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Episode Recap: "Player Under Pressure"
Aw. Hell. No. Did you all watch the same episode I did tonight? And is anyone else wondering how they let this show get away with all the things it does? I’m used to seeing grossly disfigured corpses and perps who have terrible reasons for having killed anyone, but with every detail that came out tonight, I just couldn’t believe the choices that had been made. This ep even somehow bordered on slapstick humor (I'm a scientist, I'm going to dig a rat out of a corpse!) under the premise of working on a serious murder case. Am I being harsh? Let’s discuss the evidence in bold. Bold is fun.
RJ Manning was a star college basketball forward, the agreed-upon star player of the league, whose decomposing body was found under his school’s bleachers being used as a rat birthing center. A big gold star goes out to the team who created the grossest dead body I’ve ever seen on TV. All melted guts and indiscernible bone fragments, RJ’s brain was left as jelly and bits to be found by Justine, a fellow student and overemotional Hot Topic shopper(the girl with too much eyeliner is always a suspect, isn't she?) and Officer Cutler, a campus police chief/ex-college basketball star with broken dreams.
The tables turn when it’s discovered that RJ was getting hardy helpings of both anabolic steroids and the Clap. The steroids were provided by an alumnus, George Francis (your beloved Daniel Roebuck), a real Papa to the teammates and coattail-rider extraordinaire who goaded RJ into signing a contract that would make George RJ’s NBA rep once the star was inevitably drafted. I expected Booth, who made such a big deal this episode of being a Sporting Man (and oh yeah, an FBI man), to be a little angrier about the muscle juice than he was. Not only did we not see whether George got in trouble for providing steroids, but Booth told the basketball player who’d been juicing that his steroid use would be kept between them if he gave up his provider. I’ve known Booth to make deals, but this was just not his style. The man has values, and I don’t think that’s ever been a point of contention. This is also after he released Ed Dekker, the other juicing suspect, from interrogation on the grounds that all he’d done wrong was “dipping his wick” in the wrong place. Thanks gramps, I’ll add that one to Le Vocab.
Gonorrhea should have had second-billing in this episode, because it seems like everyone had it. I never thought I’d say this, but what a time-saver that was, tying one murder suspect to the next. Justine, the girl Ed had unprotected sex with and described as “not-hot,” who tearfully ripped out a clod of her own hair for the team's DNA testing (oww) gave him gonorrhea as broken-hearted revenge after getting it from having unprotected sex with RJ. Bones was right – this is a terrible university. Hopefully someone out there got a lesson on condom-usage out of the whole thing. And If I had to listen to droney basketball player Ed Dekker talk for one more second, I’d have thrown a boot at my TV. As Bones put it, “All the bad decisions you’ve made, and the one thing you’re ashamed of is having sex with a not-hot girl?” What a winner, that Ed. Sign me up for that hunk of burning man loins.
The lab, through the brilliance of Hodge, Zack and Angie, soon discovered that not only was RJ’s death not an accident, but he was partaking in some oral wick-dipping of his own with someone wearing cheerleaders’ brand blue lipstick at the same time his head was being impaled by a 25-pound dumbbell. Talk about multitasking. Oh, and whoever killed him spit loogied on his dead body. Not very classy, Mr. Murderer, but it does hand the forensic team your DNA! Well done.
The culprit turned out to be police chief Cutler, who lost his mind when he walked in on his Smurf-lipped daughter Celeste under the bleachers with gonorrhea-laden RJ Manning. He claimed that seeing his daughter in that position and knowing that RJ was knowingly giving her the disease set him off. But how did Cutler even know Manning had gonorrhea? Was this public knowledge because the guy got around? In any case, I didn’t expect the guy to make his next move, to whip out a gun and try to kill himself, nor did I see Bones’ heroic gun-jamming-with-thumb-webbing on its way. Cutler was arrested and RJ Manning will probably go down as a skeevy skeeve who played some awesome juiced-up b-ball.
Now that I think about it, maybe I’m wrong to jump on all the things that I thought seemed far-fetched. After all, some of these things aren't far off from the stuff that makes me adore this show and recognize its brilliance in comparison to the pantheon of dumbed-down viewing options these days. Or maybe this story line is just more in line with how real life goes, "scientific" skull-in-a-turkey-cavity pressure-testing and all. I won't say I didn't love the episode despite its points of ridiculosity. I just don't want this to ever be a show that someone claims is a shark-jumper, and this one got a wee bit close for comfort.
