- Bones and Booth fly to China so Brennan can identify some remains. During the flight, a body is discovered inside an oven. Bones and Booth must solve the crime before the flight lands in China.
- On Booth and Bones' flight to China for an archaeological examination, a travel reporter's body is found, cooked to death in the microwave. Sweets gets Bones' editor to name her possibly relevant adulterous flirt and her next article subject, pilot alcohol abuse. The Jeffersonian team must help with forensics on transmitted data before the Chinese authorities get jurisdiction after the plane lands.—KGF Vissers
- Wait a minute: Booth and Brennan are on a commercial flight to Shanghai, China? Pardon us for asking, but how are they going to discover a body at 36,000 feet?
Well, anyway, Booth excuses himself from a kindly old woman reading a mystery novel, passes an adolescent boy stealing booze from the drink cart and then plants himself in first class next to Brennan. An attendant, Kate, quickly arrives to give our boy the boot. Booth explains that Brennan is headed to China to help the government identify "some real old Chinese dude." The attendant is not impressed -- and Booth heads back to coach.
Back on solid ground, Camille gives the team the rest of the day off. Roxie, Angela's on-again, off-again lesbian lover, arrives to pick her up. Lance asks why their relationship bothers Hodgins. "It just matters," he says. Lance then asks if Hodgins feels threatened. Hodgins answers by storming off.
CUT to the plane, where Booth has successfully sneaked back into first class. But wouldn't you know it? Just as the big man is about to recline, we hear a piercing SCREAM from the back of the plane! Our favorite investigative pair rushes to investigate. They discover a distraught attendant standing over the industrial microwave. Inside: the charred remains of a human -- about medium well, we're guessing.
We've got ourselves a case, boys and girls.
One commercial break later, the captain explains that the plane will not be turning around and heading back to the states. "We passed the point of no return fuel wise 23 minutes ago," he explains. Booth, meanwhile, gets some help from the little old lady in coach. Turns out granny is a murder mystery fan and always comes prepared. She even has a probe for Brennan to use on the body. "This is the best flight I've ever been on," the old gal gushes.
The team returns to the lab -- their day-off plans cancelled. Hodgins asks Camille if Roxie and Angela sharing one bag for the weekend "means anything." Yes, Camille explains, it means quite a bit. Hodgins shakes it off and gets to work, examining digital photographs of the body. The diagnosis: the victim was a petite woman with false fingernails.
Booth relays the information to Kate, whose eyes light up. "Seat 3B, Elizabeth Jones," the attendant says. Sure enough, Ms. Jones is -- or, rather, was -- a travel writer for a Washington D.C. based magazine. Back at the lab, Caroline warns B&B that they had better have a strong case before she starts the challenging the Chinese government. Also, the moment the plane lands, they lose jurisdiction. So no pressure, basically.
After a short word from our sponsors, Brennan carefully takes apart the victim's skull and requests a magnifying glass. Booth, thinking quickly, borrows a pair of thick glasses from the mystery fan's friend. Donning the glasses -- and earning a sexy librarian comment from Booth -- Brennan discovers a gash in the skull. The victim was struck before being cooked. She then requests Booth fetch denture cream, baby power and a butane lighter.
Booth gets the first two from passengers and the third from an attendant, Ming. "I confiscated it," the defensive woman says. Brennan mixes the first two items, places the paste on the wound and then heats it with the lighter. Voila! A perfect mold. Camille, examining photos of the victim's flesh via computer link, theorizes that Jones had cooked for about 6.5 hours, giving B&B now a time of death. Booth, in the meantime, matches the mold with the latch on the oven. "Someone slammed her head on the latch," Brennan says.
Could it be the pilot? We ask only because Caroline calls Booth to reveal that the victim had recently written an article on pilots guilty of concealing drunk-driving convictions from their employers. "The pilot on your plane, he has a past," Caroline explains. "He is in the article."
One excruciatingly long series of ads later, Booth confronts the suddenly shady pilot. "I do not know her," the pilot claims. "That DUI charge? That was the day of my dad's funeral." Booth is unsympathetic -- and asks the pilot to slow the plane so that B&B have more time to investigate. The pilot agrees to report "electrical issues."
Lance, meanwhile, confronts the magazine editor. The man admits to being a little resentful that Elizabeth slept with a man named Artie instead of him -- especially considering the editor is single and Artie is married. Lance seems to find this information quite interesting, so we can only assume it will resurface later.
Back at the lab, Hodgins and Angela banter like an old almost-married couple while examining a photo of band-aid found on the victim. Tests indicate that the band-aid -- which didn't belong to the victim -- was likely worn by a large man with a bent trigger finger. Clearly, Angela and Hodgins work well together. But as a couple ... "This thing with Roxie?" Hodgins asks. "Is that what got between us?" Angela says no -- but gently.
Angela asks Roxie to move in with her, as in a committed relationship. Roxie says that she just isn't ready. The irony of the situation is not lost on Angela, who is usually the commitment-phobe.
Back on the plane, Booth has all the passengers raise their hands so Brennan can examine them. Faster than you can say "itchy trigger finger," she finds a possible match: a man named Nick DeVito. The pair escort Nick to the back of the plane when Lance calls on the air phone. The victim was having an affair with a man named Artie, whose wife is sick and whose son is a real pain in the butt. The description happens to perfectly match a family sitting in first class. Booth, as you might remember, had stopped the kid from stealing booze. The big man lets Nick go. "We have a much better suspect," he tells Brennan.
Commercial. Commercial. Commercial. Commercial. Commercial. And now were back for the home stretch. Booth confronts Artie, who says his wife doesn't know about the affair. The dying woman has always wanted to stand on the Great Wall and a jealous Elizabeth obviously followed the family. "Agent Booth, I'm an attorney," Artie says. "You have no evidence and little time before we land in Shanghai. If you want to find who killed E.J., I suggest you don't waste anymore time with me." Booth seems to agree.
But just when you think that B&B have finally met a case they couldn't crack, the pilot arrives with potentially case-breaking news. The Chinese government has arrested a man for credit-card fraud. But wait! All of the credit-card numbers belonged to people on the plane. But wait! The arrested man was a boyfriend of Ming the flight attendant!
"I got the credit card numbers off the computer and called them into my boyfriend," Ming confesses. But is she also guilty of murder? No, Ming insists, telling B&B that she was interrupted by Elizabeth and hid in a nearby storage space. All she saw was a pair of first-class slippers. Brennan asks the obvious question: So who has traces of blood on the bottom of their slippers?
Thinking fast, Brennan takes the blue-lamp out of the overhead projector, puts on a pair of yellow-tinted shooting glasses (borrowed from ol' trigger-finger Nick) and begins examining the passengers' feet. She stops at one pair stained slippers belonging to none other than booze-stealing Eli. "Your son killed Elizabeth Jones," Brennan tells Artie.
Booth calls Caroline, telling her he is ready to make an arrest. Meanwhile, the pilot makes his own announcement: The plane is landing. Time is running out! "We have less than 30 seconds," Brennan says. Booth needs something more -- but what? Wait! The boy has a pack of video-game cartridges ... and one is missing. Says Brennan: "If this missing video game turns out to be the computer chip embedded in the victims sternum ..."
That seals it. Caroline signs the warrant and gives Booth the go ahead. "I am placing you under arrest for the murder of Elizabeth Jones," Booth tells the stunned boy. "Anything you say can and will be used against in a court of law because this is the United States of America!"
Just then, the plane lands. Case closed -- and just in time.
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