The Bone That Blew

Season 4, Episode 11, Aired
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Episode Summary

Brennan's father Max lands a teaching position at the Jeffersonian. When he ends up helping out with the murder case at hand, Brennan is noticeably bothered by his sudden presence in her professional life.
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Fan Episode Reviews (12)

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  • A decent episode but the Max storyline is becoming ridiculous, have the characters developed amnesia about the murderer in their midst?

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By whiteraven2005, Jun 24, 2011 Report Abuse
    In season 3, I loved the Max episodes right up until Brennan got her father off on murder charges with lies. She blatantly disregarded justice to free her father and she's been ignoring the rules for him ever since and this is just another disgraceful example. The writers originally took the hard line and I respected them for that, it was very bold and created a powerful conflict within Brennan as she tried to reconcile the father with the criminal. It easily created some of the best episodes of season 3. Brennan's conflict was genuine because her father really was that bad, cold-bloodedly killing people, violent and unrepentant. Now the writers have backed off, trying to make this violent criminal appear like some sweet, innocent science teacher, asking the audience to ignore everything the man has done for the last twenty years. And let's not forget the nauseating displays of fatherhood. If Sweets comments on Brennan's abandonment issues one more time, I'm going to throw up.

    Did Cam get hit on the head? Hiring bank robber and double murderer Max Keenan to work in a crime lab?! The other familiar face is Wendell, good to see he's still around. I like that we're seeing the recurring secondary characters, makes it seem more realistic when you recognize people in the background.

    It's been commented before by Hodgins that Cam has made the lab more efficient she sends out summaries of the case to everyone so that everyone has the same information. It's simple but brilliant, keeps everybody updated without having to bother with time consuming meetings.

    What a pleasure to see Gina Torres again, she pops up in the most unusual places. As always, she doesn't change, still gorgeous.

    The murderer, this murderous little 11 year old brat just sits there, irritated and bored, acting like the man she murdered was an insect she swatted. As if she thinks her parents can buy her way out of murder the same way she bought her way out of homework. I've seen other series do this type of scenario before and what this episode is truly lacking is showing the child realize the consequences they talk to her so vaguely about. Had they done that, I would have given this episode a higher rating.

    For all Booth's concern for his son, he completely ignores the fact his son is spending time with a murderer and violent criminal. As for Brennan, every time she bends the rules for Max, I lose a bit more respect for her. How can she apply one set of rules to her work and completely twist those same rules when it comes to her father? Sweets should really put her in hardcore therapy because he's really missing her fundamental father issues and it's affecting her work. I'm really not impressed with this storyline.moreless

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    1 6

  • Booth and Bones investigate the murder of a nanny who had sex with a wealthy soccer mom and participated in insider trading, but got killed for making a kid do her own homework. Meanwhile, Max works at the Jeffersonian and Booth contemplates fatherhood.moreless

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By av478, Mar 01, 2011 Report Abuse
    I think this marked some of the best writing of the series. The case fit the episode thematically, and lead seamlessly to an ending which was both fitting and incredibly touching. In fact, I think the ending, with Booth convincing Bones to let her Dad work at the Jeffersonian and "enrich" Parker's school experience, made the episode. It was great.

    The best part about it, for me, is that Booth and Bones are already creating a "family" in a sense. I mean, can't you just see Parker coming to view Max as a grandfather figure, with Booth and Bones being, of course, the parents? ... All right, all right, maybe not anytime SOON, but the dynamic is definitely being set up here. And the looks they exchanged at the end... All together now: Awww! Only downside to the episode: I hate it when TV shows have kids as their murderers. It is sad but also overdone. I mean, a kid was the killer last episode, too, and he was treated in such a horribly flip manner. I personally find that inappropriate. The writers should look for something more original and less disturbing next time.

    Bottom-line, though, is it was well-written, I'm loving the possibilities created in it, and I can't wait for the next episode!moreless

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    3 0

  • I'm going to give this episode ten thumbs up

    10
    "Perfect"
    By dark-phantom81, Mar 01, 2011 Report Abuse
    Personally I like the idea of Max working with them, possibly in a semi-permanent capacity. He would provide interesting insights upon the cases from a criminal perspective and I think he'd be a valuable asset. However I don't think that Bones would agree with that assessment) and Booth is having issues because he's worried that he's not giving his kid {Parker , i think} all the advantages that he deserves after he visits a ridiculously advanced private school in the course of his investigation. Bones thinks as long as a child is looked after (be it by a nanny or whatever) it doesn't matter whether they have a loving environment or not. Booth thinks that the loving environment is all that matters. They're the original odd couple! In the end it turns out that the posh kid killed her male nanny because he was trying to do the right thing for you. One disturbed kid or one kid that didn't get the loving environment that she so desperately needed? Either way that male nanny ends up just as dead.

