Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. A young woman in a winter coat and boots (making me wonder when in the hell this was filmed) runs up to a bank of monitors that announce arrivals, bemoaning the fact that she's late. The monitors are on the fritz, and she immediately starts asking random people if they know when the flight from Guatemala arrives. The music indicates that this is supposed to be funny, instead of ominous or scary. Thanks, background music! She runs up to a counter person and tries to explain that there's a glitch with the monitors, but he gives her the Index Finger of I'm a Bad Customer Service Person So I Am Going to Make You Wait For Dramatic/Comedic Purposes. The young woman immediately rips open her shirt and flashes the guy her lace bustier. That's some fancy lingerie for everyday wear. Did she anticipate that she might need to pull this maneuver? Or does she have a date later? The guy is immediately entranced by her ta-tas, and the woman asks about the flight from Guatemala. Before the counter guy can answer, or even put his tongue back in his mouth, a woman appears behind them and says, "Tell me you tried 'excuse me' first."
The Flasher hugs the Arrival and asks how Guatemala was, wanting details like if it was awful and backward. Arrival says at least she was never reduced to flashing for information. Flasher wants to know if there was flashing of any kind, and Arrival says that she was "neck-deep in a mass grave" the whole time she was there. Sounds like an awesome vacation! I'm surprised they don't cross-promote with Travelocity or something. Come to Guatemala! You'll be neck-deep in a mass grave ten minutes after deplaning! Flasher refers to Arrival's recent "messy breakup" and Flasher says that nothing Arrival did with Pete (the breakup-ee) was ever messy.
Suddenly, and without warning, Arrival drops her bag and turns around to ask a man in a suit behind them, "Sir, why are you following us?" The guy grabs her arm and Arrival immediately busts out some kung fu on his ass. Wow, I totally thought this show was going to be about, like, bones and stuff. Who knew it would include ass-kicking? Anyway, Arrival takes down the much larger man and airport security guards quickly arrive, guns drawn, and tell Arrival to back off. She protests that the guy attacked her, which isn't exactly true, and the downed man yells that he's Homeland Security. Arrival tells security to put away their guns. Homeland Security says that he's in charge, and security should keep their guns out. He orders Arrival to hand over her bag, which she quickly does. When he opens it, he finds a human skull inside.
So that leads to a small room, where Arrival is being questioned by Homeland Security. She explains in a bored manner that her name is Dr. Temperance Brennan, and she's been in Guatemala identifying victims of genocide. Homeland Security thinks that Brennan's ease with the questioning indicates that she's a sociopath. Brennan explains that she's a forensic anthropologist. Homeland Security says that Brennan claims she's working for the FBI, but she doesn't have the proper credentials to support that claim. While he continues to harangue her, Angel walks in the door. Look, I'm just calling him Angel until they tell me his character's name on this show, and then I'll stop. I can't promise there won't be any jokes about the undead, though. Homeland Security says that Brennan is also in trouble for attacking a Homeland Security agent. Before this can go any further, Angel flashes his badge and identifies himself as Seeley Booth, Special Agent with the Major Crimes Investigation Division or Bureau or whatever. He adds, "Bones identifies bodies for us." Brennan bristles at being called "Bones." Booth (what is it with the B names on this show?) explains that Brennan also writes books, and slides one over. Homeland Security says she's free to go, and Brennan immediately gets suspicious and decides that Booth set her up by sending out a "hold for questioning request." Homeland Security doesn't deny it. So was this a practical joke? Or did Booth want to appear all smooth with the big intervention that prevented Brennan from being shipped off to some nameless prison on an island nation with no press access? I think the writers just wanted to introduce David Boreanaz's character before the credits, and had to figure out a way to get him to the airport.
