Last time on Bones, Brennan served on a jury and was not selected to be foreperson, even though she volunteered for the position. The defendant in that case was found not guilty even though he committed the crime, but Brennan did manage to find evidence to convict him of yet another murder. Who says justice doesn’t prevail?
In this episode of Bones, “The Mystery in the Meat,” the team works on a case involving human remains found in cans of stew. I think I just lost my appetite!
Not Your Average Stew
The show opens on a scene in a school cafeteria where beef stew is being served. When a student discovers a foreign human tooth and eye ball in his stew, it is clear that something is terribly wrong. Cut to Booth and Brennan at the diner where Booth is enjoying a big bowl of chili when he gets the call about the human stew.
Brennan determines that the victim is a male in his mid-40s. How did he get in the stew? The victim was apparently processed and canned. At the factory, Brennan opens other cans and finds more remains.
This particular batch of gourmet delight didn’t pass inspection, so it was sold to a second-tier market rather than a grocery store. Booth is not amused to find out that schools are a second-tier market, and that children are being served human stew. Susan Lauderbach, the head of research and development, feels that this must be a terrible accident but Brennan believes that the victim was already dead when he was fed through the meat grinder. Well, that is certainly a relief!
Bachelorette Party Plans
Back at the Jeffersonian, Daisy and the unlikeable Oliver Wells are sorting through the cans of stew to find body parts. The victim is eventually identified as Howard Compton, who was a food scientist. More importantly, he invited Lava Chips, and Booth and Sweets are big fans of this spicy treat. Agatha Blume, Compton’s business partner, reported him missing five days earlier.
Angela wants to dish about married life, and Brennan remarks that she doesn’t feel any different being a married woman. Angela wants to throw a bachelorette party, but Brennan favors a pot-luck dinner with their spouses. Angela misses Brennan, and is craving some quality best friend time. Booth later tells his wife that she should let Angela throw her the bachelorette party.
Sniffing out a Mystery
Brennan and Booth meet with Agatha Blume, who asks if her co-worker was murdered at Kettle Top Stew. Blume is a bit clinical and also possesses an unusual ability–she has a highly evolved sense of smell, and is able to smell the stew on Brennan. Booth thinks it is funny that Brennan and Blume both are very scientific, while Brennan merely characterizes the other woman as “delightful.”
Stalker Alert
Hodgins discovers that the stew did not pass inspection because there was too much garlic, oregano, and red pepper in it. Daisy, who hates Oliver, persuades Hodgins to have a chat with her in-lab nemesis. Wells discovers that Compton had a prior injury to his hand that was caused by blunt force trauma. It turns out that Compton’s tires were slashed a few weeks before his hand was smashed, and Sweets feels confident that Compton was being stalked.
Sweets sits down with the head of Tryon Foods, Sam Gifford, who employed Compton as a consultant. Gifford was planning to offer Compton a permanent position with his company, which may have angered the current head of research and development, Susan Lauderbach. Lauderbach denies harming Compton and tells Booth and Caroline that she was out of town when her co-worker was killed.
Bacon by Any Other Name
While working together in the lab, Wells lets Hodgins know that he is the only person there that he can tolerate, and it may be because they have a similar appearance. They also discover that Compton was working on a product called Hot Bacon, which they both agree is tasty.
Unfortunately, they also discover that the product’s inventor, Raymond McCants, was angry about delays, and that the product is actually a sexual lubricant. Yikes!
Sweets meets with McCants about his threats to Compton. Wells discovers that the victim’s cause of death was a stab wound. Hodgins also lets Wells know that he needs to be kind to Daisy.
Ladies Night
The ladies are dropped off on the outskirts of town by a bus, and they are all sporting their finest Western gear. Sadly, the western bar has been replaced by a biker bar. Caroline and Cam are concerned, while Daisy is thrilled. Brennan wants to party, and bellies up to the bar. The ladies drink, dance and get wild. I love it!
Brennan dances with a burly biker until his girlfriend arrives and Brennan basically calls the couple ugly. Brennan ducks a punch from the offended woman and hits her back. Brennan and her posse try to leave, but the exit is blocked by more female bikers. The room erupts into a crazy fight.
Poor Booth has to bring home his inebriated wife and calls in some favors so she doesn’t get arrested. Brennan also confesses that she told Angela that Booth insisted that she have the party, and Angela says that she feels badly about her falling out with Booth.
The Morning After
Wells serves Cam, Daisy, and Angela a disgusting-looking concoction to help cure their hang-overs. The team realizes that Compton’s tires were slashed by a Japanese garden knife. Booth finds two financial transactions to Evelyn Cheevers, who runs the Coalition for Chemical Free Farming. Cheever’s license plate is similar to the one Compton reported when his car was almost run off the road, and she also runs an organic garden nursery.
Cheevers admits to slashing Compton’s tires, and then states that Compton was actually funding her website. She tells Booth that the victim was planning on quitting his job once he was able to expose someone on the inside.
Brennan mediates an argument between Daisy and Wells before praising Daisy for discovering that Compton was stabbed with a needle used to marinate meat. Brennan is later upset when she sees that someone misidentified an equine bone as a human one, and both Wells and Daisy attempt to take the blame. I wonder if there is a romantic spark between these two crazy kids.
And the Killer Is…
Sam Gifford purchased meat from a slaughterhouse that only sold horse meat. When Compton threatened to expose him for substituting horse meat for beef, Gifford killed him. Brennan finds the remains of blood spatter in Gifford’s hair.
Angela goes to see Booth and asks if they can be friends again. In the end, they hug and make up.
I loved this Bones episode, especially the bachelorette party and Angela and Booth’s reconciliation.
Bones airs Fridays at 8 pm on FOX
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Kim has been covering television entertainment since 2013. She is addicted to Real Housewives, Pump Rules, Dancing with the Stars, and many more shows.
