The Man in the SUV
Bones Season 1 Episode #2 “The Man in the SUV” (2005): 8 out of 10: This Bones episode originally aired on September 20, 2005. Here’s a brief synopsis of the episode:
The episode opens up with a horrifying scene as an SUV explodes in the middle of a busy street, killing the driver and causing chaos and panic. This incident captures the attention of the FBI, who immediately involve the Jeffersonian team in the investigation. The victim of the explosion is identified as Hamid Masruk, the leader of the Arab-American Friendship League who had recently met with the President.
Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) are put on the case to determine whether this incident was an assassination or an act of terrorism. Bones, with her unparalleled forensic anthropology skills, analyzes the charred remains and discovers evidence that suggests this was more than an ordinary car bombing.
Despite the pressure from their superiors and the public, Booth is skeptical about pinning the incident as a terrorist act without solid proof. He faces his own internal conflict, wrestling with his past as a sniper in the army and the issues of terrorism.
As the team uncovers more about Masruk’s life, including secrets about his family and business, the truth behind his death is more complicated than they first believed. The line between personal and professional becomes blurry for Booth and Brennan as they confront their own biases and preconceptions.
In the meantime, the Jeffersonian team, including Angela Montenegro (Michaela Conlin), Dr. Jack Hodgins (T.J. Thyne), and Dr. Zack Addy (Eric Millegan), utilize their unique skills and methods to piece together the puzzle of the victim’s life and death, revealing unexpected twists along the way.
“The Man in the SUV” is an intense exploration of terrorism, prejudice, and the murky world of international politics. It also delves deeper into the dynamic partnership between Booth and Brennan, revealing more about their personalities and their developing relationship.
The Good
The Good: It’s a pretty cool car bomb in front of the cafe. Reminds me of the bombing in Jackie Chan’s The Foreigner, though that one was the IRA, not the Arabs. To add to the effectiveness of the bombing, there is some excellent character development showing Angela as squeamish or very sensitive to the body parts of people who had been blown up and also Brennan being very cold and professional and Booth a bit in the middle.
Another good character scene is Booth is convinced the dead man’s wife is having an affair. He makes some good points. She started lose lost weight; she has perkier boobs. Brennan is absolutely appalled that he can jump to a conclusion like that. Brennan and Booth continue this discussion at a local Chinese restaurant and Angela pops in there and agrees with Booth, so it’s a nice theme that runs through really all 12 years of the show, which is the difference between gut feelings and empirical evidence. As we all know, gut feelings are, in a lot of ways, our brains analyzing empirical evidence to a degree higher than we can consciously. So there are arguments for both sides.
In every police procedural in 2005, there had to be a terrorism episode and Bones gets theirs out of the way pretty quick. Looking back, one might expect a message of not all Arabs are terrorists to be in the forefront, but honestly The Man in the SUV takes a very different route. It is more Across the Pacific where you can’t trust the “good” Arab cause he is not really a Christian and he has a bomb. Agree or not, it is impressive that a show went there even in 2005.
They’re using flesh eating beetles to clean the bones of the burn victim. That’s pretty impressive. They later have to grind the beetles to look for poisons and poor Zach had named them.
The Mystery (Spoilers)
One weakness in Bones is that the mystery is not always satisfying and occasionally makes little sense. That is not the case here. The killer is an evil Arab who is pretending to be a Christian and plans a suicide bombing with a package of Dioxin at a confidence for moderate Arab leaders. The script is tight, and the evidence leads to the suspect in question. One of the better solutions.
The Bad
The Bad: I got to admit I find the people that Jeffersonian a little snarky to the Department of Homeland Security guy (David Roberson) to where Brennan refuses to give him the file and instead drives to Booth’s apartment to give it to him. Booth is with a lady friend (Anne Dudek) and this causes an entire subplot of Angela spying on the poor girl.
The Ugly
The Ugly: I have a hard time believing anyone sweating profusely with that amount of horrendous growth on their face wouldn’t cause people to go screaming wildly into the street. Both the terrorist and his cuckolded bombing victim brother have what appears to be Bubonic AIDS.
We are told that this is a symptom of Dioxin exposure. And maybe that is what Dioxin exposure does? But still the characters on the show are acting like the brothers have rosacea or an acne breakout instead of looking like a character in Dawn of the Dead hiding a bite mark.
In Conclusion
In Conclusion: The Man in the SUV is a very solid episode. The episode has a nice balance of action and character beats. Bones is off to a solid start regrading character development and interaction. In addition, its willingness to “go there” regarding the bad guy means that the show will not always walk the straight and narrow.