The Witch in the Wardrobe is the twentieth episode of the fifth season of Bones
Summary
The remains of an elderly woman are found after a house fire. The skeleton is wearing a white dress and was placed in a sealed wardrobe. Someone had used wire to keep the skeleton together, but didn't do a very good job. Angela and Hodgins discover that some kind of white powder residue has been sprinkled in a circle around the house. Brennan discovers a second body (more recently killed), and its shoes curl up after being exposed.
The more recent remains are examined first, and Cam thinks the victim had already died before the fire started. Clark discovers that the victim's wrists are wrapped around with wire. The second skeleton, the one in the wardrobe, was around 40-50 years old, and she had a hunch in her back. The body may have been crushed, and Brennan thinks that this is similar to what happened to accused witches during the Salem Witch trials.
As Angela and Hodgins drive back to the lab from the crime scene, Angela wonders whether there is still tension between them. Hodgins admits that he doesn't feel any, and it's nice to be able to work with her without that getting in the way. As Angela takes a look at some photographs she took at the house, Hodgins tries to sneak a peak and then accidentally swerves into the other lane. The sheriff who'd worked with them at the crime scene earlier pulls their car over.
Sweets explains that he's excited that the team is working on a case with a witch, since he did his first book on the Salem Witch Trials. There has to be a connection between the older victim and the younger one. Booth finds out that the house belonged to a woman named Cheri Byrd, and that she has a brother, Jesse. Booth speaks with Jesse, who says that once his sister found witchcraft, they had grown more distant. Her witch name was apparently "Zephyra". A real estate developer named Mario Trivisonno wished to buy the house, but Cheri wouldn't sell.
Angela and Hodgins both have outstanding warrants, so they'll have to sit in jail awhile as they await the judge's say in whether they can be freed. Meanwhile, Booth interrogates Mario, who admits that he wanted to buy Cheri's property from her, and he was strong-arming her to do it. He claims she cursed him to lose his hair, and he backed off from the plan.
Clark figures out that Cheri must have been stabbed multiple times, and Booth requests that he make casts of the wounds. Clark also discovers some kind of golden blob, but Hodgins isn't around to identify what the blob might be. Angela calls Brennan, and she explains that both she and Hodgins are in jail. Cam goes to hopefully get them out. Cam walks in on Hodgins giving Angela a back massage. However, the sheriff refuses to release them so Hodgins just hands over the evidence they collected from the crime scene.
Sweets explains that the team should talk to the local witches' coven in order to get more information on Cheri. Booth and Brennan wander in the forest to find the witches, who are in the middle of the Waning Moon ceremony. Brennan is fascinated as they watch the Wiccans, who are wearing white robes, burn a small effigy and then sprinkle white powder on their fire. And then the women all take off their robes, which catches Booth by complete surprise.
Booth talks to two of the witches, Ember and Rowan, about Zephyra. They say that the ceremony was for her, and to say goodbye to her corporeal existence. However, they also mention that Zephyra was not a part of their coven because she made money off of her craft and the people hired her to make bad things happen.
Meanwhile, Clark is having trouble cleaning some of the throat cartilage he's found on the body, and wishes he had Hodgins and Angela's help. The pair are still sitting in jail, reminiscing of the time when they had to huddle together for warmth in a cold, snowy cabin. The sheriff brings in a computer, and Cam and Clark talk to them via webcam. Hodgins says that the gold mass is amber from a piece of jewelry. There's a bug trapped in the middle of the amber, a fungus gnat which is likely hundreds of millions of years old. Angela also notices a dark hair in the evidence, which could come from the murderer.
The hair belongs to Murray Hudler, who paid Zephyra to curse his ex-wife, who had left him for their lawyer. He gave Zephyra his ex-wife's wedding dress and one of his hairs to do the spell, but it didn't work. Brennan informs Clark that the bones he'd not been able to identify aren't human bones, but they seem to come from a small animal. Hodgins says they're bat bones. The killer had put a bat in the throat of the victim.
Angela and Hodgins both express regret about their breakup, and they discover that they're still in love with each other. When the judge arrives to release them, they have other plans in mind.
Sweets suspects that Zephyra took the bones of the witch in order to boost her power. He tells Brennan and Booth that there was only one victim of pressing during the Salem witch trials. Pressing was the form of torture the first victim was subjected to. And that witch has Ember as a direct descendant. Ember explains that she did buy bat bones online, but she didn't hurt Zephyra. She didn't even know that Zephyra desecrated her ancestor's burial plot.
Brennan believes that Ember didn't have the physical strength to kill Cheri alone. The stab wounds on her body were at the exact points of a pentagram, and so Cheri was killed by the entire coven as they surrounded her. Sweets doesn't believe that the Wiccans would do anyone harm, since they are white witches. Clark points out that the white powder the witches use in their ceremonies is rye flour. However, the flour had been infected with a fungus which, when inhaled, causes hallucinations similar to when one takes LSD.
Sweets thinks that the witches only wanted to keep Zephyra's evil influence from escaping, but the fungus made them paranoid of Zephyra's power and they ended up killing her.
Meanwhile, Hodgins and Angela get married in the jail with the justice who had made the request that they be freed. Hodgins gives Angela the ring he's been carrying around in his wallet ever since their first wedding.
Booth and Brennan are at the Founding Fathers, discussing the case. Booth says that the witches gave him an effigy of Brennan, and that they said if he burns it, then his wish for Brennan would come true. He burns the effigy in front of Brennan, saying that he wishes for her to find happiness. Brennan says thank you, which makes Booth laugh saying that she had to believe. He then says,"You want to see me burn another one?", which makes Brennan ask,"How many more do you have?"
Cast
Main Cast
- Temperance Brennan - Emily Deschanel
- Seeley Booth - David Boreanaz
- Jack Hodgins - T.J Thyne
- Angela Montenegro - Michaela Conlin
- Camille Saroyan - Tamara Taylor
- Lance Sweets - John Francis Daley
Intern of the Week
- Clark Edison - Eugene Byrd
Guest Cast
- Ember - Jillian Bach
- Rowan - Kate Vernon
- Floyd Barber - William Stanford Davis
- Mario Trivisonno - Joel Polis
- Jesse Byrd - Peter Holden
- Murray Huddler - Chris Ufland
- Sheriff Gus Abrams - Wade Williams
Notes
- The title is a reference to the second book of the Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis.
- When the wardrobe is opened during the intro, electric fans can be seen behind it that provided the gust to make the dress blow in the wind.
- There are references to 'The Wizard of Oz; throughout the episode - which has often been referenced in 100th episodes.
I don't know what that means
Booth: I wish, I wished that you could find happiness
Brennan: I don't know what that means
Quotes
Hodgins: "We're not in Kansas anymore"
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