Possibly the best episode ever, full of emotion and power. Truly heartcrushing. A beautiful, stellar performance by all of the cast. Splendid writing that honestly, truthfully, and respectfully portrayed the religion, emotion, and message in the episode. Astounding work. A gift for all viewers that is both moving and touching. It is relatable and wonderfully done. The actors and actresses do a fantastic job of making the audience feel. There is so much heart in this episode. There is a little bit of fun in the beginning, and some conflict among the Squinterns, but once the mood sobers this episode really packs an emotional wallop. It holds revelations and truth. It shows a new side of every character and makes the show all the more real. The case is monumental, the results are tearful. It has a powerful ending that fits perfectly with the episode, the characters, and the show. A resounding winner. Everyone should see this.
16 Reviews
A heartwarming, Emmy awarding episode.
purpleblossem14 November 2012
This episode has me in tears. I rarely tear up for TV series, but I definitely teared up in this episode. It was an emotional roller-coaster, the passion and the determination, the seriousness of the acting, the fact that it mentions an event that literally shook the world, and reminded us of how there are people out there who actually have a story to tell, it opens up your eyes and lets you know that it's time, it's time to find out stories not told yet, and to appreciate those who have stories to tell, and appreciate those heroes that fight our wars and for our freedom. I loved this episode, it definitely deserves an Emmy. The acting was amazing, the script was mind blowing, and the ending just rocked!
1. Emmy Material. 2. One for the Archives
JonahVarque17 November 2012
The Patriot in Purgatory.
Powerful, deep, moving, important. The importance of people. The importance of teamwork. The importance of science. The importance of doing what's right. Wow.
The Bones writing team touched all the bases on this one, and the cast treated it with more seriousness than they do the typical episode. I think I burst into tears 4 times. I think the acting was a bit more intense than the average Bones episode as well, and all the characters and actors shone.
I don't often watch Bones, but was recommended to see this and I'm so very glad I saw it. I hope this episode wins a boatload of awards.
Powerful, deep, moving, important. The importance of people. The importance of teamwork. The importance of science. The importance of doing what's right. Wow.
The Bones writing team touched all the bases on this one, and the cast treated it with more seriousness than they do the typical episode. I think I burst into tears 4 times. I think the acting was a bit more intense than the average Bones episode as well, and all the characters and actors shone.
I don't often watch Bones, but was recommended to see this and I'm so very glad I saw it. I hope this episode wins a boatload of awards.
The best episode ever! (Possible spoilers??)
ericfrances7313 November 2012
Warning: Spoilers
I was blown away by the acting, the writing, and the story. One of my top all-time TV episodes.TV at it's best.! It was nice to see the interns step out of the shadows and shine. Amazing, and heartfelt, I was in tears half way through.
Kudos to the writers for an well-done job. Touching, riveting, and emotional. The action built to an heart-rendering denouement. It never felt forced, and went were I didn't expect.
The actors were superb. The interns were so right on emotionally, you felt their competition evolve into teamwork, and to understanding.
An all around thank you to to everyone!
Kudos to the writers for an well-done job. Touching, riveting, and emotional. The action built to an heart-rendering denouement. It never felt forced, and went were I didn't expect.
The actors were superb. The interns were so right on emotionally, you felt their competition evolve into teamwork, and to understanding.
An all around thank you to to everyone!
Just Beautiful!
nga-pedersen14 November 2012
Warning: Spoilers
No other TV episode has moved me as much as this episode of Bones. It was beautifully written and the actors all conveyed the emotion and depth required to make you forget for just one second that you were watching a show. I loved the fact the Bones humour remained in the background, and I especially loved the fact the squinterns were centre stage for once. I often find myself wishing there would be more squinterns in each episode rather then having just one, so this episode ticked that box for me! Each had their moment to share with one another their 9/11 memories and bought out a personal side you don't often get to see from these characters. Pej Vahdat who plays Arastoo was especially moving in his portrayal and gives a speech that will bring you to tears. Overall one of if not THE best episode of Bones ever!!
