Best. Title. Ever. Strippers and stockbrokers and Booth’s mom… oh my!
A construction worker is teaching her nephew to use an excavator (thanks to my nephew for being obssessed with trucks so that I knew what it was) and uncovers a body, which he then drops on his aunt. Thanks to my nephew for not dropping a body on me.
The uniform on the body indicates the man was a firefighter until Hodgins notices that the pants are pull-away. This means he was a stripper. And he was killed before the building was demolished. Thanks to a calf implant’s serial number, the victim is ID-ed as Jack Spindler, who was a stockbroker by day. Hodgins realizes that if they fingerprint the bills on the body and find the matching prints, they can ID some of the people at the last party that Spindler worked. Some body abnormalities lead Brennan to deduce that he was overweight as a child.
The suspects are:
-Spindler’s boss, who reported him missing. He claims not to know about the stripping on the side. Booth thinks that his boss would have been ashamed if upper management found out he hired a stripper.
-Kristy Mineta, a trust fund baby who was dating a stripper to get back at her daddy. Jack’s friend Storm warned her about him being manipulative. Storm got Jack into stripping and then stole all his clients.
-Storm, the stripper and bartender (who’s played by Johnny from General Hospital!). Jack and Storm had gotten into a fight about the client issue, but Storm said that they’d patched things up. Evidence on the body shows that Jack had sex the night he died and Storm said that he’d warned Jack against that, fearing retaliation from jealous partners.
-Cynthia White, a former client who matches the vaginal fluid found on Jack and skin cells found on a rolled up bill. She also had an altercation with her fiance, Jason, after that party, so he’s a suspect, too. She admitted to cheating, he flipped out, but the stripper was long gone before that happened.
Angela finds evidence that Jack and Seth Harrison, his boss’ boss, were playing illegal games with stocks. Jack started having second thoughts three days before he was killed. Seth is brought in for questioning and says that he wasn’t questioning the morality, he just wanted to know how to fully hook his girlfriend’s dad in the scheme. The girlfriend got a couple hundred thousand. They can’t touch her without evidence, though, since she’s lawyered up.
The evidence presents itself in the way that the skull fractures occurred… a pistol whipping by a toy pistol. The murder location is traced to the Kingsford Hotel, thanks to its bedbugs. That evidence leads to Storm, though. Jack lost all his money, too. He didn’t mean to kill Jack; just wanted to give him a beating.
The B Plot
Booth’s mom reappears in his life after 24 years and he actually seems happy to see her. She wants to apologize and he says there’s no need because he understands what she went through. She worried that he hated her, but he just missed her. He insists that she stay at their house, rather than a hotel. He’s taking this all very well, I think. Brennan’s a little skeptical at his uncomplicated happiness and so is Cam. So am I, frankly.
At home, Booth catches up with his mom and as they reminisce, they can’t escape the past darkness. The conversation mentions Booth’s dad and Brennan brings up her limp (still lingering from being thrown down the stairs by Booth’s dad).
Sweets wonders why Booth never tracked his mom down before now. Booth says he wanted to wait until the time was right. Apparently, the timing is because Booth’s mom is getting married… and getting two stepchildren. Booth is less than ecstatic about his mom raising two other kids when she ran out on him and Jared. Just as Booth was over-happy to see his mom again, he’s over-upset with her at this revelation.
Before leaving town, Booth’s mom comes to see him one last time to let him know that she’s not perfect. She admits that she could have handled this better, but she says that she’s going to let herself be happy. She wanted to share that happiness with Booth, rather than the misery she’d shared in the past. Booth looks more sad puppy dog than he’s ever looked before as she leaves. Booth talks it out with Brennan, claiming he was too angry to say anything. He feels like his dad, blaming her for everything and just staring at her when she apologized. Brennan assures him that he’s not his father. She points out how long it took her to forgive her dad and how she still gets angry with him. Brennan brings up Booth’s faith and reminds him that forgiveness is kind of a thing that Jesus was a fan of.
After working through some issues, Booth has flowers sent to his mom’s wedding. He finds that she had given Christine one of his old toys and his change of mind is done. Booth and Brennan arrive at the church to see Marianne Booth get married. She happily introduces him to Reggie, her new husband, and Booth’s new step-siblings and Booth is able to walk her down the aisle. At the end of the reception, Marianne tosses the bouquet and guess who catches it without even trying?
The Verdict
The episode was a little awkward and the case a little convoluted. Also, I just don’t have words for how I feel about the implication that a wedding is in Booth and Brennan’s future. I’m just going to go back to the picture of Booth being stripped and pretend it’s my happy place.
What did you think?
