s apartment, it is traced to Lona’s bank—and she’s a psychic client of Justine’s.

The Case Progression:

Booth and Brennan visit Justine’s apartment, and her landlady takes a break on re-doing some apartment flooring to give her a lot of praise on her psychic ability. Justine’s computer screen is cracked, and Brennan finds blood on the screen and Booth finds a large amount of money. Avalon Harmonia shows up and insists someone on “the other side” called her and said they need her help solving the case. B&B are less than convinced, but they do see Anthony Taylor’s name on a flier—and Justine’s landlady says they once got into a big argument.

Aubrey questions Anthony, pretending to ask him for psychic help about the victim. He eggs the suspect on, but when Aubrey turns the case around and says Anthony is a psychic, the man states he can’t work when there is no openness. Aubrey brings up the professional relationship between Justine and Anthony, and he admits that after she stole some of his clients and methods, he lost his temper, but he insists he would never kill her.

At the lab, Fuentes has found damage to Justine’s finger bones that indicate she fought back. There was no evidence of a break-in at her apartment, so the killer is likely someone she knew.

Booth and Aubrey visit Lona, who admits she willingly gave Justine money for her help in asking the spirit gods to help her husband in Afghanistan. Booth can tell that Lona and Justine were more than friends and confirms they were lovers. Lona says Justine broke it off, but that doesn’t mean she killed her. Her alibi is that she was training for a triathlon, and she points out that Justine’s pastor father would not be pleased to learn his daughter was having an affair with a woman.

Avalon says she spoke with Justine, but she wouldn’t say who killed her and that her death was somewhat deserved. Cam and Fuentes examine part of Justine’s scalp and are able to see it was struck with a light polymer or wood cylindrical object. Booth and Aubrey look through Justine’s online accounts and find a picture of the church—they wonder if Justine wasn’t trying to get her life right with God but instead hoping to find new clients interested in the supernatural.

Aubrey questions Justine’s dad again, and the reverend is horrified to learn he is a suspect. He supported Justine when she came out at age 16, and when asked for his cane (a wood cylindrical object), he states it was a gift from his daughter and reluctantly hands it over to be examined.

At the lab, Hodgins has found windshield wiper fluid on a bug found on Justine’s body—she must have been dragged over a car in order to get her into the tree. He also found a different material, usually used on flooring.

Aubrey interrogates the landlady, who admits she hit Justine with a mallet but insists the blow didn’t kill her. They were also lovers and had a fight, leaving her arm scarred. They were bleeding and angry, but she thought Justine was crazy, so she left Justine in her apartment, very much alive.

Brennan and Fuentes reexamine Justine’s skull and realize something besides the mallet was the cause of death. Hodgins finds grease residue and traces of pink paint from a young girl’s bicycle chain.

The Verdict: Booth and Aubrey bring Lona back in for questioning, and she admits that Justine died when she accidentally pushed her over. The injury from the mallet and the fall compounded in Justine’s death, but she is still guilty of covering it up and hiding the body.

THE SQUINTS

I like when Cyndi Lauper guest stars as Avalon Harmonia, and a lot of her scenes were funny and fun, especially the ones with Angela. The tension between Angela and Hodgins over the psychic world was interesting; I didn’t love all of it, but I did laugh when Avalon admitted she didn’t see Hodgins’ apology coming. And it was fun to see Aubrey get Avalon’s treatment.

I liked Aubrey’s work in the interrogation room in this episode. It was kind of aggressive at times, but I think it mostly worked. Likewise, I liked how the Jeffersonian team handled the case. My favorite part was when Fuentes complained about how many bone pieces would be involved in the skeletal reconstruction, and Brennan was like “and your point is?” Haha!

The ‘prescription medicines to Cuba’ storyline was the least effective squint story, in my opinion. In theory, it was fine, and Ignacio Serricchio always does a great job as Fuentes. But it basically just served to once again pit Brennan and Cam against one another, which is just old.

BOOTH & BRENNAN

There were many different storylines throughout this episode.

• B&B working the case together at times was nice.
• Brennan and Booth smuggling prescription medicines to Cuba was iffy.
• The idea of Christine having an imaginary friend Buddy (and how B&B reacted to it) was cute and fun.
• The idea that B&B (and the rest of the team) would be surprised by and then reflective on Sweets’ birthday was a good one. The execution of that idea was just okay, in my opinion.
  • Bringing Sweets’ book back was fine, though I would have preferred it being more low-key, i.e. Daisy (who should have been in this episode) found it in a desk and gave it to them. I did like how the book’s inscription was meaningful to B&B.
    o The ideas of the doughnuts and Sweets giving everyone else gifts on his birthday worked less successfully, because there’s no history there. Sweets was in around 140 episodes; there could have been more organic remembrances. Instead, the gifts and doughnuts required too much exposition and then fell flat in resolution—especially Aubrey just eating the doughnuts. Was that supposed to represent his quirky food habits, a deeper transition of work partnerships, or is that doughnut shop a new show sponsor, or what? And if they represent nothing, then why is it in the story? At this point, the show just used Sweets’ memory to create a cyclical plot for the psychic storyline, to create tension between Angela and Hodgins, and to give Christine an imaginary friend that allowed for Avalon to suggest Christine was channeling Sweets’ spirit as Buddy (a stretch), and all combined that’s a crappy thing to do, especially after the great tribute from the season’s second episode. Throughout the episode, I mostly agreed with Hodgins to just let Sweets (and his character) rest in peace.

All in all, this wasn’t my favorite episode ever (and without spoiling, I’ll say I like the next two a lot more). I think more than anything, it felt the strain of coming after the huge production of the 200th. However, there’s no sense in ruining the joy to be had in the show’s return! What did you think? What worked for you in this episode, and what didn’t? The comments are open—speak your mind!

Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @sarahinprint on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page.

And be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/givememyremotetv