'Bones' Season 6, Episode 21 Recap

['Bones' - 'The Signs in the Silence']

As a forensic anthropologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan deals mostly with the dead, whether it be a recently murdered victim or a skeleton from an ancient civilization. However, her particular career path does also allow her to explore the characteristics of living beings when needed.

Such was the case with this week's 'Bones,' as the good doctor was asked to use her skills to determine how a deaf and uncommunicative teen came to be covered with blood and holding a very imposing knife. Her subsequent investigation brought to the surface a number of feelings amongst those helping with the investigation. The result? A twisty, tension-filled, emotional episode which was quite enjoyable.

It started out with Bones being her usual straightforward, clinical self as she tried to pull evidence from the young Jane (short for Jane Doe) while she was writhing about. It took the calm tones of Dr. Sweets to sit her back and think about how the suspect was feeling. By having her recall her defensive days in the foster care system, Sweets was able to steer Temperance towards a moderate approach to obtain data.

While they've both said it often enough, sometimes we forget both Bones and Sweets went through the foster care system during their childhood. It's also interesting how they each handled it. Sweets was miserable jumping from home to home, and he eventually headed down the Goth path as a teen. Bones, on the other hand, took the route of shutting down emotionally. That's one of the reasons she's afraid to get close to someone, or show even the slightest glimmer of emotional reaction.

Which is why it's good for Sweets to bring up her past once in a while. It grounds her and makes her think in a more personal manner when dealing with living human beings rather than treating them as just another bunch of bones. In this week's episode, the talk allowed Bones to connect with the patient in order to obtain some needed X-rays.

This brought us twist one: She was abused. Not just once, but dozens of times, in different forms. You wouldn't have thought it seeing the sadness on the faces of her "parents" -- a hardware store-owning couple from a small town in Southern Pennsylvania. Then again, it's often the nice ones who turn out to be the abusers, isn't it?

This, in turn, brought the second twist: She wasn't their daughter. Rather, she was kidnapped at the age of three, which was when the abuse began. But Jane didn't know this. All she knew was she had to get away from her "parents" as soon as possible. Hence, the reason she took a bus to D.C.

Unfortunately, a friend of the parents lived in the city, met her at the bus stop and tried to tie her up while they came to collect her. But Jane wouldn't have it. In the end, Jane needed to use the knife to defend herself when the man tried to hit her. It was self-defense.

Now she was free from both jail and from her "parents," who were about to meet a fate in prison worse than they dealt to Jane. But her story wasn't quite done. By measuring isotopes in one of Jane's wisdom teeth, Bones was able to pinpoint where she came from, and with Booth's help, they were able to locate her parents. The end of the episode featured Jane, now known as Samantha, reuniting with her parents.

Though everyone was involved in the case, this was a Bones-centric episode. It was interesting to watch as she morphed from obnoxious, clinical forensic anthropologist to a human being who could relate to the suspect/victim's problems. It wasn't an easy transformation. If anything, it was very frustrating for her to explain how she felt to folks like Sweets and Mr. Vaziri when she couldn't explain it to herself. Nonetheless, through some hard work on her part, Bones was able to persevere and push the investigation towards completion.

Other items of note from this week's 'Bones':

-- While Bones was the focus of the episode, Booth also had a defining moment after he punched Jane's "father" after he slapped his wife around. Though the man deserved it, Booth realized he needed to maintain control in those situations to avoid becoming what his father was to him.



-- This was a particularly heavy episode, but there was some levity in the form of Angela and Hodgins' false labor adventures. Not one to keep his emotions hidden, Jack was downright frantic when he thought Angie was going to give birth right there on the lab floor. Not only couldn't he find his keys to take her to the hospital, he actually told the nurse to boil some water. This is a man who needs to sit in the waiting room and watch the birth on TV.

-- Bones lamented the fact she would be the only one left who didn't have a child once Angie gave birth. This practically screamed "Foreshadowing!"

-- I believe every single Squintern has now lain across Bones while she demonstrated how a murder took place. This may have been the second or third time Mr. Vaziri has been given the honor.

-- This week's science: Yes, anthropologists really have used the isotopes embedded within wisdom teeth to determine where people lived.

-- This week's science 2: Sign language can have different dialects depending on where people live.

In a final note, congratulations to 'Bones' for its renewal. It's been a tough year for fans as the show has matured, but we still come back because we love these characters and feel they're part of our family. Plus, with the scenes from next week's episode, it looks like things are going to change come September.

Next week on 'Bones': The final confrontation between Booth and Jacob Broadsky may leave one member of the team clinging to life.

'Bones' airs Thursdays, 8PM ET, on FOX

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