A word of warning. All of the official episode descriptions are spoiler-free. All of the fan descriptions are FULL OF SPOILERS!
You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.
Official episode description: Forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan teams up with FBI agent Seeley Booth to investigate the murder of a Senate intern, the political implications of which may prove to be staggering.
Fan description: The first episode of the series. We meet the team (though Zack seems sort of OOC). Angela makes quite a few sex comments, especially towards Booth and Brennan. We learn that Brennan is struggling to have a larger role in the FBI's investigation of the case, though Booth's boss (Sam Cullen) dislikes the idea. Booth also coins the term "squints" in referring to Brennan's team. This episode also features some great scenes, such as the squint squad drinking in the lounge out of beakers and Brennan shooting the suspect in the leg.
The body of a young woman is found in a lake at Arlington National Cemetery, and Brennan identifies her as Cleo Louise Eller, a girl who was suspected of having an affair with a Senator before her disappearance several years ago. During the initial analysis of the body, Brennan's team finds tiny gold links that appear to be part of a necklace chain, as well as what are assumed to be frog bones. However, later Brennan examines the "frog bones" more closely and discovers that they are in fact fetal ear bones - Cleo Eller was pregnant, with the baby of either her boyfriend who worked for the Senator, or the Senator himself, and carrying another man's baby would certainly give either man motive for murder.. Booth had previously been working on the case of Cleo's disappearance (before the show began) and thinks that another suspect is Oliver Laurier, someone who apparently stalked Cleo.
We also see how awful Brennan's social skills are, as she and Booth tell Cleo's parents of their daughter's death. She tries to give the parents the facts and starts to answer Yes when they ask if Cleo suffered, but Booth stops her and later tries to explain to her that it was better for the parents to have comfort in their grief, even if it meant telling them a white lie. Brennan doesn't really understand this concept.
When Booth and Brennan search the home of the Senator, they find a baseball bat that could have been the murder weapon - which the Senator vehemently denies owning - but none of the certain type of earth that was found on Cleo Eller's body. Brennan studies the earth more closely and learns that it is also a type of earth used for tropical fish tanks, and remembers that Ken, Cleo's boyfriend, mentioned that he kept tropical fish... Brennan goes alone to Ken's house where she finds him pouring gasoline over a new linoleum floor, to destroy the specific earth underneath, where he killed Cleo. Brennan shoots Ken in the leg to stop him from destroying evidence, and Booth charges her with a felony, for shooting an unarmed man. (This chain of events is mentioned again in various episodes, as Brennan tries to convince Booth to let her carry a weapon for self-defense, but she is never successful after the charge.)
The episode ends with Booth and the squints attending the funeral of Cleo Eller, and Booth tells Brennan that the reason he became an FBI homicide investigator was to attempt to atone for the lives he took in his previous work as a sniper by solving at least that many murders. Brennan initally scoffs at the idea, but then changes her mind and tells Booth that she'd like to help him do that.
Commentary?: Yes - audio commentary with executive producer Barry Josephson and series creator Hart Hanson.
Airdate: 9/13/05
2. Episode Two - The Man in the S.U.V.:
Official episode description: When a Middle Eastern diplomat is killed in a car-bomb explosion, Brennan and Booth must determine whether he was a terrorist suicide bomber or a murder victim.
Fan description: Basically, a guy blows up while in his car (and Brennan uses vegetable oil to un-stick his leg from the inside of the car, which grosses out Angela and Booth). They try to figure out if it was suicide or murder. This episode features such great scenes as Zack and his beetles, Hodgins rebuilding the bomb, and Brennan with her piece of paper.
An Arab-American man named Hamid Masruk is driving crazily in his car after having a heated phone conversation with his wife. He pulls to a stop and the SUV suddenly explodes, killing the man inside and killing and injuring several other people nearby. While the team is working on the case, a man named Agent Gibson, from Homeland Security, insists on looking over their shoulders during the investigation. Brennan doesn't take kindly to this, even when Gibson says that the man may have been a terrorist, making this a matter of national security.
In the interrogation room, Booth and Brennan meet with the man's wife, Sahar, and his brother, Farid. Sahar is upset that her husband has been labeled a terrorist on the basis of his being an Arab (American) and accuses the two of being unfairly biased. She insists that her husband was not a terrorist, but that someone else had set the bomb with the intent of killing more people than just him.
