- Half a decomposed body is discovered by a pair of beach combers. They find the deceased was leader of a local religious congregation. When the other half of the body is found, they learn the leader had a hidden past.
- Two 'hippies' fishing at the beach find a nearly consumed corpse, a few weeks old. It's Patricia Ludmuller, the missing reverend of the close-knit Inclusion church parish on a fairly isolated island. She was a closet transsexual. Bones' blatant disbelief embarrasses devout Catholic Booth. Anthropology student Vincent Nigel-Murray proves his forensic talent and conversational wit. Angela reconstructs her male identity: TV preacher Patrick Stephenson, presumed dead, disappeared with a fortune in Thailand six years ago, leaving a wife Cecilia and teenage son Ryan, who left commercial religion.—KGF Vissers
- If it's time for "Bones," then it's time for a badly decomposed body. So here we go!
Two fishermen sit on rocks chatting about nothing in particular. Suddenly, one notices something strange floating in the water. Guess what? It's a badly decomposed body! Specifically, it's the upper half of a skeleton.
Booth and Brennan arrive at the ol' ocean-side fishin' hole to discover Camille already on the prowl for evidence. She is accompanied by Brennan's grad student Nigel, who speaks with a British accent (which immediately makes Booth suspicious). Brennan notices the lack of a pelvic bone but guesses the victim is female due to a badly degraded swimsuit. Camille estimates the time of death as two or three weeks ago.
"What do we do next?" Booth asks.
"Find the other half," Brennan quips.
Back at the lab, Nigel notes that the eye sockets have been ground down due to cosmetic surgery. Also: fake breasts. Camille runs the serial number on the implants and comes up with a woman named Patricia ... and also an address.
Booth and Boone hit the road. "Disappeared three weeks ago," Boone says of the victim. "Presumed drowned after not coming back from a morning swim." The woman also lived in a small community of no more than a few thousand people. Brennan wonders why a person would spend so much on plastic surgery and then live in relative obscurity. Booth points out that maybe she tried to change her looks before going into hiding. Hmm ...
The two bickering buddies arrive at the woman's house to discover that she was a pastor of a grassroots community congregation (and was even in the middle of writing a sermon). A pastor with fake breasts and veneers? It doesn't add up, Brennan says. Patricia happens to have a message on her answering machine from a man named J.P. Poor J.P. sounds like a heartbroken ex-boyfriend.
Suddenly a cell-phone call! The lower half of a skeleton has just been discovered a few miles away. "Send it over to the lab now!" Booth says.
Back the lab, Camille and Nigel examine the new remains. Odd thing, though: While the pelvic bone is male, the sex parts are, well, NOT. "It's called a vagina," Camille explains to stricken Nigel. "We have one victim with two sexes." Cue raised eyebrows!
Lance theorizes that Patricia was transgender and underwent an operation to become female. "I put in a request to find his previous identity before he was a woman," explains Booth, obviously struggling with the whole he-she thing. Our manly man is most uncomfortable with the idea.
Booth and Brennan arrive at Patricia's seaside funeral. A small, but sad congregation prays for her immortal soul. They lay flowers and disperse. The investigative pair is also introduced to Chuck, a man in a wheelchair who acted as Patricia's assistant. Chuck is less than pleasant and confesses he used to be a meth addict. He doesn't want to believe that Patricia's death was anything an accident.
Booth and Brennan bring in J.P. for questioning. Turns out J.P. is not only a congregation member, but also a recovering alcoholic. He explains that he joined the church to help him battle his addiction. Not surprisingly, he denies any involvement in Patricia's death.
Angela, meanwhile, looks at photos of J.P. and Patricia and guesses that the former knew the latter's secret. Booth doesn't understand how Angela can know this from a simple snapshot but -- sure enough -- the man confesses to knowing Patricia's history. Booth then plays back the answering-machine message from earlier.
"I didn't want to develop feelings for Patricia but I did," J.P. says. "And that didn't change when I found out who she used to be." Nevertheless, J.P. says he never acted on those feelings as he is married to a woman named Rita and devoted to saving his marriage.
In the meantime, Nigel and Hodgins chat. And by chat, I mean that Nigel annoys Hodgins, who continues to be in a super-surly mood. Angela approaches, which doesn't help matters much. She presents a sketch of Patricia as she might have been as a man. "It doesn't look like anybody you recognize?" Angela says.
"It's that guy!" Nigel says.
And who is "that guy?" It's a televangelist named Patrick Stephenson, who disappeared six years ago in the Thailand. What's more, the televangelist had a wife and kids.
Booth and Brennan interview the pious wife. Brennan informs the woman that a sex change operation in Thailand would cost $25,000. "You want me to believe that Patrick stole money and then had himself transformed into a woman?" the wife asks. "Patrick was a religious man. He would never offend God in this blatant manner."
But, in the end, she accepts the truth. The DNA match is undeniable ("Do these people believe in DNA?" a clueless Brennan asks). The wife then explains that son Ryan is in California undergoing a "crisis of faith."
Booth, Brennan and Lance watch an old recording of clean-cut Ryan Stephenson preaching. In the middle of a particularly vehement prayer, the youth quits the palace-like church. Turns out Ryan's crisis of faith was renouncing the showiness and greed of his parents' church. Lance theorizes that the boy is not in California, but doing God's work in hospitals and halfway houses nearby.
"Ryan Stephenson is literally atoning for the sins of his father," Lance explains. "I'll bet he's within 20 miles of that giant church he fled as a confused adolescent."
Guess what? Booth owes Lance $20. Before you can say commercial break, Ryan -- now sporting tattoos and earrings -- is in the witness room. Booth shows Ryan pictures of Patricia. Much to Booth's shock, the boy is proud to learn that dad started a church that welcomes drug addicts, felons and others who his parents' old church rejected.
Booth is downright touched by the boy's reaction. "Did you ever consider returning to the ministry, Ryan?" he asks. Booth promises to give Ryan his dad's Bible when it is no longer considered evidence.
Back the lab, Camille informs Brennan that Patricia was struck by a boat ... twice. Markings on the two halves of the body indicate that the vessel struck Patricia, turned around and then ran her down again.
As Booth and Brennan hit the road again, Nigel corners Camille. The intern -- surprise, surprise -- wants to quit. "All in all, I'd rather be like me than like you," Nigel says. Camille understands and lets the boy go. Time to get another intern, although we suspect that Zack can't be too far from returning.
Back on the case, Brennan has discovered the make and model of the boat that killed Patricia. The boat belongs to -- wait for it -- J.P.! Booth, Brennan and Hodgins arrive on the dock. Once again, J.P. denies everything and with good reason. Booth, after trying to sit in the boat, discovers that it wasn't restored for a man of J.P.'s size. No, it was restored specifically for his wife -- a suggestion of Patricia's aimed at bringing the estranged couple together, J.P. explains.
All this time, J.P.'s wife stands in the background looking mighty guilty.
"I waited for you to get sober," Rita says. "And all you did was fall in love with another woman!"
Booth places J.P.'s wife under arrest. The woman is led away in front of the entire congregation. Case closed.
The episode ends with Ryan preaching ... and holding his father's old Bible. Booth and Brennan sit in the audience, bickering good naturedly. All is well again in Bones-ville.
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