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The Secret in the Siege

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The Secret in the Siege is the twenty-fourth and final episode of the eighth season of Bones.

Synopsis[]

When evil tech genius Christopher Pelant returns to toy with the Jeffersonian team in their newest investigation, they discover that the string of murders that have been occurring are tied to FBI agents close to Booth. Meanwhile, as the investigation unfolds, Sweets realizes that the evidence seems all too familiar to him and Brennan starts evaluating her relationship with Booth when signs begin to point to him as a potential target of Pelant's.

Summary[]

A brief review of the past appearances of Christopher Pelant on the show plays, leading to the beginning of the episode and hinting that he is back.

Christopher Pelant is shown in an ornate library, watching several monitors that display security footage. The cameras and scrolling coding appear to be running facial-recognition software, searching for the faces of the Jeffersonian team. The program produces a hit that enlarges a parking lot snapshot, showing Bones near her car. Pelant adds the enlarged shot of Bones to a board with a dozen or more reconnaissance photos of Bones and Booth. The side of Pelant's face injured in the last run-in with Booth and law enforcement is scarred but sewn up; his right eye is milky-white, suggesting he has gone blind in that eye.

Bones returns from shopping. They discuss a lamp that Booth's mother has sent from her honeymoon in Hawaii, leading to Bones stating that she is still not going to propose to Booth, despite having caught the bouquet at the recent wedding.

Rangers find a body at Hamilton State Park at a picnic site. The body of a male in his fifties, dead for roughly five days, is found on a trail that has been closed for the past two months on the first day it is reopened. The victim has multiple gunshot wounds to the face, leading Booth to suspect this might be the work of a professional hitman.

Back at the lab, the team's efforts reveal that the victim has had several healed gunshot wounds in the past ten years. Twelve bullets were recovered from the body. Booth and Sweets discuss the case. According to Sweets, the killer has a narcissistic need for attention and an urge to display his handiwork—potentially the re-emergence of Pelant. This is assumed to be confirmed by the pair when Angela's computer gets a hit on the facial reconstruction: the victim is Alan Friedlander, Booth's partner when he began his career as an FBI agent. Pelant is then shown briefly smiling at the same images Booth was shown by Angela—he has gained access to the files they took at the crime scene.

Booth holds an FBI conference, assigning tasks to investigate the murder. Cam and Bones find evidence of puncture wounds on multiple bones that suggests a dog attack ten years ago, but nothing is mentioned in Friedlander's medical file. Bones and Cam look horrified when they consider the possibility that Pelant changed the medical records. Sweets finds evidence that Pelant chose the crime based on unpublished material in an old research paper that could only have been accessed by hacking.

Booth receives the call that another agent is down. A witness is present who describes the fleeing shooter as wearing a hat and having a knife or dagger tattoo on his arm. A red ski hat is found in a nearby trash can. Immediately, Booth receives a call from Pelant himself, taunting Booth by revealing that he is watching security footage of Booth. Pelant accuses Booth of crossing a line when he shot him, stating ominously that he does consider this pursuit a game and that "the rules have changed." He hangs up on Booth.

Back at the lab, Bones and Cam discover similar bullet wounds and healed dog bites from ten years ago on the legs of the second agent, with the same lack of medical information. They share the finding with Booth, considering the fact that Pelant will likely hack into their server, allowing Angela to track him.

Caroline discusses the case in which the two victims were working ten years ago at Crystal Creek when they stormed a compound. She reveals that Booth was there with them when they were attacked by the dogs. Sweets informs them that Pelant is using a surrogate, likely one of the children or surviving family members of the victims from that compound invasion, promising "closure" or revenge. Sweets thinks that Pelant is using his own research against the whole team.

Angela finds that Pelant has wiped the security camera feed from the trail area clean; he can access any camera with an internet connection. She comforts Hodgins when he states that he feels responsible; he believes that he should have killed Pelant when he had the chance. Bones and Booth argue at the lab due to Booth concealing his link to the deceased agents; he feels that Pelant wants him alive to match wits, while Bones fears that he will end up dead because Pelant said the rules have changed.

Sweets' research reveals that the FBI did not trace the survivors of the Crystal Creek incident because they were children and there was a public outcry. Crystal Creek is revealed to be a cult. Angela tracks down websites using keywords; she discovers the shooter is or was in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Booth and a team of FBI agents go undercover as road construction workers to draw out the shooter, who confronts Booth, claiming that they are on his land that his grandfather left him. When the FBI agents break cover, he moves to shoot himself, but Booth stops him so they can get information about Pelant.

