Boy in the Time Capsule

Directed by Chad Lowe, a friend of DB's.

A school opens a 1987 time capsule and finds a body inside. When they go to investigate on the school grounds, Booth remembers being MVP in his senior year. Unimpressed, Bones remarks that a trophy is a way to remember power and agility that has faded away.

Booth wants to take the whole capsule back to the Jeffersonian. That's a recurring thing now. He saw Cam and Bones order something massive taken back to the lab, saying, "oh we have room in the basement," and now he just wants to speed things up and get everything back there as soon as possible, no matter what case they're on. This time he's told that the presence of water in the capsule will contaminate the evidence, so it's not good to move it yet. Bones drains the water out first.

At the lab Zach remembers his own life 20 years ago and said he had a Michael Jackson glove. Bones tells everyone that Booth was a football player 20 years ago. "One of those guys," Angela concludes. Popular. Cam said she got grounded every week. So many rules to break, so little time. So, I guess she was popular too. That line between the squints and the not-squints again.

Cam is telling them to call the victim by his name (so stupid, next week she herself will be calling the corpse anything but; she just disagrees with and scolds them for the heck of it). Hodgins says that when you can ladle a person, it's hard to remember them as "Roger."

Roger's father used to abuse him. He was a drinker and the father, who is reformed now, just thought that Roger ran away and didn't report his son as missing.

In the car, Booth asks Bones what kind of teenager she was. She said she was busy studying and in all those hours of studying, "you never came across one hormone?" She says she liked one boy. The varsity Lacrosse captain. He was her Secret Santa and taped the gift to her locker. Everyone saw it. It was a Brainy Smurf doll. [Hmmm. What was the price minimum in their Secret Santa club and who organized the club anyway. Bones must have been part of a group to even be doing the Secret Santa exchange at all and if she was in a group, how is it that she got into the same one as the LaCrosse hunk?] Booth remembers (from that horrid Christmas show) that Bones hated Secret Santa and this guy from her teenaged years is why. What was the gift the guy gave her? Bones doesn't want to say. Booth says he can be trusted because he's her partner and promised not to laugh, but can't help it. He chuckles, even while denying that he's laughing. Bones said, "It was deliberate. He knew I wanted Smurfette."

Bones says, "Angela was right. You were one of those guys." One of what guys, Booth wants to know.

Roger's best friend, Gil, said he left a note with his mother (now deceased) saying that he was leaving because he couldn't be around his father or the kids at school who picked on him. Gil says that those kids picked on him too. When Booth first saw him, he told Bones he was another squint, just like the ones she had at home. Zach talked about being bullied in school. Now, this guy confirms the nerd's lot and, perhaps, will make Booth rethink his mocking. [although the friend's scenes are touching, I'm inclined to think he might be the killer].

They go to Sweets for therapy and Booth tries to get him to profile the killer. He says that Bones won't mind using part of their hour for the crime. Bones looks annoyed that he's speaking for her like that. Sweets asks her about any conflicts, since their last session. Booth says that they are doing fine, but Sweets said she looks angry. She says she told Booth a private story and he laughed. [Oh, please. He put her on a witness stand and told the prosecutor that her parents disappeared so she could be stripped bare emotional and vulnerable, in front of a courtroom and she got over that. But now she's mad because he laughed over Brainy Smurf? If that truly upset her, she needs some private therapy. It's not even amusing as comedy. It's just ridiculous.]

Booth said he was just "appreciating" her story and tells her not to get Sweets involved. I agree. If they can't work out something minor like that themselves, then they don't need to be partners.

Sweets said that childhood icons are very sensitive and he himself was very attached to Vultron. Booth gives him a dead stare and even Bones seems to think that's silly.

Sweets says that they need to even the score and Booth should reveal a vulnerability about himself. Open up to her, the way she did to him. Booth tells her to go play Vultron with Sweets. Sweets says that Booth was "that guy." The Golden Boy, wasn't he? [Booth gathered episodes ago that Sweets probably resented him because he was a jock and Sweets was nerdy].

"You thought you could get away with anything by turning on the charm." [Well, he's not that charming. I mean, he is. He's adorable sometimes, but not particularly when he's trying to be. And he doesn't even try to be that often. Secondly, he's not good looking. I don't know why people pretend that he is. He's Frankenstein-y. Even when he's slim he's not tone. His skin is not smooth and he seems to avoid fully shaving because of it, so there are always uneven patches of hair hanging around. His appeal is unquestionable, but it's not exactly physical.] Booth says Sweets doesn't know who he is.

