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The Prisoner in the Pipe is the seventh episode of the seventh season of Bones.

Synopsis[]

The remains of an escaped convict are found in a residential sewer, but an examination of the sewer pipes indicates that the murder occurred within prison walls. Brennan insists on solving the crime - despite Booth's pleas for her not to overexert herself - and the expectant couple experiences a very untraditional arrival of their baby daughter.

Summary[]

We open in suburbia where a father tries to talk his toddler daughter out of believing there is a monster in the bathroom. She buys it and heads into the restroom ... only to start screaming. Sure enough, human eyeball floating in toilet. Both father and daughter are likely scarred for life.

Booth (David Boreanaz) and Bones, meanwhile, tour the hospital where they will have their baby. "I want a home birth where I can control things," argues Bones (Emily Deschanel), loudly explaining how filthy hospitals can be and taking out her blue light to point out the evidence. The other prospective parents are horrified. B&B then get a call: an eye has been found in a toilet. Time to get to work. The team soon arrives in suburbia and starts pulling parts out of the potty. Later, Hodgins (T.J. Thyne) examines a portion of the clogged sewer while Daisy (Carla Gallo) volunteers she is training to be a doula. "You are getting nowhere near my cervix," Bones informs her.

Bones quickly determines the victim was male ... and the eyeball has a lens implant. Camille (Tamara Taylor) examines the lens and discovers a serial number. The victim will soon be identified. Later, Booth heads to the diner with Sweets (John Francis Daley) and gets very, very agitated to discover the place now has a fancy coffee drink machine. The man just wants a cup of black coffee. Obviously, there is more bothering the expectant father. He explains to Sweets he wants to have the baby in the hospital while Bones wants to deliver at home. Angela (Michaela Conlin) calls with the ID of the victim -- a man named Rob who recently escaped from prison.

Booth brings in the man's wife for an interview. She is furious with her dead husband, who was in prison for running a ponzi scheme. The dead man apparently left his pretty young wife with nothing. Hodgins, meanwhile, is very excited about his newest toy: a sewer bot currently exploring the pipes near the home where the victim "surfaced." The video feed soon reveals a bone.

Sweets, in the meantime, gives Bones a "partner assessment," which is little more than a thinly disguised way to convince the pregnant woman she should have the baby in the hospital. Naturally, Booth put Sweets up to it. Bones sees through the ploy immediately and takes both Sweets and her partner (at work and in life) to task. Later, Hodgins and Daisy are still remotely exploring the sewer. They discover bars right below the prison. No way the victim escaped through the pipe ... in one piece anyway. "He was killed in prison and then dumped in the sewer," Hodgins explains.

Bones and Booth then head to the prison, arguing the entire way. Bones proposes they compromise: Booth can baptize his daughter. Bones will give birth at home. Booth doesn't seem overly pleased with this "deal." The partners then get a call from the lab: the victim was beaten in prison long before he was killed. Back at the lab, Angela digitally recreates the victim's skeleton and they discover the man was stabbed in the ribs with an almost four-inch blade. "Looks like he have our cause of death," Camille observes.

At the prison, the guard readily admits the victim was beaten, though he can't say who did the deed. A prisoner named Jackson (Pruitt Taylor Vince), however, did break up the fight. Booth questions Jackson, who directs Booth to the warden, whose office was the last place the victim was seen. Turns out Rob was working in the accounting department at the prison. The warden found Rob stealing, about $500, and reassigned him to another area in the big house. The lab calls to describe the murder weapon, most likely a shiv. B&B look through the vast collection of confiscated shivs. Bones identifies one of the sharp sticks exactly matching the length of the weapon described by Angela.  It is made of highly compressed paper ... with something written on it.

Back at the lab, Daisy seduces Sweets into doing it at the office. He resists, weakly, before giving into his animal instincts. As the couple tumble to the floor, they bump the tray of the victim's bones. Daisy pops up and discovers something she has missed: the victim was likely dismembered with the help of acid. She excitedly leaves the office to report. Sweets is left frustrated. At the prison, B&B visit the mailbox works with the guard, who explains the shop contains an large acid bath. Booth then interviews an inmate whose parents were wiped out by the victim's financial crimes. The inmate denies any wrongdoing and then clams up, refusing to talk without his lawyer.

Hodgins calls with news: the inmate wasn't dissolved in the mailbox works acid. It's a different acid compound. But where from in the prison? Angela calls with more news: the words written on the paper-made murder weapon come from a cookbook. B&B head to the prison kitchen and discover the cookbook with pages ripped out as well as a drain the victim might've been poured down. But how to explain the acid? Back at the lab, Hodgins and Daisy deduce the vinegar from the kitchen was evaporated into a form of acid.

Bones takes pictures of the prints left on the cookbook and sends them to Angela. The prints belong to Jackson, who works in the kitchen. The theory is Jackson stabbed Rob, dissolved his body in acid and then poured him down the drain. So a very pregnant Bones goes rushing into the prison population yelling for Jackson. He flees. A massive fight breaks out among the inmates. Booth eventually disarms Jackson and flips the prison onto the ground. Jackson admits the victim had promised him money. When Jackson found out Rob had no money, the inmate took his revenge.

Case closed, but not the episode. Bones suddenly goes into labor. B&B hurry to the car and hit the road. It soon becomes clear they're not going to make it to the hospital. There is no time. So they pull over into a winery, which offers the pair room in the barn. "It's the perfect place!" Bones exclaims. Booth points out they were just denied entry at an inn and are going to give birth in a manger. "There's some things you can't explain -- why can't you just admit there's a mystery to life!?" an excited Booth exclaims.

Bones moans and pushes through labor. Soon, we hear a tiny baby crying. Booth and Bones have had their baby alone in a barn in wine country. They greet their baby and cuddle as a family. Later, the couple returns home to find all their friends waiting. "She is beautiful!" Angela explains. Camille offers the new mom a sip of champagne. "Our daughter's name is Christine Angela," Bones says -- after Bones's mom and her close friend and coworker.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Intern of the Week[]

Recurring Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Featured Music[]

Quotes[]

Daisy: We all need to pitch in and help [Dr. Brennan] every way we can. I'm becoming a certified doula.
Brennan: You aren't getting anywhere near my cervix, Ms. Wick.


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The Crack in the Code
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CategoriesMain Characters ·  Relationships


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