The Con Man in the Meth Lab 4.8

Clark is back with the team and still doesn't care about anybody's personal lives he just wants to solve the mystery of a man blown up in a meth lab. The team also meets Booth's brother, Jared. Read the BeeSight recap and review to find out what happened on the eighth episode of the fourth season of Bones on FOX and join in the discussion.

BeeCap

Police cadets are being trained on the use of a tear gas launcher. The instructor shows the cadets an abandoned meth lab and asks how they think the officers were able to arrest the people inside. Someone suggests tear gas. The officer tells the cadet he is wrong, then shows them the consequences of firing tear gas into a meth lab. The officer launches the gas, then the mobile meth lab explodes, sending a body into the air. The body crashes down and the instructor calls for help.

Booth and Bones are meeting with Sweets. Booth tells Bones that he was late because he was closing a deal that will earn him fame and fortune. Bones asks if he is talking about the Rico case, then Booth gets a call from his brother Jared. Sweets is upset he never knew about his brother or the Rico case. Booth and Bones leave, arrive at the crime scene and examine the remains of the body that was ejected from the meth lab. Bones identifies the remains as belonging to a 45-50 year old male. The officer asks if he killed him. Bones tells him no because the man was shot in the chest. Booth notices something in the jacket pocket and pulls out a book. They see that it is filled with technical designs. They identify the book as belonging to Paul Stegman.

Back at the lab, The detectives analyze the body further. Clark is back and Angela asks if he is interested in what happened between her and Hodgens. Clark tells her that he only wants to talk about work. Clark then pulls up an image of a pattern on the body's face and says that he must have been hit before he was killed. Booth's brother Jared walks in and Camille is excited to see him. Bones meets Jared and tells him that his face is even more symmetrical than Booth's. Jared tells the team that he needs to borrow someone as a date for a party. Bones offers herself, but Jared agrees to go with Camille instead. Angela walks in, meets Jared, then Jared leaves. Angela says that Booth's brother is attractive and Bones asks if Angela is done being a lesbian. Angela tells her that she doesn't like to be labeled. Booth fills Clark in on Angela's reunion with her ex. Clark says that the only exes he cares about are x-rays.

Booth and Bones meet with Paul Stegman and his wife Lily. They ask him if his father owned a blue windbreaker. They show him the book and Paul says that he lent his dad his jacket and his book must have been in the pocket. Paul tells them that his dad was an alcoholic. Lily tells them that Jim, Paul's dad, got in a car accident when Paul was a kid. She says that the accident broke both of Jim's legs and Paula and his mother were hurt. Paul tells the detectives that he recently reconnected with his father when he found out where Paul lived from a newspaper article. Lily tells the detectives that she saw Jim arguing with Paul's partner Mike Campbell because Jim thought Mike was stealing from Paul.

Booth and Bones meet with Mike. He tells them that he and Paul were partners, but they went their separate ways. He explains that Paul was more into inventing toys and gadgets and Mike wanted to work on more serious problems. Bones notices a grate with a mesh pattern similar to the one found on Jim's face. She asks if she can take it and Mike says she can. In the car, Jared calls Booth and tells him that Cameron had to cancel their date. Bones offers herself again, and although Booth objects, Jared agrees.

At the lab, Clark tells Bones that he studied Jim's bones and found that there was no alcohol related bone damage and no evidence of broken legs from the accident. Clark and Bones realize that they have misidentified the victim.

Bones and Jared go on their date to a party with high ranking politicians and officers. Jared asks Bones if she is having a good time. She tells him she enjoys observing powerful people mingle. He tells her she's beautiful. She tells him that Booth would be bored at an event like this. He says that Booth is afraid of success. He then kisses Bones and says that his brother would probably be too scared to have done that too.

The next morning, Camille tells Booth that she found a DNA match to their body belonging to Anthony Pungetti. Booth asks if she has seen Bones and Camille says no. Colonel Ryan Wolchuck walks into Booth's office. He tells Booth that a body being discovered during training makes them look bad. He asks Booth not to disclose the facts of the case to the press, but Booth refuses. He tells Wolchuck that it's best to tell the truth and take any lumps that may come.

Camille sees Bones and notices that she hasn't changed from her date. Bones admits that she was up all night, but says that she didn't sleep with Jared. Angela walks in and tells her that it's a good thing she didn't because it would be wrong to sleep with the fake Booth before sleeping with the real Booth. Bones says that both of the brothers are Booths, but Angela says that Jared is Booth lite.

Angela finds the real Jim Stegman who was logged in the morgue as a John Doe. She says that he was found in the river last week, but he didn't die from drowning, he was shot to death. Bones and Booth are escorted through Jim's house by Sheriff Leonard Wilkinson. They find that Jim had written a check to Anthony Pungetti. The sheriff tells the detectives that Jim and Anthony had worked together before running a fraudulent repair shop. He suggests that Anthony might have stolen Jim's identity. Booth then receives a phone call and leaves.

Hodgins and Clark look through Paul's invention book and find that one was marked with a star. They get it operational and find that it is a garbage sorting device. Bones walks in and almost gets hit with a bottle that was ejected from the device. Clark tells Bones that he investigated the grate she brought in earlier and found that it was not the object that hit the victim's face. He says they are looking for a heavier object.