The squints confirm the identity of the man as Hamid Masruk, and Brennan goes to Booth's apartment later that evening with the news. She is greeted at the door by Booth, who has his dress shirt half-pulled on, and they are joined by a blond woman wearing one of Booth's shirts and not much else. Booth awkwardly introduces Brennan to his girlfriend, Tessa, and Brennan says that she never pictured Booth as being in a lasting relationship as they travel back to the FBI building. Later, when the two talk to Sahar again, Brennan asks about the last phone call that Hamid answered from her before his death. Sahar explains that it was a family matter... but Booth suspects that Sahar was having an affair.
Back at the lab, Hodgins and Zack find evidence that Hamid was poisoned, and so was his brother, Farid. They also find gypsum that leads them to pinpoint where the bomb was built: in Farid Masruk's neighborhood. Booth and Brennan head to Farid's home and find it empty, but Brennan discovers a table of ingredients used in a bomb, as well as a wall of exposed insulation containing the same gypsum as Zack and Hodgins found. Clearly Farid has built a second bomb and has left to go set it off. Booth and Brennan drive to a peace conference, the likely place that Farid has gone, where they spot Farid in the crowd. He's carrying a bag that Brennan suspects holds the bomb, but Booth is reluctant to shoot without seeing Farid's face and knowing for sure it's him. Brennan calls out to Farid as he moves his finger to set off the bomb, and Booth, trusting his partner, shoots and kills Farid. When Agent Gibson investigates the bag that Farid was carrying, he nods his confirmation that it was the second bomb.
At the end, Booth and Brennan meet for a drink and Booth expresses regret at killing Farid, even though Brennan convinces him that he saved many lives that would have been taken had the bomb gone off. He leaves, still unhappy, leaving Brennan to ponder alone at the bar.
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 9/20/05
3. Episode Three - A Boy in a Tree:
Official episode description: Brennan and Booth attempt to untangle a complicated web of deception, sex, and blackmail as they investigate an apparent suicide at an elite prep school.
Fan description: The beginning of this episode is wonderful. Why? because it features Hodgins and Angela spying on Zack who is talking to Naomi from Paleontology. Apparently, Naomi and Zack had slept together about a month ago and... Naomi didn't call him back. The sexually-clueless Zack tries to ask Booth about what he's apparently done wrong, but Booth is less than enthusiastic about helping him.
A teenage boy is found, hanged, in a tree on the campus of his private school near the end of a holiday break. The headmaster dismisses the case as suicide, but Booth and Brennan are less certain. When he boy is identified as Nestor Olivos, the son of a Venezuelan ambassador, his mother (the ambassador) admits that their family has many enemies, and the school promised that Nestor would be safe there.
In the examination of Nestor's body, it is discovered that the hyoid is broken. This is common in adults who are strangled, but not in teenagers as the hyoid is much too flexible to snap. There would have had to be a considerable amount of extra weight hanging from Nestor's body if he indeed committed suicide, and Brennan declares the case a murder after they realize that the label of suicide doesn't add up.
When Booth and Brennan meet with Nestor's parents, they give the team an email that they received from Nestor while he was on a trip with his roommate, Tucker, over the holiday break. The partners next meet with the school counselor who insists that Nestor was at high risk for attempting suicide, but Booth is still unconvinced. When the team meets at Wong Foo's for dinner, they tell Booth that Nestor died 10 to 14 days ago... but the email that Nestor's parents received was sent to them 7 days ago. Nestor could not possibly have emailed his parents after his death, so Booth takes Nestor's roommate in for questioning. Tucker Pattison admits that he wrote the email to cover for Nestor, who went back to school to be with a girl. He claims not to know the identify of the girl, but Booth is already enraged that he's being lied to in the investigation.
Booth and Brennan go back to the school and investigate Nestor's room, where they find a broken CD in the trashcan. Booth finds the case for the CD on Nestor's bookshelf, but it contains a DVD instead. Back in the lab, the DVD is played and is discovered to be a sex tape showing Nestor and a girl - presumably the one that Tucker said Nester went to be with. Back to the school, and they find out that the headmaster had known the students made and shared these homemade sex tapes, and Booth demands that they hand them over to the FBI. The headmaster, after a bit of threatening from Booth, gives the girl on the tape's name as Camden Destry, another student at the school. Camden is brought in for questioning and plays dumb, claiming that she had a crush on Nestor but never did anything serious with him. Booth plays the tape for her and she's caught in her lie, admitting that she loved him, but she doesn't know why he would tape them..
