BONES Recap: ‘The Putter in the Rough’

Hey BONES fans! What did you think of this episode, “The Putter in the Rough”? I thought there were some funny moments as well as some sweet ones. There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s get to it.

THE CASE

The Scene of the Crime: A man in a parking garage considers suicide, but when he looks over the ledge, he spots a decaying corpse. The team is called in and determine the victim was male and in his 30s.

The Victim: Troy Carter, a famous mini-golf star poised to win the Mini-Masters tournament.

The Prime Suspects:

• Jake Carter, Troy’s brother. They shared a landscaping business, but Troy wants out, and the business has suffered for it.
• Sammy Tucker. It’s his Tropical Tiki mini-golf location where Troy was killed. He and his hand-modeling wife Lori (played by the hilarious Arden Myrin!) love Troy a lot.
• Eric Simms, an overbearing father to Darla Simms, Troy’s competitor and younger lover.
• Winston Scruggs, another expert mini-golfer who stands to win the whole thing with Troy out of the way.

The Case Progression

Troy’s body shows evidence of at least four wounds from bullets, as well as evidence that he was in a tough fist fight. A rifle wound to the back of the head (with exit point in the front of the skull) is cause of death, and Brennan finds traces of blood and skull inside the tiki hut—ensuring the entire hut is sent to the lab for investigation.

The gun angle is less easy to follow, as it seems like rifles are popular in the mini-golf world. Perhaps it’s for judging distances and accuracy, but that seemed like a strange correlation.

Booth figures Eric is the most violent, but he insists Darla and Troy never had sex. Booth is less than convinced, and Darla basically confesses intimacy with Troy—or some other putter activity! She also says a different man pulled Troy from their hotel room. She is able to point them to Jake.

Aubrey questions him, and he admits to the fist fight, because he wanted Troy to stop messing around with the 18 year old Darla, but he would never kill his brother. Aubrey points out that he still has motive, because the landscaping business took a major financial hit when Troy left for golf. Jake can’t deny it, nor can he deny that he owns a rifle.

When the team finds out Troy planned to go to South Africa for a global mini-golf tournament, they question Sammy. After all, he had a lot to lose if his star attraction left the country. Sammy insists that Troy was his best friend. In fact, he was paying for the entire trip to South Africa.

At the lab, the team figures out that three of the four entry points were from one, multiple impact bullet. Wendell discovers a red stain on part of the bone. He assumes it’s blood, but Brennan tells him to look again, and Hodgins and Cam realize it was part of a fingernail with red polish on it.

The Verdict: Booth and Brennan question Lori, and tell her that it’s her DNA found at the murder site. She says it was self defense—she was protecting her marriage. Booth tells her it’s murder, and Lori pleads to just complete community service.

THE SQUINTS

Cam and Angela were both great on the case in this one, which is fine by me. The episode had two main side plots: Max with B&B, and then Wendell and Hodgins with Andie’s clock.

I thought the clock storyline was cute—not necessarily a series highlight, but still nice. It was great to see Andie much more grounded in this episode; she and Wendell make a nice couple, and the clock idea was very sweet. The best part of the story was seeing the Wendell and Hodgins friendship and camaraderie.

As for Aubrey, he still does a good job in the interrogation room. I like it better when he’s not eating through every scene (literally). I think his sarcasm works most of the time, and it definitely did in this episode. And as before, his partnership with Booth works best for me when Booth is in charge, which is what we had here.

BOOTH & BRENNAN

I loved that B&B worked so much of this case together. The way they talk things through is a staple of this show, and it was very refreshing to see, whether the scenes were in the car, walking down a sidewalk or the golf course, in the interrogation room, or in their home.

I also thought the Max storyline was interesting. There’s nothing really new to the idea of Max leaving and Brennan then not trusting him with Christine—that happened a couple of years ago. So the quick resolution, just for the sentimental ring, felt a little rushed, and the whole thing was fine (and Brennan giving Christine the ring was very sweet), but not needed in terms of the course of the series, in my opinion. Still, it’s always great to see Ryan O’Neal as Max, and the end scene with Christine was cute.

And it works for Booth to be Brennan’s constant throughout that whole process. He listened to everything she said, and it was clear that he was on her side—but her best side, as he’s told her before, helping her work through her thoughts and feelings to the best possible conclusion.

All in all, a fine episode, but nothing I’ll treasure for life. If the show is truly counting down to its final few episodes ever, I admit I’ll want more out of each one. I’m still hoping for a season 11 announcement though!

What do you think? Did you like this episode—what worked and what didn’t for you? The comments are open, speak up!