Bones 4.14 “Hero in the Hold” Recap

The team gathers to save Booth.

Howdy, corpse fans! Featherlight had to fly this week, so I’ll be recapping this episode. There’s no time travel, teenagers, or robots, but there’s angst, trust issues, and explosions (oops-spoiler!), so I’m sure I’ll feel right at home. So without further ado, welcome to, “Booth and Bones go to the Grave (Digger).”

We open on a nice, generic government office, with a nice, generic Federal Judge. He’s summoned a number of people to his office for some tea. No, not really, but wouldn’t it be an awesome way to open an episode? Bones and Hodgins are sitting at the conference table and since the only other person summoned was Thomas Vega, the duo deduce that it has something to do with the Grave Digger.

For those of you new, the Grave Digger is a kidnapper who tosses his victims in a hole with a limited amount of air, sends ransom instructions, and sits back an waits. If the ransom is paid, the family gets the GPS coordinates of the buried. If not, well, you get the picture. Bones and company were investigating the Grave Digger and doing their usual thing, when Bones and Hodgins got swiped, tossed in a car, and buried. Long story short (too late), the combination of some AWESOME MacGyver’ing by Bones and Hodgins, and some equally awesome work by the squints back home, Bones and Hodgins were found…but the Grave Digger got away. It was hands-down one of my favorite Bones episodes ever. This one? It’s great ’til the end. We’ll get there. Which brings me back to the Judge’s office. He’s called Bones and Hodgins to request the return of some evidence that was stolen from the FBI.

Enter Heather Taffet, played by Deirdra Lovejoy who’s probably been in just about every procedural drama ever including the L&O trifecta. Here, she’s the new Assistant US Attorney assigned to the Grave Digger case, and she wants the evidence back pronto. Hodgins is unimpressed, but he would like to take the time to snipe about the lack of work that’s been done to catch the Grave Digger. He’s bitter, very bitter about that, which in this case is understandable but as a character trait on Hodgins it’s a little annoying. Taffet doesn’t care about Hodgins’ issues so she gives the group a day to return what was taken with immunity. After that, no dice. Vega just sits there, looking pretty.

Booth’s at home, rushing about and getting ready for something pretty glitzy, as he’s in a tux. I’ll give you a moment to admire. …Done? Good, because the phone just rang and Bones wants to know if he’s left yet. Booth insists he’s fine, and on his way. (LIAR!) “I will be there when they crown you super scientist. I will be the guy in the ‘Cocky’ buckle and the snazzy rented tux.” And yes, he’s wearing that cheesy belt buckle with the rooster with his tux. There’s a knock at the door and Bones calls him on lying about having left. He hangs up and Bones keeps driving.

Cut to the Jeffersonian, where Bones is arriving in a very nice dress and some make-up that’s a little scary on her. Also there, waiting Bones, are Sweets, Cam, and Angela. There’s some small talk and the group heads out. Bones’ phone rings and as soon as she answers it, anyone who has seen the previews for this episode knows what’s about to happen:

“I have taken Seeley Booth. He has been buried alive. He has 21 hours to live. Bring the evidence to the SW5 DC boundary stone in return for which you will receive GPS coordinates. If you involve law enforcement, I will know and Seeley Booth will die. This is my final communication.”

Bones, ever the emotionally-repressed detail hound, remembers to grab Cam’s PDA from her hand to record the call. As it records, no one knows what’s going on and there’s some interesting looks going back and forth until the call ends. Bones just stands there for a moment, stunned, and Cam has to ask her what’s wrong. The answer is simply, “The Grave Digger has Booth.”

Booth’s in a box. Seriously, he’s in something that’s way too small to have 21 hours of air in it. He fumbles around and turns on his watch, bathing the area in a creepy blue light.

Back at Booth’s apartment, Sweets is opening the door slowly, anticipating an attack and holding a…high heel in his hand. Bwah! Of that group, Sweets is the last person I’d have protecting me from an attack, and certainly not with a shoe. But it’s funny and completely in character so nicely played, show. The group enters the apartment, looking for clues, a bit confused as to why the front door was still locked. Angela wonders why the Grave Digger would take the time to re-lock it, she also requests that Sweets stop ineptly brandishing her shoe like weapon. There’s more chatter when Bones notices the open window. What little hope any of them had that this was a terrible joke is gone. Angela wants to involve the authorities, but Sweets shuts her down. He’s studied the Grave Digger enough to know that it’s a bad idea. He tells them they need to pay the ransom and give the Grave Digger the stolen evidence he wants. Angela makes a call and Bones asks who’s it to. She says she’s calling Hodgins. “You don’t think he stole the evidence, do you?” Bones asks.