Simply moving!!!
drgaganv15 November 2012
Warning: Spoilers
This is the best episode of Bones I have seen to date. Bones brings together all of her previous assistants to help solve this weeks case. The case revolves around the 9/11 events. The victim is apparently linked to that day. How they come to this conclusion and proceed with the investigation is impressive. Usually I might roll my eyes at the simplistic way they come up with some interpretations. Here it seems much believable. Going forward with the investigation brings out the pain and angst of 9/11 by each person in their own way. The acting exceeds expectations. The script is strong and is certainly one of the best in the series. I was moved more than once during the scenes by the dialogs. Excellent direction, dialogs and story. Certainly up for a prospective Emmy. Not to be missed at all. For newcomers an excellent introduction to the Bones series.
Possibly the best episode on an outstanding show
philusaf8 September 2017
I 1st checked out this show because I was a fan of David Boreanaz and through it, I became fans of many more actors...but no episode did more to explore as many characters as this one. From Arastoo and Wendall to Fisher and Clark, it gave great insights into the squinterns and delivered some heart-wrenching performances from them as well as main characters like Booth and Jack. The subject matter was real-world related and the way characters talked, you'd think they lived through the real world events that this episode was based around.
"The Patriot in Purgatory" is underrated
brookielee-873993 February 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I feel like this episode of Bones is underrated for how incredible it was.
Of course it has humor to dull the sadness and death in the episode, like Bones episodes typically have.
And it's the first time that the interns are all together (except for Daisy), which I loved seeing them all together solving separate cases when Bones tries to initiate a competition between the interns of who could identify the most sets of remains down in "limbo" (aka bone storage).
When Aristoo comes across a set of remains that have him stumped, the team of the Jeffersonian and all the interns end up working together and come to the conclusion that the remains belong to a hero from 9/11 who saved the lives of 3 individuals, but his death wasn't ever looked at closely by law enforcement or coroners because he was homeless. The consequence of saving these 3 individuals, left the deceased with a number of bone breaks and damage to his entire body, which left his organs being pierced by broken bones, and it took him 10 long days be bleed out and die all alone.
This episode definetly has its sad parts but it has a wonderful meaning behind it. Through stories told by the team and the squinterns, it shows how much the events of 9/11 shaped everyone's lives. Even Hodgin's admits that he has looked into every 9/11 conspiracy there is and none of them hold up except for the fact that our country was attacked by extremists who hated everything about America.
Still powerful, filled with meaning
CealCraig30 April 2018
While I was watching through the seasons after the series closed, this episode remained as powerful as the first time I saw it. Sure, it pulls at the heart strings with a human interest story torn from 9/11/2001. Nonetheless, the fundamentals of it: the first time the interns pulled together as a team (I wished Daisy had been in this too) and solved a difficult case; what was originally only a sad story turned into a powerful positive compelling story; humor in spots to provide counterpoints. Truly a favorite episode from the seasons of enjoyment.
Have you forgotten
roberthkemmet26 January 2021
This episode will stand the test of time. For those of us who lived it (I was a major city police officer on 9/11) it was a reminder of what a shift it was. Listening to "the team" recount their memories (especially Wendell) was heart breaking. SPECTACULAR writing and Bones' admission at the end is worth watching to the very last minute.
This episode and acting was amazing
dmhalko4 June 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This episode and the acting was amazing. This is probably my fourth time around binging on the series Bones. This episode really tugs at my heart strings. I know there are critics at the bottom that don't agree. Don't look too deeply into it take the content for what it what is; I don't feel it's political or unpatriotic. The acting in the show was phenomenal from the squinterns to Booth and Brennan, to the rest of the cast of Bones. This episode always moves me to tears. It keeps you in your seat the whole time, it's riveting, heart wrenching, and just a great episode. Definitely one of my favorites. It makes you feel and it makes you remember 9/11, though it may not be true it's still brings you back to that day. It is moving to hear all the squinterns & cast remembering where they were that day, Bones at the finally taking an introspective look at her life. And realizing the impact and her true emotions of that day.
Disappointing.
AceRoccola11 September 2014
Quick disclaimer: Because this is a component of the discourse following this episode, I feel the need to clarify: I am not a conspiracy theorist. If you saw the low rating and immediately figured "oh, one of those" please don't jump to such an easy conclusion. Now, to the review itself.
The episode starts out quite promisingly, with a gathering of the current interns at the mysterious behest of Dr. Brennan. It was interesting to see these characters, who had previously been restricted to their own episodes, interacting with each other and working together. Though the best of the interns left the show well before this point, the personalities of the squints in question played well together, at least during those first scenes.
