BONES Review: The Truth in the Art of Deception

By Olga Kijāna

What do a dislocated shoulder, a truffle oil allergy and a swallowed key have in common?

The answer is Klarissa Mott, the victim of the week in the latest Bones episode “The Promise in the Palace.”

As the story focused on an escape artist, we tried to figure out if there is a place for magic in the science-driven world of the Jeffersonian. Meanwhile, things took an unexpected turn for Cam as she discovered why Angela’s photography mentor, Sebastian, kept coming around to the lab all the time.

Does the tooth fairy stand a chance in the Booth & Brennan household? Will Cam find happiness again? Is deception always a bad thing, or is there more than one kind of magic in life?

Let’s examine the evidence.

Sleight of Hand

Booth and Brennan initially assumed Klarissa’s recurring shoulder bone injuries were due to domestic abuse, however, her roommate pointed out that she was an escape artist – and a very dedicated one at that. According to Klarissa’s boss at the Magic Palace, Lenny, she always took a greater risk than others. However, her colleague pointed out that she had been distracted lately. Turns out, Klarissa was on pain medication and made regular appointments with her flexibility coach, as if practicing for the gig of a lifetime. Angela’s analysis of Klarissa’s e-mails revealed that Lenny’s son had a bone to pick with Klarissa, since Lenny took her under his wing, and revealed his greatest trick – the Drunken Monkey – only to her. Nevertheless, Lenny Jr was ruled out as a suspect, since all he did was follow Klarissa, and discovered that she’d been having an affair. With a little help from truffle oil, which was discovered on the victim by Hodgins, the mystery man turned out to be her roommate’s fine-dining-aficionado boyfriend. That’s right, the escape artist wasn’t the only one dead this episode – so was female solidarity. Or maybe not quite, since jealousy didn’t drive Klarissa’s roommate to take revenge. This time, the motive for murder was a broken promise, as we discovered Klarissa’s boss Lenny could not live with the fact that his apprentice would be moving on to work at the Gold Pearl Casino. He resented her for betraying him after everything he had taught her, so in the greatest spirit of irony, he killed her with the padlock and chain used to perform the signature Drunken Monkey trick that he had given her.

To our greatest relief, Angela was much luckier with her mentor, Sebastian, a world-renowned photographer she met at her surprise exhibition courtesy of Hodgins earlier this season. Sebastian seemed very invested in visiting Angela at the lab as much as possible, seemingly to provide feedback on her latest photographs, to the point that Cam couldn’t help pointing out that he must be attracted to Angela, much to Angela’s amusement and disbelief. Concerned, Cam decided to confront Sebastian about it – and didn’t know whether to be baffled or flattered when he admitted that it is actually her he is interested in, not Angela.

Meanwhile, Booth and Brennan argued about introducing Christine to the tooth fairy after their daughter’s first tooth fell out. Brennan thought it was ridiculous to deceive a child about the existence of an “imaginary goblin” and suggested they explain to Christine the science behind why the teeth fall out instead, while Booth advocated for preserving the tradition and introducing some magic into Christine’s life. Struggling to understand Booth’s take on the tooth fairy, Brennan kept bringing it up with her co-workers, which resulted in Clark’s hilarious (and sorely unsuccessful!) attempts to show her a trick which she would not be able to figure out. However, Brennan’s perspective on magic did shift after she had expertly tricked Lenny into confessing to Klarissa’s murder – admittedly, her concept of “frequency of luminescence” as proof of his guilt was inspired!

A twist of fate

Sebastian and Cam – does their relationship have a future? Cam struggled with this question, and surely, so did all of the Cam and Arastoo shippers faced with the introduction of a new romantic interest for Cam. Arastoo broke up with Cam in order to pursue a career elsewhere, to move on, and after two months, perhaps, Cam is finally ready to do the same. After all, Angela’s words rang very true – the surest way to never have another great relationship again is never to try in the first place. Truthfully, his accent is pretty irresistible, and we are excited to see where this goes!

In light of Cam’s dilemma, Brennan brought up that she would want Booth to move on if something had happened to them, listing all the possible scenarios related to work and illness, which sent a chill down Booth’s spine – and ours. This better not be foreshadowing. Booth pointed out he didn’t like the idea of Brennan with another man, and neither do we.

On a lighter note, how utterly adorable was Booth pulling off a magic trick for Brennan that left her absolutely baffled? How did the case file end up in her shirt pocket after he had ripped it? If anyone can figure out how Brennan ticks, it’s Booth, and the wonder on her face when she looked at him was the greatest proof that a little mystery is good for the soul…