“I know you didn’t.”

Booth in a box. He’s struggling, trying to find a way out of his enclosure. His pounding takes us right into…

…the techno music of necrophiliac credits.

We come back to more Booth in a box. In the blue light, he is able to make out a nut and bolt in the ceiling. With some difficulty, he manages to unscrew the nut and pop out the bolt. From the outside, light pours in. Light? Shouldn’t Booth be underground?

Meanwhile, Hodgins has arrived and is doing push-ups in his office. It’s about as strange as it sounds and when Bones asks him what he’s doing, he says he’s working off the adrenalin. Before he can be inappropriately excited about another shot at the Grave Digger, Bones demands the return of the evidence. She knows he has it, he doesn’t try and deny it.

Booth in a box. Finally popping the last bolt out of the top of his prison, Booth pushes up and from above we see the hatch of a mini-sub of some type open. It’s yellow, and before I know it, I’ve sung a verse of “Yellow Submarine.” Meanwhile, Booth’s stumbled out and is looking around. Even through his drugged and blurry vision we can tell we’re in some type of bay with light coming in from portals above. Booth in the bay, then. There’s a noise behind him, and he turns, demanding his bay-mate reveal himself. Not surprisingly, the only answer he gets is, “Me.” Every on together now, “Me, who?” Out walks a twenty-something kid in fatigues. “Teddy?” Booth asks incredulously. There’s a flash and we see a Ranger-era Booth running through a wooded area, carrying someone on his back. So, my money says Teddy’s dead, you?

It would seem I’m right, as Booth begins the, “this can’t be real, ” mantra that every rational character must use when confronted by a hallucination from his or her past. Teddy taps on the sub with a metallic chink, “I’m gonna go with real. Nice monkey suit, by the way.” Oh, so he’s a SNARKY halluciantion, then? I might like Teddy Parker, Helpful Hallucination. Booth continues with his mantra, listing out his recent abuses: drugged, tasered, stuffed in a Beatles toy…hey, I already made that joke, mister. In any case, Teddy’s a bit put out that Booth’s being so mean, after all, he’s just here to help. Booth ignores him as he starts looking for ways out, Teddy snarkily critiquing each one. Finally, Booth grabs a propeller off the mini-sub to start prying open a nearby hatch.

Back at the Jeffersonian, Hodgins is with Bones, opening a locked briefcase. It’s stuffed with Grave Digger-related files. Hodgins has been so dissatisfied with the government’s investigation, he’s been running his own. Bones re-iterates that it’s a piece of evidence, a something that the Grave Digger wants. After a bit of digging, Hodgins comes up with a scrap of metal in a glass vial. It’s the piece that had been embedded in his leg when the Grave Digger ran him down before burying him alive. “With me.” Bones reminds him. He tells her that he was close to identifying the manufacturer, and he just can’t tell that she doesn’t care. Sweets, Angela and Cam arrive and the former asks Bones what she’s holding. Before anyone can answer, Bones dismisses Sweets. He may be a shrink and an honorary squint, but he’s the FBI’s shrink and the Grave Digger said no authorities. Sweets tries to protest, but Cam takes Bones’ side, “Get gone now.”

Sweets sad-puppy’s his way out the door, and as soon as he’s out of sight, Angela rounds on Hodgins. “You stole evidence!?” Hodgins protests and launches into a “you don’t understand how it feels” monologue that Bones deflates in a heartbeat. “I was there.” And yes, she was, but to borrow a word, she’s a twit. She really doesn’t get how becoming a victim really did a number on him because she’s a little soulless sometimes. I love her, but she is. Hodgins is desperate to get his second chance at the Grave Digger, so he offers a compromise. Give him 10 hours to work, and then pay off the Grave Digger. All eyes turn to Bones and you can hear the gears turning in her head. Science and busting the Grave Digger v. OMG Booth’s in trouble. It’s a win-win and Bones agrees to eight hours, but Hodgins doesn’t work alone. She can’t trust him anymore.

