This particular episode, "The Plain in the Prodigy," involves the death of an Amish boy in Washington, D. C., during his "rumspringa."
Levi Yoder (Reider Niklewicz-Larsen), an Amish teenager in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, had secretly taken piano lessons from the wife of someone for whom he had done construction. During his rumspringa (running around time before either joining the Amish church through baptism or leaving the church), Levi is preparing to apply to the (fictional) National Conservatory in classical piano. He left a "party house" where other Amish young folks in rumspringa stayed because he was focused on his music. He suddenly stopped communicating with his parents. His bones are found scattered along a railroad track two months after his death.
Brennan and Booth quickly ascertain the victim is Amish and visit his parents in Lancaster County. Daniel (Randy Oglesby) and Rebecca Yoder (Jennifer Parsons) say they reported Levi as missing. Daniel is briefly suspected of being angry because of Levi's music. Then they suspect Amos (Brian Letscher), the older brother of Levi's Amish girlfriend, Sarah (Stephanie Turner). Amos is known to have a temper, but he also denies any involvement. Other students competing for spots at the Conservatory are suspected, but finally, it's determined it was simply a theft gone wrong. Levi had struggled with the thief and fallen to his death from an upper floor in an apartment complex to the train tracks running nearby.
The premise of the show exceeds plausibility. Brennan can determine from Levi's bones that he had no exposure to electricity and processed foods. That is absurd because Levi (and many Amish) work for English employers who use electricity all the time. And Amish eat processed and fast food all the time. Maybe not as often as the "English," but there's no logical basis for Brennan's analysis.
The story would have been more plausible if Levi had had a classical singing voice, which would not have demanded musical instruments. Yes, Amish frown on musical instruments, but instrumental diversions would more likely have been guitars or harmonicas, not pianos. There are cases of Mennonite truck drivers from conservative backgrounds ending up as opera singers in Europe.
There is a reasonable explanation of rumspringa in an extended conversation between Brennan and Booth when traveling to Lancaster. Most rumspringa takes place near home, with the youth even living at home though there may be a car parked behind the barn. The scene of Amish girls in conservative dress at a party in Washington, D. C., is also silly. The point of rumspringa is to explore the English world, including English dress.
The dress of the Daniel, Rebecca, Sarah, and Amos is vaguely "Amish," but the females always show too much hair under their white headcoverings. Also, Amos's beard was too trimmed.
Levi Yoder (Reider Niklewicz-Larsen), an Amish teenager in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, had secretly taken piano lessons from the wife of someone for whom he had done construction. During his rumspringa (running around time before either joining the Amish church through baptism or leaving the church), Levi is preparing to apply to the (fictional) National Conservatory in classical piano. He left a "party house" where other Amish young folks in rumspringa stayed because he was focused on his music. He suddenly stopped communicating with his parents. His bones are found scattered along a railroad track two months after his death.
Brennan and Booth quickly ascertain the victim is Amish and visit his parents in Lancaster County. Daniel (Randy Oglesby) and Rebecca Yoder (Jennifer Parsons) say they reported Levi as missing. Daniel is briefly suspected of being angry because of Levi's music. Then they suspect Amos (Brian Letscher), the older brother of Levi's Amish girlfriend, Sarah (Stephanie Turner). Amos is known to have a temper, but he also denies any involvement. Other students competing for spots at the Conservatory are suspected, but finally, it's determined it was simply a theft gone wrong. Levi had struggled with the thief and fallen to his death from an upper floor in an apartment complex to the train tracks running nearby.
The premise of the show exceeds plausibility. Brennan can determine from Levi's bones that he had no exposure to electricity and processed foods. That is absurd because Levi (and many Amish) work for English employers who use electricity all the time. And Amish eat processed and fast food all the time. Maybe not as often as the "English," but there's no logical basis for Brennan's analysis.
The story would have been more plausible if Levi had had a classical singing voice, which would not have demanded musical instruments. Yes, Amish frown on musical instruments, but instrumental diversions would more likely have been guitars or harmonicas, not pianos. There are cases of Mennonite truck drivers from conservative backgrounds ending up as opera singers in Europe.
There is a reasonable explanation of rumspringa in an extended conversation between Brennan and Booth when traveling to Lancaster. Most rumspringa takes place near home, with the youth even living at home though there may be a car parked behind the barn. The scene of Amish girls in conservative dress at a party in Washington, D. C., is also silly. The point of rumspringa is to explore the English world, including English dress.
The dress of the Daniel, Rebecca, Sarah, and Amos is vaguely "Amish," but the females always show too much hair under their white headcoverings. Also, Amos's beard was too trimmed.