Zack is Back on Bones in ‘Perfect Pieces’

Since last season’s Bones finale, Zack has been missing from the series, presumably cooling his heels in a mental hospital after killing a man and aiding Gormogon.

BONES: Zack (Eric Millegan, R) returns to help Brennan (Emily Deschanel, C) and Booth (David Boreanaz, L) find the murderer of a writer found in a pond in the BONES episode

But tonight in “The Perfect Pieces in the Purple Pond” we learn that Zak has not been very far from the hearts of his former coworkers.

Apparently, Hodgins visits his “best friend” regularly bringing him puzzles to challenge him.  When Zack solves the one Hodgins brought him this time he names himself “King of the Loony Bin.”  Hodgins then talks about the current case with Zack, leaving him the file to review

Angela visits too.  It’s unclear whether Brennen and Cam stop by too, but they both have Zack on the brain.

Brennan tells Wendell Bray (Michael Terry), the latest Zack fill in and Brennan’s brightest scholarship student to not be distracted by the standard standards set by Zach.  Unfortunately, that’s not what distracts him.

Meanwhile, Cam tries to get Hodgins to move into Zack’s space because she thinks it would be easiest on Zack.  But Hodgins can’t.  He wishes that Zack was back.

But Booth tells him that Zack isn’t coming back.  Just then Zack walks into the lab with the key to solving the case.

When asked out he got out, Zack replies that Sweets helped him.  It seems that on one of Sweets’ counseling sessions with Zack, Zack stole the strip from his access card and put it on his “loony bin library card.”  He then later used that card to escape.

But back to the case.  A body cut in exactly 12 pieces and missing its head is found.  The body belongs to Jared Addison, an author that lives with his mother (Lisa Kaminir), collects action figures, suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and has excessively small feet as a result of some disease I can’t spell.

Jared was having an affair with a woman (Debra Christofferson) 28 years his senior and was trying to overcome his OCD in order to get back in the good graces of his publisher (Matt Doherty) when he died.

Wendell proves to be a pretty astute assistant coming up with a couple key pieces of information, but not before he misinterprets Brennen’s questions about relationships with older women.

In the end, it turns out the location of Jared’s missing head is key to finding his killer and Zack discovers that location.

While Booth and Bones go to retrieve the head and arrest the killer, Zack stops in at the diner with the rest of the crew.

But then he must return to the mental institute.  Booth drops Zack off with Sweets so it can look like Sweets checked him out.  But Sweets is clearly uncomfortable with being alone without security with Zack.

Booth makes Zack promise not to kill Sweets, but it’s what Zack tells Sweets after Booth leaves that really eases his mind.

Zach’s comment “I was wrong, not delusional” from the counseling session at the beginning of the show makes a lot more sense now.

What did you think of Zack’s return?  Should the team seek his help in the future even if he’s in the mental hospital?  Should they continue to try to find a replacement for Zack?

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