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The Best Episodes of Bones Season 1

Every episode of Bones Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Bones Season 1!

Binge this in 16h 8m•Peaking at 8.7/10

Dr. Temperance Brennan and her colleagues at the Jeffersonian's Medico-Legal Lab assist Special Agent Seeley Booth with murder investigations when the remains are so badly decomposed, burned or destroyed that the standard identification methods are useless.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Bones Season 1 Episode 1 - Pilot
    7.6/10(2345 votes)

    #1 - Pilot

    S1:E1

    Pilot episode. After returning to Washington, D.C., renowned forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan is called in by FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth to aid an FBI investigation involving a set of bones found hidden in a lake.

    Director:Greg Yaitanes
    Writer:Hart Hanson

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  2. Bones Season 1 Episode 2 - The Man in the S.U.V.
    7.3/10(1823 votes)

    #2 - The Man in the S.U.V.

    S1:E2

    When a man is killed driving an SUV registered to a Middle Eastern man, Dr. Brennan and her team find themselves tracking a terrorist.

    Director:Allan Kroeker
    Writer:Stephen Nathan

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  3. Bones Season 1 Episode 3 - A Boy in a Tree
    7.5/10(1717 votes)

    #3 - A Boy in a Tree

    S1:E3

    When the decaying corpse of the Venezuelan Ambassador's son is found hanging from a tree on the campus of an exclusive private school, a simple suicide case quickly turns into a web of lies, sex and scandal involving the school's staff and students.

    Director:Patrick R. Norris
    Writer:Hart Hanson

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  4. Bones Season 1 Episode 4 - The Man in the Bear
    7.8/10(1719 votes)

    #4 - The Man in the Bear

    S1:E4

    Brennan and Booth travel to Washington to investigate a human arm that was found in the stomach of a black bear.

    Director:Allan Kroeker
    Writer:Laura Wolner

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  5. Bones Season 1 Episode 5 - A Boy in a Bush
    7.8/10(1672 votes)

    #5 - A Boy in a Bush

    S1:E5

    Booth asks Brennan to help locate and identify the remains of a six-year-old boy, Charlie, who went missing from a local park.

    Director:Jesús Salvador Treviño
    Writers:Steve Blackman, Greg Ball

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  6. Bones Season 1 Episode 6 - The Man in the Wall
    7.3/10(1573 votes)

    #6 - The Man in the Wall

    S1:E6

    When Brennan and Angela get caught in a fight in a dance club, Brennan kicks someone into a wall, which causes the wall to break open and reveal a mummified corpse and a meth stash.

    Director:Tawnia McKiernan
    Writer:Elizabeth Benjamin

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  7. Bones Season 1 Episode 7 - A Man on Death Row
    8.1/10(1664 votes)

    #7 - A Man on Death Row

    S1:E7

    A death row inmate asks for Booth's help to prove his innocence before he is scheduled to be executed. Booth agrees and asks Brennan and her team to help him out.

    Director:David Hugh Jones
    Writer:Noah Hawley

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  8. Bones Season 1 Episode 8 - The Girl in the Fridge
    7.9/10(1598 votes)

    #8 - The Girl in the Fridge

    S1:E8

    Brennan is about to go out for dinner with her old professor and ex-lover when Booth asks her and her team to help identify the remains of a young woman found in a refrigerator.

    Director:Sanford Bookstaver
    Writer:Dana Coen

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  9. Bones Season 1 Episode 9 - The Man in the Fallout Shelter
    8.7/10(2086 votes)

    #9 - The Man in the Fallout Shelter

    S1:E9

    Brennan and her team are brought in to identify the body of a man found in a fallout shelter. While cutting into the bones of the man, Zach accidentally releases a deadly fungus, causing the team to be quarantined over Christmas.

    Director:Greg Yaitanes
    Writer:Hart Hanson

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  10. Bones Season 1 Episode 10 - The Woman at the Airport
    7.5/10(1497 votes)

    #10 - The Woman at the Airport

    S1:E10

    Brennan and Booth investigate the body parts of a woman found near L.A. International Airport. Their investigation is slowed due to extensive cosmetic surgery the victim had done.

    Director:Greg Yaitanes
    Writer:Teresa Lin

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  11. Bones Season 1 Episode 11 - The Woman in the Car
    7.7/10(1470 votes)

    #11 - The Woman in the Car

    S1:E11

    When a woman’s burned body is found in a car with signs that her child was kidnapped, Brennan and Booth suspect the father, Carl Decker. But things get complicated when Decker turns out to be in the Witness Protection program.

    Director:Dwight H. Little
    Writer:Noah Hawley

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  12. Bones Season 1 Episode 12 - The Superhero in the Alley
    7.7/10(1648 votes)

    #12 - The Superhero in the Alley

    S1:E12

    Brennan and Booth investigate the origins of a decomposed body that's been found in a local alley and determine it's the remains of a shy teen with an alter ego.