Awhile later, Bones and Angela are playing with sound recordings, comparing the Booth call to the Bones/Hodgins call. “Are you, OK to hear that?” she asks. Bones nods, and we re-listen to the ransom demand for Hodgins and Bones. A little audio-tech-fu and Angela can definitely confirm that it is the Grave Digger. She can’t remove the distortion, but she did notice something interesting. The compression only worked on the sound of the human voice, so the background noise is more clear. As in, it’s not really, but we need an excuse for Bones to crack a little and push at Angela. She tries to reassure Bones that Booth will be OK, but Bones will have none of it, “You don’t know that.” Moment of desperation over, Angela tries another algorithm and the background clears. It sounds like birds, specifically gulls.

Booth in the bay. The prop that Booth was using breaks, and Teddy is there to hand him a new one. But, hallucinations can’t pick things up, can they? Booth continues to work and with a groan and a crack, the door opens…and water begins pouring in. “That can’t be good.” Teddy comments, totally stealing my line. There’s another mini-flashback of Booth running, carrying what can only be assumed to be Teddy, now through a shallow stream. “You better close that up, Sarge.” Teddy suggests. Instead, the door opens more and the water continues to flood in.

Back at the Jeffersonian, Bones and Angela are playing the recording for Cam and Hodgins, trying to determine the point of origin. Along with the gulls, there’s another sound, and it’s Cam who can finally make out a merry-go-round. Gulls + merry-go-round = Boardwalk, and Hodgins for the win when he realizes that Vega lives right off the Boardwalk. Since they red-herring’d the hell out of the guy last time, I seriously doubt that he’s guilty this time, but it gives Team Booth something to do and they dash off.

Or, rather, just Bones and Hodgins dash off as they’re the only ones getting out of the car at Vega’s parking garage. Hodgins thinks Bones is blaming him and she admits it, if he hadn’t stolen the evidence, the Grave Digger wouldn’t have taken Booth. Hodgins disagrees, if anyone had gotten close, the Grave Digger would have reacted. You get the impression that the debate would have continued, but the pair see Vega’s car ahead, with someone in it. It’s Vega and he’s very, very dead with a horrible sneer-gasp look on his face. Wow, guess mom was right, you face really WILL freeze that way. Bones can tell the body has been moved, and now she and Hodgins have a new issue to debate: what to do with the dead guy? Hodgins, predictably, wants to steal him away to the Jeffersonian for evidence collection, Bones can’t believe he wants to remove it from the crime scene. At any rate, the point is rendered moot as Agent Perotta drives up and promptly tells them to step away from the vehicle. Oops.

Booth in the bay. The water’s filling up the area, and as Teddy and Booth stay afloat, Booth makes the observation that once the water reaches a certain level, he can reach a door up top. “What, the room isn’t filling quickly enough for you already?” Seriously, who needs recappers?

The FBI is crawling all over the parking garage and Vega’s body is being removed. Perotta’s trying to poke holes at Bones’ and Hodgins’ story about meeting Vega for an interview for his new book. Bones tries to turn the table, asking if Perotta was following them and she duhs, of course she was following them, they’re suspected of stealing FBI evidence. Personally, I would have walked into the Jeffersonian and demanded what everyone was doing there at 4am, but that’s just me. There’s some snickering about following Vega, when Bones throws out a semi-reasonable logic bite: If Vega’s dead it must mean he was killed for the evidence he stole. Perotta’s not convinced, but she lets Bones and Hodgins walk away.

Booth in the bay. But not for long, for the water has reached a level where he can scamper onto a catwalk. Teddy’s already up, and Booth mentions wryly that Teddy was always a great guy to have in a tight spot. Teddy’s touched, but says Booth never told him that, he just grunted and sent him for coffee. Moving to another door, Booth starts trying to pry it open. “What makes you think what’s behind, uh, that hatch is going to be any better than the last thing we opened?” Booth snarks about drowning faster or drowning slower and Teddy reminds him about the rising water level from below. I don’t really pay much attention because Booth is taking off the tux jacket and my mind is stuck on a) why didn’t he take that off while he was swimming, it had to be restricting movement and b) keep going, the shirt’s next.

