Bones

Death in the Saddle

Season 3, Episode 3, Aired 10/9/07

Episode Summary

The team investigates a decomposed body that was discovered in the woods with bound arms and missing feet. Things get kinky when Booth and Brennan are led to a lodge that's used as an S&M retreat for "jockeys" and their "horses". Meanwhile, Angela tries hypnosis in an effort to figure out her elusive husband's name so she can finally divorce him.moreless

9.0

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Cast & Crew

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Michaela Conlin

Angela Montenegro
Emily Deschanel

Dr. Temperance Brennan
Tamara Taylor

Dr. Camille Saroyan (Season 2+)

Fan Episode Reviews (30)

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The fascinating world of sex fetishists.

9.5

"Superb"

By whiteraven2005, Oct 29, 2011 Report Abuse

Certainly an unusual episode and very interesting.

CSI has done sexual fetish but they did the usual boring S&M stuff, this goes into whole new territory, a fetish I've never heard of 'Pony-Play'. Role-playing is not unusual but the rider/pony scenario is certainly fascinating from a psychological point of view.

The murderer actually killed the victim like a horse, even cutting off the 'hooves', but the exception is the vicious gouging of the eyes. That's what gives the killer away because it's a deviation from the equine world.

What kind of sicko would eat horse meat? I adore horses so the idea is abhorrent. The strangest part is that a 'pony-player' actually advocates this, that's practically cannibalism!

Fascinating what a diverse world we live in.moreless

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Bones and Booth are back in full action to solve the murder of a man found in the woods.

10

"Perfect"

By alipookie1, Jun 29, 2010 Report Abuse

Yippee! The Bones and Booth are back together with the chemistry that made me fall in love with the show in the first place.

I have missed the way Bones with her sassy straight forewardness and a reserved Booth react to each other during invistigations...their chemistry was absolutly perfect! It has not ben since the middle of last season that I have enjoyed an episode as much as this one. The writers have outdone themselves..."pony" play was highly entertaining. Everytime the show came back from commerical break I was surprised by another turn in the storyline. I also enjoyed Christina Cox as a guest star since I am a big fan of Blood Ties. It was a special treat to see her acting in a enirely different character than Vicki Nelson. She was the perfect person for the part..I give her Kudos for her protrayal as Annie Oakley.
I truly enjoyed the way the cast seems to be back in action and are finally starting to fall back into place. I was worried there for a while.
I will continue to be a loyal fan of Bones and watch every week. I hope that Bones and Booth can keep up the energy and deliver another perfect episode next week.moreless

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Booth and Bones investigate the death of a man caught in a kinky sex fetish love triangle. As a side story, Angela finally remembers the name of the man she married in Fiji.moreless

8.3

"Great"

By bkpr, Jun 29, 2010 Report Abuse

This episode starts with a particularly gross corpse found in the woods by a boy scout. The investigation leads Booth and Bones to a beautiful resort where well to do professionals engage in "pony play." This of course offers a lot of opportunities for one-liners from Booth about this odd sexual practice. As always, the team solves the murder in the last ten minutes or so. This episode was only average, as the chemistry between Bones and Booth is still somewhat lacking, like there is a wall between them. I don't know if this is intentional by the writers, or if the writers are just in a rut. I did like the speech by Booth at the end regarding the difference between sex and love, which seems to have hit a nerve with Bones. All in all, average but entertaining.moreless

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Not sure what was better, Booth's mini speech at the end or the whole 'pony play' thing.

9.9

"Superb"

By sweet_innocence, Jun 29, 2010 Report Abuse

Okay, the reason I really loved this episode was because of Booth's little speech at the end of the episode. I felt like it described his relationship with Brennan word for word. Too bad they didn't act on any of it...

Angela's situation with the hypnotism was pretty funny. I thought it was neat how the wasp she saw led her to the picture and her husband's name. I think it's really cool that Hodgins isn't...upset about what's going on. Hmm...I wonder if we will ever find out what happened to Zach in Iraq. He hasn't really been the same since he came back...moreless

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a horse, is a horse...