Unfortunately, as the central mystery unfolds the writing quickly falls apart and the characters all adopt an identical conception of jingoistic and disingenuous patriotism. The problem with this "very special episode" is not that it chooses as its subject such an event as the attacks of September 11th 2001. The problem is that it is so poorly done. For fear of offending the pundits in the audience, the entirety of the dialogue concerning 9/11 is embarrassingly jingoistic, clichéd, and insulting to the memory of the victims of those attacks. Even Hodgins, the resident conspiracy theorist and eternal questioner of authority, becomes an honorary Fox News patriot for the day.
While much of the dialogue sounds like it was cut from leftover Sean Hannity monologues, the show takes a decidedly Left approach to its sole Muslim character, Arastoo (who is often the source of horrid dialogue and classless pandering), in order to provide a rousing monologue about the misappropriation of the Muslim religion. And it suffers from all of the same problems as the rest of the episode, being clichéd, reductionist, and insulting. This in itself is not great, but the real problem is the writers' unwillingness to question any of the assumptions made by the character (something the show has done regularly with other such moments and characters). For a series that has an otherwise admirable track record dealing with religion, this episode entirely fails to offer any kind of counterbalance to itself after Arastoo's declarations.
In any other episode, and particularly with any other religion, the show would have thrown Brennan or another intern into the discussion to offer another viewpoint from the simplistic and naive "religion is great and can never do wrong" speech given by Arastoo. This happens consistently throughout the series with regards to Christianity, where Brennan and Booth serve to balance one another. Brennan being the skeptic, Booth being the believer. Each offers their arguments and criticisms and the audience is left to decide for themselves who made the best case. In this special episode however, we do not get to choose. We are told exactly how to feel about religious belief, and everyone in the room comes to immediate consensus about it. There is no skeptic, no devil's advocate, no clarification or refinement. Nothing but "that was awesome!" (Yes, this is the literal line of dialogue that follows Arastoo's speech). Had Booth given a similar speech, Brennan would have immediately offered her rebuttal in her usual way. By cowardly removing this element from the show's religious discourse, the writers have utterly failed to live up to the series' standard.
This is not the smart, incisive show that it was in past seasons. This is emotional extortion. A national tragedy being exploited in order to trick the audience into feeling emotion that is not elicited from the quality of the script itself. This show is, or was, better than this. I hope the season improves from here.
The episode starts out quite promisingly, with a gathering of the current interns at the mysterious behest of Dr. Brennan. It was interesting to see these characters, who had previously been restricted to their own episodes, interacting with each other and working together. Though the best of the interns left the show well before this point, the personalities of the squints in question played well together, at least during those first scenes.
Unfortunately, as the central mystery unfolds the writing quickly falls apart and the characters all adopt an identical conception of jingoistic and disingenuous patriotism. The problem with this "very special episode" is not that it chooses as its subject such an event as the attacks of September 11th 2001. The problem is that it is so poorly done. For fear of offending the pundits in the audience, the entirety of the dialogue concerning 9/11 is embarrassingly jingoistic, clichéd, and insulting to the memory of the victims of those attacks. Even Hodgins, the resident conspiracy theorist and eternal questioner of authority, becomes an honorary Fox News patriot for the day.
While much of the dialogue sounds like it was cut from leftover Sean Hannity monologues, the show takes a decidedly Left approach to its sole Muslim character, Arastoo (who is often the source of horrid dialogue and classless pandering), in order to provide a rousing monologue about the misappropriation of the Muslim religion. And it suffers from all of the same problems as the rest of the episode, being clichéd, reductionist, and insulting. This in itself is not great, but the real problem is the writers' unwillingness to question any of the assumptions made by the character (something the show has done regularly with other such moments and characters). For a series that has an otherwise admirable track record dealing with religion, this episode entirely fails to offer any kind of counterbalance to itself after Arastoo's declarations.
