Bones - The Killer In The Concrete

By: Merin
Date: Monday, May 07, 2007

Bones – Season 2, Episode 218 – The Killer in the Concrete

One Sentence Synopsis: While trying to track down the man responsible for burying another man in concrete Booth (David Boreanez) gets caught by a crime boss and only wanted fugitive Max Keenan (Ryan O'Neal) - Tempe's dad - can help rescue him!
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The Meat: Bones (Emily Deschanel) and Booth are called in to examine a skeleton found under layers of concrete. Not cement, as the cop calls it, for Bones points out that cement is merely an ingredient in concrete. This is something of a running gag through the show, people saying cement then being corrected, and it is mildly amusing but not as funny as it is trying to be.

While the gang is investigating the case, Angela (Michaela Conlin) drags Tempe to her mother's grave on the 1 year anniversary of her death. Tempe doesn't understand why she should be there, being extremely practical and science minded with no sense of the spiritual nor supernatural at all. Angela gives up, heads back to the car, and this is when Bones' dear old dad pops up. Tempe immediately calls the FBI on him, causing him to flee.

The examinations show the corpse had been stabbed and shot multiple times, but healed, and the cause of death seems to be an icepick or screwdriver to the back of the head.

Max is waiting for Tempe in her apartment and asks her to just look at his files to see what it is he was guilty of. Tempe doesn't see the point, but asks Booth for help with this. What he digs up shows that her dad only killed people who were basically scum, and Booth says that makes a difference. Bones doesn't agree.

They identify the murderer as a man who is supposedly dead, his leg having been severed during a car accident. While Cam and Bones examine the leg, Booth has coffee with the Bounty Hunter who witnessed the killer's death. As they identify that the leg is that of the “deceased” hit man but that it was sawed off by a tool, the Bounty Hunter flees while Booth is on the phone. It seems pretty clear to the Jeffersonian crew that the killer, whom Booth has dubbed “Icepick” (and the victim as “Cement Head” because it sounds cooler than “Concrete Head”), must still be alive.

Visiting Tempe again, Max tells his daughter that he hasn't committed a crime in 15 years – to which she responds that he killed the Director of the FBI. Max says he did that only to save Tempe and her brother. Before he leaves, Max sees what Bones is working on and gives her advice about how to find “Icepick.” Using that information (that Icepick likes model airplanes) Booth tracks the killer down only to get ambushed and wrapped up.

With the FBI freezing Bones out of the search, a desperate Brennan turns to her father for help. Some bonding does occur while the two work the case, aided as ever by the rest of the crew back at the Jeffersonian.

We get, overall, more of Temperance's relationship with her father. We also see the lengths that she will go to in order to save Booth (she lies to the FBI and aids her father's escape.) The case itself, about Concrete Head's murder, is almost tertiary to the story (Icepick isn't even one of the guys who almost kill Booth.) At times this makes the story uneven, the jumping around from the case to the familial relations, to Booth and Brennan's relationship . . . at least the writers were wise enough to not try and explore the other characters in this episode as well.
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Character Watch: Instead of a lengthy, unwieldy description I am breaking in a new ranking system: 1 barely in the episode, 2 in the background, 3 featured character.

Bones: 3
Booth: 3
Camille: 2
Angela: 2
Zack: 2
Hodgins: 2
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Favorite Line: “It's not like I actually gave him the keys.”

Favorite Moment: After “Icepick” has knocked out Booth, the FBI agent wakes up to find himself wrapped in a rug. Later on, after being left like that, Gallagher the crime boss and his lawyer find Booth and Gallagher asks what it's called when you wrap pancakes around sausages. Booth, while gagged, answers “Pigs in a blanket.”

Oddest Thing In Awhile: Bones and Booth singing the Poco song “Keep On Trying” in the diner – it was an uncomfortable moment that didn't really work for me.
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Overall Grade: C+
– Don't get me wrong, I liked the episode. Heck, I even like “Keep On Trying.” And I really like that Tempe is being forced to deal with who her father is and is starting to realize she needs to see him more than two-dimensionally. Most of the crew gets lines and face time, and even plot points other than just being another face in the crowd.

But several things do bother me about this one: First is the fact that the goons have Booth for what seems like a long time (over a day?) and fully intend to kill him but wait so long – I know Booth claims at the end that he was stalling them, but it feels awkward; Second, the focus on the Poco song at several points – I know it is a device, her liking the song at the end, to show that she is coming to accept her father in some ways, but it was a little heavy handed and stood out more than it should have; Third and lastly is how little this show looked at all at either what makes Tempe unique (the little bit at the grave was about it) nor what makes anyone else at the Jeffersonian unique – what I like about this show is the characters and their quirks.

Still recommend it if you are a fan of the series. If you aren't, however, this is not an episode to get your feet wet.