The rest of the sex tapes are delivered and Booth and Brennan go through them, finding that one depicts Tucker, Nestor's roommate with Camden's mother, Melody. Tucker admits that he, Camden, and Nestor made the tape and blackmailed Melody into paying them to keep the tape a secret. When watching the tape again, Brennan notices that Camden rolled her eyes at the camera during the act, proving that she knew the camera was there despite what she had told them. Booth is angered again, and brings both Camden and Tucker in for questioning in separate rooms. Their stories finally add up and both are placed under arrest for the murder of Nestor Olivos.
This episode also includes great scenes such as the entire team at Wong Foo's, Booth's counter, Brennan having a heart, and the sex tape.
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 9/27/05
4. The Man in the Bear
Official episode description: Brennan and Booth travel to a small town in Washington to investigate the gruesome case of a human hand found inside a dead bear.
Fan description: Brennan and Booth go to Washington and dance together! However, the best action is happening back at the lab. Why? Because Brennan has to send samples back there, and Jimmy - the normal courier who has a third nostril - won the lottery and has been replaced by a woman. A hot woman. So, the clash of the horny titans begins as Hodgins and Zack complete for her affections. At the end of the episode, both of them stand there and make her choose which one of them she likes better by choosing who will sign for the package. The winner? Angela.
The local park ranger and veterinarian in the small (fictional) town of Aurora, Washington are performing a necropsy on a black bear that fell victim to a poacher when a detached human hand is found in the bear's stomach. Booth is handed the case and drags Brennan out to Washington state, but she is unhappy that Booth can just take her wherever, and she complains to Goodman. He assures her that it was his choice to send them to Washington and encourages her to have fun while she's there. (She asks him if he means that she should have sex with Booth in Washington state. Goodman quickly changes the subject.)
On the drive to Aurora, Booth and Brennan chat in the car and the topic of their daily spending limits comes up. Booth is surprised to learn that Brennan has no daily limit ("Because I have an indispensable skill," she explains) and wants her to use her endless money to take him out to dinner. She tells him that they can start with breakfast - clearly she's still a little mad about him taking her to Washington state.
In Aurora, Brennan and Booth meet with the local doctor (Dr. Rigby) and the veterinarian (Denise). They learn that the hand is definitely human and that there are saw marks on the wrist, suggesting that the hand was removed medically before being consumed by the bear. Dr. Rigby says that he hasn't amputated any hands; only frostbitten digits.
While Brennan ships the hand back to the Jeffersonian, Booth chats with Sheriff Cutter and learns that a young hiker named Ann Noyes disappeared several weeks ago. Back at Cutter's office, Brennan asks if any other human remains turned up in the bear scat, and Cutter directs them to Sherman, the local park ranger. She finds the scat and while she is sending a sample back to the lab, Zack contacts her and informs her that they found teeth marks on the hand - human teeth marks, meaning that the killer is also cannibalistic. When the scat is examined at the lab later, Zack and Hodgins find bits of skin with a design on it. Angela confirms that it's a tattoo, and Sheriff Cutter knows to whom it belongs when Angela sends an image of the reconstructed tattoo. The victim is Adam Langer, a young man who wanted to be a park ranger and spent a lot of time with Sherman, learning the ropes. Booth and Brennan, and Cutter, pay a visit to Sherman later that night and he escapes out the back door while they look around. While Booth goes after him, Brennan and Cutter search the house and find some incriminating evidence: a saw with teeth matching the marks on the bones, a wall of knives, an apple core in the trash to match bite markings with... and a freezer full of fresh meat. Brennan sends the meat and the apple core back to the Jeffersonian to see whether or not Sherman is the cannibal, storing human meat.
The next day, Booth, Brennan, and Cutter go back through the woods where they find Sherman. He admits that he was the poacher - and Zack calls Brennan on her phone to confirm that the meat was black bear, not human. Jack has also discovered that a group of trees near the body are Douglas Firs infested with Western Pine Beetles. Sherman knows the woods well and leads them to the trees - where Brennan uncovers two bodies: Adam Langer, missing his arm; and the missing hiker Ann Noyes, missing her heart. Booth also notices some kind of stone circle, and they send images back to the lab. Goodman deduces that it's a sort of medicine wheel, where a person performs a healing ritual by eating human body parts (thinking they are consuming the life energy of the dead person and thereby cleansing themselves). Dr. Rigby joins Brennan to perform the autopsies on the two bodies, and Zack calls Brennan to tell her that the bite marks on the apple core that she found do not match the ones on the hand. So Sherman is not the cannibal, and the real cannibal is still on the loose.
