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The Past in the Present is the 13th episode and the season finale of Season 7 of Bones.

Synopsis[]

Evil tech genius Christopher Pelant, a suspect in a previous case Brennan and Booth handled, is back in court on appeal. Knowing what he is capable of, Brennan and Booth with the help of Caroline inform the parole board panel that he is a suspect in two murder cases. Then, Brennan and Booth are called to the scene of a new murder. After determining the victim is Brennan’s friend, who also is linked to Pelant, the Jeffersonian team works to prove he is guilty once and for all. But when law enforcement examines the team’s findings, key pieces of evidence are tied to Brennan and suspicion falls on her.

Summary[]

We open at a parole hearing, where Caroline's blood is up. Turns out computer hacker and likely murderer Pelant might soon have his ankle bracelet turned off. Bones and Booth are in the audience and provide grisly pictures of crimes in which Pelant is THE "person of interest." As the parole board delays Pelant's release until they can review the case files, Bones' and Booth's cell phones begin to ring. Their ring tones have been changed to the eery howls of wolves. Could it have been Pelant, who turns and smiles?

Later, the team arrives a national park where a couple got lost after their "GPS reversed direction" and found more grisly remains. The victim, male, has been feast for the animals -- a pack of wolves. Bones then recognizes a broken bone. It's one she once reset. "It's Ethan Sawyer. Pelant killed my friend!" Bones says. Again, Booth's cell phone rings. More howls. Later, Sweets and Booth discuss Sawyer, who went to grad school with Bones and became a brilliant doctor before being committed to a mental institution. Back at the lab, Camille notes the victim was still alive when he was eaten by wolves. Bones then admits she was secretly consulting with the victim, a paranoid schizophrenic, on the Pelant case. Booth is upset.

B&B then watch video at the mental institution -- from which Sawyer mysteriously disappeared after a "computer glitch." It turns out Sawyer was very sick and believed the baby Bones was carrying at the time to be the devil. Booth is horrified to find out Sawyer threatened his daughter. Later, Angela (Michaela Conlin) watches a security feed from the mental institution. It shows Bones leaving the building the night before Sawyer escaped. But that's impossible, Bones protests -- she was last there two weeks before the disappearance. Still, the time stamp on the video feed doesn't lie. Or was it hacked by Pelant? "You're going to need an alibi for this night," says a worried  Angela, noting Bones has a motive. Sawyer wanted to kill her child.

Back at the Jeffersonian, Camille discovers what appears to be a needle mark in one of the victim's bones. Wendell is shocked Bones didn't see it during her initial examination. At B&B's house, the new parents argue over whether they should change their lives and plans due to the threat from Pelant. They decide to stand firm and be very careful, but refuse to be intimidated.

Cue a montage of Bones examining the victim and Pelant building a device of some kind. Bones admits to Wendell she missed the needle mark -- and she doesn't want to miss anything else. Sure enough, she discovers cuts on the victim's skulls. Hodgins then reports he found traces of a powerful drug in the needle mark. He tells the rest of the team -- but not Bones or Booth -- the drug, used to knock people out, comes from a rare plant that Bones just recently asked to borrow from him. Could Bones actually be the killer?

Angela is so upset . She runs to Booth to warn him. "She didn't do it!" Booth yells. Angela sympathizes, but points out the evidence doesn't look good. Booth's phone rings. It's Bones. She says Pelant has her! Booth rushes to Pelant's apartment and bursts through the door. He finds Pelant and throws him across the room, demanding to know what the hacker/killer has done with Bones. It soon becomes clear Bones is, in fact, safe at home. Booth is the victim of another Pelant "prank." Booth doesn't like this, so he smashes Pelant's face through a window and then stomps on him.

Later, Caroline has bad, bad news. Pelant's lawyer found out about Booth's home invasion and released Pelant. Not only that, but Booth and Bones have been removed from the case. Flynn enters and demands Booth's gun and badge. "So Pelant got everything he wants," Booth seethes. Back at the Jeffersonian, Angela does a computer representation of the victim's skeleton and sees tiny cuts. Somebody cut the man's arteries to attract the wolves. And who has that kind of medical training? Bones, of course. 

