The Skull in the Desert

The Skull in the Desert
Season 1
Episode 17
Air date	March 29, 2006
Production code	1AKY17
Written by	Jeff Rake
Directed by	Donna Deitch
Previous	The Woman in the Tunnel
Next	The Man with the Bone

The Skull in the Desert is the seventeenth episode of the first season of Bones.

Summary

While on vacation, Angela's boyfriend goes missing. When a skull shows up, she asks Brennan for help in identification, concerned it might be her boyfriend or the female guide who went missing with him. The investigation leads the team to a violent boyfriend, the local sheriff and ultimately to a counterfeiting ring setup in the desert.

Cast

Main Cast

• Temperance Brennan - Emily Deschanel
• Seeley Booth - David Boreanaz
• Jack Hodgins - T.J Thyne
• Angela Montenegro - Michaela Conlin
• Zack Addy - Eric Millegan
• Daniel Goodman - Jonathan Adams

Guest Cast

• Ben Dawes - James Parks
• Alex Joseph - Kalani Queypo
• Wayne Kellogg - Clayton Rohner
• Larry Stansfield - Brent Briscoe
• Professor Inez - Mercedes Colon
• Dani Weber - Destiny Monique
• Kirk Persinger - Kevin Paul

Featured Music

• "Rain" - Patty Griffin
• "Too Easy" - OneRepublic

Notes

• When Booth Angela and Bones are left in the desert by the sheriff, Booth states they are at least 5 days from the highway. Then right after when they find the jeep at approximately 30:40 you can see a car drive down the highway in the background.
• In the episode, Angela says she is with this boyfriend only three weeks a year. Though in earlier episodes Angela dated online and brought a guy to the Jeffersonian Institute (A Man on Death Row). Although, that wouldn't matter if she and Kirk had agreed to keeping their relationship open when apart.
• There are Yucca brevifolia, Joshua Trees, near the end of the episode that are only found in the Mojave desert, the Navajo Nation lies on the Colorado Plateau.
• Mexico is not 3 days walking away from the Navajo nation.
• In the scene, where Bones and Booth are driving through the desert, there "spawns" a mountain in the background.

Quotes

• Bones: Only Angela could get a ride in the middle of nowhere.

• Bones: You alright?

Angela: (after a vision) Dani went that way.

Bones: (confused) Okay.

I don't know what that means

Angela: I'm afraid that I won't have the chance that I had with Kirk ever again.
Bones: You will.
Angela: How can you be so sure?
Bones: Because nothing in this universe happens just once, Angela. Nothing. Infinity goes in both directions. There's no unique event, no singular moment.
Angela: I don't know what that means.

Anthropological/Cultural References

• Navajo
• Mongolians
• Bedouins of the Sahara
• Himba of Kunene

Gallery