A pro gamer is discovered soaking in a grease truck, with his legendary high-score at a popular arcade game seemingly the motive for his death. Meanwhile, Colin Fisher (Joel David Moore) invites Hodgins and Sweets to the premiere of the science fiction film Avatar, where each must take turns standing in line.
Tropes
- Actor Allusion: Joel David Moore played a major character in Avatar, and the episode has Fisher and his nerd pals camping outside for the premiere.
- Someone says during the camp out that they’re “up against freaks and geeks” which is a reference to Sweets, who’s one of said nerd pals, being played by "Freaks and Geeks" alum John Francis Daley.
- Bland-Name Product: "Punky Pong" is a crossover of Donkey Kong and Pong.
- Gamer Chick: One of the suspects is a world-class gaming expert. She takes advantage of this trope to get lucrative endorsements.
- Geeky Turn-On: The episode has a suspect who is a female gamer. She takes advantage of the fact that by being a Gamer Chick she has a great deal of popularity with the predominantly male gamer community.
- Gross-Up Close-Up: The episode takes it a step further than usual with an extended shot of half-liquidated flesh sliding off of a corpse's bones. Complete with sound effects.
- I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Subverted by Cam. When Hodgins and Angela start to argue about the tattoo of her her father made him get while they were engaged, Cam begins to make an excuse, then just says she's going to flee.
- Not Distracted by the Sexy: Fischer is not too distracted when a woman flashes him to read the poem she has tattooed on her torso.
- Papa Wolf: The murderer did it because the victim took credit for his non-verbal autistic son's perfect playthrough of a game. Subverted, since as Brennan points out, the boy didn't care. He just wanted to play.
- Product Placement: The B-plot is a big ad for Avatar. Apparently Bones takes place in an alternate universe where said film is as hotly anticipated as a new Star Wars flick, with people camping out to see it and painting their faces blue. And where Joel Moore has a doppelganger. Or just isn't in Avatar.
- Shout-Out: Sweets waits with a couple of interns for movie tickets. A comment is made “We’re up against Freaks and Geeks. John Francis Daley was a regular on "Freaks and Geeks" before playing Sweets here.
- Writing Around Trademarks: The episode features an arcade game called "Punky Pong".