Hodgins and Bones are in the car driving while talking to Angela and Cam on the phone. No one is happy about Vega being dead or the FBI showing up. Bones says that she and Hodgins are going to pick up the evidence and deliver it to the Grave Digger. Hodgins tries to put on the brakes, but Cam and Bones both say that the Grave Digger isn’t going to care that the FBI was just there by accident, Booth is dead as soon as he finds out the FBI was there at all. Hodgins tries (again) to talk Bones down, but she’s done. Just to keep everyone grounded, Cam reminds them that what they’re about to do is a felony. Bones tries to take it on herself, but Hodgins won’t let her. No one goes alone, “Vega was alone.”

Booth in the bay. Teddy bursts up out of the water, with a length of pipe he swam away to swipe from somewhere. Still, hallucinations can’t pick things up. “It’s a fulcrum, Sarge.” OK, it’s not a thing, but – wait, it’s not a fulcrum, it’s the lever. Really show, with all the technobabble we don’t know the difference between the fulcrum and the lever? Despite my issues, Booth and Teddy start working at the door and it pops. Booth opens the door and Teddy defers, “Real people go first, Sargent.” Booth grabs him and pushes. As Teddy clears the door, Booth looks at the hand that grabbed him, after all, you can’t push hallucinations. When Booth emerges, he grabs onto Teddy and starts patting him on the shoulders, feeling his head, and generally making sure he’s solid. Teddy thinks attacking your own hallucination is off-limits, but Booth has a new theory, Teddy’s a ghost. Either/or, dude, you’re not supposed to be able to touch ghosts, either, but apparently no one’s told the writers that. Teddy, always willing to roll with it, asks Booth why he’s not scared. According to Booth, ghosts are far, far down on the list of things that scare him.

As he’s saying this, he’s looking around at…party decorations? There’s a pretty blue ball-shaped something, and what looks like a skeleton in a pirate suit. But it, and Booth, are locked in a cage of some sort and as Booth kicks at the lock, Teddy chides him for never learning to pick the darn things. He’s surprised he lived as long as he did learning from a guy like Booth. “Got a cuff link?” Booth hands one over and Teddy starts to work on the lock. Apropos of nothing Booth mutters, “You were twenty years old when you died.” With a smirk, Teddy replies, “Still am. You, Sarge, I gotta say you’ve put a few years on. Is it true that in your thirties is when your body starts going south on you?” From where the female population sits, not really. There’s more small talk and Booth tells Teddy that he has a son. Logically, Teddy asks what his name is and Booth gets evasive, “You’re gonna take this wrong.” Teddy starts listing off awful names, and when Booth tells him he gets silent. “You named your kid after me?” Booth shrugs and says, “Yeah.” Teddy gets inquisitive and we get the short-short-short version of Booth’s relationship and lack thereof with Parker’s mother. As this is happening, Booth’s looking around and passes what appears to be an old-school scuba suit. He finds a closed porthole, and opens it as Teddy helpfully tells him that he picked the lock. Looking out, Booth sees water and a distant coastline. Just in case you missed the obvious in the show’s title, Booth’s on a ship. And as Teddy looks over to a nearby beam, he says, “This particular ship? Ain’t gonna be floatin’ much longer.” The camera follows his gaze, right to the packs of wired explosives all over the room.

Since Bones and company figure the Grave Digger’s already seen our heroes with the FBI, Sweets is back in the fold as the crew arrives at the marker to deliver the evidence. This is good, as he’s the one who sees the camera helpfully positioned in the tree. Angela, who’s techno-geekery knows no bounds, thinks she can capture the signal. Hodgins makes a last-ditch plea to keep the evidence, and Angela pulls Bones aside. She points out the obvious, someone Bones loves in trouble and it’s OK to save them, even if it’s irrational. Bones tries to deny the love, as she is wont to do, when Angela points out they all love Booth. For what it’s worth, Bones agrees and she and Hodgins place the evidence on the marker, making sure they show it to the camera (now successfully hacked by Angela). Hodgins protests the whole time. The camera’s signal changes and Angela realizes that it’s not a camera signal anymore.

“Run!”

Bones and Hodgins run and the marker explodes behind them. Agent Perotta pulls up, mouth agape. “What the hell is going on here?”

Back at the Federal Judge’s office, the team is lined up as Perotta gives the details. The Judge? Not amused. Neither is Taffet. The Judge denys the squints access to anything related to the Grave Digger, but Bones wants to make a request. She wants to see Vega’s body. Apparently she missed the part where they were denied access, but that’s OK, the Judge will restate the prohibition. The gears turn and Bones starts thinking about plan B.

