'Bones' 'The Fact in the Fiction' review: Questioning the impossible

In the Monday, Feb. 25 installment of "Bones" season 8, episode 17, "The Fact in the Fiction," the question of time travel was raised and a new squintern was introduced in a very unusual way.

Before we get into the new "Bones" squintern—Can we keep him?—let's go over the murder investigation. Overall, it was about a four-star case. A guy on a tractor had rolled over the remains ("I just killed a dead guy," he exclaimed), making for a somewhat gross crime scene, but nowhere near as disgusting as some of them have been. After they got the head—thanks to the new squintern, Dr. Wells—they were able to identify the victim as Benji Garcia, and his brother, Alex, said they had no other family; their father had run out on them when they were young, and he and their mother told Benji Felix was dead. It was from Benji's ex-girlfriend that they found out Benji was busy with experiments in time travel, and when they found another body with the same injuries as Benji's that could've been him 20 years in the future, things got even more complicated. But there was nothing impossible going on there; the second victim was Benji's father, Felix, who had owed his dealer money and turned to Benji for help. And thanks to Sweets noticing Alex's body language when asked about his father, they realized Alex had Alex found out. He didn't want his brother to give up his college money and hadn't meant to kill him.

So yes, we want to keep this new squintern—but only as part of the rotation. We still love the rest of them. From Dr. Wells' introduction to how he could hold his own in the lab to Angela telling him to be "less of a douche," his scenes were entertaining and insightful of the other characters, especially as he was able to tell so much about Hodgins with one question about beetles. After all, he introduced himself to Brennan by bringing her the victim's head in the diner ("It's your victim's skull. Hi, I'm your new intern.") in a plastic bag. "It's like getting five interns for the price of one," Cam described him as she told Brennan about his academic background since Brennan doesn't read her emails. "The guy literally fought off coyotes to get the skull back. That's awesome," Sweets said of him, and while, yes, Angela was right about his behavior, Brennan was able to take him down a peg in the end when she mentioned something he didn't have a degree in. Hodgins' experiments are always fun, and the ones from "The Fact in the Fiction" were no exception, with Wells even suggesting another one—hydrostatic shock—that ended up being the right one. How could you not love Hodgins going to Cam and asking for a gun for that one?

Because of Wells, Brennan even began questioning her outlook on things and wondered if she was narrow-minded like he seemed to be implying. Combining that with Brennan's experience in "The Shot in the Dark," we've liked seeing her question her perspective while still remaining Brennan this season. But while he could hold his own against her, she also showed in the end that even with all his degrees, he is still lacking in some areas. And while Brennan may have wondered if she wasn't smarter than he was, Booth took the chance to wonder if he was the smarter one since he was the one to first suggest going into asteroid mining, something Brennan hadn't been sure about in the beginning but Wells had seen as something good to invest in early.

So where would everyone go if they could time travel? Hodgins would go to April 19, 2004, when he first met Angela, and while she remembered that day and said she'd go there too, he noted her hesitation. And the reason for that was revealed when Cam told her she'd go back to her time with Angela's ex-husband and Angela admitted she'd do the same (guy). Meanwhile, Booth would go back and stop Lincoln from being shot if he could, even if it meant he had to put a bullet in Booth's head, which of course led to a whole other problem. And after last week's episode saw Sweets talk about his childhood, he told Booth he'd go back to see the couple that adopted him and saved his life. Brennan and Wells, being Brennan and Wells, were of course different. While he would go into the future five years and take the technology (which brought up the question of whether it would be stealing), she told Booth that she'd stay right where she was. She had everything she wanted or needed in the present.

So overall, it was a strong "Bones" episode and one that was a pretty good introduction to a new squintern. There was an intriguing case, fun in the lab for the King of the lab and his experiments, some touching moments as Hodgins recalled meeting Angela and Sweets spoke of the couple that saved him, and a good balance of drama and comedy, just what we expect from the show.

"Bones" season 8 airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on FOX. What did you think of "The Fact in the Fiction" and the new squintern?