Later, Zack also explains that the marks on Ann Noyes' sternum are perfectly regular, made with a sternum spreader. Brennan wonders how both she and Dr. Rigby could have missed that fact during the autopsy... and suddenly realizes that Rigby didn't miss it at all. She and Booth head over to the medical examiner's office where they find Rigby about to push the bodies into the incinerator. He tries to explain about the life force transferred when consuming human flesh, but Booth cuts in and says that they don't need to hear the "rambling psycho speech." Brennan conks Rigby on the head with a bedpan to get him to be quiet, and agrees: "Nobody wants to hear that rambling psycho speech."
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 11/1/05
5. A Boy in a Bush
Official episode description: When the body of a young boy who has been sexually assaulted and murdered is discovered, Booth calls on Brennan to help find the killer.
Fan description: A lot of great character scenes here, especially regarding Brennan's past. This is the first episode where it is found out that she was a foster child and was in the system until her grandfather got her out. This is also the episode where it is revealed that Hodgins is one of "those Hodgins" and that he is the sole heir to the Cantilever Group and is technically the boss of the others (because the Cantilever Group is the Jeffersonian's largest donor). However, Hodgins hadn't wanted the others to find out about who he was because he "doesn't want to be anyone's boss." This snowball starts rolling when Goodman announces a gathering for the Jeffersonian's donors to meet with the team, in return for their donations... and Hodgins is panicked trying to think of a way out of the party (where the other donors would notice him) without letting anyone in on his secret. Also, this episode features some Hodgela hints, Hodgins' rubber band, a lovely Booth and Brennan moment at the end where they demonstrate how they're bonding at last, the team realizing that Brennan is filthy rich due to the sales of the books she writes in her spare time, and Goodman describing Angela's job in a way that makes her reconsider quitting.
In the episode, the body of a small child is found behind a local shopping mall. It is discovered to have been Charlie Sanders, a six-year-old boy who was reported missing a short time ago. His clothing was found separate from the body and is in perfect condition, suggesting that Charlie was sexually assaulted before he was killed. Both Angela and Zack have trouble with this case, since they can't get over just how small Charlie's remains are. Brennan tries to get them to focus on the facts rather than Charlie himself, but both still appear to be saddened by the case.
When Booth and Brennan question Charlie's mother, Margaret Sanders, she explains that she has two foster children and Charlie, "her" son. A neighbor confirms this and introduces Margaret's other sons, Shawn and David Cook, along with the neighbor's own son, Skyler Nelson. It is noticed that Skyler and his father own an extermination business and are regularly called out on jobs through the episode. Booth offers to help the Cook boys fix their broken video game system, learning along the way that the older boy, David, has a girlfriend named Lila. As Booth leaves the house, he asks David if Lila was with the boys at the park the day Charlie went missing, but David admits that he met Lila at the mall and left Shawn at the park with Charlie and they met him at the mall later - so Charlie went missing from the mall, not the park as originally suspected.
When tests on Charlie's body reveal that he suffered from a hereditary condition that Margaret does not have, she breaks down and admits that she had Charlie as a foster child when he was a newborn because his mother was in jail on drug charges, but had to give him back when the charges were dropped. She had formed a tight bond with Charlie and was visiting his house when she discovered his mother dead and Charlie alone. She took Charlie home with her and passed him off as her own, which raises complications for the team as they try to figure who really kidnapped and assaulted Charlie. Angela had gotten tape from the mall security cameras and they reveal Shawn Cook leading Charlie out of the mall and leaving with him. Hodgins also finds traces of fluoride in Charlie's mouth, but in a concentration too high for toothpaste. When Booth questions Shawn, Brennan is angry with the juvenile prosecutor at how the woman views the foster care system.
Back at the lab, the team finds that Charlie's chest was crushed by a weight of about 190 pounds - much too large for Shawn Cook. They're looking for an adult male, but Shawn refuses to talk to Booth about where he took Charlie. Brennan persuades Booth to let her talk to Shawn, and she shares with Shawn a bit of her experience in the foster-care system, talking more to Booth and the audience than to Shawn. Finally, Shawn trusts her and gives her the name of the man he took Charlie to. It's Edward Nelson, the exterminator neighbor, who assaulted Charlie and then panicked when he heard someone approaching. He knelt on Charlie to keep him quiet, but because of Charlie's hereditary condition (giving him brittle bones) the weight killed Charlie. The concentration of fluoride in Edward's insecticide matches the concentration found in Charlie's mouth.