    The best bits were Booth talking to that woman about migrating boobies (god I'm so childish), Bones and Sweet bickering childishly over her motivation for wanting her father fired and Bones and Max stumbling around trying to determine whether or not Max wants to move in with her.

    overall this was a great episodemoreless

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    3 1

  • Max gets a job, at the lab!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By vicky24c, May 23, 2010 Report Abuse
    In this episode of Bones, the following happens. We open with Bones learning that her father, Max has been hired for a teaching position at the Jeffersonian. When body parts are discovered in a woods Booth and Bones are called in to investigate. They soon get an ID on the victim and we soon learn that he was a Nanny for a very well to do family. When he ends up helping out with the murder case at hand, Brennan is noticeably bothered by his sudden presence in her professional life. Soon Bones fires her father, for helping out. Max then bumps into Booth and asks him if he and Bones are sleeping together. When Booth tells him no, he looks shocked and asks him if he is gay.
    And so Booth says that he will try to sort out the mess between him and Bones. Soon they find out where the body was burnt and also locate the missing body pieces. Soon all of the evidence points to the mother he worked for, and although she confesses, Sweets doesn't believe that she committed the murder. She is covering for someone. And soon, the evidence soon takes them in a different direction and her daughter, is brought in for questioning. We soon learn that she cheated on her school project and that she shots him to prevent him from telling anyone. She shot him and then her mother took the body out o the woods and burnt it. As the episode ends, we see Max with parker doing an experiment in the lab, whilst Booth and Bones watch on. Booth asks her, as a personal favour, to let Max keep his job at the lab.moreless

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    0 0

  • I really liked this episode. The mystery that was written into the plot was outstanding

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By benner82, Apr 11, 2010 Report Abuse
    I really liked this episode. The mystery that was written into the plot was outstanding. It had so many twists and turns and the attention to detail was amazing. I may go as far to say the murder plot was one of the best in the series. It ended up in a place that I never say coming. I thought I figured out "who done it" three times before the end. Ryan O'Neal returns, in this episode, as Max Keenan, Dr. Brennan's father. I thought this episode was his best performance, so far, on the series. He had to show a much larger range of emotion and he did it very well. Also guest staring in this episode was Gina Torres. She and David Boreanaz had previously worked together on Angel and I love seeing them get a fair amount of screen time together again.

    Another thing that made this such a great episode was the genuine humor written into the dialogue. The humor has been much better this season that it has over the rest of the series. In my opinion, before this season, the humor didn't work all that well because the writers were trying to hard and the cast didn't have the on screen chemistry that they have now. But this season has really stepped it up in the comedy department, making this show much more enjoyable.moreless

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    5 1
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • When Booth pulls out the money from the drawer, the last bill we see in his right hand (the one most visible to us) is a french 20 Francs bill that has been out of circulation since the end of the 1980's. The character depicted on the bill is Claude Debussy, a famous musician and composer. Edit
    • Goof: When Angela describes which vector the bones traveled, she gives the wrong direction which they would fly. If the nor'easter had blown the bones, they would have come from the opposite direction since the wind blows from the northeast to the southwest. Edit
    • Goof: While Bones and Booth were in the wooded area recovering some bones, an officer who was present said that they were in the migration path of the masked booby and needed to leave the area. Masked boobies do not live or migrate anywhere in the United States though, so the officer's statement is not true. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • Ryan O'Neal (Max Keenan) and Gina Torres (Dr. Toni Ezralow) were credited as "Special Guest Stars." Edit
    • At the end of the episode, when it was announced that new episodes would be coming in January, some of the "preview" scenes shown were from already-aired episodes rather than from the upcoming episodes. Edit
    • David Boreanaz and Gina Torres also worked together during the Jasmine arc of season four of Angel. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Sweets: Can I ask you what's really going on between you? Max: Tempe doesn't want me working at the Jeffersonian. Sweets: Why? Brennan: It's a conflict of interest. We catch criminals, my dad is a criminal. Sweets: That would be valid ... Brennan: Thank you. Sweets: If it were your real reason, but it's not. Edit
    • Booth: You don't think that I'm a lousy dad for not sending my son to private school? Sweets: No. But you'd be a lousy father if you didn't torture yourself about it. Edit
    • Wendell Bray: (running up with a bone in his hands) Dead guy's hyoid. Bones: Guy as in sexually non-specific urban colloquialism, or in reference to the gender normally associated with a penis, Mr. Bray? Wendell Bray: Uh ... penis? Edit

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