The Carrot in the Kudzu

The Carrot in the Kudzu is the eighteenth episode of the ninth season of Bones.
== Synopsis ==
When a children's TV show actor is found dead, the Jeffersonian team goes behind the scenes to uncover who murdered everyone's favorite character, "Carrot Bill." But when the team discovers that the actor was known for his promiscuity, they start to uncover some unlikely suspects. Meanwhile, Booth and Brennan plan Christine's first birthday party, and Clark asks the team for their opinions on a fictional novel he's completed.
== Summary ==
This week's case doesn’t start with unsuspecting people coming across a dead body, but instead with Brennan getting a call about some remains being brought to the lab. The victim's body is encased in kudzu, which is taking root in any remaining tissue and causing damage to the skeletal remains. We know Brennan doesn't like anyone messing with her evidence, so we can guess she's not a kudzu fan here.
The Victim: Joe Starkel, locally famous for playing the part of "Carrot Bill" in VegetaBills, a children’s television program designed around encouraging kids to eat veggies. Joe recently quit the show to start his own program, but it wasn't a success.
Primary Suspects:
*Ken, Joe's brother. They reputedly fought all of the time, but Ken's wife Marilyn insists it wasn't any worse than normal brothers who fight.
*Jake, the producer for Joe's new show. When the show was cancelled, Jake and Joe got into a physical fight.
*Deborah Ann, a woman known to send Joe inappropriate messages on Twitter, crossing the line into sexually psychotic.
*Tommy, Joe's replacement as Carrot Bill. He wasn't in it for the money, but for the way moms would give him their numbers after shows.
Booth and Sweets talk about where Joe's body was dumped. There aren't any signs of struggle or injury, which doesn't bring them any closer to figuring out who killed him.
At the lab, Clark, Brennan, Cam and Hodgins examine the remains for more clues. Clark and Brennan identify various bone remodeling on Joe's sternum and ribs and injuries to the skull. But while they are damaging wounds, they aren’t cause of death. And as there is no sign he tried to catch his fall, Joe was apparently unconscious when he fell.
Hodgins identifies motor oil and traces of cement on the victim, and Angela brings Deborah Ann's tweets to Sweets' attention. He speaks with her at the FBI building, and she admits that she was a little crazy on Twitter, but that Joe was her inspiration for losing weight. She was afraid that if he quit the VegetaBills, she would gain weight again.
Sweets and Booth discuss the likelihood that she would kill him, and though Sweets posits that while she has Celebrity Worship Syndrome, Booth doesn't see any hard evidence to prove she killed him. That entire conversation about how people can treat celebrities online (especially Twitter) was just deliciously done.
Angela finds out that Joe wanted to return to the show as Carrot Bill, so Booth goes to the TV set to question Tommy. Tommy insists he is innocent, that he and Joe were working out another character for him to play, probably an asparagus.
At the lab, Brennan and Clark discuss how Joe's tox screen came back clean, but damage to his sternum suggests he’d received CPR. Brennan later tells Booth that Joe suffered from a heart arrhythmia-inducing condition but had stopped taking his meds — likely because the beta blockers affected his sex life. They wonder if someone knew that and used it as an opportunity to kill him.
Angela traces Joe's credit card purchases along with the credit card purchases of each suspect. She notices a trend between Joe’s purchases and Marilyn's.
Booth brings Ken in for questioning, suggesting that Ken found out his wife was sleeping with his brother and that he killed him. Ken admits that he knew about Joe and Marilyn, but that he was fine with it — they had an open relationship. He insists he loved his brother and would never kill him.
Booth, Brennan and Cam examine the parking lot of the TV studio. They find traces of blood and skidmarks from a car. At the lab, Hodgins identifies additional traces of cosmetics, traced back to the company Deborah Ann works for.
Booth and Brennan interrogate Deborah Ann, telling her they found Joe's DNA in the trunk of her car. She admits it was an accident; she just wanted Joe to notice her. She pulled up behind him in her car and honked the horn. This startled him and stopped his heart, causing him to fall. Instead of reporting it, she dumped his body on the side of the road.
== 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 ===
*Clark Edison - Eugene Byrd
=== Recurring Cast ===
*Max Keenan - Ryan O'Neal
*Christine Booth - Sunnie Pelant
*Michael Vincent Hodgins - Liam James Ramos
==== Guest Cast ====
*Tommy Munson/"Carrot Bill" - Noah Weisberg
*Ken Starkel/"Broccoli" - Jonathan Chase
*Corn - Doug Locke
*Debra Ann Volker - Kellee Stewart
*Production Assistant - Keeshan Giles
*Marilyn Starkel - Elizabeth Ann Roberts
*Jake Winters - David Starzyk
*Crocodile Cowboy - Scott Mosenson
*Lab Tech #1 - Blaine Holtkamp
== Featured Music ==
*One Man Band by Firstcom Music
*Lost Here by Fauntella Crow
== Notes ==
*Although Clark is no longer an intern, he assists in the current case as all other interns are currently attending a forensic conference.
*During the opening sequence when Hodgins and Clark are walking through the Jeffersonian, you can see a plaque in the background as an homage to Vincent Nigel-Murray. This plaque is visible in the background of several other episodes going forward but this is one of the only episodes where it is clearly visible.
*Camille Saroyan makes a reference to the 1986 musical film "Little Shop of Horrors" in the beginning of the episode.
== Gallery ==
=== Photo Gallery ===
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=== Video Gallery ===
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Category:Season 9
Category:Episodes