The Predator In The Pool - Season 5, Episode 18
Human remains are discovered in the belly of a shark; when evidence suggests the victim had been the prey of several fish, the team investigates the Aquarium of the Atlantic, where a guest lecturer and notorious self-help guru (preaching the healing power of the ocean) has gone missing; meanwhile, both Brennan and Booth navigate their own relationship when a marine biologist shows interest in Booth.
At the Lab, Dr. Catherine Bryar of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration explains that a dead tiger shark washed up on Rehoboth Beach. Upon dissection, they found a human leg in its stomach. She wonders if Brennan can identify the victim. Catherine is also interested something else: Booth. Brennan believes the leg belongs to a male who was between 5’ and 5'6". She finds bites from multiple predators. Catherine identifies them: a red snapper and a hammerhead. How can that be? Those sharks shouldn't be in the same waters. Hacker suggests investigating the aquarium.
At the Aquarium of the Atlantic, Booth and Brennan discover that a tiger shark was recently released into the ocean. Marilyn Stoddard of the Animal Husbandry Department shows them to the tank where the tiger shark was housed. No one is missing, and the only unusual thing to happen was that the facilities department lost an expensive filter. One of the visitors screams when a giant grouper suddenly regurgitates a human skull! Brennan and Hodgins don scuba gear, and dive into the tank to recover the remains. Once the skull is recovered, they locate a human skeleton nestled in the tank's reef.
Catherine visits Booth at the FBI, and asks if Booth would like to go out with her this weekend. Booth says he can't date her while she's a suspect... but once she's been cleared, a date would be great. Catherine can't wait. Clark Edison estimates the victim is between the ages of 30 and 34. It seems he suffered a spinal-cord injury. There is evidence that the shark attacked while the victim was alive. It also appears the victim was stabbed in the eye, and there is trauma to the throat. Based on the damage, Cam rules the death a homicide. Hodgins has been able to pinpoint time of death using brain coral from the tank. He found a spike in ammonia and nitrate within the creature's skeleton. Something died in the tank on Friday night between midnight and 6AM.
There were 28 people at the aquarium on Friday between midnight and 6AM. Hacker calls to tell Booth that Jazz Gunn, number 19 on the list, cannot be located. He also has a message for Brennan: he's looking forward to their date. Brennan explains that they're having coffee; she's avoided his invite to see a play because she thinks it might be code for sex. She then asks if it's okay to discuss these things with Booth. Booth says yes, and admits he has a date with Catherine Bryar. At the FBI, Sweets, Brennan, and Booth watch a video of Jazz Gunn. Jazz is an inspirational speaker. He was paralyzed in a car accident in 1993, but was cured after swimming with sharks off the coast of Brazil. He claims that by forcing himself to face his fears, he gained the strength to walk again. Booth reports that Jazz spent Friday night setting up for a seminar, but never showed up for his speech. Sweets pauses the video on Tad Benedict. Tad used to be Jazz's assistant, but they had a falling out. Brennan spies a metal stylus in Tad's hand. It could have been used to stab the victim in the eye. Tad is questioned, and admits that he argued with Jazz over compensation... but he says they made amends. Jazz hired Tad back a few months ago, and gave him the pay he deserved. Their troubles were behind them.
Angela creates a live feed of the tropical-reef tank on the Angelatron. It has an interactive interface, which indexes anything organic. Brennan is impressed. Hodgins arrives. He also admires Angela's work, a bit too enthusiastically. Are sparks flying between the two again? Clark believes that the grooves on the victim's bones were caused by a hypodermic needle, so Booth and Brennan question Marilyn Stoddard at the Aquarium. Marilyn doesn't have the needle Brennan is looking for in her supplies. Plus, she wasn't there that night. Brennan notices that she is observing angelfish. Marilyn says they're sick. Brennan decides to confiscate the fish. Booth remembers that Marilyn had previously said she was there on the night of the murder. Marilyn explains that she wasn't with the fish. She was helping a teacher with visiting schoolchildren.