I guess Flasher found her own way home, and totally didn't wait for her friend, which seems kind of shitty. Anyway, Booth is driving Brennan home. She yells at him for setting her up, but she doesn't seem all that mad about it. Apparently, Booth just wanted to pick Brennan up from the airport, but her assistant, Zack, wouldn't tell him when she was arriving. Booth says that they found a decomposed corpse at Arlington National Cemetery. Brennan doesn't even get excited, seeing as how Arlington is, you know, a cemetery, so this doesn't exactly sound like a news flash. She keeps telling Booth to let her out, and he finally does pull over on a weirdly deserted street. Where are the people? Isn't DC a major city? Anyway, Brennan hops out of the SUV and Booth follows right after her. They argue about who's more condescending, and Brennan points out that the FBI needs her because the closest forensic anthropologist is in Montreal, which I find kind of hard to believe. Booth asks what he needs to do to get her help, and Brennan says that she wants full participation in the case, not just the bone identification stuff. Booth agrees, saying that they're "Scully and Mulder." But which is which? Brennan looks confused and says, "I don't know what that means." Because she doesn't watch television or read magazines or LIVE IN THE WORLD.
They get back in the SUV and head to Arlington. Booth explains that a workman was doing landscaping and saw something in the pond. Brennan's assistant, Zack, is already there. Wearing a grape-colored blazer, like, who wears a blazer to a crime scene? He also appears to be about twelve years old, and in love with his boss. Brennan dispatches him to complete some tasks, and Booth complains that Zack has "no discretion" and is "a typical squint." Brennan repeats her catchphrase: "I don't know what that means." Having seen the episode, this bit of exposition is particularly bad, because Booth uses the phrase all the time, and he and Brennan have worked together before, so she's likely to have heard him say it in the past. Anyway, Booth explains that cops call the scientists and technicians they bring in on investigations "squints" because they come in and squint at evidence. Brennan asks if he's referring to "people with very high IQs and basic reasoning skills." Unlike FBI agents, who are dumb and irrational. Shut up, Brennan. She's bugging me.
Booth takes Brennan out in the lake on a boat, and they use an underwater camera to investigate the depths. The camera focuses in on a skeleton that appears to be wrapped in chicken wire. Brennan agrees, "This is a crime scene."
Miami Vice music plays as Brennan gets to the task of removing the skeleton from the mud in which it was entombed. Wait, so she's working right on the shore of the pond? That seems like it would increase the probability of contamination. Anyway, she reports to Zack that the body was wrapped in PVC-coated chicken wire, which was weighted to keep the body from floating. The skull is fractured, but otherwise the skeleton is complete. Booth walks up and asks what she knows. Brennan says that the victim was a young woman, between 18 and 22, and about 5'3". The race is unknown, but she played tennis. Booth wants to know how they can get hobbies from a skeleton, and Brennan explains that the victim has bursitis in her shoulder, and in a young person, that indicates an athletic injury. Booth wonders when the victim died, but Brennan says they have to wait for "the bug and slime guy" to figure that out. There's no clothing, which Booth thinks means a sex crime. Um, I'm no Ph.D., but I would have to think the clothes decomposed along with the skin and all the other organs. Brennan says basically that.
Brennan apparently works at the Jeffersonian Institute in the Natural History Museum. It's also incredibly deserted at this time of day. Brennan argues with her boss, Dr. Goodman, for just giving her over to the FBI. Goodman points out that they're federally funded and have to prove their worth at times. Brennan thinks she's being treated as property, and they continue to argue about it. Zack trails along behind and at some point reveals that he's halfway through two Ph.Ds. At twelve years old? That is amazing. He's like Doogie. As Zack walks off, Brennan argues that the FBI won't respect her work if she's loaned out like an office temp. Goodman wonders if he's being played, and Brennan reminds him that she is basically a humorless shrew. Goodman says she has "a disturbingly steep learning curve," because Brennan is wicked smart. Do you get it? She's smart! And she doesn't know about pop culture! I don't know if you got that yet.
