2×5 – The Truth in the Lye

“There’s no “just” about sex, Bones.”

I have been so excited to get to this episode ever since I began this project. I mentioned in my last post that this was the first episode of Bones that I ever saw. It was not long ago–late July? Early August? of this year, 2023.

My husband had mentioned to me a couple of times over the years that it was a good show, even though he’d only seen sporadic episodes with an ex a decade ago. I was watching Star Trek on BBC America, and after several hours of Star Trek they were switching to Bones. I thought, what the hell. It’s about time I try out this show that someone has been telling me to watch for years. I decided to put an episode on and see what happened (and the rest is history…)

That episode was this one, 2×5, “The Truth in the Lye.”

I was on the Bones subreddit a couple of months ago when someone asked what everyone’s first episode was. I mentioned that this episode was my first and she responded, laughing that I must have thought Booth was “some kind of horn-dog” from seeing that episode first! And I found that so incredibly amusing and on point, because yes, yes I did. It was my first introduction to Booth–him having sex with his ex-girlfriend at the beginning of the episode, and ending the episode sleeping with Cam, with whom he’d also been in a relationship in the past. For all I knew at the time, Booth slept around a lot, which was of course his prerogative. Little did I know how wrong I was. Booth is not even a person who “has sex” generally. Booth is the “making love only” type. I find it incredibly amusing that there is one episode in the entire series where Booth “sleeps around” and it happens to be the episode I saw first. Absolutely hilarious to me now!

The opening scene, where it is revealed that Booth is having sex with his ex slash baby mama, Rebecca, Brennan calls Booth’s phone when he’s in the shower, and Rebecca answers. Brennan is clearly confused about what’s going on. When I first saw this episode and had no idea what was going on at all, I noticed that her confusion seemed to go beyond the “someone else answered Booth’s phone” level of confusion. I was trying to suss out what was going on, but I didn’t really know what the dynamics between all of these people were yet.

Oh sweet summer child … how much I had to learn. Let’s dig in!

❖

This is one of my all-time favorite cases in Bones as well. And I don’t know if my opinion is biased here because it was my first episode and thus will always be perfect, but I think it’s really interesting.

My introduction to Bones was an absolutely disgusting crime scene, a body that was decomposing inside a full bathtub. I mean, it’s absolutely disgusting. Even Brennan think it’s disgusting, which is rare for her. I think I was instantly sucked in by how gross and ridiculous it was, especially when they brought the entire tub back to the Jeffersonian! The entire tub, you guys! So funny! Little did I know this was a regular thing, bringing the entire crime scene back to the Jeffersonian.

The news that Booth has slept with Rebecca has already made the rounds around the Jeffersonian, to the point where Cam brings it up. Would Booth have slept with Cam at the end of the episode if Brennan hadn’t shot her mouth off to everyone about this?! She cock blocked herself. 😂 Booth is rightfully annoyed that Brennan had been talking about his sex life to everyone at work.

The team finds out that the victim had had his hip replaced, and then discovered he had brittle bone disease. As Brennan, Booth and Angela are looking for a potential victim. Angela immediately knows that something is off between B + B because they aren’t talking. After some lite bickering, Booth says to Angela to print two copies of the list of candidates, because they’ll “split up.” Brennan looks pissed, and Angela goes “hmmm” in that way only Angela can do.

B + B go to several homes to try to find the victim’s identity and family. The trouble is that they both find someone. Yes, yes — it appears that the victim, whose first name is Lawrence, had two lives. Two wives, two children, two families. And they did not know about the other! Oh, this is so cool. I love a good “living two lives” scenario. The team initially believes that the families were not aware of each other. They go so far as to make a fake “waiting room” in the interrogation room so that the two wives could be in there at the same time and B + B could observe them through the one-way glass. It appears at this point that the women don’t know each other. I love the fake interrogation room idea A LOT.

But of course we do know that they know each other! I have to say, the women are very good actors. Even when B + B do the “big reveal,” they act so well like this is the first time they’ve ever seen each other. And that they did not know about each other’s families. This scene is so awkward for Booth, who has to break the news. He gets flustered to the point where Brennan has to get the words out for him. “Your Larrys are … the same Larry.” 😂 The women get so mad and get into a cat fight about it, which is hilarious because as it turns out, they’re lying.