Booth meets his brother, who had called him, and finds that he was in an accident. Jared says that he fell asleep at the wheel, but Booth can tell that he was drinking. Colonel Wolchuck asks Booth if he wants to go with the truth in this matter and take his lumps. Jared says that his career will be ruined if he is arrested for DUI. Booth tells Wolchuck that he will make a deal with him.

Booth and Bones return to Paul and Lily and tell them they found Jim's body for real. They ask if they know why Jim would have written a check to Anthony. The detectives think that Jim and Anthony may have been working together to profit off of one of Paul's inventions. They ask Paul if they can see some of his things and while looking at a device, Booth uncovers a paper bag with $20,000. Paul and Lily are surprised and ask if they get to keep the cash.

Booth watches Wolchuck give a press conference where he takes full credit for closing the Rico case. Booth turns off the TV. Camille stops him and asks what happened with the case and why he didn't get the credit he deserved. Booth doesn't want to talk about it, then finally admits that he gave up his credit to help out his brother.

Sweets finally meets Jared. He notices that Jared has tickets to a Capitols game. Jared says that he's giving them to his brother as a thank you gift. Jared then tells Sweets that having a big brother is like having another dad, only his brother protected him from their father and everyone else.

Clark examines the remains of the real Jim. He says that Jim was shot 4 times at close range. Clark believes Jim was being tortured. Bones tells him that he is just guessing, but says that his guess has merit. Booth and Bones find out that Jim and Anthony had a third partner for their con named Steve Jackson. The find out that the partners ratted Steve out and landed him in jail. Steve was recently released and they think he may have wanted revenge.

Booth brings Steve in for questioning. He says that Jim was a good guy, but he hated Anthony and he's glad he's dead. Steve then shows Booth his ankle monitor and says that his moves are tracked so there's no way he could have committed murder.

Bones asks Booth why he didn't get credit for the Rico case. Booth doesn't want to tak about it, but Bones persists. She says that Jared told her that Booth is afraid to be successful and sabotages himself. Booth gets angry and asks Bones if she thinks he is a loser. Booth then gets a call from Camille. She says that she found Lily's fingerprints on the cash. She explains that Lily works with kids so her prints are on file.

Booth and Bones ask Lily about the money. She tells them that a few days ago a package arrived addressed to Jim. After they hadn't heard from him for a few days, she thought maybe he wanted them to open the package. She says that she saw the cash and thought it was for them because they needed money. She shows them a note that was with the package and they see that it was signed P. Lily tells them that she didn't say anything because she hadn't told Paul yet. She then says that there was $150,000 more which she put in a safety deposit box.

Booth and Bones figure that Jim wrote a check to Anthony, who in turn mailed the cash to Jim who said he was staying with his son. When Anthony discovered that Jim was dead, he probably stole his identity to try to recover the cash. Camille then calls Bones and asks her to meet her at the lab.

Bones arrives and is confronted by Sweets and Camille. They tell her that they are concerned about her relationship with Jared. Sweets says that Booth had an abusive, alcoholic father and he always had to protect Jared. Sweets explains that Booth always bailed out Jared, which made Jared look good and caused Booth to make sacrifices. Camille tells Bones that she thinks Booth didn't get credit for the Rico case because of Jared. Bones says she needs more evidence. Camille changes the subject and tells her that they have more evidence about Jim and Anthony. She says that both were killed by the same gun.

Bones meets Jared for lunch and asks him why Booth didn't get credit for the Rico case. Jared realizes that he sacrificed his credit for Jared's protection, but tells Bones that the matter is between them as brothers. Bones yells at Jared for making her think that Booth was a loser. She calls Jared the loser then walks out.

Booth tells Bones that the money that was mailed to Jim was actual police evidence from a crime and it went missing during a transfer. They realize that Anthony was pretending to be the driver for the transfer. They think about who else would have known about his scheme and Booth remembers that he told the sheriff about the cash. Booth thinks that he might try to collect the rest of the cash. He turns the car around and they see the sheriff holding Lily hostage. Gunfire ensues and Bones gets hit. She tells Booth she is okay, then the sheriff drives off and crashes.

Later that night, the team celebrates Booth's birthday at a bar. Bones makes a toast to him saying that she thinks that he is an alpha male even though he isn't flamboyant like anthropologists always say alpha males are. She promises never to be tricked by shiny alpha males again. She then takes Booth aside to talk. He won't say anything about Jared, but Bones tells him that Sweets told her that if he keeps protecting Jared it will prevent Jared from taking care of himself. Booth finally tells her the truth about Jared's DUI. He tells her that his protecting Jared is no different than her getting her dad cleared of murder charges. Bones points out that Jared might drink and drive again and Booth realizes she's right. He then takes Jared outside and tells him he has to stop drinking. Jared refuses and walks away. Booth punches a bus stop, then sits down. Bones brings him some cake and he starts to open up about his father.

BeeThoughts

I'm glad Clark is back. Although it's interesting to have a new intern every week, it's better to have a familiar face. It must be awful to work with that team and having to listen to all of their dirty details. It seemed like Jared could tell that his brother had a thing for Bones. I bet that's why he pursued her, so he could show up Booth. It's good that Bones saw through Jared and recognized that Booth is the real Booth. I wonder if they will become closer after having met his brother.

- Kristine R.