Now we're at the Medico-Legal Lab at the Jeff. I'm just going to call the Jeffersonian Institute "The Jeff" from now on. I feel like it makes it feel more like home. Also, "Medico-Legal" doesn't even really make sense. They should work on a cool acronym there. And it would be cool if the acronym also spelled something like "Brennan's Osteo-Natural Emergency Standard" and then it was "B.O.N.E.S." Okay, that's not very good, but you know what I mean. If you're going to cheese it up ("Jeffersonian"?), then cheese it up all the way. The bug and slime guy is giving Brennan a report on when the victim died, and after a long build-up, he says that it happened last spring. Flasher is there, so she's not just a friend, she's a co-worker! All of the lab workers start talking about Brennan's recently-published novel, and ask questions about the characters they are sure they inspired. Brennan insists it's all fiction. Back at work, Bug and Slime says that he found tiny bones, possibly from frogs, in the dirt. He also found pieces of a small link chain. Zack and Flasher are back to talking about the book again. Zack says he's "nowhere near" being a virgin, which is kind of inappropriate to discuss at WORK with your BOSS, but anyway. Flasher says that Brennan really captured Booth in her book because he's "buttoned down with buckets of sexual confidence." Zack refers to the victim as "the soaker," and Brennan wants to get back to business. Bug and Slime couldn't tell what was up with the piece of paper the victim was holding. Brennan says she's going to reassemble the skull so that Angela can put a face on it. On her way out, Brennan reminds Zack that she doesn't like nicknames such as "soaker" or "crispy critter" for human remains, which Zack apologetically says that he knew.
At night, Brennan stands in front of a table covered with tiny skull fragments as "Collide" by Howie Day plays. This song doesn't really seem appropriate for the scene, or even the show, really. Anyway, she somehow fits together all the tiny pieces with Elmer's Glue (really? Elmer's?). She ends up with a completed skull, and falls asleep with her head on her work table. Zack walks in the morning and silently (and affectionately) places a mug of coffee on the table. After he leaves, Brennan wakes up and looks around, confused. Cut to her walking out of the building, still wearing the same outfit she was wearing at the airport. I don't know about you, but I have to change as soon as I can after a long flight. Airplane clothes are gross.
Booth talks to his boss in the boss's office. Boss is concerned that Booth guaranteed Brennan a role in "an active murder investigation," and points out that Booth said previously that Brennan wouldn't work with him anymore. Booth explains that on the last case they worked together, Brennan gave him a description of the murderer and murder weapon from looking at the autopsy X-rays. Booth didn't believe it, but Brennan was (of course) right. Booth tells his boss what Brennan has already told him about the current case, and says he needs to bring her out in the field to get her back on his side. The boss reluctantly agrees, and makes it clear that Brennan is Booth's complete responsibility.
Brennan sleeps in her bed at home. She suddenly wakes up and grabs a baseball bat, because she heard someone in her apartment. She sneaks into the living room, where there's a guy carrying her television set out of the room. Brennan swings for the fences, but smashes the television instead of the guy. He falls to the floor, and Brennan recognizes the guy as Peter, her recently exed ex-boyfriend.
Moments later, Brennan and Peter sit down in her living room. Apparently, Peter was just trying to reclaim his television set. He brings up their breakup, which he thinks happened because Brennan is "emotionally distant and cold," but adds that the sex was great. Brennan realizes that this is a booty call, and starts to throw Peter out. Did he really think that the best way to get into her pants was to insult her? Good thinking, dude. Why not tell her she's fat while you're at it? She'll just strip immediately. Peter thinks her issues came about because she was orphaned at a young age. Brennan sighs her other catchphrase: "I hate psychology." Peter babbles about being alone, and Brennan bum-rushes him out the door in disgust.
Brennan arrives at the lab, where Booth and Angela (formerly Flasher) are waiting. Angela explains that she designed a computer program that takes the skull and allows her to project a 3-D holographic image of what the person might have looked like. Well, isn't that TV-friendly? Brennan says that skull measurements suggest that the victim was African-American. Angela projects the holograph as the others stand around and watch. Booth is awestruck and sticks his hand in the holograph. No one yells at him. Brennan tells Angela to redraw the image with Caucasian values, and thinks the resulting image looks familiar. She tells Angela to "split the difference," and Angela asks if she wants "Lenny Kravitz or Vanessa Williams." Brennan, of course, doesn't know what that means, because she doesn't follow popular culture. I don't know if you knew that about her. Angela makes her own decision and projects the new image. Brennan issues a few more commands, and asks if anyone recognizes the victim. Someone volunteers that it might be "the girl that had the affair with the Senator." Booth immediately provides the name (Cleo Louise Eller), the names of her parents, and the vital stats on the case. Apparently, Booth has been working that case for a while, but hoped that she was just missing and not dead.
