The remains of a child are discovered, and the investigation identifies her as a child beauty pageant contestant who was murdered by a blow to the head. The killer turns out to be another child that the victim bullied.
Tropes
- Abusive Parents:
- Brennan feels that pageant moms in general are this.
- Brianna's mother seems to be this, and Brianna's father thinks she is, but the woman herself claims everything, from the dental surgery to the corset, was what Brianna wanted.
- Actor Allusion: There's a mention of the Hyperion Hotel in the episode; the Hyperion Hotel was a major setting for Angel, in which David Boreanaz was the title character.
- Alpha Bitch: Brianna was a nine-year-old version. Brennan lampshades it out in a very Brennan-esque way when the girls tell her.
- Big Brother Instinct: Jeremy Farrell got into a fight with the victim after she bullied his sister. He didn't kill her though.
- Call-Back: Once again, Brennan has to identify remains that are cosmetically altered.
- Everyone Can See It: After a few episodes of Hodgins and Angela bonding over watching Booth and Cam being awkward around each other because of all the sex, this episode ends with Cam spotting Booth and Bones together and smiling, pleased that the man she loves is with the woman he loves (even if he doesn't know it).
- Freudian Excuse: Brianna, the victim, was the Alpha Bitch of the beauty pageant scene and treated the other girls horribly. Still, hearing how her mother pressured her into pageants and encouraged her to wear a corset every night makes it understandable how she became that way. Her father's memory of her as a happier, nicer child before she got into pageants adds to this.
- I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: Callie Rocha plays the mother of the pageant girl. She played the vengeance demon Halfrek (aka Cecily) on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where Boreanaz played Angel, though she first appeared in the fifth season and he left after the third.
- Mistaken for Pedophile:
- Jeremy Farrell is the older brother of a contestant. He dresses emo and takes pictures of the girls (to help out his sister). The mother Booth talks to insists she doesn't think he is this, but she took pictures of him to show his parents how creepy he looks.
- Brennan forgets about propriety when looking for a girl with uneven hips. It gets smoothed over, though.
- Product Placement: Red Shed convenience store gets several mentions, though admittedly in the context of selling cheap and nasty junk food.
- Stage Mom: Aside from Brianna's controlling mother, another mother in the episode is a downplayed stage mom. She's pretty caught up in the pageant scene, but she doesn't seem to be trying to live vicariously through her daughter (as her pageant career was a successful one) and is a more affectionate parent than the victim's mom.