Booth on a boat. The decorations and explosions don’t make any sense, to Booth or to me, so Teddy helpfully exposits that the ships going to be an artificial reef once it’s been sunk. Kids are invited aboard to decorate, after all, “fish love decorations.” Booth finds the explosives transponder with a handy six-hour count-down clock. Booth’s a bit rattled, but Teddy’s calm, being dead has left him without a sense of urgency. Thinking out loud, Booth wonders if there’s a way to use the transponder to send a signal. Casper the friendly Corporal points out that the transponder’s the only fail safe, once removed, there’s no way to send a cease-fire signal to the explosives. Booth unplugs the transponder. “Have a sense of urgency now?”

Leaving the FBI, Bones is distressed. It’s been two hours since the evidence was destroyed, why haven’t they been sent the GPS coordinates? Sweets, ever the bright ray of sunshine tonight, says the Grave Digger’s cleaning up. Vega, Booth and eventually Bones and Hodgins, who is finally showing some remorse for his part. Bones refuses to admit defeat and she knows exactly who to ask for help.

Cut to a bar, and Booth’s military-intelligence brother, Jared. In less than a minute, Bones tells him his brother’s going to die and he’s a selfish jerk who doesn’t deserve a brother like Booth. Why did he want to date her again? She leaves and he finishes his drink with a well-I’ll-show-her look on his face.

Booth on a boat. He’s playing with the transponder and Teddy’s reminiscing about more of Sargent Booth’s not-quite-wisdom. It’s enough to send Booth to another flashback, carrying Teddy and telling him to “Stay with me.” Back in the present, he starts blaming himself for Teddy’s death. Teddy lets him off the hook with another glib remark and changes the subject, asking Booth if he has a new partner. He vaguely answers, stammering the whole time, and Teddy practically goes into a full-on nudge-nudge, wink-wink when he hears the partner’s pronoun of, “she.” Booth ignores it, preferring to tell the audience that whoever (presumably the Navy) is monitoring the transponder signal will hopefully get the transmission. Booth flips a switch, the device starts beeping, and then it flashes and begins smoking. It’s ruined, no signal out, no signal in. Booth starts throwing things. “At least we still got this flashlight.” Teddy helpfully offers.

Back at the Jeffersonian, Jared and some uniformed heavies are bringing in Vega’s body. Bones has the good sense to look grateful for a moment before walking the body in.

Booth on a boat. Teddy’s summing up the situation, and Booth snarks back, “Rub it in, I got you killed twice.” Now his plan is to get to the deck, jump and swim for it. Teddy, now the designated gloom ‘n’ doom guy, points out that if the fall doesn’t kill them, the hypothermia will. Well, Booth corrects, it will kill me, he doesn’t know what will happen to Casper. They’re walking around, looking for a way out and up as Teddy remarks that with Booth gone, no one will remember Teddy existed. With a taps-like music cue in the background, Booth reminds Teddy about the Girl He Left Behind, aka, Claire. Like Booth, she visits Teddy’s grave every year, they just don’t speak as Booth believes she still blames him for Teddy’s death, easy to do since he’s never stopped blaming himself. Just to add more angst to Booth’s impending doom, Teddy reminds Booth that tomorrow is the anniversary of his death, would Booth mind maybe telling his girl that he loves her? Booth’s a little flabbergasted that Teddy never said it himself and Teddy (on behalf of the audience) remarks back, “What, you never loved somebody and didn’t say it to ’em?” Booth avoids the issue and walks off and Teddy thinks he has a new mission – get Booth to say that “I love you.” Since Booth’s black hole of denial means that he missed that last part, he’s had time to come up with his CRAZY NEW IDEA. There’s all these explosives around, let’s blow a hole through this wall! Teddy looks as skeptical as we do.

Cam’s examining Vega’s body. Rigor puts his death at just after Bones’ first visit to the Judge’s office, and there’s the expected taser burns as well. As she’s working, she asks Jared how he pulled off the body heist. He’s masked it as a military intelligence operation, and when Bones asks how long that story will last, he replies, “No long if you keep talking so loud.” Cam tells him he could lose his job. In typical Booth family understatement, he admits, “I’m aware.” Meanwhile, and a lot of jargon later, Bones tells us that the angle of the stun-gun wound is non-typical, that coupled with the additional stun marks on his chest means that the taser was used to trigger a heart attack. With a check of the x-rays, and a even more more anatomy jargon, Cam and Bones realize that Vega fought back, probably hard enough to break the Grave Digger’s ribs.