Brennan's team eats lunch on the steps of their building and discuss the case. Bug and Slime Guy mentions again that Cleo Eller was boinking a Senator while she worked in his office as an intern, and Booth points out that that was never confirmed. Booth compares a photo of Cleo with a picture of the image Angela created, and Zack asks why he's not happier to get a break in the case. Booth tells everyone to keep this discovery under wraps. Bug and Slime Guy immediately decides this is a cover up, just like it was covered up that "Monica Lewinsky was a KGB-trained sex agent mole." Now there's a pitch for a TV show. Brennan chases after Booth to ask what their step is. Booth starts to backpedal on allowing Brennan in the investigation now that he knows what a big deal it could be. Brennan threatens to issue a press release with Cleo's identity. Booth asks what she's trying to do, and Brennan says she's blackmailing him. He thinks it over, and then allows Brennan to come with him.
Booth and Brennan meet with Booth's boss to report what they've found. They explain how the evidence points to the victim being Cleo Eller, and Brennan adds the bit about her banging her boss, Senator Bethlehem. The boss says that "Bethlehem's a hound," so he believes it. Booth provides a picture of Cleo's boyfriend, Ken Thompson, who works as an aide to Bethlehem, and thus keeps his calendar, so there's no way that Bethlehem could have an affair with Thompson's girlfriend without Thompson knowing. He adds that if there's no sexual affair, there's no motive for the murder. They're kind of assuming that Thompson didn't want Cleo sleeping with his boss. That seems like a big assumption to me. Maybe they were swingers. Maybe Cleo was doing it to advance her career, or her boyfriend's career. Hello! The boss asks about "the nut case." Booth says that Oliver Laurier was stalking Cleo, and might be a good suspect. Booth wants to inform Cleo's parents that their daughter's body was found. Boss isn't sure that's a good idea, but Booth explains that over the course of the investigation, he's come to know the parents, and they've been in limbo for two years. Brennan adds that she'll know the cause of death by the afternoon, so they agree to tell the parents then.
On the way to the parents' home, Brennan tells Booth that her lab figured out that Cleo's skull injury was likely caused by a sledgehammer. Ouch! She also has a sample of some "diatomaceous earth," and while they can't pinpoint the source yet, Booth is still excited to have a clue.
At the Eller's house, Booth and Brennan talk to the parents. The father is a Major, and wants to know for sure if the victim was Cleo. Brennan starts to go into a scientific explanation, but Booth just says it was. The parents have a lot more questions that Booth and Brennan can't really answer, seeing as how it's an ongoing investigation. Each time a question is asked, Brennan starts to give an honest, technical answer, and then Booth interrupts her to soften it a little. Mrs. Eller says that Cleo wore her father's Bronze Star around her neck.
As they leave the house, Booth and Brennan argue over whether or not they should have stuck strictly to the truth when talking to the Ellers. I'm sure you can figure out which side each argues. Booth points out that it's different getting information out of live people than dead people, and that you have to "offer up something of yourself first." Brennan jumps right to asking Booth what he did in the military. Booth points out that Brennan just asked a question without offering anything in return, so he refuses to answer. Brennan looks confused, like it's her first day on earth. But she's worked with Booth before, and she lives on earth, so I find it kind of hard to believe that she's not used to these types of reactions by now. I get that it's the pilot, and they have to establish her character, but come on.
Back in the lab, Bug and Slime Guy reports that Cleo was on a number of different drugs, including something for nausea. Brennan wants to check out the tiny bone fragments that Bug and Slime Guy thought were from frogs. Brennan realizes that Cleo was pregnant, and those are fetal ear bones. Zack offers to take DNA tests to try to prove paternity. Bug and Slime Guy thinks that the Senator got Cleo pregnant and then had her murdered to protect his career. He adds that Booth won't be heading up any special investigation on this case, because it'll be too political and it'll get quashed. They cut to a wide shot of the lab, which has glass shelves that go all the way up to the incredibly high ceiling. How do they get stuff from the top shelf? That seems impractical.
Alone in the lab, Brennan stares at the holograph of Cleo's face some more. Angela walks up and asks if Brennan wants to go out for a drink. Brennan reluctantly agrees, and whines that she's worried that Booth is right, that she has no people skills. Then she starts bemoaning the lack of a man in her life, which Angela finds an interesting leap. Brennan repeats catchphrase two: "I hate psychology." Brennan points out that her most meaningful relationships are with dead people. She starts listing off a bunch of things she knows about Cleo already, including that she fought back when she was being murdered, despite being on medication for depression. Angela tells Brennan that she might come off as distant because she connects too much. I hate to steal Brennan's first catchphrase, but I don't know what that means. Angela advises Brennan to offer up a little bit of herself once in a while. Hey! That's what Booth said too! It's like he knows her as well as her closest friend or something.