In any other episode, and particularly with any other religion, the show would have thrown Brennan or another intern into the discussion to offer another viewpoint from the simplistic and naive "religion is great and can never do wrong" speech given by Arastoo. This happens consistently throughout the series with regards to Christianity, where Brennan and Booth serve to balance one another. Brennan being the skeptic, Booth being the believer. Each offers their arguments and criticisms and the audience is left to decide for themselves who made the best case. In this special episode however, we do not get to choose. We are told exactly how to feel about religious belief, and everyone in the room comes to immediate consensus about it. There is no skeptic, no devil's advocate, no clarification or refinement. Nothing but "that was awesome!" (Yes, this is the literal line of dialogue that follows Arastoo's speech). Had Booth given a similar speech, Brennan would have immediately offered her rebuttal in her usual way. By cowardly removing this element from the show's religious discourse, the writers have utterly failed to live up to the series' standard.
This is not the smart, incisive show that it was in past seasons. This is emotional extortion. A national tragedy being exploited in order to trick the audience into feeling emotion that is not elicited from the quality of the script itself. This show is, or was, better than this. I hope the season improves from here.
The most meaningful Bones episode
vqurxpnpy8 August 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I have been a huge fan of the Bones show since it first aired. It wasn't until this episode that I truly grasped the depth and importance of what forensic anthropologist do.
This entire episode was an homage to the importance of humanity when we come together and when we find solutions within each other. It's shines light on, not just the homeless but their stories. It shines light on the forgotten soldiers that risk their lives to keep us all safe.
I have just re-watched this episode and find myself ugly crying because you can't watch it and not remember exactly where you were on 9/11, who you were with and exactly what you felt.
It's a beautiful yet sad depiction of the way society views the homeless, soldiers and mental health. This episode alone deserves more than 10 stars.
This entire episode was an homage to the importance of humanity when we come together and when we find solutions within each other. It's shines light on, not just the homeless but their stories. It shines light on the forgotten soldiers that risk their lives to keep us all safe.
I have just re-watched this episode and find myself ugly crying because you can't watch it and not remember exactly where you were on 9/11, who you were with and exactly what you felt.
It's a beautiful yet sad depiction of the way society views the homeless, soldiers and mental health. This episode alone deserves more than 10 stars.
Moving at a Personal Level
Hitchcoc19 February 2023
This story was quite moving and yet very manipulative. We have a contrived situation where Bones, reading a book by Phil Jackson, decides to implemWent his basketball strategies into her job as an anthropologist, pushing her interns to reexamine closed cases and identify the people who died. A seemingly homeless man comes to their attention. While the whole process was entertaining (in sort of a morbid way) it was scripted in a methodical way. First, everyone for themself, then prejudice and judgment, finally, work together. Everything was neatly brought to a positive conclusion. Too neat. I do also agree with the criticism of the jingoism. Remember how many acted toward their fellow citizens after the events of 9/11. Let's not get so smug. But I stuck to the case at hand.
An Episode Done Earlier and Better (may be spoilers)
anderbilt20 December 2013
Warning: Spoilers
I write this as a fan of the series "Bones." But as one who came to the show somewhat late, after a six-season binge on Netflix a couple of years ago.
It's weird coming to love a series in this fashion. I saw six seasons of an excellent television show, with some consistency problems, but an overall week-to-week quality. I finished my binge about a month before the start of season eight, and the release of season seven on Netflix. Sampling season seven, and peeking in on season eight were as often disappointing as they were exciting. Those two seasons imo don't stand as strong as the first six. Season nine so far has been something of an improvement.
Which brings us to The Patriot In Pergatory. Before watching this it was interesting to note the pre-airing buzz about the show, and laudatory comments in the press. But in the viewing, I personally found this episode to be especially contrived and tedious. And gimmicky.
Gimmick - the need to bring all five 'squinterns' together on a single autopsy; fan-interest aside, the dramatic and plot reasons didn't make sense. The awestruck revelation of each new fact about the unidentified remains came off as remarkably contrived as well. And I agree with other harsher critics in this forum that the tone was a little overly jingoistic, or at best catering to patriotic emotions drummed up by a revisit of the September 11th 2001 attacks.
This is not the worst episode of Bones. That honor likely would go to the season seven episode "The Bump In The Road," the episode which explored the dark seamy world of coupon clippers. The shining moment of that episode of course was John Francis Daley reprising the facial expressions he used years before in the opening credits of "Freaks and Geeks."
There are two outstanding episodes in "Bones" which dealt with the commitment and bond between soldiers defending this nation. See them.
S1 - EP21 "The Soldier On The Grave," and S4 - EP13 "Hero In The Hold."
