This week’s Bones episode, “The Patriot in Purgatory,” is quite an emotional ride as the squinterns work to identify a man who died as a result from 9/11.
It’s Coach Brennan
It’s just a coincidence that Phil Jackson is the source of Brennan’s inspiration, since he’s been in the news to possibly come back to coach the Lakers. Can you imagine where the show could’ve gone if he actually had the job again? I could picture a future episode where Booth and Bones head to LA for some one-on-one words of advice. But I digress.
What Brennan takes away from the legendary coach’s book is the importance of teamwork, so she gets five squinterns to work together to identify the remains of missing people — dating back decades and decades. And for some words, err, a touch of encouragement, Brennan offers some slap to their behinds to get them fired up.
While the squinterns have made it a competition to see how many people they can identify, one set of remains seems unidentifiable for Vaziri. And then it turns into something much, much bigger than anyone could’ve imagined.
Piecing the Puzzle
Booth’s military background kicks into full gear when he hears that the victim had uranium from an old bullet wound — which he believes is from serving in Desert Storm, while others even believe the victim could have somehow been involved in the terrorist attacks.
Booth’s instinct and relentlessness leads him to discover the identity — the victim was a soldier who came back home from the war and was never the same. But why was he near the Pentagon? Why was he shouting at people walking by in military uniform?
He hadn’t gone crazy like others believed, but he was actually trying to petition for three of his fallen comrades to receive the Silver Star after they died while protecting their country.
Meanwhile, the squinterns work together to find out that the victim had three types of blood on him. His wounds indicated he was beaten up. But no, those injuries are similar types of injuries seen in weightlifters.
Died A Hero
Tracking down the three people whose blood was on the soldier, it turns out those three were pinned under debris after the Pentagon was hit. And the soldier, Tim Murphy, who had been outside the Pentagon like he always does fighting for his friends, had actually saved the lives of those three by lifting concrete beams off them.
And this is how Murphy ended up dying. His body wasn’t made for such strenuous lifting. He had dislocated bones, and the rib that was fractured that was a direct result of the plane crashing actually ended up puncturing his lung, and he bled out.
A Moving Episode
A proper burial is given for the man who served and was a hero on 9/11, whose actions went unnoticed for a decade. I was wiping away the tears during the funeral, as everyone from the Jeffersonian attends, as do the three people Murphy saved, his wife and now grown son.
Bones told this story in a respectful way. The directing was fantastic. I also liked the moments where we learn more about the characters and specifically where they all were on 9/11. We see the squinterns bond over this, and we also learn Cam was a coroner in New York who signed about 900 death certificates.
We also find out how Brennan was involved in the aftermath. She worked as a forensic anthropologist digging up bodies from the rubble. She breaks down to Booth, confessing how proud she was at the time of not allowing herself to shed a tear. But with a family now, she’s realizing it could have been Booth, and the emotions are just too much. Brennan, you’ve come so, so far!
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(Image courtesy of FOX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
