The Passenger in the Oven

Booth accompanies Bones on a trip to China where she is to participate in an archeological study. Her plans change when a body is found in the oven aboard the plane. Read the BeeSight recap and review to find out what happened on the ninth episode of the fourth season of Bones on FOX and join in the discussion.

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Booth is on a plane in coach, sandwiched between two elderly women. One lady is sleeping and the other lady is reading a crime novel. He gets up to go to the bathroom, and walks into first class. He sees a teenager named Eli taking liquor bottles and makes the kid hand them over. Eli's dad asks if there's a problem and Booth says no. Booth then sits down next to Bones, who had booked a seat in first class. He checks out her amenities, including a vibrating seat, then the flight attendant kicks him out. Booth tries to argue that he needs to be with his partner, and Bones tells the flight attendant that they are going to China so she can engage her true passion of studying ancient remains. The flight attendant doesn't care and sends Booth back to coach.

Booth sneaks back into first class after seeing that the flight attendant has left. He sits down next to Bones and says that he thought working with him was her true passion. She tells him that studying remains is what led her to be a forensic investigator in the first place and for her science comes first. The detectives then hear a scream and follow the voice to the galley below the plane. The flight attendant is standing there in shock after discovering a charred body in the oven. Booth argues with the pilot over whether or not they are on US or Chinese territory. The pilot tells Booth that they have the four hours left in the air to solve the case, because when they land, they will be on Chinese territory.

Camille, who had given everyone the day off, calls everyone back in to work on the case over an internet connection. The team arrives to work in their street clothes and after making fun of Sweets, they get to work.

Booth and Bones set up a makeshift lab on the plane. Booth asks the lady who he was sitting next to for some tweezers and tape. She figures that there must have been a murder on the plane and says that she thinks it was someone in first class because everyone else who got up came back. She then hands Booth a knitting needle and tells him that Dr. Brennan will want to use it as a probe.

Booth returns with the supplies and Bones is excited to see the probe because she didn't even think to ask for one. Booth takes credit for the idea and Bones gets to work. Booth notices the phone is off the hook and he calls in the staff to find out who used it. Another flight attendant named Ming admits that she called her boyfriend. The pilot says that her call was a violation of the rules. She tells him that sleeping with passengers in the bathroom is against the rules too and Booth breaks up the argument.

Hodgins sees that the charred fingertips suggest that the victim was wearing fake nails, Camille finds that the victim had either brown or red hair, and Bones sees that the victim was about 5'2''. The detectives ask the flight attendants who fits the description and they realize that a first class passenger named Elizabeth Jones fits the description and is now missing. Booth and Bones wake up the man who is sitting in the seat next to Elizabeth's seat. He tells the detectives that he never saw the person he was next to because he took sleeping pills for the flight. Eli's dad stands up and asks everyone to keep it down so his sick wife can get some rest. His wife says she doesn't mind and Eli, now drunk, backs up his mom.

After noticing a shadow in the sternum, Booth takes pictures of the remains for the team to study. Booth borrows his seat neighbor's reading glasses so Bones can get a magnified image of the remains. Booth sees Bones in the glasses and asks her to tell him that he will be punished for his overdue books. Bones is confused by his statement, but continues her work.

Bones notices that there is a wound on the skull and she figures that the victim was hit on the head before she was killed. Bones asks Booth to bring her denture cream, baby powder, and a lighter so she can get an imprint of the wound and find the murder weapon. Booth asks the ladies if they have denture cream, but both have their original teeth. Booth then announces to the whole plane that he needs the items that Bones requested. People hand forward the cream and powder, but no one has a lighter because they are not allowed on the plane. Ming secretly hands him a lighter and claims that she confiscated it from a passenger.

The detectives learn that Elizabeth Jones was a writer for a travel magazine and Bones asks Caroline to find out more. Caroline tells the detectives that she will make a convincing case to take on both the US and Chinese governments. Camille sends Caroline and Sweets to talk to Howard Kendall, the magazine editor, to find out more information about Elizabeth. He tells them that she was on a trip to China for pleasure, not work. He says that she had time off after finishing her expose on airline pilots with undisclosed DUIs which was scheduled to be published in the next issue.

Bones gets an impression of the murder weapon and Booth sees that the pattern matches the door handle of the oven. The detectives figure the killer slammed the victim into the door handle, then shoved her into the oven. Camille asks Bones to give her a description of the flesh, but Bones doesn't feel comfortable making a subjective assessment. Booth steps in and they realize that the color of the skin means there was blood present, so she was alive when put in the oven and the density of the cooked flesh means she was killed about 6 hours ago.