'Bones' Season 6, Episode 17 Recap

['Bones' - 'The Feet on the Beach']

It was bound to happen. Hart Hanson, co-creator of 'Bones' probably stepped into the special effects room one day and asked, "Hey, could you provide us with a few of your most disgusting decomposing bodies for a body farm?" After a resounding chorus of "Yes!" the team set forth to produce some of their grossest corpses yet.

The results were on display this week as Booth and Bones tiptoed through the decaying bodies during a murder investigation. Lesson to be learned by their visit: Don't stand near a corpse whose bodily gases and acids come together to make his insides come out in a grand explosion. It doesn't make for a pleasant meal time.



This was just one event in an episode that turned away from the ongoing non-romance of the Detecting Duo to focus on Cam, Sweets, and a Canadian forensic podiatrist. Yes, instead of the Squintern of the Week, we were introduced to Dr. Douglas Filmore, a podiatrist who was enthralled with Dr. Brennan's reputation while disliking her at the same time. And all because Bones dissed him and forensic podiatry in a dismissive article.

If Dr. Filmore had known Bones, he would have dusted this off as her normal attitude towards other medical professions (see past references to Sweets's line of work). But, coming from our northern neighbor, the podiatrist was hurt to the point where he became physically incapacitated. Not that this stopped him from doing his job.

In fact, he did a damn fine job at solving the murder case with just a pair of feet. While Bones was traipsing around the body farm with Booth in order to solve the case, Dr. Filmore was carefully reviewing the victim's foot bones and compiling data. With help from the more than willing Hodgins and Angela, Douglas was able to piece together how the feet were severed, how the time of death was skewed, and who the killer was. All without Bones breathing down his neck or criticizing him further.

Would Dr. Filmore make a good spin-off character? Well, if you could fill three or four seasons with foot-related murders within the confines of Canada, it could work. However, since forensic podiatry procedurals aren't the "in" thing right now, it probably wouldn't work. But that's not to say Dr. Filmore couldn't be a good person to have back on 'Bones' in the future. Not only does he work well with the Squints, but he may be just as smart as Bones. Just on a smaller scale.

In addition to the presence of Dr. Filmore, we got some more Sweets. Where last time he continued to poke at the sleeping bear that is the Bones-Booth relationship, this week Lance worked his magic in other areas. Particularly with Dr. Filmore and his immobile right arm.

Sweets determined that the limited paralysis was connected to reading Bones's scathing rebuke of his profession. The only solution would be to confront Dr. Brennan with his feelings. Sweets' advice did the trick: Once he vented and she responded with a contrite statement, Dr. Filmore was able to move his arm once again.

The other person Sweets helped was Cam. A month or so ago, Cam decided to take matters into her own hands in order to get her adopted daughter into a good college. It worked, because Michelle was accepted into Columbia University. When Cam asked for help to persuade Michelle towards the esteemed university, Sweets respectfully declined due to personal issues.

Though Cam told Lance to shut up, Sweets didn't budge on his decision. As Cam was leaving his office, Sweets asked what type of role model she was providing to Michelle by cheating her way into Columbia. Apparently a good one, for Michelle decided not to accept the Columbia offer. Instead, she decided to work for a year until she could pay to go to a good college. Since Cam didn't object it looks like Sweets did his job.

Other items of note:

-- The murder suspect was known as soon as he was introduced to the viewers at the body farm. If Norman Hayes wasn't the culprit then the camera wouldn't have flicked over to him when discussion on the extra set of feet came up. This became clearer when we discovered the professor was a secret pothead and the head of corpse maintenance (a.k.a., groundskeeper) only cared about keeping the area neat and tidy for the next decomposing body.

-- No embedded advertisements for automobiles this time around. This week's advertiser was Microsoft and their SkyDrive product. We even got to see the lingering image of the Windows Live icon for several seconds.

-- Speaking about automobiles, it was good to see a Booth and Bones conversation take place in one. We've seen too few of these during the season, which is sad because they produced some of the funnier and more thought-provoking moments of each episode. This week's was a good one as Booth worked to convince Bones to at least discuss her article with Dr. Filmore.

Next week on 'Bones': John Francis Daley pens and episode featuring the murder of a myth-busting television host.

'Bones' airs Thursdays, 9PM ET on FOX.

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