'Bones' Recap: Season 6, Episode 5 - 'The Bones That Weren't'

Booth and Brennan have identified the victim as Robert Pearson. They go to his last training studio but he hasn’t been there in over a year. He has no family and no friends and has been off the grid. At the studio, they see Pearson’s former teacher, Cynthia Rinaldi. She is tiny, strict and mildly vicious. Booth says he can see her killing someone. Brennan remarks that Rinaldi is awful small to have overtaken Pearson but then she lefts a girl onto her shoulders with very little effort showing how strong she is. Booth calls her over and asks her about Pearson. Rinaldi says she hopes they are there to tell her Pearson is dead. Booth tells her it’s her lucky day. When Brennan asks why she wanted Pearson dead, Rinaldi tells them he broke her ankle and set her career back three years.

Rinaldi is unsympathetic about Pearson’s death; she blames him for what happened to her ankle but says she will be fully recovered in six months. Brennan says that she won’t be because the break is too serious for her to ever dance ballet properly again. Rinaldi’s father owns a construction company, thus she would know her way around one. Booth informs her that they found Pearson’s body at a construction site. Rinaldi says she couldn’t have killed Pearson. Brennan says she doesn’t think Rinaldi’s accident was Pearson’s fault. Rinaldi says Pearson dropped her. Brennan tells her given her height, her body was not the right size for a ballerina making it difficult for anyone to dance properly with her. Rinaldi calls Brennan a bitch and lunges at her but Booth steps in.

Back at the lab, Cam and Arastoo find remodeled micro-fractures on top of the victim’s skull the suggest he has been hip-hop dancing and head-spinning. Hodgins enters with the discovery the bone was eaten away by a fungus. Hodgins says that the fungus was most likely on the murder weapon. He says that the latest reported outbreak of that fungus was in Kalorama Park, which is loaded with street performers. Hodgins also found flecks on bronze in the bone dust.

At Kalorama Park, the walkway is full of performers. Booth says it’s leap going from a professional ballet company to working for tips in the park. Brennan says that street performing is the purist form of entertainment. They see tWitch getting his groove on and Brennan says his movements should be impossible because it’s like he has no bones.

Brennan and Booth question some of the park’s performers, Beverly, a singer, Johnny, a magician and Derrick, a park maintenance worker. Johnny annoys Booth with his slight-of-hand but Brennan finds it entertaining. Johnny says it had been six months since anyone had seen Pearson. Beverly tells them that everyone loved Pearson. But Derek says the Pearson had trouble with Russell (tWitch) because they argued over prime dance spots but Beverly states that the two dancers worked out the disagreement. Booth and Brennan see a bronze statue in the park that has some sharp edges. Brennan says the statue could be the reason why Hodgins found bronze in the bones. When Brennan tries to examine the statue more closely, it opens its eyes.

At FBI headquarters, the statue performer is now in the interrogation room with Sweets. His name is Tyler Milford and every time Booth tried to ask him a question, Milford would recite Shakespeare. Sweets tells Milford that he might have a dissociative disorder with which he can only communicate through Shakespeare. Tyler Milford is sitting statuesquely still throughout Sweets entire speech. Sweets says something Shakespearean to him and Milford responds in turn. Sweets continues to question him in a Shakespearean manner. Milford tells Sweets that Pearson was a thief who worked with a partner and that partner may have done in Pearson. Milford appreciates that Sweets could communicate with him in his one language.

At the lab, Arastoo tells Brennan that Pearson has nicks all over his back and legs, which suggests impaling but does not reveal cause of death. Arastoo says the victim may have bleed out. Hodgins tells them that the bronze from Pearson’s wounds didn’t come from the Shakespearean statue.

Angela and Cam reconstruct Pearson’s death. He fell into a ditch where concrete was going to be poured from a walkway above. Pearson dropped onto rebar, reinforcing steel for concrete and was impaled. They find a wound that does not fit the pattern and figure out that he was stabbed before he fell the stabbing weapon was the one that introduced the bone-eating fungus. After he was impaled, Pearson’s body was yanked off the rebar and laid underneath a plastic sheet where he decomposed for months before the construction company came back to pour the concrete.

Booth and Brennan discuss possible suspects in transit. Booth says that because the dancers fight over performance spots Russell had the most to gain by Robert leaving but Brennan says if they are looking for a thief the should check out Johnny, the magician. Booth says Johnny’s record is clean but Russel was arrested two months ago for threatening someone with a sharpened screwdriver, which Brennan says could possibly be the murder weapon.

Back at the park, Russell is performing for tips. Booth and Brennan confront him after his dance is done. Booth finds the screwdriver in his bag and says it’s a parole violation and cuffs him. Brennan compliments him on his ‘bone-less’ dance style. Booth receives a call and he calls over some local police to take Russell into custody. Brennan asks what’s wrong he tells her that Hannah has been shot.