The Skull in the Desert (29 Mar. 2006)

Brennan goes to help Angela when her boyfriend goes missing in the desert, and Booth gets in on the action when the sheriff won't cooperate.

Director:

Donna Deitch

Writers:

Hart Hanson (creator), Kathy Reichs (inspired by the life of forensic anthropologist and author),

Stars:

Emily Deschanel, David Boreanaz, Michaela Conlin

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Emily Deschanel	...	Dr. Temperance 'Bones' Brennan
David Boreanaz	...	Special Agent Seeley Booth
Michaela Conlin	...	Angela Montenegro
Eric Millegan	...	Zack Addy
T.J. Thyne	...	Dr. Jack Hodgins (as TJ Thyne)
Jonathan Adams	...	Dr. Daniel Goodman
James Parks	...	Sheriff Dawes
Clayton Rohner	...	Wayne Kellogg
Brent Briscoe	...	Larry Stansfield
Mercedes Colon	...	Professor Inez
Kalani Queypo	...	Alex Joseph

Storyline

Angela Montenegro, on vacation in the Navajo desert reservation, asks Brennan to come over alone: someone left a human skull with the local sheriff Ben Dawes. She she fears that it may be her long-time, long-distance boy friend Kirk Persinger, who went missing with his female guide Dhani Webber, the sheriff's sister. She finds a bullet-wound and convinces Booth to investigate, unofficially. The skull is Kirk's and has traces of the local drug peyote, according to Angela supplied for ritual use only by local artist Wayne Kellogg, who won't divulge the secret traditional plantation sites, and identifiable bite marks from a coyote. Then Alex is found at home, beaten to pulp, probably by fellow Navajos for selling peyote to outsiders, and Kirk's bones plus camera with film in the wilderness. Atypical engraving plates Bones noticed at Kellogg's place lead to a surprising crime connection.

---

Plot Keywords:

sexual tension

---

Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance

---

Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 March 2006 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Dr. Theodore T. Alexander Science Center in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Josephson Entertainment, Far Field Productions, 20th Century Fox Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

43 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

During a scene where Booth and Bones are driving through the desert, near the beginning of the episode; a mountain suddenly 'appears' in the background over Booths' shoulder.

---

Quotes

[Brennan calls Booth on his cell phone]
Dr. Temperance 'Bones' Brennan: How far are you from Dulles?
Special Agent Seeley Booth: As far as your office is from Dulles.
Dr. Temperance 'Bones' Brennan: Why are you in my office?
Special Agent Seeley Booth: I need your findings on the Richmond case. Listen, Zack won't tell me where they are unless you give him permission.
Dr. Temperance 'Bones' Brennan: There's a 9:15 flight to Denver, then there's an 11:35 flight to Santa Fe. You have to run to make the connection.
Special Agent Seeley Booth: Forget it.
Dr. Temperance 'Bones' Brennan: Booth, please. Angela's boyfriend is missing... maybe dead. It took all of my charm...
Special Agent Seeley Booth: All of your charm? Oh boy...
Dr. Temperance 'Bones' Brennan: ...just ...
[...]

---

Connections

References Dr. Phil (2002)

---

Soundtracks

"Too Easy"
(uncredited)
Performed by OneRepublic

User Reviews

Bones:The Skull in the Desert

Angela gives a photographer three weeks out of the year to spend time together in the rugged desert and is scared that a skull found could very well be his. When Bones sends it back to the Jeffersonian lab in DC, Addy and Hodgins confirms what Angela feared all along, that the skull was in fact Kirk's. A Najavo model Kirk uses, Danny, is still missing out there and her whereabouts are crucial, not to mention time is of the essence before she runs out of water, cooking under the sun. Bones elicits help from Booth and the three assist the sheriff(the missing girl's brother), Dawes(James Parks), in trying to find her. It seems that Peyote was found in Kirk's hair and this drug traces back to a white artist who makes a modest living off of Najavo paintings, Wayne Kellogg(Clayton Rohner). Kellogg doesn't make enough to afford his digs in the desert where he lives, and the Peyote had to come from drug dealers. Soon Kellogg is even possibly tied to counterfeiting. Danny also has a Najavo boyfriend who sells Peyote to the white man much to the chagrin of his people. Angela is pretty shaken up in this episode, questioning why she didn't make more of an effort to establish a more viable relationship with Kirk and if she'd ever get such a chance again. Zach and Hodgins often argue tirelessly as to who gets the skull and remains of Kirk first with Goodman making the call, Addy later scolded by Brennan for not getting results to her sooner. Zach is a grad student attached to Brennan and Goodman believes he must eventually grow up and "leave the roost".