The episode ends as the team gets ready for the banquet, and Booth manages to bail Hodgins out by insisting that the FBI needs something analyzed for the next day. Goodman, Angela, and Zack leave and Brennan stays for a moment. Booth looks at her in her formal dress and tells her that she looks nice... better than nice... and she knows exactly what he means.
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 11/8/05
6. The Man in the Wall
Official episode description: A scuffle at a nightclub leads to the discovery of the mummified corpse of a hip-hop DJ.
Fan description: Of course, another great episode. Involves Brennan at a club and Brennan and Angela getting high.
When Angela invites Brennan to hit a new club with her, Brennan manages to insult other people around her in her usual style and ends up shoving someone into a wall. The wall breaks open and a mummified man is discovered... along with a bag of methamphetamine crystals that shower over the dance floor and manage to reach Brennan and Angela. The club is cleared out except for the team, Booth arrives with an annoyed Tessa, because their dinner date was interrupted when he was called out on the case. Randall Hall, the club owner, joins them and says he doesn't know who the man is.
The body turns out to be that of a popular DJ, Roy Taylor (a.k.a. "DJ Mount") who used to work at the club and recently disappeared, and he seems to have a few enemies that have Booth and Brennan going in circles through the investigation. Club owner Hall talks to Booth and reveals that there was tension between Mount and a rival DJ ("Rulz") and implies that it might have been bad enough to lead to murder.
Brennan and Zack investigate the area in the wall where the body was found, and discover footprints and a smear of blood on part of the wall. Brennan also notices something else, which Angela identifies back at the lab as a belly button ring, and Brennan determines that whoever the ring belonged to was there at the same time as Mount. Hodgins also enters and says that particles of the meth-filled plastic bag were found in Mount's eyes (which Hodgins happens to have with him, in a beaker), meaning the bag was shoved against Mount's face to suffocate him. The case is now officially a murder, erasing doubts that the meth indicated that Mount was high and slipped into a drugged coma inside the wall and died there accidentally. The ring is cleaned and an inscription on it reads "LUV RULZ."
Booth and Brennan travel to the studio of DJ Rulz and find out that Rulz's girlfriend, Eve Warren, was sleeping with Mount, giving Rulz motive for killing Mount. Brennan observes a scar on Rulz's wrist and he explains that he was shot there and was left with some nerve damage. On the way back to the lab, Booth and Brennan discuss his upcoming vacation with Tessa, and Booth seems slightly agitated at the mention of her.
Back at the lab, Zack relays evidence he found that suggests Mount's head was forced to the right, and that he also found a small depression in Mount's skull. He and Brennan attribute it to an unimportant bone anomaly. Brennan and Booth next visit George Warren, the brother of Eve Warren, and discover that she is missing and hasn't been seen for about six weeks. While viewing a computer simulation in Angela's office of the events inside the wall, Booth, Brennan, and Angela decide that Eve was running in the wall and Mount was following her. When the passageway narrowed, Eve continued further into the wall despite her belly ring ripping out (thus explaining the blood smear and the belly ring that was found) but Mount had turned his head and couldn't turn back around. Therefore, Eve could not have killed Mount and Mount had been looking behind him at a third person: the unknown murderer.
Following some information from Randall Hall's "bodyguard" (actually an undercover agent) that Hall used to be - and possibly still is - a drug trafficker, Booth questions Hall. Hall directs their attention away from himself in saying that Rulz built a new studio the day after Mount's and Eve's disappearances. Booth suspects that Eve Warren's body is buried in the cement and Brennan brings in a cadaver-sniffing dog to help them find it. A body is indeed found and is confirmed to be Eve Warren. Brennan has an idea and asks Zack to see if there is a small depression on Eve's skull matching the one on Mount's. There is. They are now down to one suspect, as Brennan knows that Rulz (with his damaged wrist) would not have been strong enough to press the meth bag to Mount's or Eve's faces. Rulz is questioned and divulges information in exchange that he can go to prison for a month, for his own protection. He says that Hall was the one who built the new studio for Rulz.
At Hall's place, Booth arrests Hall to confiscate Hall's cane, which is found to match the bone depressions on both skulls, confirming that Hall is the killer. At the end, Booth and Brennan are at Wong Foo's where Booth mentions that Tessa isn't going on their vacation after all, and that it will be just him... but he doesn't seem to think that this is a bad thing as he leaves the bar.
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 11/25/05
7. The Man on Death Row
Official episode description: The race against time is on as Brennan and Booth investigate the case of a death row inmate who may or may not have committed the murder for which he is about to be executed.