U.S. Senate. Hart Office Building. Brennan is talking the Senator and his aide, Thompson, and reports that Cleo was pregnant when she was killed. Brennan wonders which of the men she's speaking to was the father. She asks if they're both willing to submit to a DNA test. Thompson advises his boss not to say anything without an attorney present. Wow, she really is horrible at this. And also, is she authorized to conduct interrogations on her own? And does she really think that the Senator is going to admit to anything in the lobby of his office building? And what if he did -- would it be admissible in court? So many problems here. As they part ways, the Senator tosses out his gum. Brennan scrambles after it and tells them exactly what she's doing -- taking the gum for DNA testing. The Senator thinks she needs a warrant for that. She doesn't, but I don't know that she knows that. Thompson tries to stop her from leaving, but she knees him in the gut and runs off. Yeah, there's no way any of that would be admissible. Booth is right; she totally doesn't belong in the field.
As I suspected, FBI Boss is not happy about Brennan's actions, especially since she uttered "threats against a United States Senator." He blames Booth, since she was Booth's responsibility. Booth appears ready to take the blame, but Brennan has to open her big mouth and say that Booth didn't even know she was planning to see the Senator. Yeah, that's going to make him look even better to his boss. Another guy enters the office, and the boss announces that he's going to form a new unit to investigate the case, and Booth won't be in charge of it. Patrick, the guy who just entered the office, will be. Booth pretends, not very well, that he's fine with it. As he goes to leave, he mutters that Brennan at least found out that the Senator was having sex with Cleo. Brennan is surprised to hear this, and the boss points out that there wasn't enough DNA in the fetal bones to prove anything. Booth explains that the Senator didn't want Brennan to take the gum, so he's hiding something. Or he considers it an invasion of privacy. Or illegal. Or he didn't know for sure that Brennan was working for the FBI. There are a lot of alternate explanations there. The boss tells Brennan to go back to her lab and stay there.
Outside the office, Brennan tells Booth to stop being nice to her, because she knows he's mad. Booth tries to downplay it, and Brennan asks if he thinks the Senator was the murderer. Booth says that the Senator had sex with a lot of interns, and didn't murder them. But were they pregnant? That seems kind of important. Booth completely ignores that and says that the stalker is still his prime suspect. Brennan suggests that they check it out, and points out that the murderer probably has Cleo's Bronze Star in his possession. Booth realizes that he's still on the case for twelve hours, and they take off.
Stalkerpartment. Oliver (the Stalker) opens his door and find Brennan there, claiming that they have a warrant to search his apartment. Oliver slams the door and turns to run, but runs right into Booth. How did Booth get into the apartment? The door was locked with a chain. Details, details. Anyway, Booth drops Oliver with a twist of his wrist and then smirks. I loved that smirk. It was so Angelus.
Booth searches the apartment while Brennan explains why they're there. Oliver says he doesn't have Cleo's Bronze Star. Booth finds a stash of tiny copies of Lives of the Saints, and Oliver says he hands them out for donations. Is that how he can afford his apartment? Because while it's not huge, it's not bad. Oliver says that he never stalked Cleo, and Brennan asks why she got a restraining order against him. Oliver explains that Thompson and the Senator filed the restraining order, and mentions Thompson's "tropical fish," which is just random enough to be important later. Oliver says that he was actually Cleo's close friend, and he only ran from the warrant because he was scared. He's actually willing to do whatever it takes to help find Cleo's killer. Booth asks for a full confession, and Oliver says he would never hurt Cleo. Oliver also seems kind of in love with Brennan. I don't get it. She has no social skills and she's not that pretty. I guess she has a nice rack. Maybe that's it. And for someone who doesn't read magazines or the newspaper or watch television or whatever, she dresses pretty nicely.
