FinnAgent Booth, can I have a moment, please? Um, have I done something to offend you?
Look, I'm not really into this whole "West Coast In Touch With Your Feelings" thing, okay? So...
Finn
Yeah. Um, I'm really good at my job, and I've been nothing but cooperative and helpful to you, but you just freeze me out.
Finn
And I know you have nothing against working with women because you're partners with Dr. Brennan, so your problem must be with me.
Look, I don't have anything against you, Agent Finn. I just don't like the way you view the FBI.
Finn
What do you mean?
This is a proud and noble job but you're using it to get to something else. My advice? Write your script, get an agent, hell, have a little plastic surgery! But quit using my Federal Bureau of Investigation as a stepping stone into something that you think is better. Because in my book, there is nothing better.
Did your interest in forensics stem from a plan to murder your stepfather?
FAFinn Abernathy
Yes, ma'am, it did.
Dr. Soroyan mentioned that he was physically abusive to both you and your mother.
Finn
He had a temper. Probably why I behaved like I did. I could never find a way to make the mad go away.
So did you murder your stepfather, Mr. Abernathy?
Finn
No, ma'am. I did not.
Finn
I read a paper you wrote: postmortem dismemberment analysis. I knew no matter how careful I was I'd never get away with killing him. At least not with ya'll around.
I like to think that's true.
Finn
I took it as a sign from above to keep me on the straight and narrow. I haven't so much as talk in church since.
What happened to your stepfather?
Finn
Last time I saw him I told him he was a dead man if he ever touched my mama again. I guess the son of a bitch didn't know I was bluffing.
I can imagine how it must feel to know people are thinking that you did something like that.
Finn
I appreciate that.
[affects southern drawl] You must never walk out again, you hear? There ain't gonna be no more second chances. [smiles at Mr. Abernathy] I love John Wayne movies.
9/11 was a trauma to us all - not like this guy or the people who died that day. But it still changed us, right? A-and we act like it doesn't matter. Clearly Wendell is freaking out and you ... [motions to Arastoo] you went nuts earlier. The first rule of the looney bin is to get it all out in the open. So, that's what we're going to do, alright? I'll go: I was in High School. It was my Senior Year. I was [chuckles] breaking into my history teacher's desk to steal a test I hadn't studied for and he walked in. He was crying. He couldn't care less what I was doing. That's when I found out. So I ... I talked with him. I had a stolen test in my hand, and we both sat...and we cried. Next? Oh, c'mon!
I was working. It was, uh, before school - coffee shop. Everyone was just staring at the TV. No one said a word. The cook came out to watch with the rest of us. I still remember the smell of food burning on that grill.
Finn
I was nine. I got in the way of my stepfather hitting my mama... he stuck me with some scissors. My mama wanted to take me to the hospital, but my hurt didn't seem like nothin' when we heard what had happened.
I was at morning prayers. I didn't believe that day. I didn't believe in anything.
I was, uh, with my aunt ... from that morning until the next few days. My uncle was a firefighter in New York. He never came home.
[Cam, Brennan, Finn, and Hodgins are analyzing a teen's remains packed inside a suitcase.]
The boy didn't climb into a suitcase and throw himself off a bridge
I don't know. Could be a jackass stunt gone wrong.
You're suggesting cause of death is stupidity?
Finn
Well, it wouldn't be the first time.
[Hodgins catches up with Finn on the Forensic platform.]
Finn, I've got the results.
Finn
From the victim's fingernail?
What? No, no, no, I'm still working on that. No, I have a molecular breakdown of your Grandma's secret sauce.
Finn
Oh, forget it. I've moved on.
No, you haven't, your still pissed, and I don't blame you. That stuff is awesome!
Finn
My Grandmother used to put it on my Catfish...
Oh, you're kidd...you're killing me here. I'm not gonna let that hot sauce die. [walks over to monitor] Now, look at this. I-I took a swab of the bottle and I ran it through the Mass-Spec, right, and I almost got everything. We've got Red and Yellow Peppers, ok, Cayenne, Tomatoes, of course, Garlic, Onions, Cumin, Salt, Brown sugar, Vinegar--it's just-it's just this one compound I cannot identify, and I hoping you'd know what it was.
Finn
Yeah, it's the one thing you'll never find.
Alright, but I've already got a portion of the molecular chain...
Finn
Love! It's love, Hodgins. That's not gonna show on your Mass Spec. Come on, let it go. [walks away]
No...Finn, come on...hey. I'm just one compound away.
[Finn leaves the Forensics Platform]
I'm gonna burn the crap outta your mouth and you are gonna love it!
[Another lab technician looks at Hodgins and wrinkles his nose, weirded out by the comment. Hodgins feels awkward for saying that so loud]
Finn
I hope this is important, I'm trying to find cause of death... [Smells the fried catfish.] What's that smell?
[As Angela prepares a table, Hodgins turns to show Finn.]
It... is Catfish, "Opie".
Finn
Oh. That wasn't neccessary, "Thurston".
But it was. [Points to the chair waiting] Come here, sit down.
[Finn sits down to the fried Catfish. Hodgins' hand moves to his pocket.]
And this... [Pulls a bottle of the hot sauce out of his pocket] This is the hot sauce.
Taste it, you are gonna love it.
[Finn reluctantly obliges]
Finn
This is... [drinks some of the sauce] Oh, my god! How did you do that?
Aframomum melegueta; it's more commonly as "Guinea grain". It's native to swampy habitats along the West African Coast. I have no idea how your Granny got a hold of it, but...
Finn
She used to trade with a Herbalist in the woods...Damnit...If you hadn't brought my Granny back from the dead! [starts laughing]
Hey, I told you I'd find it, right?
And you were right. The secret ingredient was Love. That's the only explanation for Hodgins spending so much time, and effort to do this.
[Finn pours the hot sauce on the catfish and starts eating]
Hey, we shouldn't keep this stuff a secret, I mean the world would love this.
Finn
Aaaa. Very true, very true.
You should slow down a little bit, Finn. You don't wanna get a bone stuck down your throat.
Finn
[Holds up a catfish bone] Not from a baby Catfish.
[Bends the catfish bone to emphasize that it is flexible. As he looks at it, he has an epiphany on the victim's cause of death.]
Finn
That's it!
Finn
Cause of death.
[Finn gets up, hovering between going and eating his catfish. He grabs the bottle of hot sauce before he leaves. Angela and Hodgins look bemused.]
Bones · 1,470 quotes
