The Fact in the Fiction

The Fact in the Fiction is the seventeenth episode of the eighth season of Bones.
== Synopsis ==
When extremely educated new intern Dr. Oliver Wells starts working at the Jeffersonian, his quick-learning, enthusiastic personality challenges Brennan as he gets under her skin with his eccentric but undeniable observations, causing her to try to be more open-minded about many scientific questions. Meanwhile, Booth worries she may have gone too far when she accepts the possibility of time travel as a factor in a murder investigation.
== Summary ==
A farmer plowing his field comes across a dead body without a head. Unfortunately, he can't stop in time and runs over the corpse. "I just killed a dead guy!" he cries. Later, Booth and Bones arrive at the scene. As they examine the victim, Booth talks about investing in asteroid mining -- much to the skepticism of his partner. The pair then head to the diner where a wild-eyed, disheveled man enters, asking for Bones. Booth pulls his gun and tells the man to get on the ground. He complies, then rolls the victim's skull across the floor. "Hi, I'm your new intern!" the man tells Bones. Back at the lab, Camille explains that the intern, Oliver, tracked the skull to a coyote den six miles from the murder scene. He is quite educated, holding many degrees.
Booth and Sweets head to an auto body shop to interview the dead man's brother, Garcia. Garcia, upset, suggests that the FBI check in with Courtney, the victim's very recent ex-girlfriend. He also suggests that his brother might have been killed for his truck, which was a classic vehicle. Booth and Sweets interview Courtney, who explains that the victim had two interests: meticulously restoring his classic truck, and time travel. Back at the lab, Angela examines the victim's laptop and finds extremely complicated theories concerning time travel. Hodgins, not surprisingly, is intrigued and impressed. The victim was also logged into a college server as Prof. Scott Hunter.
Oliver, meanwhile, suggests that Bones's hyper-rational nature limits her curiosity on a certain subjects. "Are you saying I'm narrow-minded?" Bones asks. Says Oliver: "Your words, not mine." He then notices damage that is consistent with a high voltage passing through the body. Bones says Prof. Hunter was fired from his teaching job for electrocuting one of his students in an ill-advised experiment. Booth and Bones then interview the professor, who admits that he was working with the victim on time-travel theories and experiments. Sure enough, there is a 250-volt battery in the professor's lab.
Back at the lab, Hodgins and his new best pal Oliver test the damage an electronic volt can do to a human and find that it's not enough to indict the professor. Hodgins then examines strawberry seeds in the victim's boots and matches the composition of the soil to a farm some miles away from where the body was found. Oliver hypothesizes that the victim was shot just below the ribs, and the resulting shock waves caused the damage to his ribs. He and Hodgins test the theory using the skeleton and a gun -- and it works. The victim was shot.
Booth and Bones head to the farm identified by Hodgins, and find the victim's almost perfectly-restored truck in a garage. They also find another body that matches the victim's in every way but age. "You're describing the victim but 20 years older," Booth tells Bones. Did the victim actually figure out this whole time travel thing? Oliver would like to think so, or, at the very least, is willing to entertain the idea. Sadly, Camille throws cold water on the whole time-travel theory with news that DNA proves the second victim is the first's father. That's shocking news to Garcia, who explains that his father left when he and his brother were young. The family was sure the father was dead.
Angela and Oliver then do a computer re-creation of the two bodies and, comparing wounds, determine that the same bullet went through both victims. Booth tracks down and interviews a drug dealer named Sidney who also works at the first victim's body shop. Sidney, a cocky little man, denies involvement in any murders. Meanwhile, Oliver discovers wounds on the first victim's legs. They were made by something slamming into them at a 45 degree angle. Sweets still thinks that Garcia is hiding something, so he and Booth head to the body shop. They discover Garcia working on a car with doors that close at 45 degree angles. After that, it all comes out. When the first victim discovered that his father was alive -- and owed the drug dealer cash -- he volunteered to give up his college money. "I couldn't let him do that!" Garcia explains. Garcia tried to shoot their dad, but brother stepped in the way. "All he ever wanted to do was go back in time and meet his old man," Garcia explains through tears. "He got his wish. And look what happened."
At home, Booth and Bones share a bottle of wine. Bones admits that she asked Oliver about asteroid mining ... and he suggested heavily investing - so Bones did. Now that's thinking broadly.
== Cast ==
=== Main Cast ===
*Temperance Brennan - Emily Deschanel
*Seeley Booth - David Boreanaz
*Jack Hodgins - T.J Thyne
*Angela Montenegro - Michaela Conlin
*Camille Saroyan - Tamara Taylor
*Lance Sweets - John Francis Daley
=== Intern of the Week ===
*Oliver Wells - Brian Klugman
=== Guest Cast ===
*Alex Garcia - Maurice Compte
*Sidney Jouron - Kevin Bigley
*Chip - Ken Weiler
*Courtney Johnson - Amanda Jane Cooper
*Professor Hunter - Tony Pasqualini
== Trivia ==
*The new intern, Dr. Oliver Wells, is played by Brian Klugman. His real life uncle is Jack Klugman, who for eight years played the Medical Examiner in the TV show Quincy, M.E.
*Dr Wells stated that "energy is neither created nor destroyed", according to the laws of thermodynamics. What Dr Wells was referencing was the first law of thermodynamics, which is a version of the law of conservation of energy.
== Cultural and Anthropological References ==
*Vanuatu
Category:Season 8
Category:Episodes