Back in the lab, Angela has somehow put together the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. It's like a 3D animated holograph of how Cleo was killed. It's practically a reconstruction of the crime, and it reminds me of Total Recall when Sharon Stone was using a holograph to learn tennis. Brennan explains that Angela was actually killed by a stab wound, and the sledgehammer to the skull came afterwards. Brennan thinks that the murderer then used his knife to remove Cleo's finger pads. Later, this charming person smashed Cleo's head with a sledgehammer multiple times while she was lying on a cement floor. Brennan concludes that it wasn't a crime of passion. Angela explains that Cleo didn't see the crime coming. Brennan points out that the murderer put a lot of time into making sure Cleo couldn't be identified, and Bug and Slime Guy adds that the killer also planted evidence to frame someone else for the murder. That evidence included a copy of Oliver's Lives of the Saints, as well as the military location to implicate her father. Booth asks if they really want him to "declare war on a United States Senator" based on their "holographic crystal ball." Doesn't a crystal ball look into the future? Brennan points out that it's "a logical recreation based on evidence." The lab workers argue their case, but Booth tells them that they don't know anything about the real world. I thought he was supposed to be the one with people skills.
After the lab workers leave, Angela stays behind and asks Booth if he knows about Brennan's parents, who disappeared when she was fifteen. Booth says he knows the story, and knows that the cops never found anything. Angela says that Brennan thinks if someone like her had been there, her parents might have been found. Booth says, "For someone who hates psychology, she sure has a lot of it." She has a lot of psychology? Does she keep it in a box? That doesn't even make sense.
Brennan takes out her frustrations at the shooting range, but she must be really pissed, because she's not wearing goggles or earplugs or any protective gear. Booth walks in and Brennan reveals that she knows about his past. He was an Army Ranger sniper who became an FBI homicide investigator. Booth asks for a turn with the gun, and shoots, but barely nicks the target. Brennan chuckles and asks about his success as a sniper. Booth says he knows killers, and the Senator isn't a killer, but Oliver might be, because he's unhinged. As Booth tells Brennan all about his methods of investigation, he leans closer and closer to Brennan. He even puts a hand on the wall to her head. And he's a big guy, so that's more than a little threatening. Booth concludes that Brennan doesn't know nothing about solving no murders. Brennan puts her face a few inches from his and says that traces of Cleo's blood will still be in the cement where she was killed, and Booth could end her taunting by testing the Senator's basement floor. She taunts Booth to be a cop and prove her wrong. After some sexual tension, Brennan walks away smirking. Booth twirls, pulls out his gun (not that gun, his actual firearm), and shoots the target twice, hitting the head both times. Do people really sublimate their sexual desire through shooting things like they do on TV? Because if so, maybe shooting ranges should be the new singles bars.
Booth sits in his office and looks through all the clippings and reports in Cleo's file. This is another thing that I feel like detectives only do on television. It's cop show shorthand for, "I'm thinking through the case and trying to find a way to solve it." But does that happen in reality? I don't know. Brennan comes to the doorway and watches Booth for a moment before knocking and entering. He watches a video of Cleo at a graduation ceremony and comments that she and her family look pretty happy. Brennan doesn't comment. Booth points out that Brennan doesn't like to talk about families, and tells her that partners share things in order to build trust. Brennan turns away and asks when they became partners. Booth drops it and shows her a warrant he got to search the Senator's basement, saying that she was right that he should do it. He adds that he's not doing it because she's a genius. Brennan looks pleased that he acknowledged her intellectual superiority. Booth says he's doing it for Cleo, as we see another shot of her smiling in her cap and gown.
Outside the Senator's residence, reporters are clamoring. The Senator and his wife stand on their front porch, all the better for the gathered press to snap photos, I guess. You'd think they'd hide in the den or something and have some brandy. Thompson tells the Senator that the warrant claims the cops are looking for blood traces, a sledgehammer, and diatomaceous earth. Thompson walks over to where Brennan is standing nearby and sneers that she's making a big mistake. Brennan looks over to where Booth is getting chewed out by Patrick. She turns around and spots Oliver standing outside the front gate. She walks over, and Oliver says that the Senator didn't love Cleo properly, and then asks Brennan to sign his copy of her book. Brennan warns him against stalking her. Ha! Stalking is hilarious! The cops exit the Senator's house with a sledgehammer in an evidence bag as the Senator yells that he's never seen the thing before. Brennan excitedly points out the find to Booth, who says that they really needed to find all three pieces of the puzzle for a conviction.