Reluctantly, Camille has to report the news to Flynn. Angela objects, knowing she is running out of time to prove Bones' innocence. Sure enough, Flynn looks at Sweets' profile and discovers it could match Pelant or Bones. They are more similar than anybody on the Jeffersonian team would like to admit. Back at B&B's place, Angela hacks into Pelant's account and finds he has ordered thousands of books and thousands of pay-per-movies -- so many, one person couldn't possibly watch them all. Strange. The doorbell rings. It's Flynn with a warrant to search the house. Fortunately, the address on the warrant is one number off -- a technicality. Flynn will have to go back to the judge to get a new, correct one. B&B have bought a bit more time.

Meanwhile, Camille has horrible news for Hodgins: one of the victim's hairs has been found in the trunk of Bones' car. Camille begins to cry. Bones will be arrested. Angela then examines ALL the library books ordered by Pelant. Hodgins helps her look for  clues. Caroline then goes to B&B house to warn them (she also more or less admits to putting the wrong house address on the warrant). Bones has just a few hours. She then looks at an inscription written by Sawyer in a book he gave her. It contains a quote from Alexander Pope that seems to be a cryptic message. Hodgins and Camille visit Sawyer's old room at the mental hospital -- and discover with the help of black light, a massive coded message written in his own saliva. Hodgins takes pictures.

Back at the Jeffersonian, Angela calls Bones to tell her about the coded message. "I just want to say thank you for believing in me," Bones tells her friend before hanging up. She then joins Booth, Max and Christine inside a church for the baby's private baptism. B&B wanted to have it done before Bones was arrested. As the baptism progresses, Pelant enters B&B home and replaces their bedside alarm clock with his own exact version. He then takes pictures of the baby's nursery ... and smiles a very evil smile.

Back at the Jeffersonian, Angela has news for Caroline. She has figured out Pelant got the library books and inserted his nefarious codes into the bar codes. When the library got the books back and scanned them back into the catalog, the codes were uploaded to the Internet. "Do you think this is enough to keep Brennan from being arrested?" Angela asks. Unfortunately, no. But the team still has a fighting chance.

Booth and Bones, meanwhile, leave the church. Booth is just going to fetch the car, when Brennan tells him she loves him. She does not want him to think that's only because of Christine. They kiss. Booth goes to bring up the car from back of the church. When he leaves to get the car, Max pulls up in his car and hustles Bones inside with the baby. "Drive as far as you can without getting exhausted!" Max tells his daughter. "Trust me! Now wait for me where we said." Bones gets into the car with Christine and drives away.

Meanwhile, Booth's car seems to have some kind of mechanical fault as it fails to start. Booth goes back and sees Bones leave. He yells at Bones to stop driving. Max says he should stay in the system and get Pelant--Booth being angry and unable to cope with what he is feeling tells Max he would get his family back. He beseeches Max to tell Bones the latter. She is on the run.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Intern of the Week[]

Recurring Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Featured Music[]

  • Sleeping At Last - From The Ground Up
  • Y La Bamba - Moral Panic
  • RED GARLAND - Marie's Delight

Quotes[]

Brennan: "I love you, Booth. I don't want you to think that Christine is the only reason we are together."
Booth: "You know, let's just not change our lives for this guy. All right? Look, I love you the way you are, Bones. Okay?"

Notes[]

  • The scene where Booth and Brennan speak to the woman from the victim's psychiatric ward is filmed in Hart Hanson's former office.
  • Emily Deschanel (Brennan) and Reed Diamond (Agent Flynn) shared screen in Spider-Man 2 (2004)
  • After the intro, when Booth and Sweets are walking into the FBI building, they and many others are able to walk freely past a metal detector. Why would this metal detector be placed there if you could just walk right past it without showing ID or anything? It should be cordoned off completely with the only way in through the detector. The agent would show his or her ID to pass freely.
    • Correction: Booth and Sweets do show their badges if you pay close attention, they are seen showing the inside of theire coats/suit jackets to the security guard they walk by, as does everyone else walking in that way.


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