Fan description: The first of three Howard Epps episodes. So... he lives. Anyway, the episode is creepy. And it involves quite a few funny scenes. The other two Epps episodes are The Blond in the Game (2x04) and The Man in the Cell (2x12).
Booth enters his office to find someone waiting for him: Amy Morton, an attorney who wants him to recheck the evidence for the charges against a man named Howard Epps. Epps was charged with the murder of a young woman named April Wright and has been in jail for years - and he is now scheduled to be given a lethal injection the following evening. Booth grudgingly agrees and pays a visit to Epps in prison. Epps maintains his innocence and is obviously terrified for what is going to happen to him.
Booth goes to the lab where Brennan agrees to look at the case. The clock is ticking with 30 hours and 23 minutes until their deadline.
The squints check out the medical examiner's report and Brennan some foreign matter in April's hand that were incorrectly identified as bone fragments. They also take note of a slip of paper that was found with April, with the number sequence 1240-2510-221 written on it, and a pubic hair that was found on April but was not identified. In the original trial, the number was found to be an unrelated telephone number. Brennan sends Zack out to photograph the area where April was found, and he finds something different: the numbers are not a phone number at all, but rather several separate numbers that were planted as clues, and the 1240 refers to 12:40, the time that April was planning to meet someone. 26 hours to go and Brennan decides that they need to exhume April's body to find out if she was actually killed in the park where her body was found. 26 hours until the execution.
At the Wright's house, Booth meets with April's parents and their lawyer, David Ross. He learns that Ross gave April a job at his law firm on the weekends. Booth presses Ross for information after Ross lets slip that April had sex in a car on the night of the murder, but Ross refuses to answer any more questions until he has a lawyer. Meanwhile, Amy Morton and Brennan exhume April's body and at the lab, Brennan determines that gravel found in April's hand are the same as those that were incorrectly identified as bone fragments earlier, along with some microscopic particles in the skull that were never noticed. 19 hours and 10 minutes to go.
Booth arrives at the lab with a pair of underwear belonging to Ross, and initial observation proves a match for the hair found on April. Booth, Brennan, and Amy visit the judge but he refuses to grant a stay of execution for Epps due to lack of evidence.
The team analyzes the rest of the evidence and finds metal, silt, and pollen in the particles that Brennan found in April's skull. Booth interrogates Ross and he admits that he had sex with April the same night of the murder, but afterwards she was upset and ran away from him - and that was the last she was seen alive.
The murder weapon that might help the stay of execution is not present, so Brennan and Booth speak to Deputy Director Cullen (Booth's boss) and persuade him to let them use agents, GPR, and metal detectors to find the weapon. They find the weapon - a tire iron - as well as a surprise: Two more bodies of young women in the same area where April Wright was murdered. Booth informs Amy that they have found evidence for a stay of execution for Epps, but not because they found him not guilty of the murder.
Booth, Brennan, and Amy visit Epps in prison the next day, and he expresses his thanks that they saved his life, albeit only for him to be tried on the two new murder charges. Amy is upset when it becomes obvious that Epps committed all three murders and that he had only played them all to his advantage. Brennan deals with her rage at this in a different way than Amy, who leaves the room: When Epps reaches for Brennan's hand in "gratitude," she slams his wrist against the table and breaks it. That event comes into play in the other two Epps episodes, but now Brennan and Booth have nothing to do but leave the prison with their very troubled thoughts.
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 11/22/05
8. The Girl in the Fridge
Official episode description: Brennan reconnects with her old college professor - he's also her ex-boyfriend - as she investigates the case of a decomposed corpse found in a refrigerator.
Fan description: Woah! Brennan with a guy! This episode is great, because we see her in a... well... sexual relationship. There are also some great Zack!crush scenes and Zack!innocent scenes. (See quotes.)
A visitor arrives at the lab wanting to see Brennan, and she finds him to be her old professor from Northwestern, as well as her former lover, Michael Stires. They pick up a conversation but are interrupted by Booth, bringing with him an old refrigerator containing a body. He opens the refrigerator for Brennan to examine the body and she discovers the partially-liquefied body of a young woman who has been in the refrigerator for approximately one year.
Brennan uses dental records to identify Maggie Schilling, nineteen. Booth finds that she has been missing for eleven months and that her parents were sent a ransom note, but never paid the money. Brennan and the team begin to examine the remains and discover stress fractures on both wrists, suggesting that Maggie was bound.
At Brennan's place later that evening - in her bed, no less, hem hem - she and Michael discuss the case and our trusty Brennan manages to swing the conversation around to physics despite the fact that they are both naked.