Booth questions the teacher, Grace Redmon. Her class spent the night at the aquarium, sleeping on the floor of the lobby. The lights were on in the tank until midnight. No one saw a man being eaten by a shark, but all the kids were given disposable cameras. Maybe one of the pictures contains a clue. Angela and Brennan review the photographs from the field trip. Brennan wonders about her relationship with Hacker. Angela believes her friend belongs with someone else, but since Angela can't figure out her own personal life, Brennan can have coffee with Hacker. Brennan comes across a picture of a figure standing above the tank. It's not the victim, but the Squints can't make out a face. The timestamp is 2:38AM: Is this the killer? Meanwhile, Hodgins makes an angelfish smoothie. Clark can't believe that Hodgins killed the angelfish. Hodgins declares that they died on their own from a generic, organic-protein-based neurotoxin. Hodgins thinks they ingested it. Clark turns to leave, but Hodgins warns him that Angela and Wendell broke up. Angela may be looking for a new intern. Clark breaks his cardinal rule against getting involved in the personal lives of those he works with, and advises Hodgins not to channel his frustrations into snide remarks. Hodgins shifts gears. He gives Clark a "hairball" from the filter, complete with bone fragments... and then thanks Clark for breaking his cardinal rule: "I'll take it under advisement." Clark says he hopes Hodgins understands that he doesn't need to know about the outcome.
Angela shows Cam and Brennan that she made the face slightly visible using warping software. Brennan recognizes the man. It's Ben Marcus, an employee at the Aquarium. Ben is questioned by Booth, who wonders why Ben didn't clock in for work on the night of the murder. Ben admits he switched shifts with someone, and didn't clock in with his own card. Booth discovered that Ben deposited a check for $10,000 the day after the murder. It is from Dmitri Vladov, a Russian mobster. Ben won't say another word. He is too terrified of what Vladov might do to him. Hacker tries to dissuade Booth from questioning Vladov. The man is already under surveillance by five federal agencies. Booth will just make him angry. Booth won't back down, so Hacker relents and hopes Booth survives the interrogation. Brennan and Hodgins are combing the tank filter for particulates when Booth calls. He needs a strong piece of evidence before his meeting with Vladov. Hodgins realizes that Vladov smuggles vodka using an old trick. He adds blue dye to the alcohol, and imports it as glass cleaner to avoid the high tariff on booze. Once in the country, he needs to remove the blue dye. The only way to accomplish that is with a reverse-osmosis filter. Marilyn mentioned that a filter went missing from the Aquarium. Booth questions Vladov, who denies everything, even that he signed a check that clearly bears his signature. Booth is frustrated, but Vladov stays collected. He's not talking.
Brennan is interested when Clark discovers embryonic cells in the "hairball," and rushes into Angela's office. Is there a blue shark in the tank? Angela tells her there isn't. So where did the embryonic cells come from? Brennan explains that they were inside the victim. He had them implanted in his spinal cord, and that restored his ability to walk. The Squints also realize that the spike from a lionfish caused the grooves in the bone. It is similar to a hypodermic needle. At the Aquarium, Marilyn introduces Booth and Brennan to Bob the Lionfish. The edge of his tank is cracked. The victim was forced into the lionfish tank. The lionfish stunned the victim with his venomous spikes. Bob is the murder weapon. Later, at the lab, Brennan reenacts the murder for the Squints. Jazz Gunn was "facing his fear" by coming face to face with the venomous lionfish. The murderer pushed his face into the tank (and into Bob's spikes). Jazz was incapacitated, and easy to drag into the tank where he drowned.
Booth tells Brennan that Jazz Gunn flew to Brazil every six months to receive treatment for his spinal-cord injury. It wasn't facing his fear that cured him; it was experimental surgery. He pretended to swim with sharks, but really he got maintenance injections; however, someone else also visited Brazil this year. Grace Redmon is questioned again. Booth wonders why she traveled to Brazil. Grace, who had previously claimed never to have heard of Jazz Gunn, now confesses that she attended nine of his seminars. She has fibromyalgia. He lied to her. He said that facing her fear would cure her pain. Maybe he was onto something: She hasn't felt any pain since she killed him.
The case is solved, and Brennan is off to meet Hacker for coffee. Booth will be going out with Catherine now that the case is closed. They wish each other well, although Brennan is smarter than Catherine and Booth is better looking than Hacker. They both enjoy their dates. Catherine makes Booth laugh. After their dates, Booth and Brennan have a drink at the Founding Fathers, and talk about their new relationships. Brennan is happy for Booth and vice versa. She says he deserves a good woman.
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