Sweets says Booth's afraid to expose himself and he shouldn't be ashamed to ask for help. Bones affirms that he shouldn't . Booth says ok. He does need help: with this case. So, while Sweets profiles, Booth promises to reveal himself to Booth. "I know that sounds weird, but you know what I mean." Again, these jokes touch too much on DB's personal problems. They all must have a grand sense of humor on that set.

Bones insists that he reveal a humiliating episode from his youth.

Sweets tells them to role play with the rest of their time. She puts on a Sherlock Holmes hat and he seems to put on a cowboy hat. "Now, I know why I'm not allowed to bring my gun in here," he says.

Turns out Roger was a game developer. May have been killed for his ideas.

In the coffee room, Bones tells Booth that a lost base ball game is not revealing a vulnerability to her. Booth says it was a football game. So, he tells her something more personal, like he was in the bleachers with a girl. She asks, "Did you fail to perform sexually?"

"What?" He sputters, as if such a thing would be impossible [it reminds me of Angel objecting when people would call him a eunuch].

Bones says because that could be humiliating, but that's not the kind of thing that Booth wants to divulge. He said he got naked. Had on only his socks and St. Christopher medal and his date runs off. Well, him standing their exposed with no clothes is more humilating than her Smurf story, but naturally she won't see it that way.

He says the girl did that because she'd heard that he'd been with other girls. Bones says, "This is a story of sexual prowess. You're bragging." Well, not really. She didn't give him time to explain the embarassment he might have felt being naked in front of others who were not intended lovers.

Bones points out that he's laughing, "You enjoyed displaying your penis . . ." (DB again). Well, any idiot would have been laughing at her Smurf story too, 20 years later. You laugh at even the most hurtful experiences, given enough time and hers shouldn't have been that hurtful. It's not tantamount to Carrie getting pig's blood thrown on her.

Bones says that only her mother knew about Brainy Smurf. He says it was cold under the bleachers and he experienced shrinkage.

Roger's friend, Gil, says they were going to go into the gaming business together. Booth says Roger might have had another partner and the friend insists that Roger would never sell him out. They were best friends and partners. Well, he thought Roger was just "gone" for 20 years. If Roger would run away and leave the friend for decades, clearly he might do something with his gaming ideas without the friend too. If Roger was so loyal, then Gil's claim that he thought Roger left town voluntarily after graduation and was never in contact again doesn't make sense.

They interview a rich guy, Adamson, a Senate campaign manager who got into Harvard by paying Roger to take the SATs for him.

Sweets reads Booth's report on Adamson and says to Bone's that it's more revealing of Booth than the suspect. Sweets won't tell Bones why. He says he saw Adamson on tv and he's too sensitive about his image to be a killer. I don't think he's a good shrink if he makes those assessments based on someone's tv persona.

Hodgins comes in and is not impressed by Sweets who is psyched about working "in the field." Hodgins tells him he's in a secure lab, but to Sweets this is exciting. [I thought he was reluctant when Booth asked him for profiling info, but I guess not.] Bones seems put off by Sweets' exuberance too.

Jack says that the liquid in the time capsule came from a swamp. Roger probably waded through the swamp to get to a hot girl, Janelle Brown, that he was tutoring. He tells Bones he knows this because he was a boy himself. Bones wants to know if boys change after high school. He says, "only on the outside." This bothers Bones.

As they go to interview Janelle, Booth has another humiliation to offer Bones. He wanted to ask a girl to go out with him on the loud speaker, so he bribed a "suck up," one of the guys that would do anything to please the teacher -- of course, this language won't endear Bones, who probably was a teacher's pet herself. As he tries to appease her, Booth just digs himself a bigger hole.

Booth says he got laughed at for weeks for using the loud speaker. But, Bones wants to know, did she go with you to the prom? "Sure."

"This is merely another story of victory and sexual conquest."

He says being laughed at has got to count for something. Bones said he has no idea what public humiliation is.

Twenty years later, Janelle looks at an old picture of herself and says she wishes she was that girl again. She looks to Brennan and says, "You know what I mean." Bones doesn't like being included in that sentence.

Janelle said math wasn't her thing, so she needed a lot of help. Stereotype. Is she going to assume that Brennan shared this need too? Roger loved "The Cure" and Booth has to tell Bones that was a band.

As Janelle's son comes in, Bones seems to notice what I do, that the son is a nerd. His father isn't. So, maybe Roger was his real father, but the boy does not appear to be almost 20 years old, not old enough to have been conceived in 1987, not the coddling way the mother treats him. Bones steals a picture from the cheerleader's house.

In the lab, Angela uses the picture to compare facial features and is able to confirm that Roger was the boy's dad. They think that Janelle's husband found out they had sex and killed the kid.

