Directed by Tony Wharmby
Written by Hart Hanson, Noah Hawley, & Karine Rosenthal
A child's remains are found in a sewer, and Bones determines that she had a geriatric disorder. The investigation concludes that the child's ableist mother killed her, rationalizing it as not wanting her daughter to suffer anymore while really wanting to stop her own suffering.
Tropes
- Accidental Marriage : Angela, so drunk she ''forgot'' it (and implied that she didn't think it counted; she had no idea the paperwork had been filed).
- All for Nothing: Chelsea's mother only learned that her new medication was helping her after she'd killed her daughter.
- Give Away the Bride: Angela’s dad gives her away during the first wedding attempt.
- Groin Attack: How Max evens the playing field after he challenges the younger, stronger and more capable Booth to a fight.
- Idiot Savant: Chelsea was so good at astronomy that she drew genuine star patterns in her artwork from memory, when her mother just assumed she was doodling.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Bones and Chelsea's mother agree this is what happened after she killed Chelsea. Standard meds weren't working for her AIDS, she went on an experimental treatment that just made her feel worse, she killed her daughter to spare her being abandoned to the system, then the experimental treatment started working...
- Meet the In-Laws: Hodgins meeting Angela’s dad counts. He’s rather scary to Hodgins every time he shows up.
- Mercy Kill: The reason Chelsea's mother killed her.
- Mistaken for Pedophile:
- They find a necklace with "I love you" engraved on a heart with the remains, and hypothesize that the murderer is a pedophile who tricked themself into believing they loved their victim.
- Chelsea's mother accused a social worker of molesting her. He didn't, he just drew a bath for her after she got messy, waited outside the bathroom and only briefly came in after she got shampoo in her eyes and freaked out.
- Offing the Offspring: A comparatively sympathetic example; Chelsea's mother was dying of AIDS and killed her daughter because she was worried what would become of Chelsea after her death.
- Oops! I Forgot I Was Married: Angela got married while on a drunken vacation in Fiji and as such couldn't remember her husband's name. She didn't even know it was valid until Caroline told her such.
- Season Finale: The show's second. Angela and Hodgins leave Booth and Brennan at the altar.
- Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Done at Jack and Angela’s wedding attempt. As it turns out, Angela was already married.
- Wedding Episode: Or at least one was attempted, too bad Angela didn't know she was still married to Grayson.
