Bones fans anxiously tuned in this week to see the return of Dr. Zack Addy. Last season, Zack confessed to being the cannibalistic serial killer Gormogon’s apprentice, as well as admitting to murdering one of Gormogon’s victims. As a result, Zack was sent to a mental institution for a mental imbalance. Before Wednesday’s episode, viewers have not seen Zack since the season finale.

Meanwhile, back at the lab Booth, Brennan and the rest of the “squint squad” are solving a case about a man who has been beheaded, decapitated into twelve pieces and thrown into an evaporation pool. The man is identified as Jared Addison, a 25 year-old suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder. This case proved to be one of the harder ones for the team to solve since it involved many suspects making it hard for the viewer to select the murder until the very end. Also, the head was missing from the body, making it more difficult to officially determine a cause of death. The case wasn’t solved until Zack broke out of the “Loony Bin” with a vital clue he found in the case file that Hodgins gives him that helps the team find the missing head and the killer. The episode concludes with Sweets bringing Zack back into the institution and Zack revealing a huge bit of insight about being Gormogon’s apprentice.

This episode has been spoken about for quite a while on Bones fan sites, especially after the shock of Zack being Gormogon’s apprentice in last season’s finale. While it was great to see Zack back with the rest of the team, the way the writers worked it in was disappointing, making the actors not live up to their true characters. This was upsetting and seemed almost counter-productive the team would act less like themselves after finally being reunited.

Another issue in this episode was Dr. Sweets. This FBI psychiatrist is now involved in every aspect of the case, including interrogating suspects. While it is understandable that his character is becoming more involved since he is now a part of the cast, it still doesn’t make sense that a psychiatrist is doing FBI field work. In the words in Brennan “that’s not logical”.

All in all, this episode did not live up to its full potential. It was great to have Eric Milligan back and play Zack phenomenally, however his appearance seemed too forced when it could have been woven in seamlessly. Bones creator Hart Hanson confirms that viewers have not seen the last of Zack, so hopefully the writers will be able to give Zack the great episode he deserves.

Overall Grade: B