Pelant is shown recording his facial expressions into a computer program to create a fake video by replacing his own face and voice with an FBI agent's, to be sent to someone, advising them to "continue doing 'his' work if they love him [the man Pelant is impersonating]".

Bones summons Booth to a private garden near the Jeffersonian. She gives him the beef jerky she avoided buying for him earlier, giving it to him just in case something happens. She proposes to him, admitting to being afraid and stubborn before. He says yes after asking if she is sure; they embrace and kiss. Pelant sees the intimate exchange on his display, appearing to be visibly upset.

Bones discovers that two of the bullet wounds on the scapula of one of the victims were from a single bullet (and its jacket). Each victim was actually shot 11 times. When Angela enters the room, Bones reveals her big news. Sweets finds Booth and changes his mind: he believes the shooter is not an agent after all, but another kid from the Crystal Creek incident. Booth interrupts and tells Sweets about the proposal, which Sweets recognizes as a dangerous threat to Pelant's narcissism. He warns Booth that it could make him escalate. Booth: "I've been waiting for this for a long, long time. . There's no way that Pelant is going to take this away from me."

Angela has news for Bones: the shooter is more likely the child of one of the three agents that perished in the Crystal Creek incident. One of the three agents, Harris Samuels, was shot 11 times, including once in the back of the head. The daughter, Anna, an expert shooter by age ten, was orphaned. The team considers the possibility that she believes conspiracy theories that the deaths were the result of friendly fire, despite two investigations proving otherwise. She suffers from complex grief disorder, which makes her vulnerable to anything Pelant can use to make her believe she is avenging her father. Her close-up picture reveals that she is the one Booth interviewed briefly at the crime scene.

Anna is receiving the fake videos that Pelant has manufactured. She loads a silenced handgun into her bag and calls Booth, saying that she needs to talk to him right away.

Bones calls Caroline, concerned that she can't contact Booth. They discover that Anna is the witness and that Booth and Sweets are both going to meet her.

Booth is waiting with his phone out on a park bench. The phone service to the area is blocked, which Booth notices when he asks a passerby if he has service. A SWAT team enters Anna's apartment and emails Angela so she can hack the computer. Pelant simultaneously stalls traffic by hacking traffic lights to prevent Sweets from getting to Booth.

At the Jeffersonian in Angela's lab, the team nearly believes the faked videos. However, Hodgins recognizes the bird in the background as one that did not migrate to the area until years after the death of Samuels. They know that Pelant has altered the footage and is manipulating Anna. Bones leaves to find Booth and Sweets when Angela decodes the message on the hard drive: "Booth Decoy, Target Sweets".

Booth gets his SUV stuck in an alleyway due to traffic. He runs over the tops of parked cars and taxis. Sweets stays in his vehicle, unaware that he is the target. Anna makes her way towards Sweets; she is close but does not know exactly where he is. Booth spots her before she reaches Sweets and calls his name, alerting him to duck when he takes a shot at Anna to wound her. She is apprehended; Bones finds Booth, and they embrace.

Caroline, Booth, and Sweets talk in Booth's office. Pelant has taken down his whole server, going once again off the grid. Booth meets Bones for a date.

They discuss wedding traditions and plans; Booth gets a call from Pelant with an ultimatum: reject Bones without telling her why, or he will be responsible for the deaths of five innocent people nearby. Booth vows to kill him quietly, then hangs up. Later that evening, in their home, Booth convinces Bones that they should not go through with the wedding, using the argument that they made the decision while under stress, and he says, "What we have is enough." Bones fights back tears but flatly says she agrees with him and is impressed he is seeing things her way. Bones says they are okay, but her face crumples, and she heads upstairs without Booth, seemingly about to cry, while Booth remains downstairs. Both are upset but trying to mask it.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Recurring Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Featured Music[]

  • Sometimes The Sky - Charlie Mars

Notes[]

  • The siege and Harris Samuels' death is likely based of notorious federal disasters, such as the Waco and Ruby Ridge sieges.
  • Anna Samuels is inspired by Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a former Manson Family cult member briefly imprisoned for attempting to kill American president Gerald Ford.
  • Pelant tells Booth that, he should tell Brennan he can't marry her. If he doesn't, he would be responsible for the deaths of five random people in the park. However, only four were specifically targeted.


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The Secrets in the Proposal
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