At the lab, Brennan sits around with her peeps as they propose a toast to "getting the murderous bastard." Brennan swallows her drink, cringes, and then says that the sledgehammer isn't enough evidence. She worries that Booth is right that she's useless outside the lab. The peeps start talking about various saints, inspired by Oliver's book. Brennan seizes on the subject of fish, which they just mentioned. Bug and Slime Guy confirms that diatomaceous earth can be used as a filtering agent in tropical fish tanks, and Brennan says that Oliver said that Thompson keeps fish. She also remembers that Thompson saw the warrant and knows what evidence they're looking for. She runs off and asks the peeps to call Booth and tell him where she's going. They're left confused, since she didn't actually say where she was going, or give them enough information for anything, really.
Brennan screeches to a halt in front of Thompson's house. She peeks through his doorway and sees Thompson splashing gasoline all over his house. She breaks into his house (!) and tells him that he has to stop and he can't destroy evidence. He points out that she doesn't have a warrant, and Brennan says she's working with the FBI. And they don't need warrants? Brennan claims that if she has reasonable suspicious of a crime being committed, she doesn't need a warrant, and Thompson is destroying evidence pertinent to a federal investigation. Thompson thinks he smells alcohol on her breath. Brennan notes that the flooring seems new, and there's probably cement underneath, like the cement found in Cleo's skull. Thompson continues to splash gasoline over his fish tanks. Brennan says she'll stop him, but Thompson says that she can't do that before he burns the house down with her inside. He pulls out a lighter. Shouldn't he get out too? Brennan pulls her gun and shoots him in the leg. That can't be legal. Brennan wonders aloud why Thompson would murder his girlfriend. Oliver shows up. Man, this guy needs a better security system. People are just popping into his house all the time. Sometimes they have guns. Brennan tells Oliver that she doesn't know that he's not in cahoots with Thompson, and orders him to go apply pressure to Thompson's wound until the cops get there.
Luckily, the cops are already there, as Booth walks in, gun drawn. Booth confirms that Thompson killed Cleo. Oliver thinks they should let Thompson bleed to death. Booth points out that Oliver would go on trial for attempted murder, and Oliver agrees to help. Brennan says that the evidence points to Thompson, but she doesn't know the motive. She continues to wave her gun around in a way that might suggest she's drunk, which makes this whole thing feel like a huge violation of procedure, but what do I know? Booth says that Thompson did it to save his job, by preventing the Senator from becoming embroiled in a scandal. Booth gently takes Brennan's gun away and advises her to leave the shooting to him in the future.
Brennan, Booth, and the lab crew attend Cleo's funeral at Arlington. Right in the middle of the services, Brennan walks up and takes a rose out of an arrangement and places it on Cleo's casket. Oh, I guess the service was over when she did that. Angela asks the assembled group if the FBI is going to press charges against Brennan. Bug and Slime Guy says that she only shot Thompson in the leg. Like that matters. Booth says that she didn't give him a warning and she had alcohol on her breath. Brennan's boss thinks they should cut her some slack, it being her first shooting and all. Yes, I'm sure that will happen. Zack asks Booth how many warnings he gave people before sniping them. Booth gives him a disgusted look and walks off after Brennan.
He catches up to her, and they joke about how they were both kind of right about the case. Ha! I know I always love to joke about work-related things during funeral services. Booth tells Brennan that she made the New York Times Bestseller List. Brennan didn't know, which seems unlikely. Booth jokes with her about getting an accountant and also getting out of the lab once in a while. Brennan turns serious when she sees Cleo's parents laying flowers on her casket. Booth tells her that if not for her, Cleo's parents wouldn't have known what happened to their daughter. Brennan says she knows how the parents felt, because her parents disappeared when she was fifteen and no one knows what happened. Booth says that he killed a lot of people as a sniper, and he'd like to catch at least that many killers. Just like Angel wanted to atone for all the people he killed when he was a vampire! Brennan scoffs at the idea of a cosmic balance sheet, but realizes that Booth is serious, and she offers to help. He pretends to consider her offer, and they walk off laughing. Through the cemetery.