There are a thousand things I also loved about this ep, from B&B's camaraderie to the Angie/Hodge sex tape that I don't have space to write about, so I'm going to leave that to you fine people. I just needed to discuss this episode and all its wacky glory. Next week we finally get to see the long awaited "Baby in the Bough" episode. No Gormagon action yet, but I hear this one's going to be a goodie.
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Apr 22, 2008 8:16 AM
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Ok, not really sure as to why they held that one back from last season & chose now to air it. I mean there was nothing in it that was showing some crazy guy bursting into classrooms with a gun, hey, the only gun ever produced last nite was when Cutler pulled it on himself & then when Booth pulled his. God he's hot with a gun, (Booth not Cutler). I mean it was extremely gross with the smushed/melted body, GROSSAROMA. & then when Hodgins was using the blender & Cam said, did you notice if that had a CS on the bottom. I sooo almost threw up. You know she was never going to use that again. I'd have been like you better be buying me a brand spankin new one.
I loved how Bones said that school was not smart at all. Sure seemed like it was a dumb bunch they were dealing with.
Oh yea, I thought I had read somewhere that that was the episode that Hodgins proposed to Angela, I must have blinked & missed it bc I didn't see it & you didn't mention it. Did they have to re-work it since they had attempted to get married? I can't even remember if they did actually get married bc it's been so long since it was on.
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Apr 22, 2008 9:01 AM
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I really love this show but this ep was just so so. It wasn't the cast, they were brilliant as usual, but the story was eh. I think we've all seen the "high school phenom is a horn-dog and gets killed for it" bit before. I just felt that it wasn't worthy of this show. Its usually much smarter. I'm looking forward to next week.
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Apr 22, 2008 9:07 AM
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This was the ep held back from last season--I assume that if there were any scenes or refs. to guns/shooters on campus they were removed as they removed the refs to Hodge's marriage proposal to Angela--presumably replaced with their sex tape incident instead. [Does Hodges even know there's a tape? Angela was so busy enjoying watching it that it seems she never told him.]
Really a dull ep. besides some mild banter between Bones and Booth and between the squints. [And I think Hodges should definitely buy Camille a new blender--maggot juice? Ewwwwww.]
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Apr 22, 2008 9:39 AM
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As much as I love Bones, this episode was just ok.
As soon as they showed the skull in the turkey and it being filled with a gelatinous substance, I knew exactly what was going to happen. Same goes for the blender scene as soon as Cam asked where it came from. I knew it was going to be hers.
The sex tape, totally irrelevant to the story.
That was some ugly looking lipstick.
I pegged the murderer as the chief when he compared Kobe (?) to RJ when talking about his daughter.
The steriods angle was ok but left undone.
This episode was not one of their better ones but it's still better than no Bones at all.
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Apr 22, 2008 11:05 AM
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[iSmurf-lipped daughter Celeste]
I had a real problem with that lipstick. It brought images of clowns to me and that is NEVER a good thing!
I loved all of the parts of the episode but didn't love the episode, if that makes sense! Terrific one-liners and lots of zing but the story did fall a bit short!
I loved the Hodgy/Angela sex tape scene!
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Apr 22, 2008 11:13 AM
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Wow, gossest body ever. I'd expect Fox to get a few complaints about that, seeing as how they were showing that in the 8 o'clock hour. I think I have to agree with others here that this wasn't a great episode. The pieces were greater than the sum. I figured out it was the cop when they showed his ring. I figured the design on it would give him away. I had the right guy, just wrong impression (pun intended).
I have to wonder if this episode would have been better in context with last season. Maybe when I can get my hands on both seasons DVD's I can watch it in it's intended order. I know that this ins't a serialized show, but there are attitudes and interactions that are carried over from episode to episode. I'm sure the proposal was replaced with the sex tape scenes. (thats actually an example of things that are carried over into other episodes, last season when Hodgens was asking Booth for advice on how to propose he mentioned he had tried and been turned down.
