- The team works to uncover clues buried under a life's worth of possessions saved by a hoarder in order to solve the mystery of his death. Meanwhile, Angela's father has a specific purpose for his most recent visit, and Brennan and Booth are confronted with unique opportunities.—Fox Publicity
- A maggot-infested corpse falls through an apartment floor. It was the tenant, an extremely agoraphobic manic collector. Motives could stem from something he possessed, or from the trouble his never aired, dirty, dangerous and multiply pest-infested home spread around. But none of the sleuths can concentrate properly. Booth is pressed, even by son, Parker, to consider helping the Afghanistan war effort as a field instructor. Bones is jealous of assistant Daisy Wick who, through her recommendation, may go for a year, to a Moluccan paleontological dig. Sweets fears that means breaking up with Daisy, yet bravely helps Hodgins face Angela's scary biker dad.—KGF Vissers
- A little boy jumps on his bed. "It's snowing!" he yells. Mom enters the room -- and notices that the ceiling is caving in. The boy gets out of the way just as the entire attic is emptied into the bedroom, including a hideously decayed dead body. Bones (Emily Deschanel) and Booth (David Boreanaz) are quickly on the scene and the former decides the victim was a 40-year-old man who had been bashed in the skull. B&B head to the man's upstairs apartment, which is filled with household items and flat-out garbage. A hoarder! They also find plenty of blood.
Bones, though, is distracted by the recently discovery of early skeletons in Indonesia. She has contacted the team leader. Could our favorite anthropologist be on her way out of town? Not so fast. Back at the lab, Daisy (Carla Gallo) reveals SHE has been chosen to join the find. "If it weren't for that letter of recommendation you wrote, I would not have made the cut," Daisy squeals. Bones is clearly upset and -- being Bones -- can't hide it. Camille (Tamara Taylor) attempts to change the subject by theorizing that the victim was hacked to death.
Booth, meanwhile, is getting a cup of coffee when he notices a soldier in uniform named Pelant starting at him. "We're losing men every day," Pelant says. "Your country needs you." Uh oh. Could Booth be on his way out of town? Cut to Hodgins (T.J. Thyne) and Sweets (John Francis Daley), who photograph the victim's apartment. "There's extensive termite damage, which explains why the floor fell into the apartment below," Hodgins notes. He then looks out the window and, panicked, sees Angela's father. "Oh god, help me," Hodgins says.
Later, B&B meet at the diner. Booth, after some questioning, reveals the Army wants him back to train snipers. "We have our jobs here, right?" Booth asks. Bones isn't so sure -- and neither is Booth, for that matter. Back at the lab, Daisy points out a mistake Bones made in her initial examination of the hoarder. Turns out the victim's head wounds were healing BEFORE time of death. Meaning: they don't know cause of death. Suddenly, Bones is even MORE insecure. It prompts her to have a heart-to-heart with Angela (Michaela Conlin). "It's just ... I need some perspective so I can view my life with some objectivity," Bones says. Of course, she also brings up the fact Booth might be leaving for Afghanistan.
Cut to Booth, who is driving Parker back from a little-league game. The boy wonders why his dad wouldn't go to save lives instead of investigating already committed murders. Hmm. Good question. Sweets, in the meantime, is getting the bad news his fiancee is leaving for a year. "This is the biggest career opportunity I've ever had," Daisy says. "My career means everything to me -- for now." Will Sweets go with her?
Later, Booth interviews a former coworker of the victim. She notes the man would take home "garbage" from the accounting office, but treated it like "gold." She also says the hoarder was offered $50,000 from an unknown source for an unknown item. Not a terribly informative piece of information, but every lead counts. Bones, meanwhile, has taken another look at the remains and now believes the man was trapped under his own garbage -- and died as a result. Suddenly, Daisy BURSTS into the lab. Squealing, she reveals Bones has been asked to head up the team in Indonesia. Uh oh.
Back at the crime scene, Bones tells Hodgins and Sweets to look for anything possibly worth $50,000 (assuming a theoretical killer didn't just take the item on the way out). Hodgins then confesses Angela's father approached him about stealing back a car the old man lost in a card game. "I'll help you get that car," says Sweets, still smarting over Daisy's relative dismissal of their impending nuptials. Back at the lab, Daisy pressures Bones to accept the offer to go to Indonesia. Bones isn't sure, saying she has to talk to Booth (her "partner") first. "Maybe he's holding you back the same way you're holding him back," Daisy blurts out. Nice.
Angela, meanwhile, has digitally mapped the entire apartment and discovered a portion of the mess which isn't as "organically" arranged as the others. "Somebody -- not the victim -- rearranged that pile," Angela says. Hodgins takes a look -- and discovers "silver fish eggs." Something was sitting on top of the eggs because they hadn't hatched. -- and that "something" is gone. Bones then tells Booth she would like to leave the country. Booth says its "cool," but won't make eye contact. "I don't do really good with change, I guess," he says. Booth then decides maybe the Army is the best thing for him. "What's a year in the grand scheme of things?" he asks. It's not convincing.
Back at the lab, Hodgins discovers the eggs contained traces of Uranium 235. And guess where it came from? A collectible gnome. Turns out the glaze on these particular gnomes were laced with uranium -- and now extremely rare. How rare? Let's just say one would be worth around $50,000. "We have our motive," Camille says. "Now we just need to find the person who collects radioactive Hobbits." Later, Hodgins and Sweets head out to steal back Angela's dad's car. Naturally, the spot is outside a dangerous-looking biker bar. Hodgins is nearly killed by dogs, but manages to make it inside a nearby garage -- to discover Angela's dad waiting for him. It was a test -- and Hodgins apparently passed. The two speed off together in the vintage ride.
Cut to the Jeffersonian, where Booth interviews a man who offered the victim money for the gnome. "I pushed the guy and I took the gnome," the collector admits. Beyond that, though, he will say no more. And that's just not enough for Caroline (Patricia Belcher), who refuses to accept the case being closed. For starters, what caused the hacking marks on the skull which likely led to the man being trapped and starving? Secondly, if the case is closed, then B&B no longer have a reason to stick around. Caroline suggests the pair finish their "last case" together the right way. The next morning, Bones discovers the man must've walked into a fan. While searching for the fan at the apartment, Hodgins discovers photographs of the victim and his coworker, who Booth grilled earlier.
So the coworker is quickly back in the hot seat. She confesses she loved the man -- and ripped down his curtains one day to "force" him to acknowledge the outside world. "He lost it," she cries. "He attacked me, so I pushed the fan at him and I ran away. I didn't think it killed him!" Case closed. Cut to Hodgins and Angela, who discover Angela's dad (and Hodgins' new father in law) has given the couple the vintage car. The two decide to take a year off in Paris. "Everything's changing, huh?" she asks.
Bones and Daisy, meanwhile, are at the airport. "Do you think you'll wait for me?" Daisy asks. "That would be really romantic." Sweets, in the nicest way possible, tells Daisy he will not -- and she shouldn't wait for him either. Then Booth appears in his Army uniform. "I needed to sneak off base to say goodbye," he says. The two approach each other. She pleads with him to be safe -- and they grasp hands. "One year from today we meet at the reflecting pool on the mall," he says. She agrees. And they part ways.
Until next year.
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