The Family in the Feud

The Family in the Feud
Season 7
Episode 11
Air date	April 30, 2012
Production code	7AKY11
Written by	Pat Charles Janet Lin
Directed by	Dwight Little
Previous	The Warrior in the Wuss
Next	The Suit on the Set

The Family in the Feud is the eleventh episode of the seventh season of Bones.

Synopsis

When a corpse is found in the middle of the woods, the team links the victim to two families that have been feuding for almost a century. Brennan and Booth interrogate a family member with a shocking confession that leads them to a motive for the victim's murder. Meanwhile, Brennan has a difficult time accepting her father's offer to babysit their infant daughter because of his unreliable presence in her own childhood. The murderer is eventually revealed to be the victim's daughter-in-law while Daisy solves the supposed murder that started the feud and brings an end to it.

Summary

A man in a mesh hat and flannel shirt leads a pig through the woods on a leash. The pig sniffs the ground looking for truffles, before coming upon human remains in a tree. Suddenly, the eyes of bloody skeleton begin to glow, terrifying the man and the pig. Bones, Booth and Sweets, in the meantime, eat breakfast at the diner. Bones explains that they are looking for new childcare after Christine was "expelled" from the Jeffersonian's daycare center. Booth explains that it's more accurate to say the baby has been suspended because Bones wouldn't stop telling the workers how to run the place.

Later, the team heads out to the woods to examine the body, which is hanging from the tree by its overalls. In the eye sockets, Hodgins finds railroad worms, which glow red to frighten predators. Bones determines the victim was elderly and died from bleeding out from a wound. Back at the lab, Camille disagrees with Bones and theorizes the victim was in his 40s. Daisy discovers that the victim also has six toes.

Booth then "hires" Max to take care of Christine during the day. Bones is skeptical, but Max appears to have a knack for babysitting. Booth then gets a call, the victim has been identified as a missing 65-year-old man. Back at the lab, Daisy discovers that the man was shot on his left side at close range. Booth visits the victim's family. All three tell Booth to look into the Mobley family, which has been warring with the victim's Babcock clan for years. Caroline does some research and discovers that the families have been feuding since the late 1800s.

Hodgins, meanwhile, has volunteered to search the woods for the bullet so that he can really search for truffles. As he sings the praises of fresh truffles to Angela, she discovers the bullet wedged in a tree. Hodgins discovers a truffle. Bones and Booth then visit the Mobley residence in the middle of nowhere and are immediately shot at by an angry resident Norbert. Later, Norbert is thrilled to hear that Tug Babcock is dead, though he claims to have had nothing to do with it. Norbert then explains that the families have been fighting over the land for 120 years. 

Back at the Jeffersonian Hodgins tells Caroline that he found more than truffles on the land. He found traces of copper. Hodgins has also discovered that a businessman named Dennis Timmons has an option to mine the land after Tug Babcock's death. Later, Bones returns home to find Christine has been well cared for. Max asks her if she was worried and tells her that he turned his life around. Bones briefly hesitates before reassuring her father. Christine seems happy.

Sweets then interviews Dennis, who claims that he had nothing to do with the victim's death. Dennis admits to digging up the land late at night, to get copper samples for money to save his business. Dennis claims to have seen an old blue pick up truck with a rusted hood and one taillight. This truck was driven by a 20-something blond. Daisy, in the meantime, discovers fragments on the bullet. She then discovers that the bone fragment doesn't match the victim and believes they may have two victims.

At the diner, Bones starts to panic when her father doesn't answer the phone. Bones begins to panic and Booth tries to calm her down, he says that Max probably took Christine for a walk. Bones decides to head home just to be sure. Meanwhile, Camille discovers that the victim had stage four cancer. The man only had weeks to live before he died. Daisy then swears to discover the true origin of the Babcock-Mobley feud. Later, Max returns home to find Bones waiting. Max apologizes, explaining that his cell phone fell from his pocket when he was with Christine at the park. Bones angrily tells him to leave.

Booth then locates the blue pick up truck and the 20-something woman, SueBob Mobley. SueBob confesses that she was sneaking through the woods to see Junior Babcock. The two are in love. So Booth brings in Junior and his mother Claire, a lawyer, for questioning. Junior says that he would never hurt his grandfather, before admitting to seeing SueBob. Claire is furious to hear the news, but Junior says his grandfather approved. Apparently, Tug wanted to see the feud end before he died from cancer. Tug also apparently paid for a ring.

Back at the Jeffersonian, Bones discovers that the second set of bone fragments belonged to a man who was more than 100 years old. Bones explains to Angela and Camille that somebody made the bullet from the long deceased, as a way of honoring their ancestors. In the meantime, Hodgins and Daisy taste test the truffles and they are awful. Hodgins says they taste like poo. Later, Booth wants to search Norbet's house. The bullet that shot Tug Babcock was ordered from a bullet maker by Norbet. Caroline agrees to get a warrant.

Hodgins tests the truffles and discovers that they basically poisonous after sharing the ground for so long with the copper. This sparks Daisy, who has become obsessed with solving the mystery of the Babcock-Mobley feud. One of the histories is that a Babcock woman poisoned a Mobley man. Bones and Booth then visit Norbert with a search warrant. Booth says that he bought the bullets that took the victims life, but Norbert exclaims that the bullets were taken from his home by that "lawyer bitch," who showed up with paper's claiming the land belonged to the Babcock clan.

Sweets explains that if Tug wanted to end the feud, it would end the lawsuits. And, thus, all of Claire's payments would end. So Bones and Booth search Claire's place and find the same bullets that killed Tug Babcock. Claire vehemently denies any involvement. Back at the lab, Hodgins suggests testing Claire's clothing. If she was in the woods the night that Tug was killed, her outfit will be covered in poisoned truffle spores. Hodgins tests the the clothes and discovers that they are crawling with the spores. Claire confesses to the murder.

Daisy has discovered that the toxicity from the copper killed the original members of the Babcock-Mobley feud, it was an accident. Later, Max shows up at his daughter's home to return one of Christine's toy. He apologizes for what happened and wants her forgiveness. Bones relents, saying that she wants them all to be family. So Booth hands over Christine to Max. It's a nice domestic scene with three generations. 

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

• Daisy Wick - Carla Gallo

Recurring Cast

• Max Keenan - Ryan O'Neal
• Christine Booth - Ali and Susanne Hartman

Guest Cast

• Claire Babcock - Rebecca Tilney
• Ephraim Babcock - Ezra Buzzington
• Junior Babcock - Joe Adler
• Norbert Mobley - William Sanderson
• SueBob Mobley - Mackenzie Mauzy
• Dennis Timmons - Tico Wells

Featured Music

• "Rare Bird Alert" by Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers

Notes

• Booth states "let's cut down Grandpa Walton and get him back to the Jeffersonian." Ralph Waite who plays Booth's Grandpa played John Walton on "The Waltons".
• This episode is a nod to probably the most famous family feud that is also located in West Virginia as well as in Kentucky. The feud was the "Hatfield-McCoy Feud". Tourists travel to parts of West Virginia and Kentucky each year to see the area and historic relics that still remain from the days of the feud.