I found it ironic that after watching the episode here that was withheld because of the shootings ended up showing very close to the anniversery of it (something I wouldn't have known if it hadn't been mentioned during a news promo that the school was preparing for it).
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Apr 22, 2008 12:00 PM
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There's been a LOT of episodes of various shows this season that have had incorrect information in the write ups. The online guide for this episode said that Hodgins was trying to propose to Angela. Last week, the write up for Medium stated that the husband and his investor would cause marriage problems. neither of these things happened in the episodes that aired. I think I recall something this season on Smallville as well where the write up included details that never took place. Weird.
I also figured out that it was the chief once the daughter was introduced. His comparison of RJ and Kobe just confirmed it for me.
I would hope Hodgins would spend a little of his millions and buy Cam a nice new blender.
I've always been surprised that there hasn't been a lot of noise about this show airing at 8pm.
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Apr 22, 2008 5:01 PM
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Wasn't it kind of fitting that there were rats living in that jerk's remains? Yuck. I also thought it was pretty ironic that when they interviewed the kid who replaced RJ, he said his gf was 'loyal'--the very same girl whose saliva was eventually found, um, on RJ's body. The episode had its moments, but all in all I found it very irksome. All of those ridiculous kids (and adults) did make it look like a terrible university. I agree w/ everyone on the blue lipstick as well. I've never seen cheerleaders wearing lipstick to match their uniforms before, and that was just fugly. This episode was definitely grosser than usual and a big turn-off. Perhaps they shouldn't have bothered airing this at all. It felt like a rare misstep for this show.
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Apr 22, 2008 6:01 PM
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Darclyte
In the case of this weeks Bones, they probably re-used the write-up from last season. In the case of Medium, there WAS some tension between Allison and Joe when he signed the contract, that could be considered as a marriage problem (although fairly minor). I assume it's the network who provide the episode synopsis, but I think in the interest of journalistic accuracy TV Guide should hire me to watch every episode of every show they list so I can write up proper episode descriptions. 
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Apr 22, 2008 6:28 PM
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“dipping his wick” in the wrong place. Thanks gramps, I’ll add that one to Le Vocab.
You’ve never heard that one? It’s a classic!
In any case, I didn’t expect the guy to make his next move, to whip out a gun and try to kill himself, nor did I see Bones’ heroic gun-jamming-with-thumb-webbing on its way.
I saw the first half coming but not the second! Nice job Bones!
Ok, not really sure as to why they held that one back from last season & chose now to air it.
I assume they thought the story should coincide with the end of the college basketball season.
Hodgins was using the blender & Cam said, did you notice if that had a CS on the bottom. I sooo almost threw up.
That grossed me out way more than the crushed body. I can’t explain why.
Oh yea, I thought I had read somewhere that that was the episode that Hodgins proposed to Angela, I must have blinked & missed it bc I didn't see it & you didn't mention it.
I read that in a preview of this week too. But didn’t he already do that once? It didn’t happen this week. I am really confused.
This was the ep held back from last season--I assume that if there were any scenes or refs. to guns/shooters on campus they were removed as they removed the refs to Hodge's marriage proposal to Angela--presumably replaced with their sex tape incident instead.
Okay I didn’t know there was supposed to be a campus shooting scene. It makes sense that they would have changed up the story and reshot it. I’m still confused about Hodges and Angela. They are already engaged. Am I missing something.
I loved all of the parts of the episode but didn't love the episode, if that makes sense! Terrific one-liners and lots of zing but the story did fall a bit short!
I agree with this. Most of the scenes were good standing alone, but didn’t seem to connect well.
I'm sure the proposal was replaced with the sex tape scenes. (thats actually an example of things that are carried over into other episodes, last season when Hodgens was asking Booth for advice on how to propose he mentioned he had tried and been turned down.
Okay this is starting to make more sense. Was this episode moved from much earlier last season? That would explain the complete lack of Sweets or any mention of him.
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Apr 24, 2008 5:09 PM
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Ok Lots of complaints about grossness and sex. But no one mentioned the ending when she told Booth that he wasn't like RJ because he remembered the name of the girl he took under the bleachers. That was one of he most honest, sweet endings ever.
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Apr 24, 2008 6:37 PM
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