Larry really got around. He’d also impregnated the secretary, Chloe, at the construction firm he was working with. And when B + B go to intercept her at a burger place, they run into the secretary. So, as it turns out, they’d all found out about each other and all knew each other before Larry had been murdered. All three admit to being at the crime scene. They said they found Larry already dead in an apparent suicide. One of them buried the gun in their backyard, and they put him in the tub, though, so things still don’t add up.

I’m not going to say that Larry brought things upon himself, but wow, he made a lot of enemies. The guy he was working for ended up being the one who killed him in a fit of rage. Then, the women found him already dead, thought he’d killed himself, and decided to hide the evidence by putting him in a bathtub full of lye and burying the gun in the yard. There are truly no winners in this case. Everyone loses. But what a fun ride it was, right?

And of course, Hodgins, in the process of flirting with Angela, is laying in the tub:

❖

One scene in this episode that I love even more on a third viewing is that Brennan goes to Rebecca and tells her–because Booth never will–that he has a complex that she thinks he’s a bad father. I think this speaks, yet again, to Brennan’s natural empathy. She understands this situation, and she knows that if she says something, he will feel some relief. And Rebecca, to her credit, understands what’s going on here too. She doesn’t let on to Booth at all that she and Brennan had just had a conversation. I love that she pretended not to even for sure know it was Brennan. The mutual understanding between women sometimes, gotta love it.

“I think there’s a moment for two people. A single moment where they can either catch fire or–Seeley and I, we missed our moment. Do you understand?” Hannah says to Brennan.

“I’m trying,” Brennan replies. I don’t think she understands now, but oh, will she ever understand it later. 🥹🥹🥹

The end of the episode is another great Booth + Brennan scene. Back in her office, she and Booth have a heart-to-heart where he is especially vulnerable. He says that he’d like her support in not gossiping about his life or judging him for sleeping with people, and she agrees, and says that she supports him and won’t say anything in the future. By the end of this conversation, they are standing very close to each other again:

BOOTH: You know what, Bones? It might be all anthropology to you, but there are certain people that you just can’t sleep with. I mean, you can pretend that it’s just sex. You can lie to yourself, and you can say that it’s all good. But, um, there’s just- there’s too many strings and- and too much at stake, you know? Too much to lose.

BRENNAN: Yeah. I can see that.

BOOTH: [standing up] It’s over, you know? I’d appreciate, you know, your support in that.

BRENNAN: I will. And if you should slip, I will… Keep my mouth shut about it.

BOOTH: Thank you. But, I mean, it’s not like I’m gonna-

BRENNAN: No, I mean with anybody. I’m sure Rebecca’s not your only option for satisfying your biological urges. [they hold sexy eye contact]

(I left the “sexy eye contact” in there because that’s literally what was written in the transcript I was reading, haha!)

There is a lot of debate about how this scene should be interpreted.

I can give you my interpretation as someone who watched this episode with zero context about what the show was actually about. I could instantly see that there was chemistry and tension between these two characters. I could see that Brennan had spent the entire episode thinking about what was going on between Booth and Rebecca and that whether she admitted it or not, something about it bothered her. She also took joy in poking the bear (Booth) about it. And he was clearly really annoyed with her for gossiping about his private life, because he is really private. Their conversation at the end was dripping with sexual tension. I felt there was a lot left unsaid between them. I was instantly hooked on this dynamic. Like, “oh, there’s definitely something there.” 😍

❖

Finally, upon a third viewing, I can’t help but feel that Booth is going through something during this time inside his head. He doesn’t usually sleep around, but in this case he’s sleeping around with two people with whom he had a prior relationship, and with whom he has already had concrete feelings for. I feel like Booth is not exactly the kind of guy who goes and fucks around just because he’s horny, so whether it’s loneliness or some kind of insecurity (about being a bad father?), he’s seeking comfort in the ways that he knows how. His sex isn’t casual. Even when it’s “casual” for him, it means something. So I wonder what’s really been going on in his head and heart during this time? I wish we’d gotten a chance to know more about that, but all we can do is speculate. Good thing I enjoy speculating. 😂 I read in a comment thread that Booth goes for the “safe” option, which in this case is Rebecca and Cam, instead of putting his heart out there for someone else, so that makes a lot of sense! All the same, he says to both women that what they’d done was “a huge mistake.” Booth, figure it out. LOL.

❖

The song from this episode is “I Want To Be Loved” by Cassandra Wilson:

“I love the way you walk when you pass me by
Even when you try to shrug
You kill me, honey darling when you give me the eye
But baby, I wants to be loved”