Booth on a boat. Teddy arrives with a pack of scrounged explosive, nicely molded into a mermaid. It’s so out of left field, I love it. Booth affixes her to the wall and mentions he needs a power source, since Teddy’s been playing with that flashlight for the last three or four scenes, we’re pretty sure that will do the trick.

Alarms go off at the Jeffersonian as AUSA Taffet waltzes into the lab area, demanding the body. “One missing FBI agent is not a case of national security.” Jared dismisses his men and Bones asks for the warrant. Taffet holds it out and it’s glaringly obvious from the low angle and shaking that she probably has an injury. Broken ribs, perhaps? Seeing no more reason to lie to the Grave Digger Taffet, Bones starts playing her out. As Taffet feigns surprise at the group being in touch with the Grave Digger, Bones semi-subtley points out her apparent injury to Hodgins. With Taffet’s access to FBI files, Hodgins admits its a possibility. Bones asks Taffet if she’s been injured and Taffet wonders what that has to do with anything. Hodgins buys in and tries to lunge for Taffet, but Jared grabs him. Bones instructs him not to let Hodgins go as she asks for the warrant again. Taffet holds it out, and instead of taking it, she goes past and shoves on Taffet’s ribs. Not surprisingly, Taffet lets out a shriek and doubles over. Jared catches on quick and asks Bones if she can prove Taffet’s the Grave Digger. Bones admits she can’t, is that a problem? “Not for me.” Jared states as he reaches out and grabs Taffet by the throat. “You got a place to lock her up?”

The answer is, of course. And we cut to a room where Taffet’s being zip-tied and tossed into a chair. Sweets says she’s not going talk and has the psychobabble to back it up, so Hodgins suggests doing a “Spring Cleaning” on her. Angela wonders if that’s a form of torture. Jared pipes up to say it doesn’t exist (which means it totally does), and Hodgins explains that it’s a database of secret files on everybody. It’s called Spring Cleaning because it brings every thing into the light. Sweets thinks that Hodgins is paranoid, but after a beat Jared requests a secure terminal. “And only conspiracy nuts call it ‘Spring Cleaning’.” Amazing how many of Hodgins’ paranoid delusions are neither paranoid or delusional, isn’t it?

Booth on a boat. Booth runs the wires as far back as they’ll go, and Teddy starts in on how dicey the circuit is and how it’s nowhere near long enough to keep Booth from blowing himself up, too. Teddy runs off, presumably to fetch something that will help, and Booth cracks a cowardly ghost joke.

Hodgins would like everyone to know that he could kill Taffet. Bones helpfully adds that if anyone could pull off the perfect murder, it would be then. Taffet looks bored. Jared finally arrives with the goods and instead of asking any questions, he’s going to narrate so the camera can show us some feds arriving at a location. She’s lived a small life, Jared says, except for a one month marriage that was annulled. It was just long enough to create a new, untraceable identity. The feds are opening a storage unit. The ID was used for one thing, and one thing only, to rent the storage locker we just saw. “I got you.” Go, Team Booth!

Booth blowing up the boat. Booth’s removing his “Cocky” belt buckle so he can use it to complete the circuit, except there’s still the problem of the wires being nowhere near long enough. So, Booth has a pole so he can hide behind something and push. Except now he has the problem of the pole not being long enough. Teddy says he’s got it, and he picks up the buckle and walks back. Booth follows and when Teddy thinks they’re far enough, he slides the buckle toward the wires, completing the circuit. The wall goes “BOOM” and Booth and Teddy are thrown back. When the rubble clears, Booth’s on his back and Teddy’s against the wall, a bleeding wound in his chest.

In the Jeffersonian holding cell, Hodgins needs Sweets to get his hands on some truth telling drugs and Sweets is confused. OK, Hodgins says the alternative is torture, and Jared helpfully offers, “I know a little bit about that.” Ah, Fox. Bones actually seems to approve, she is really anxious about Booth. Sweets appeals to the group’s better natures, they’re supposedly the good guys. Cam takes a shot at getting answers by telling Taffet that the evidence is being compiled and she wouldn’t want another murder on her hands. Sweets shoots her down before Taffet can even blink. There’s more psychobabble about Taffet needing to run the show and how she’s created her own morality and Angela, finally, arrives with something useful. The contents of the storage locker are here.