9.5

"Superb"

By xblvr, Jun 29, 2010 Report Abuse

So the pony play thing was hilarious. Putting the sexually frustrated Bones and Booth together on a fetish case was funny. I kinda expected the "more Catholic conservative" Booth to be a bit freaked out by it and the "anthropologist, 'people have been doing this for years'" to be more open. I loved the speak that Booth gave a the end about "making love" and fetish sex not being able to be good sex. And I loved even more that Bones agreed with him. The other funny stuff was Bones messing up the pop-culture and cop lingo as usual. I like that that is still such a strong part of who she is.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- Goof: The last shot of the episode was reused from the season two episode "The Killer in the Concrete." As he did in "The Killer in the Concrete," Booth places the glass dolphin that Brennan's father gave her in front of her. Also, as the camera pulls away from outside of the Royal Diner, Booth leans forward and puts his face near Brennan's, and it can be seen that Brennan's jacket has gone from khaki to navy blue. Edit
- The product placement in the butcher's shop was painfully obvious. Cheez-It crackers and Town House crackers were placed in plain sight on two separate columns of shelves. Stores rarely if ever place the same product in two different areas, especially if they're small stores that have limited shelf space, like the butcher's shop did. Edit
- Goof: Once again, as in The Widow's Son in the Windshield, the mistake of calling a berimbau a flute (it's actually a single-stringed musical bow) is made. This time the mistake is made by Brennan though, which is surprising since she knows so much about foreign cultures. Edit
Notes
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- Christina Cox, who plays a dominatrix (Annie Oakley) in this episode, also played a dominatrix in the season one House episode "Love Hurts." Edit
- Michael Cudlitz (Lucky) starred in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode called The Zeppo, the series in which David Boreanaz got his big break. Edit
- International Air Dates: Denmark: November 20th, 2007 on TV3 United Kingdom: November 22nd, 2007 on Sky1 The Netherlands: November 28th, 2007 on RTL 4 Spain: January 17th, 2008 on La Sexta New Zealand: April 14th, 2008 on TV3 Australia: July 31st, 2008 on Network 7 Belgium: September 15th, 2008 on 2BE Germany: September 25th, 2008 on RTL Finland: December 19th, 2008 on Sub Slovakia: May 6th, 2009 on JOJ Czech Republic: September 23rd, 2009 on Prima Edit
Quotes
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- Lucky: The Ambassadora is a place where people come to indulge in pony play fantasy twenty-four hours a day without fear of judgment. Mr. Ed is a pony. Booth: (looking at Brennan) Is this some kind of a sex thing? Brennan: How'd you get there so quickly? Booth: The man said "fantasy," I just took a leap. Edit
- Cam: Read the Stanford University study. It's not a party trick. Angela: You read that? Cam: And I've been hypnotized. Angela: Why? Cam: I was in Vegas. I got called up on stage and apparently I clucked like a chicken in front of three thousand people, but I have absolutely no memory of it. Angela: Was this little episode in the Stanford study? Cam: No, but it should have been. For the next three days every time someone said "coffee" I'd cluck. Awkward... Angela: Okay, why am I not feeling better about this? Edit
- Cam: Guys, contents of the victim's stomach are corn, raw oats, and dried molasses... Booth: Horse food? Cam: FYI, there's such a thing as too much fiber. Edit
Allusions
ADD ALLUSIONS
- Booth: Might wanna take a look in the mirror there my friend Flicka. This is an allusion to the book by Mary O'Hara entitled My Friend Flicka about a boy and his horse, which was later turned into a TV series (that ran from 1956 to 1958). The book was also turned into a movie, originally in 1943 and then again in 2006. This allusion goes along with the TV series theme of Mister Ed. Edit
- Cam: As in, a horse is a horse, of course of course... This is an allusion to the theme song from the 1960's television show Mister Ed, which starred a talking horse named Mister Ed. This allusion is one of the many such allusions in this episode. Edit
- Booth: Coats, manes and tails oh my. This is an allusion to a line from The Wizard of Oz: "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" Edit