Bones: The Con Man in the Meth Lab (Episode 207)

Partners We're deviating a little from formula this week with the opening, and I like it. Our case this week is this: state troopers in training are given a practical lesson on why we do not shoot tear gas into meth labs: they tend to explode. However, in giving said practical lesson, a body is propelled from the meth lab and discovered to be a murder victim. The remains are originally identified as Jim Stegman, father of inventor Paul Stegman. When Paul was a tot, Jim drove himself and Paul into a tree, breaking both his legs and effectively severing his relationship with his son. A week ago, Jim shows up on Paul's doorstep, claiming to have sobered up and given up his gambling habit. Paul, now a father himself, took his dad in. And that's when things got interesting.

Because the body in the meth lab is not actually that of Jim Stegman, but his partner in con Anthony Pongetti. Turns out that Jim and Anthony were on a big con together and both were about to go away for it when  Anthony gave up their third partner, Steve. It also turns out that, a week ago when Jim was supposed to have turned up on Paul's doorstep, the real Jim had been shot several times at close range, as though being tortured for information, and then dumped in a nearby river. The person Paul thought was his dad was actually Anthony Pongetti, working a con. Anthony and Jim had pulled a sting on the local sherriff's station: nearly $200K was taken in a drug bust and processed as evidence. Jim and Anthony pretended to be the drivers responsible for taking it to the Treasury and made off with it. Anthony sent the money to Jim at Paul's, but when Jim went missing, anthony showed up at Paul's for his cash. Paul's wife Lily had already opened the package, however, and stashed the money: $150K in her personal security box, another $20K at least in an invention of Paul's. And the only person who wouldn't have blinked an eye at seeing an ex-con (processed in his home town station) driving a van full of cash, or knowing that the cash would end up with the junior Stegmans, is the local sherriff. Booth figures it out, thanks to some doubtful logic Brennan brings to light, and heads straight for the Stegmans, where the Sherriff is trying to figure out what happened to his money. It turns into a standoff, the Bs staring down the barrels of some huge ass guns while the sherriff holds Lily Stegman hostage. He takes advantage of a good old fasioned B-type squabble over whether or not Booth should shoot, or Brennan, and if she's a good shot or if she's not; it doesn't matter, because the sherriff gets a round off before anyone else and wings Brennan on the arm. He uses the distraction to peel away in his car, but Booth follows him down with his very large shotgun and puts him quickly out of commission.

And that's just the murder!

Of quick note: Clark Edison is back, irritable, but resigned to the fact that he is the only person with a modicum sense as to appropriate professional behavior. He fights the family atmosphere, but how successful he'll be isn't quite clear yet.

Most interesting, however, is the appearance of Booth's little brother Jared (Brendan Fehr). He's a Navy man with a new job at the Pentagon and his sights set on Brennan. She falls for his shtick when he tells her that his big brother Seeley is afraid of success. He likes to keep his head down, while Jared likes to take risks, like putting the moves on the sexy scientist lady. Angela and Cam warn Brennan not to sleep with Jared, because he's Booth's little brother, and it's sort of creepy. Like a way of sleeping with a Booth who is not the real Booth, but Booth-lite. Brennan is not entirely convinced they have it the right way around.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Booth is riding the high of a hugely successful RICO case. He's been working with some State Troopers, who he assures will be kept in the loop. When a state colonel comes to him and asks him to keep the whole "we blew up a meth lab in front of our cadets" thing under wraps, Booth tells him to tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may. This backfires on him when Jared, prize that he is, gets pulled over for a DUI and this same colonel shows up at the scene. Booth trades his credit on the RICO case to get his brother off without a scratch.When the RICO case breaks, the State Troopers get all the credit, not only depriving Booth of recognition, but also raining crap on his big plans for his birthday and subsequent celebratory trip to Hawaii. 

Brennan, having seen the coverage of the RICO case and fresh under Jared's unlikely thrall,  asks Booth what he did to lose himself the glory and the fat pay day and his face on a coin. She tells him what Jared said about how he fears success. Stung and angry, Booth asks Brennan if she thinks he's a loser, but she doesn't get the chance to honestly answer his question.

Sweets meets the younger Booth in passing, and Jared tells him that Booth's a typical big brother: like another dad who protects you from your real dad, never treats you like anything but a kid, and is always right. Sweets figures out that the Booth boys come from an abusive, alcohol home. He and Cam, who has figured out from the press coverage of the RICO case that something's gone awry for Booth not to get his proper credit, stage an intervention with Brennan. They tell her about the Booth family background, adding that because Booth is always protecting Jared, he's not allowing his brother to learn to clean up his own messes. Brennan doesn't believe them, since they don't have any real, solid evidence, when they tell her the real reason Booth lost the RICO credit, so she goes straight to Jared and asks him what happens. He dismisses it, telling her that it's something between brothers. When he won't give her a straight answer, she realizes that she's been snowed, and she gets as angry as we've ever seen her when she tells Jared that he made her believe that her Booth was a loser, when in fact HE is the loser. She shoves him off a barstool and takes off.

By way of apology after closing their case, Brennan gives a lovely speech for Booth at his birthday party. She says, "I know who he is, but I forget sometimes because he never shines a light on himself; he shines it on other people." Though anthropology has always maintained that the alpha male is the one who stands out, Brennan's come to realize that's not right. She thinks it's "the quiet man, the invisible man, the man who is always there for friends and family, that's the real alpha male." There is no kissing, but it's still very sweet. She takes him aside and tells him that if he's really doing what Sweets says he is, he's not helping Jared learn to take care of himself. When Booth tells her--and this is important, that he tells her straight out, a confession no one else on the team gets to hear--that Jared had a DUI, Brennan tells him that it's dangerous to step in and clean that up, since Jared could have hurt someone, and the next time, he might kill someone. Booth reminds her that she got her own murdering father released, but he realizes the difference is that Max is not going to kill again, but he can't say that Jared won't make that kind of huge mistake. He pulls his brother aside and unsuccessfully tells him to stop drinking. Jared doesn't take him seriously, but Booth tells him quietly that he won't step in to help him again. It's great work on Boreanaz's part. When Jared slugs back the rest of his drink and ambles inside, Booth punches a wall and sits himself on a park bench to brood. Brennan finds him, a plate of cake in her hand, asking if he'll come back. He says he needs some time. She asks if space is also necessary, but it's not, so he makes room for her on the bench. They share the cake--one plate, two forks--in a sympathetic silence, and Booth quietly admits to Brennan that his dad drinks.

And if you didn't walk away from this episode wanting to throw your arms around that Seeley Booth, you have a cold, black heart, because he's a good man in that huge dangerous body, and David Boreanaz is equally wonderful playing him.