Confronted, Janelle said that Roger was nuts about her and made her feel special and back then her husband, Terry, was "that guy." Bones gives a knowing look to Booth, who really doesn't act like "that guy" and isn't all into himself. Janelle's husband did what he wanted and didn't need her. But then when she told Terry she was pregnant he was happy and she realized he wasn't that guy after all and that he really loved her. Of course, Booth wanted to marry the mother of his son too.

Bones gives Janelle back the picture and Booth said, "you stole that." She did, but I wouldn't say that in front of the people she stole it from.

Sweets is telling them his profile of the killer and explaining that teens are dominated by their id because their frontal lobe isn't fully developed. Booth says that Sweets is only 22 himself. "How's your frontal lobe? Almost there?"

Sweets says, "Again. The hectoring tone."

Bones thinks that Sweets profile is comprised of just guessing, but Sweets objects it's solid deductive work by someone who is very intelligent. Bones just looks at him.

Sweets says the killer has been punishing himself all these years, working below his potential [it's Gil, just like I thought] and has probably confessed, but was Booth listening? Bones says that "Agent Booth is an incredibly good listener." [I appreciate her taking up for him and does she really think that "that guy" is a good listener. Typically, he'd be too into himself to listen to others]

Booth says he is a good listener. He says that's his strength.

They link asphalt in the capsule to Gil. Booth and Bones bring him in. They work together to mock and taunt Gil about his last meeting with Roger (and how angry he must have been that Roger wanted to take their software money and give it to Janelle) and provoke him into confessing. Roger told him he loved Janelle and Gil said she would never look at someone like him, not knowing that Janelle was pregnant with Roger's child and had already "looked" at him.

Roger hit him, so he jabbed Roger with a shovel. The death was an accident.
Gil cries and says that he loved Roger.

Case solved, at the diner, Booth tells Bones another story about a weird kid at school, who always talked out of Thesaurus. He called Booth and his friends Philistines. Bones said a Philistine is a smug, dolt who scoffs at higher intelligence. Booth says back then he didn't know what that meant and he looked it up. He said to his detractor, "I'm not Philistine. I'm Catholic." Bones laughs. [actually this is nice coming after the episode where he had her interrogate the doctor because the doctor thought Booth was stupid; he didn't seem to have a complex about it then, but it does have to get under his skin always being around the squints and having things explained to him].

Bones said that's pretty close to humiliation, but Booth says that is not the humiliating part. A friend of Booth's picked the boy up and dangled him over a stairway and made him cry. "How is this about you," Bones wants to know. Booth says, "I laughed."

"I don't understand."

"I could have stopped it. I could have stepped in and helped . . ." It could be very nice that he finds this humiliating, which puts her humilation to shame and it explains why he chose his profession as well.

"I chose my side and it was the wrong side," he says.

"So, you were humiliated because you didn't act like a hero?" She says with a smirk. But she's being the smug Philistine now. He was humiliated -- and hopefully he was then, too, not just now in retrospect -- because he betrayed his own sense of right and wrong to be popular and accepted by people who weren't worthy of it. If guilt made him feel humiliated back in high school, when we usually don't care how much we've hurt others, then that's not a small thing. As for the guys he hung out with, he should have increased their conscientiousness or separated from them, not stooped to their level and made himself less, to be equal to them. Of course, Booth doesn't say all of this in response to Bones. So, maybe it really wasn't that deep of a memory for him. He just tells Booth, 'Fine. I'm perfect. Nothing humiliating happened to me.'

No, she tells him it's a good story. A bad story, she corrects, but she gets its humiliating aspects. And she says it's good that he's evolved.

He has a smurf, which he now hands to her. It's the brainy smurf. She wanted smurfette. He says that Smurfette was the stupid, shallow smurf who only had her looks. "You're better than Smurfette. You have your looks and a whole lot more." So, he turns the 20 year old humiliation into a compliment.

She says that he just brought that smurf to charm her, in case she didn't like his humiliation story. But she accepted his story and forgives him for snorting over her story.

He says evolution is a long process. It takes 100s of years. She says 1000s.

"Why do you have to always correct me?" She says to help him evolve. And of course they are all up close and personal as if they're going to kiss and I guess that really titillates their shippy fans, but really it's much sexier if they bond without the physical tease. The nose to nose stuff seems so contrived. It would be too much even if they WERE a couple, so it's certainly not moving or believable, when they aren't a couple, for them to get that close to one another. Plus, less is more and we get this unnatural intimacy all of the time. If it was stimulating once, the appeal is bound to wear off the 200th time.