The Lady on the List is the fifth episode of ninth season of Bones.
Synopsis[]
The Jeffersonian team investigates the murder of Charlie McCord, a high school principal who, upon learning he had terminal cancer, created a website where people could go and pay for his inspirational videos. When the team finds a suspicious video of Charlie punching former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell in the face, it leads the team to Charlie's bucket list, which ultimately helps them get closer to solving the case. Meanwhile, Brennan and Booth finally start to plan their wedding and Sweets could be replaced by a virtual profiling system.
Synopsis[]
The episode opens with Bones and Booth slowly rappelling down a cliff to find remains, which are hanging by a rope. Apparently, a hawk also fed on the remains of the rock climber, who Bones identifies as a Caucasian male in his 50's.
Brennan chooses this romantic moment to ask Booth when they can tell their friends about the wedding. Booth wants to wait and tell everyone once all the details are locked down. He also wants to make sure that pigs in a blanket are served. The hawk returns eating the victim's finger, so Brennan decides that it needs to come back to the lab.
Sweets is back and profiling his heart out about rock climbers. Booth asks him to keep an open mind, which sends him into wedding planning mode. Booth instead wants to introduce Sweets to VAL, and Sweets thinks he is being set up on a date.
It turns out that VAL is an adumbrative, and the FBI and Bones crew have to enter all the information from a case into VAL, which is an artificial profiling system. Sweets is not amused, and he has to pretend that he doesn't know about VAL.
Dr. Wells, who is an intern, informs Brennan that the x-rays indicate someone who has not been rock climbing before. The victim was actually bludgeoned before going over the side of the cliff, so it is clearly not an accident.
Dr. Wells tells Brennan to "keep her shirt on." Cam is exasperated with the intern and his charming personality, and tells him to give his superiors the respect that they are due.
Cam discovers that the victim, Charlie McCord, had terminal liver cancer. They find a video where McCord discusses how his diagnosis has changed his views on fear and living life to the fullest. Booth finds the words deep and meaningful, and Brennan does not. McCord sells his videos on a website.
The victim's wife is surprised that her husband was found dangling from a cliff because he was afraid of heights. She also says that even though Charlie was in pain, he only used homeopathic medications.
On McCord's cell phone, Angela discovers a video of the victim walking up to UFC fighter Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell and punching him in the face. So who was filming the video, and did Liddell want revenge?
Booth meets with Liddell, who tells him that Charlie called him after the incident and told him that punching "The Ice Man" was on his bucket list. This revelation causes the gang to reflect on their own bucket lists. Angela decides to help the friendless Dr. Wells by making a bucket list, which basically explains to him how not to be a jerk.
When Sweets joins Brennan for lunch, Booth arrives just in time for her to tell Sweets that the computer program is superior to him because it is not subjective. VAL claims that McCord is a person who is hiding his anger and hostility. Sweets disagrees, and tells his companions that McCord's bucket list is the result of wanting to realize his potential before his death.
Brennan states that her bucket list is to win the Nobel Prize, but she feels that this is an eventuality. Booth's bucket list consists of buying a drink for the guy who did the free-fall from space. Brennan and Sweets are disappointed.
Brennan meets with Angela and tells her that she and Booth have decided that they will plan their own wedding. Angela admits that she should have trusted Booth, and tells Brennan that she was hoping to help Brennan pick her wedding dress. Bones then asks Angela to be her matron of honor. Brennan also shows Angela a picture from a bridal magazine of the dress that she had always dreamed she would wear on her wedding day. Angela tells her that the dress is on her own bucket list.
The gang learns that McCord's wife was not listed as the emergency contact for his hospital stay, but someone named Martin Proctor is listed.
Martin Proctor tells Sweets and Booth that he met McCord as a student, and that Charlie got him a job at the school and coaching the baseball team. Proctor admits that he helped make and edit the videos, and they also worked on a charity together.
Proctor supplies a copy of McCord's bucket list, which was completed except for rock climbing and tracking down Lena Silver. Lena was a bookkeeper for the school, and when Charlie caught her cheating, he turned her in. Lena not only went to jail, but she lost custody of her kids as well. Sweets thinks this is a great motive for murder.
Hodgins works his scientific mojo and finds out that the victim's ear wax puts him in a tire recycling plant. Luckily, there is only one in the area. Guess who lives next door to it? Lena Silver.
We also find out that Hodgins' bucket list consists of going to the real Area 51, and being shot out of a cannon. Cam has simpler tastes, preferring a villa in Tuscany.
Brennan and Dr. Wells theorize about how the blows to the victim's skull appear to be from either one or three blows to the head.
Booth and Brennan knock on Lena Silver's door, and when she opens it brandishing a piece of pipe, Booth takes her into custody. Lena tells Sweets that she didn't blame McCord for turning her in. She also says that Charlie's videos have helped her start a new life. Sweets is skeptical, but the pipe is not a match for the murder weapon.
When VAL still thinks that Lena is the murderer, Booth unplugs VAL in support of Sweets. They look at Charlie's will and find out that he was splitting future income from his videos between his wife and Lena.
When the hawk becomes ill, the crew discover that Charlie suffered from arsenic poisoning. Brennan and Booth confront Charlie's wife about putting arsenic in his homeopathic medication. She claims to only have been trying to help her husband get well with the medicine.
When Hodgins finds traces of cupronickel on a piece of linen, Brennan figures out that McCord was struck on the head by a bag of quarters. Angela is able to prove that the movie ticket Proctor presented was bogus. Proctor is furious that he was not getting a cut of the profit from McCord's videos.
VAL is shown the door, much to Sweets' delight. Meanwhile, Dr. Wells bonds with VAL before the system is removed.
Booth and Brennan decide that their love is more important than a bucket list, and start to plan their wedding. Brennan takes this opportunity to let him know that he needs both a tux and some shiny shoes for their special day.
Cast[]
Main Cast:[]
- Temperance Brennan - Emily Deschanel
- Seeley Booth - David Boreanaz
- Jack Hodgins - T.J Thyne
- Angela Montenegro - Michaela Conlin
- Camille Saroyan - Tamara Taylor
- Lance Sweets - John Francis Daley
Intern of the Week[]
Guest Cast[]
- Linda McCord - Rebecca McFarland
- Martin Proctor - Patrick Heusinger
- Lena Silver - Kristen Ariza
- Charlie McCord - Steven Eckholdt
- Chuck 'The Iceman' Liddell - Himself
Featured Music[]
- "Promised Land" by The Milk Carton Kids.
Notes[]
Gallery[]