It's weird coming to love a series in this fashion. I saw six seasons of an excellent television show, with some consistency problems, but an overall week-to-week quality. I finished my binge about a month before the start of season eight, and the release of season seven on Netflix. Sampling season seven, and peeking in on season eight were as often disappointing as they were exciting. Those two seasons imo don't stand as strong as the first six. Season nine so far has been something of an improvement.
Which brings us to The Patriot In Pergatory. Before watching this it was interesting to note the pre-airing buzz about the show, and laudatory comments in the press. But in the viewing, I personally found this episode to be especially contrived and tedious. And gimmicky.
Gimmick - the need to bring all five 'squinterns' together on a single autopsy; fan-interest aside, the dramatic and plot reasons didn't make sense. The awestruck revelation of each new fact about the unidentified remains came off as remarkably contrived as well. And I agree with other harsher critics in this forum that the tone was a little overly jingoistic, or at best catering to patriotic emotions drummed up by a revisit of the September 11th 2001 attacks.
This is not the worst episode of Bones. That honor likely would go to the season seven episode "The Bump In The Road," the episode which explored the dark seamy world of coupon clippers. The shining moment of that episode of course was John Francis Daley reprising the facial expressions he used years before in the opening credits of "Freaks and Geeks."
There are two outstanding episodes in "Bones" which dealt with the commitment and bond between soldiers defending this nation. See them.
S1 - EP21 "The Soldier On The Grave," and S4 - EP13 "Hero In The Hold."
Pure Propaganda!
lstarr-266-4346952 May 2013
Warning: Spoilers
****SPOILER****
I would have given this episode a -10 if I could have. What an ATROCIOUS propaganda piece this was. The Government and the corporate sponsored media are the REAL conspiracy theorists. They expect us to believe an impossible story with ZERO evidence to back it up. Say what you want about '911 conspiracy theorists', but at least their beliefs are backed by Scientific Evidence. The Government absolutely cannot say the same. Millions of people all over the world are now aware the 'official story' is physically impossible to have happened. Someday, the truth about the US and Israeli Mossad's involvement in 911 will be as widely accepted as the truth about the Gulf of Tonkin incident or the burning of the Reichstag building. False flags happen all the time, but the truth is NEVER buried. You can fool some of the people some of the time but you cannot fool everyone all the time.
On that note, I have completely lost respect in this show now. To allow the Government to use your program to spew lies in order to continue their illegal and unjustifiable slaughter of over a MILLION innocent people overseas, makes you guilty by association. Someday, I really hope that journalists and writers in the media, who used 911 in this way, are charged with obstruction of justice for working with the sociopaths that currently run our Government. Whoever wrote Jack Hodgin's script for this episode, should definitely be one of those people.
PS: I was a firefighter in NY. I lost loved ones that day. After learning the truth, and seeing how much evidence proves what really happened, I could no longer live in America because I couldn't stomach seeing propaganda like this. Your show was one of my favorites. Now, I refuse to watch it again. Thanks for ruining it.
I would have given this episode a -10 if I could have. What an ATROCIOUS propaganda piece this was. The Government and the corporate sponsored media are the REAL conspiracy theorists. They expect us to believe an impossible story with ZERO evidence to back it up. Say what you want about '911 conspiracy theorists', but at least their beliefs are backed by Scientific Evidence. The Government absolutely cannot say the same. Millions of people all over the world are now aware the 'official story' is physically impossible to have happened. Someday, the truth about the US and Israeli Mossad's involvement in 911 will be as widely accepted as the truth about the Gulf of Tonkin incident or the burning of the Reichstag building. False flags happen all the time, but the truth is NEVER buried. You can fool some of the people some of the time but you cannot fool everyone all the time.
On that note, I have completely lost respect in this show now. To allow the Government to use your program to spew lies in order to continue their illegal and unjustifiable slaughter of over a MILLION innocent people overseas, makes you guilty by association. Someday, I really hope that journalists and writers in the media, who used 911 in this way, are charged with obstruction of justice for working with the sociopaths that currently run our Government. Whoever wrote Jack Hodgin's script for this episode, should definitely be one of those people.
PS: I was a firefighter in NY. I lost loved ones that day. After learning the truth, and seeing how much evidence proves what really happened, I could no longer live in America because I couldn't stomach seeing propaganda like this. Your show was one of my favorites. Now, I refuse to watch it again. Thanks for ruining it.
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