    Director:James Whitmore Jr.
    Writer:Elizabeth Benjamin

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  13. Bones Season 1 Episode 13 - The Woman in the Garden
    7.5/10(1407 votes)

    #13 - The Woman in the Garden

    S1:E13

    Booth and Brennan investigate when a dug up corpse is found in the back of a gang member's car. While being questioned, a drive-by shooting allows him to escape. Booth and Brennan follow the clues, which lead them to an empty grave and another body in a grave at a wealthy senator's house, where the gang member used to work.

    Director:Sanford Bookstaver
    Writer:Laura Wolner

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  14. Bones Season 1 Episode 14 - The Man on the Fairway
    7.5/10(1373 votes)

    #14 - The Man on the Fairway

    S1:E14

    Brennan and Zach investigate a small jet crash that was carrying some Chinese diplomats and a woman. At the crash site, Brennan finds some bone fragments that do not belong to any of the passengers, but might belong to a man who has been missing for five years. Although ordered to work only on the diplomats, Brennan and her team go rogue to try to discover the identity of the extra bones.

    Director:Tony Wharmby
    Writer:Steve Blackman

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  15. Bones Season 1 Episode 15 - Two Bodies in the Lab
    8.4/10(1773 votes)

    #15 - Two Bodies in the Lab

    S1:E15

    When Brennan decides to give online dating a try, she ends up the target of a shooting at the local restaurant where she's meeting her date. The resulting investigation reveals that the shooter could be connected to either of the two cases she's currently working on.

    Director:Allan Kroeker
    Writer:Stephen Nathan

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  16. Bones Season 1 Episode 16 - The Woman in the Tunnel
    7.6/10(1387 votes)

    #16 - The Woman in the Tunnel

    S1:E16

    Brennan and Booth stumble upon a subterranean world of homeless people when they find the remains of a filmmaker in the ventilation shaft of an underground tunnel.

    Director:Joe Napolitano
    Writers:Steve Blackman, Greg Ball

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  17. Bones Season 1 Episode 17 - The Skull in the Desert
    7.6/10(1470 votes)

    #17 - The Skull in the Desert

    S1:E17

    While on vacation, Angela's boyfriend goes missing . When a skull shows up, she asks Brennan for help in identification, concerned it might be her boyfriend or the female guide who went missing with him. The investigation leads the team to a violent boyfriend, the local sheriff and ultimately to a counterfeiting ring setup in the desert.

    Director:Donna Deitch
    Writer:Jeff Rake

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  18. Bones Season 1 Episode 18 - The Man with the Bone
    7.5/10(1393 votes)

    #18 - The Man with the Bone

    S1:E18

    A human finger bone found in the clutches of a drowning victim leads to a search for buried treasure.

    Director:Jesús Salvador Treviño
    Writer:Craig Silverstein

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  19. Bones Season 1 Episode 19 - The Man in the Morgue
    8.0/10(1567 votes)

    #19 - The Man in the Morgue

    S1:E19

    A trip to New Orleans leaves Bones beaten, bloodied, and suspected of murder while plunged into the world of voodoo.

    Director:James Whitmore Jr.
    Writers:Noah Hawley, Elizabeth Benjamin

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  20. Bones Season 1 Episode 20 - The Graft in the Girl
    8.2/10(1526 votes)

    #20 - The Graft in the Girl

    S1:E20

    The team helps Deputy Director Sam Cullen's daughter, Amy, when she contracts a rare form of lung cancer after receiving a bone graft. Booth and Brennan learn she is not the only victim with this rare form of cancer.

    Director:Sanford Bookstaver
    Writers:Laura Wolner, Greg Ball

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  21. Bones Season 1 Episode 21 - The Soldier on the Grave
    7.6/10(1435 votes)

    #21 - The Soldier on the Grave

    S1:E21

    Brennan and Booth investigate an apparent suicide in Arlington National Cemetery, but soon discover it is a murder linked to a military cover-up.

    Director:Jonathan Pontell
    Writer:Stephen Nathan

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  22. Bones Season 1 Episode 22 - The Woman in Limbo
    8.7/10(1698 votes)

    #22 - The Woman in Limbo

    S1:E22

    Brennan receives some bones to identify, but is stunned when she discovers that the remains are those of her mother who disappeared when she was 15 years old. The determined date of her mother's death leaves Bones confused and angry.

    Director:Jesús Salvador Treviño
    Writer:Hart Hanson

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Pilot" is the best rated episode of "Bones" season 1. It scored 7.6/10 based on 2345 votes. Directed by Greg Yaitanes and written by Hart Hanson, it aired on 9/13/2005. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "The Man in the S.U.V.".