The next morning, Brennan and Michael arrive later than usual and she gets upset when he begins to question her findings. Zack has found a painkiller drug in Maggie's system, but is unsure of whether it was administered in one - lethal - dose or over time. Booth and Brennan visit Maggie's parents and they discuss Maggie's drug problem. They also visit Maggie's doctor, who tells them that Maggie was not taking any pain medication, but mentions that he fired his office manager, Mary Costello, for accepting a bribe from Maggie for opiates.
Brennan and Booth head to the home of Mary Costello and her husband, Scott, who claim that Mary is innocent and that Maggie had stolen the drugs, and that Maggie's doctor (Mary's employer) fired her because she refused to sleep with him. She and Scott also say that they took Maggie in because her parents abandoned her. Booth isn't so sure, and does a little investigating while Brennan talks to the Costellos. He finds that they have a new refrigerator, with rust marks underneath being about the same size as the old refrigerator that Maggie's body was found in. A team of agents is called in to arrest the Costellos, and Booth and Brennan find evidence of sadomasochistic sex toys in the basement. Brennan believes that one item - a pair of pink fuzzy handcuffs - may have caused the stress fractures in Maggie's wrist.
At FBI headquarters, Booth interrogates the Costellos with Brennan's help, and they tell him that Maggie was a willing participant and that they did not murder her. Brennan doesn't believe them, and goes back to the lab where she bets dinner with Michael that she can prove that Maggie was struggling to get out of the handcuffs when she died. Brennan does manage to prove that Maggie's wrists and ankles were both bound, and Booth points out that the ankles would not have been bound in a sex game. A disgruntled Michael concedes. Shortly after, Booth reveals to Brennan that Michael is the expert witness for the defense in Maggie Shilling's case, and that Brennan shouldn't be discussing the case with him anymore. Now Brennan is the disgruntled one, because Michael didn't tell her any of this.
At the lab the next day, Michael is allowed to make his own findings about Maggie's death, and what he finds contradicts Brennan's own findings. She takes this personally and is upset with Michael again, and Goodman tells Michael that it's time for him to leave the lab.
The team is scheduled to present their case in court the next day, but jury consultant Joy Deaver takes a dislike to Brennan and tells her that she's too cold and distant to have any hope of winning over the jury - especially in comparison to Michael's natural charm working against them. In court the following day, Joy's predictions come true as Brennan takes the stand and leaves the jury completely lost with her grandiloquent scientific terminology. Michael, however, performs perfectly and Joy tells Booth that the Costellos are going to walk simply because Brennan has all the information needed to convict them, but can't connect with the jury to make them see that.
During recess, Brennan storms off from Joy and Booth and runs into Michael, who tries to discuss the case. Brennan is fed up with him now, and recalls a time when she was a student and asked him what they needed to do in a risky investigation, where she was scared. She tells him: "You said, 'We tell the truth. We do not flinch.' You flinched, Michael." Brennan then storms off and this scene marks the end of her relationship with Michael.
In the lab that evening, Brennan discusses the case with Goodman and complains that the jury likes Michael more than they like her. Goodman disagrees and reveals to Brennan that Michael applied for the position that she is in now, and Brennan asks why he hired her instead. He replies: "You are the more rational, reasoned, empirical scientist. And you care." This gives Brennan the motivation she needs to finish the trial.
In court again the next day, Brennan begins in the same scientific way again, but the attorney brings up the matter of her parents' disappearance and encourages Brennan to discuss why she became a forensic anthropologist. Brennan becomes emotional and convinces the jury of the pain that Maggie endured before she died, and that Maggie is the one they need to find justice for. She is successful and the Costellos are convicted of Maggie's murder.
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 11/29/05
9. The Man in the Fallout Shelter
Official episode description: The team is quarantined and must remain in the lab over Christmas when the examination of a corpse trips the building's biohazard alert system.
Fan description: My favorite episode of season one. The team is stuck at the lab over Christmas because - while Zack was cutting into a bone - Hodgins was drinking an eggnog and had his mask off when the spores came out of it. So they spend the holiday together! The episode is mainly character development, and includes such things as when Brennan's parents disappear, strange Brennan and Booth God discussions, visits from everyones families (Zack has seven siblings, Angela's father is Billy Gibbons, and Booth has a son), and just all around awesomeness.
Commentary?: No. Unless you're watching with me; I make my own commentary through the entire episode.