Booth’s STILL on the boat, only now he can’t see well because he looked at the flash of the explosion. Teddy’s playing down his injuries, and that’s enough to send Booth into another flashback with Teddy on the ground and Booth helping him, “You see that light?” There’s a dissolve to white and Booth can see fuzzy sunlight through the hole in the wall. He offers to be Teddy’s legs if Teddy’ll be his eyes. Teddy agrees and tells Booth to head towards the light. “Now that sounds bad.” Hee.

The squints are examining shoes from the storage shed. There’s a dead mosquito and paint chips in them.

Booth’s dragging Teddy along, apologizing for getting him killed. Teddy’s trying to absolve him, “I didn’t come here to haunt you, I came here to tell you it wasn’t your fault.” Cue another flash-back of an approaching helicopter, Teddy’s body, and Booth, waiting dejectedly.

Hodgins’ encyclopedia of stuff comes through again, the paint is deck coating used by the Navy prior to 1961. According to Taffet’s records, Angela knows that she was volunteering at the aquarium. Doing what? She was helping prep a decommissioned Navy ship for sinking. Jared’s all over it, calling in the Navy to go get his brother. Angela goes to the ad hoc holding cell to tell Bones and Taffet has the good nature to look busted. But as Bones leaves the room, she has one last thing to do. She picks up a briefcase, and swings it into Taffet’s face – WHAMMO! Taffet goes down, hard. I cheer.

Booth’s still dragging Teddy, and Teddy keeps telling him to let him go. Dude, let it him go!

On the helicopter, Bones is patched in to Jared on a cell phone. She can’t understand why he’s not there with her and he makes excuses about Naval red tape. What we see and she doesn’t is that he’s in handcuffs, standing next to an MP. But he called for a reason – the Navy’s realized they can’t stop the explosion (thanks for that, Booth), and they’ll only have five minutes to find Booth, and get him off the ship. No exceptions. Bones, for once, shows an ounce of empathy and asks, “Are you all right?”

“It’s all worth it as long as you save my brother.” No pressure, then.

Booth and Teddy finally reach the deck, but Teddy’s almost gone. Booth can see the chopper, and Teddy has two final things to say. He knows how far Booth carried him and he’s grateful, and there’s no way Booth’s getting the deposit back on that tux. The chopper touches down and Bones begins yelling. Booth looks back one final time and Teddy’s gone. He runs to the chopper and as he and Bones hug, just hug, the explosions begin and engulf the ship.

The next day, Booth and Bones are at Arlington National Cemetery. He thanks her for coming to get him, for saving his life, and she smiles. She also has a present for him. She found a duplicate of that God-awful “Cocky” belt-buckle. She also read through his report, and she notes that it should have taken two people to do a lot of the things he did, and man I wish they wouldn’t go there, but they’re going to. Booth says he had a ghost there, and of course, Bones starts rationalizing it away – just after saying there was possibly/probably another person there. She asks whose ghost, and Booth tells her he’s buried over there. “Corporal Edward Parker, slain while serving his country. He was twenty, just a kid.” For probably the first time ever, Booth absolves himself of guilt.

A woman enters the shot and Booth says he has a message for her. Bones is a little disbelieving, “You’re going to deliver a message from a ghost?!” But the most ludicrous part is yet to come. As Booth walks toward Teddy’s girl, Teddy himself comes into view. No, really, Teddy’s RIGHT THERE. “Beautiful day. Makes you glad to be alive, doesn’t it?” Bones agrees, it is a beautiful day, I bash my head into my desk. You were doing so well, show, why did you have to go there? Booth looks up and from behind Bones, Teddy waves. Booth gives a small salute back, and Bones, thinking he means her, waves in return. Teddy smiles and walks away leaving Bones watching Booth deliver his message while the strains of “When The Pain Dies Down” by Chris Stills sends us to blackout. (Warning: Link has sound!)

Up next week, it looks like Bones and Booth go LARP‘ing. The geekery will be EPIC – Man, I wish Zack were still around. Have a great week, and don’t forget to visit the forums!