Bones recap: The Last Shot at a Second Chance

Every few episodes, I remember the most accurate thing that has ever been said about the Jeffersonian Institute: “Working here is like being on The View.” I’m not sure Clark has ever been more right. Booth and Brennan are facing disciplinary action; Angela’s having sex dreams about someone who isn’t Hodgins; Aubrey and Jessica would just like to kiss without breaking each other’s noses, thanks; and all of these relationships are shifting as the team works a serious case with personal implications. And! We still found time for the line, “For a lamp that’s not working, this one sure is lighting up like a Christmas tree.” Bones really does have it all.

Let’s start with that serious case: This week’s victim, 32-year-old Lola Marshall, disappeared from her halfway house two weeks ago; she served 10 years for dealing crack, but her roommate Jasmine says that she turned her life around, and halfway house supervisor Thomas Hemingway points to Lola as a model resident. She’d even reconnected with the daughter she had when she was young. Kalani, who’s not yet 18, is pregnant; Booth and Aubrey suspect that she might have killed the woman who left her to fend for herself, but Kalani insists that she believed their family could make a fresh start.

That family was bigger than she knew: Kenny Johnson, Lola’s former supplier, also happens to be Kalani’s father. Lola turned state’s witness against Kenny in exchange for a reduced sentence; she’s the reason he went to prison — so in a roundabout way, she might have saved Booth’s life. When Booth was in jail, Kenny was the only inmate who had his back. He took a knife for Booth. Booth’s gut says that Kenny would never have killed Lola, but Kenny had a motive. He has no alibi. And he lied about seeing Lola right before her death. Is Booth too close to this one?

Of course not. The day Booth’s gut instinct steers him wrong is the day we stop talking about page 187, and today is not that day. Lola reconnected with Kenny because she wanted him to be a part of her daughter’s life. He wasn’t ready, but he didn’t kill her. That distinction goes to the only character who made sure to introduce himself by his first and last name and then emphasize his first name again, just so you’d remember him when he landed in the interrogation room.

Thomas was running a side business selling drugs with Jasmine; the roller coaster that is this episode is best summed up by the fact that the drug is named Wiley Monkey, clearing the way for a serious scene to include the line, “I found over a half-kilo of Wiley Monkey in your room.” When Lola found out, Thomas murdered her to stop her from turning him in. The evidence proves it: Fibers on Lola’s body match the trunk of Thomas’ car, where he stashed her when he thought she was already dead. She wasn’t, forcing him to finish the job by shooting her later. Is anyone else having flashbacks to Booth and Brennan’s first case?

Flashbacks are all over this hour, especially where Aubrey and Jessica are concerned. I’m not all that invested in their relationship one way or the other, but I’m very invested in watching Booth and Brennan’s early days play out over and over again until the end of time. If Aubrey and Jessica want to give that to me, who am I to say no? Booth and Brennan’s respective proteges are taking it slow because they’re afraid to lose what they have. Jessica even throws an “‘atta boy” in there. When they finally go in for a kiss, it’s a disaster, but they’re willing to keep waiting — at least until Jessica is nearly run over by a car. Aubrey pulls her to safety, and they make out on the sidewalk. Forget taking it slow; we just jumped from season 1 to season 6 in a day.

NEXT: Sorry, she ain’t sorry

As for the OG agent-and-scientist pairing, Booth and Brennan are in a great place with all of their weird sex moves, but their work situation is a little more unstable. The FBI stubbornly insists that punching a meninist is the sort of thing one should feel remorse for, and they’d like an apology; Brennan isn’t sorry, but after her initial hearing goes poorly, she takes Booth’s advice and accepts responsibility anyway. Second chances are the name of the hour — Booth even arranges for Kenny to meet Kalani — so it’s only fitting that Brennan get one, too. (“You want this committee to forego punishment so Dr. Brennan can try not to hit people?”) She’s placed on six-month probation under Booth’s supervision. Booth is not especially confident.

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I’d say their chances of success are good, which only leaves one couple’s fate in jeopardy. This is a make-or-break week for Angela and Hodgins. He’s pushing her away, and a certain photographer is waiting with open arms. When Sebastian asks Angela to meet him in his studio, is it an innocent attempt to avoid Cam, or is he trying to seduce her? Angela’s been around enough men to fear that it’s the second. She asks Hodgins’ advice, but he doesn’t want to talk about it. “You do you,” he says. “I do me.” That’s helpful. Angela “does Angela” by having a sex dream about Sebastian — in the split second before it was confirmed to be a dream, I yelled “NO” at my television — and Hodgins catches her yelling something, too: Sebastian’s name.

Hodgins wants to quit. He isn’t mad about the dream; he just feels like he’s broken. (To be clear, Brennan and Angela’s pep talk confirms that he can still have sex. Thanks for answering the real questions, Bones.) Hodgins hates making Angela so miserable, but he can’t find a way to stop being miserable himself, so he hands her the rights to all of their money and property and tries to set her free. Not so fast, Hodgins. Angela isn’t interested in sleeping with Sebastian, and she refuses to let her husband give up like this. She delivers the rousing speech that she obviously internalized while crying to Buffy (making this the most I’ve ever related to Angela): “This is life. It’s hard, and it is painful, and it is every day, but we fight. We fight together.”

She drops the papers back on Hodgins’ lap and tells the man who said he wasn’t coming home that she’ll see him at home. He comes home. I think they’re going to make it.

Bits and pieces:

• I’m a broken record, but TJ Thyne and Michaela Conlin are doing great work together right now.
• It’s always good to hear Brennan tell Hodgins that she cares about him.
• “Sometimes it doesn’t matter if you have the whole world supporting you. Success can be just out of reach.” “Then success must be redefined as that which can be accomplished.”
• “Have you ever noticed it’s never too cold for ice cream?”
• “What if the physical is just never there and I never have another orgasm, and then life is just the futile existence of jumping from one binge watch show to another?”
• Has Angela noticed that Angel looks a lot like Booth?
• “We think you might have left out a few details.” “Such as the fact that you’re the murderer.”
• “I mean, will Bones here ever punch anyone again? I can’t say.”