Airdate: 12/13/05
10. The Woman at the Airport
Official episode description: Brennan and Booth head to Los Angeles to investigate the murder of a call girl whose extensive plastic surgery complicates the investigation, and Goodman and Hodgkins* clash while trying to authenticate an Iron Age skeleton.
* - I have typed exactly what my DVD says. Yes, I know it's Hodgins. They goofed up. But hey, it's technically the official episode description.
Fan description: Oh yes. Many Brennan-just-doesn't-know-what's-appropriate scenes. TBC
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 1/25/06
11. The Woman in the Car
Official episode description: A woman's body is found in a burned-out car, leading to the discovery that her child has been kidnapped.
Fan description: Coming soon!
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 2/1/06
12. The Superhero in the Alley
Official episode description: The enigmatic death of a self-styled superhero calling himself Citizen 14 has Brennan and Booth searching for answers.
Fan description: Coming soon!
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 2/9/06
13. The Woman in the Garden
Official episode description: Dead bodies begin to pile up after the arrest of an El Salvadorian gang member, and Brennan and Booth suspect a possible link to a U.S. Senator.
Fan description: Coming soon!
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 2/15/06
14. The Man on the Fairway
Official episode description: Foul play is the obvious conclusion when Brennan determines that one of the bodies found at the site of a plane crash was not on board the flight.
Fan description: Coming soon!
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 3/8/06
15. Two Bodies in the Lab
Official episode description: Brennan's life is threatened by a hit man when the body of a mob boss washed ashore, re-opening a six-year-old investigation, while Booth is haunted by a murder resembling a case from his past.
Fan description: Well, all of the episodes are great. But this one is especially great. Why? Because T.J. wears the most hilarious thing ever (that jacket with that beanie with his Bluetooth phone? Priceless), Booth gets blown up, and there is pudding.
Commentary?: Yes - audio commentary with actors David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel. I highly recommend watching it - it's hilarious. They discuss everything from fruit to doing it right there because they love each other so much. (And yes, those were David. Probably why they don't let him do commentary again.)
Airdate: 3/15/06
16. The Woman in the Tunnel
Official episode description: Brennan and Booth go underground to solve the murder of a filmmaker killed while documenting the mysterious denizens of a subterranean tunnel system beneath Washington, D.C.
Fan description: Coming soon!
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 3/22/06
17. The Skull in the Desert
Official episode description: Angela fears the worst when Brennan and Booth investigate the discovery of a human skull found in the desert where her boyfriend has recently gone missing.
Fan description: It's a sad episode, but good. And it starts with Hodgins staring at Angela in a bikini with that smirk on his face - so Hodgela fans, it's all good. Also, the famous Brennan quote - "Nothing in this universe happens just once." And much more!
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 3/29/06
18. The Man with the Bone
Official episode description: A human finger-bone found in the clutches of a drowning victim leads to a search for buried treasure.
Fan description: One of the best episodes in season one. Why? One word: Pirates. Plus, Hodgins is a certified cave digger. Who can use his three doctorates to get him anything. Plus, conspiracy! Oh, and Hodgela fans: She draws him as a pirate.
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 4/5/06
19. The Man in the Morgue
Official episode description: While in New Orleans to help identify the bodies of Hurricane Katrina victims, Brennan is thrust into the city's shadowy voodoo underworld, becoming the prime suspect in a grisly murder along the way.
Fan description: Coming soon!
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 4/19/06
20. The Graft in the Girl
Official episode description: Angela befriends a young cancer patient while Brennan and Booth trace the source of her illness: a tainted bone graft provided by a rogue bio-tissue supply house.
Fan description: This is one of, if not the, saddest episodes in the season. Mainly because the girl is going to end up dying. It's especially hard if you're emotional, because it's Angela who interacts with the girl the most - and the girl (Amy) is the daughter of Deputy Director Cullen. Also, Hodgela fans (if you can't tell, I'm a huge one!) there's also a great Hodgins quote. (See the page.)
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 4/26/06
21. The Soldier in the Grave
Official episode description: At Arlington National Cemetery, Booth and Brennan investigate the apparent suicide of a soldier who served in Iraq, and Brennan suspects a cover-up.
Fan description: Coming soon!
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 5/10/06
22. The Woman in Limbo
Official episode description: Brennan tries to come to grips with her past when the remains that she's examining turn out to be those of her mother.
Fan description: Lots of BB and Brennan's past. It's a sad episode, mainly because... Brennan's mother died two years after she abandoned her. Oh, and Hodgela fans - there's a scene. Small, you kind of have to squint, but it's there.
Commentary?: No.
Airdate: 5/17/06