The Girl in the Fridge is the eighth episode of the first season of Bones.
Summary[]
Brennan is about to go out for dinner with her old professor and ex-lover when Booth asks her and her team to help identify the remains of a young woman found in a refrigerator.
Recap[]
Dr. Brennan's former professor from Northwestern University, Dr. Michael Stires, drops by for a visit. The two also have a casual sexual relationship which Brennan assumes is not complicated. She also thinks that they have a healthy professional rivalry. Both these assumptions are tested in a new case that starts with the decayed remains found in an old refrigerator. The remains belong to Maggie Schilling, a 19-year-old dancer who was estranged from her family. She was briefly held for ransom 11 months earlier before the negotiations suddenly terminated.
Dr. Jack Hodgins and Brennan's assistant, Zack Addy, determine that the victim had hyperparathyroidism, which is confirmed by the victim's former doctor. The doctor discloses to Booth and Brennan that his former office manager, Mary Costello, had supplied the victim with drugs. The investigation swiftly leads to two likely suspects, Mary Costello and her husband, when Booth sees their new refrigerator and later finds handcuffs in their basement that Brennan suspects may have caused the stress fractures on the victim's wrist.
The twist in the tale occurs when Michael is recruited by the defense as an expert witness. The trial boils down to a contest between the cold factual style of Brennan and the charming layman approach of Michael. The prosecution's jury consultant highlights this standoff as a "choice between reality and perception", and she goes on to state that perception wins cases. In the first few rounds, the expert witness for defense has the upper hand with his charming layman approach and his smear campaign against Brennan. Booth decides to bring out an emotional testimony from Brennan by asking the prosecution to bring up her missing parents and the reason for her being a forensic anthropologist. This breaks the proverbial ice between the jury and Brennan, leading to a conviction by the jury.
Michael tries to reconcile with Brennan, who ignores him. Booth apologizes to Brennan for breaching her privacy but states that it was necessary for their case. Seeing Brennan's sadness, Angela Montenegro tries to invite her for a drink but Brennan declines. Booth brings Brennan to another crime scene, where he apologizes to her again. Brennan accepts his apology, saying that she would have done what he did in the same situation.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Temperance Brennan - Emily Deschanel
- Seeley Booth - David Boreanaz
- Jack Hodgins - T.J Thyne
- Angela Montenegro - Michaela Conlin
- Zack Addy - Eric Millegan
- Daniel Goodman - Jonathan Adams
Guest Cast[]
- Michael Stires - Josh Hopkins
- Neil Meredith - Matt Ross
- A.U.S.A. Andrew Levitt - Leonard Roberts
- Joy Deaver - Alicia Coppola
- Mary Costello - Rachel Miner
- Scott Costello - Ross McCall
- Brian Schilling - Keith Sellon-Wright
- Audrey Schilling - Kate McNeil
- Dr. Barragan - Lou Richards
- Federal Judge Lang - Patti Yasutake
- Juror - Stephanie Vandagriff
- Maggie Schilling - Amanda Saccany
Featured Music[]
- Hold Tight by Mark Geary
Notes[]
- The episode is in part inspired by the murder of Denise Huber, a young woman who was kidnapped, murdered, and found dead in a fridge in the pickup truck of the killer, still in handcuffs she was restrained by.
- Brennan mentioned that she graduated from Northwestern University, attaining her graduate degree in Forensic Anthropology. She shares this with author Kathy Reichs, who also graduated from Northwestern with a PhD in Physical Anthropology.
Quotes[]
- Zack puts his hand up for a fist bump. "You're supposed to bump my fist with yours."
Brennan: "Why?"
Zack: "I'm told it's a widely acknowledged gesture of mutual success."
Angela: "I love it when you two impersonate earthlings."
I don't know what that means[]
- Angela refers to Bones and Michael as "colleagues with benefits."
- Booth: "This sort of thing only comes up when the bloom goes off the rose, if you know what I mean."
Brennan: "I don't know what you mean."
External Links[]
- The Girl in the Fridge summary at the official site of Bones
- "Bones" The Girl in the Fridge (2005) at IMDb.com
- Bones: The Girl in the Fridge at TV.com
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