(S02E12) Forty-nine days. That's how long we've waited for Bones to return to the schedule with new episodes. It would have been 42 days, but that big bully known as American Idol pushed the show out of last week's schedule so viewers could watch Simon berate another bunch of poor singers. Hopefully, FOX is done with that little stunt; however, as we are now entering February sweeps I highly doubt it. So, let's just be happy that we get to see the return of FBI Agent Seely Booth, forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, and the squints of the Jeffersonian Institution. At least for this week, that is.

All right, enough griping! Time to get to the review.

Well, they certainly didn't mark their return with a weak episode. This was, by far, one of the tops for this season, right up there with the 'Aliens in a Spaceship' episode. It was tense, dramatic and, at times, quite uncomfortable (in a good way) to watch. Even though you could kind of see where some of the scenes where moving you got that feeling on the back of your neck that whatever was going to happen wasn't good.

The episode dealt entirely with the escape of serial killer Howard Epps (not to be confused with House star Omar Epps). Booth and Bones had an encounter with the murderer earlier this season, where he seemed to get the upper hand. He continued to believe that he still had that advantage after breaking out, and he got more dramatic in whom he killed. It wasn't blond-haired women anymore. It was the firefighter that saved him from a prison fire, and his former wife, whose head he left in a refrigerator for Bones and Booth to discover.

There was plenty that went on in this week's show. There was the hunt for Epps, which was strewn with clues that the murderer left for Booth and Bones to solve. There was the continued romance between Cam and Booth, which seemed to be moving to the next level. Then there was the poisoning of Cam, which was quite disturbing. It wasn't just her inhaling some unknown poison (embedded in a glass capsule in Epps' wife's severed head. Don't ask.) and fainting. It was her falling to the ground, lack of air in her chest, foaming at the mouth. I really thought that she was not going to make it this episode. And that's too bad, because she has integrated quite well into the show. I won't go any further in revealing what happens to her, just in case any West Coast people are reading this.

Booth was wearing his emotions on his sleeve this week when it came to Cam. You could really see that the relationship he had with her over the last few weeks wasn't just some fling; he was falling in love with her (again). At the end of the episode, once Epps had been dealt with (once again, not going to tell you what happened) Seely decided that workplace relationships, particularly in the dangerous environment they work in, cannot happen. He said this while sitting right next to Bones. So, not only did this have implications between himself and Cam, but also between he and Bones as well.

Not everything was doom and gloom this episode. Even though he's all growed up now Zach Addy (that's Doctor Zach Addy to you and me) still has trouble working well with Booth. Together they had a few amusing moments, particularly after Bones and he survived a bomb blast. That was when a debate began as to who the bigger hero was . . . Zach or Seely. Another funny moment was when Bones showed Angela the humongous gun that she was packing. Of course it broke down into a conversation about firearms that was filled with sexual innuendo. You know, that's the second show I've reviewed this week that involved sex talk about guns (see this week's Boston Legal review).

Really a good show all around, and a great welcome back for the show. Next week, events from this week's episode cause Booth to go a bit loco.