Bones: The Girl in the Gator

(S02E13) That was not good. -- Bones to Booth after he shoots an innocent clown head.

Hey, it's Bill!

Did you recognize the actor who portrayed sleazebag Monte Gold? It was none other than Alex Winter, the man who played Bill S. Preston, Esq. in the Bill and Ted movie duology (is it a word? I don't know, but I'm using it anyway). You don't remember him? Let's see if this jogs your memory . . . he was the friend of Ted Logan, played by the much more successful Keanu Reeves. Ah, now you remember! Nice bit of casting there by the producers of Bones.

Two other guest-stars of interest this week. Stephen Fry was cast as the therapist that Booth was assigned to see after our pal Seely decided to shoot an ice cream truck's clown head for making too much noise while on a phone call (which was quite an amusing scene, by the way). Fry is known to many from his appearances in various Blackadder series. He also paired with Hugh Laurie in that show, as well as in their own comedy program (A Bit of Fry and Laurie) and a light mystery series (Jeeves and Wooster). Of course, these days Laurie is known for playing the cantankerous Dr. House on the show that bears his name, which happens to be on the same network as Bones.

The other guest star was 3rd Rock From the Sun's French Stewart. Did you recognize him? He played Isaac Horn, the fanatical religious guy who followed Monte and his bus of barely legal girls (shades of Girls Gone Wild) around the country to 'save' them. Turns out he was doing more than just saving their souls . . . there seemed to be a lot of touching going on as well. I didn't recognize Stewart in this role. Frankly, Isaac reminded me of Harold Green (Patrick McKenna) from The Red Green Show (Gosh, I'm referencing a plethora of public television shows tonight!). French played it over the top on 3rd Rock and this straight-laced character on Bones was not something I was prepared for. That's why I didn't even know it was him.

Let's move on to this week's show as a whole. Another solid performance from all in an episode that was a bit lighter in tone when compared to last week's tension filled romp. The case itself was a bit drab to me, and I sort of knew who the killer would be somewhere in the middle of the show (although I did not know how he did it). I also knew that the victim's father was going to kill Monte after he spoke with Angela in the diner. You just saw it on his face and heard it in his voice. When the father told Angela he was sorry he bothered her you knew that was not what he meant, that he had other plans.

I didn't like Booth's replacement in this episode. Well, at least not at first. Agent Tim Sullivan seemed a bit fake to me at the beginning, with his okee-dokeys and his distractions. But, as the episode progressed I began to warm up to the character. It seems that he's pretty damn bright, and a decent match for Bones. You could see Temperance changing her view of the man as well throughout the episode. So much so that she agreed to go out on a date with him fairly quickly. Sullivan is on next week's episode as well, but I don't know if he will remain a part of the show after that.

Speaking about Booth (I did in the previous paragraph. Take a look.), he's a bit stressed out about the death of Howard Epps from last week. Not that he doesn't believe that the bastard deserved to die, but Seely is just not sure if he's the one who caused his death. This uncertainty is just eating at him (hence, the reason for shooting the clown head), mostly because he always wants to be in control of the situation. In this instance he feels that he isn't. And, according to the therapist, that's just normal. Although these types of therapist-patient scenes have been done over-and-over on television I liked the interaction between the characters Boreanaz and Fry played. Oh, by the way, how the heck did the therapist get Booth to build that barbecue for him?

That's all for this week. Next week love is in the air for Bones and . . . someone.