- Title: Bones – The Male in the Mail
- tv.com: link
While attempting to help Bones (Emily Deschanel) identify a victim killed, dismembered, packaged, and lost in the mail for the better part of a year, Booth (David Boreanaz) does his best to ignore the news that his estranged father has died.
Although we get plenty of time in the Jeffersonian spent going through remains, including Edison (Eugene Byrd) and Hodgins (T.J. Thyne) using a variety of ancient weapons in an attempt to discover the murder weapon, the weight of the story falls solely on Booth’s refusal to discuss the loss of his father with Bones or with the grandfather (Ralph Waite) who raised him.
The victim turns out to be work at a package service and was killed with a tape gun and chopped up by the equivalent of a modern day guillotine (an industrial paper cutter, to be exact) most likely by one of his co-workers (Chris Tallman, Chris Tallman, Briana Lane) for a $60 million winning lottery ticket.
The mystery of the week, although definitely bizarre, turns out to be only mildy interesting (aside from Hodgins and Edison fighting over weapons and a laser), as the mystery takes a definite back seat to Booth’s story (the conclusion of which works very well). I am happy to see Tina Majorino (who most will recognize from Big Love or as Mac from Veronica Mars) as new recurring character perky agent Genevieve Shaw. We’ll have to wait and see how long she sticks around.