Human remains are found dangling from climbing gear on a cliff side, and are soon identified as those of a former teacher who turned to writing self-help books and videos after being diagnosed with cancer. Meanwhile, Sweets feels threatened by the introduction of the VAL, a new computerized profiling system his department recently acquired for him. Back at the lab, Dr. Wells continues to irritate and impress Cam, and Brennan and Booth plan their wedding now that Pelant is dead.
Tropes
- Artistic License – Physics: When Sweets is upset that he might be replaced by a computer named VAL, Bones helpfully points out that the computer's objectivity would skirt the pitfalls of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, thus implying that the main problem with a human profiler is that he can't know both where he is and how fast he's going.
- Bait-and-Switch Sentiment: Brennan and Sweets ask Booth to name one thing from his bucket list, and Booth asks if they remember Felix Baumgartner — the guy who fell from space. They do. Booth would like to buy him a drink.
- Calling Me a Logarithm: One of Sweets' blind dates was offended when he implied that she masticated.
- Insufferable Genius: Wells is at his infuriating best, interrupting, correcting people, and claiming other people doing better than him are just lucky.
- Shout-Out: The victim-of-the-week in "The Lady on the List" is the anti-Walter White: He's a teacher with terminal cancer which isn't what killed him who enlists a former student to help him with a money-making plan to provide for his family (plus a bucket list), but instead of meth he sells inspirational videos and everyone loves him, including title lady, whose life he ruined (he caught her stealing but didn't realize that with her previous felonies she'd get her kids taken away) and who will get a portion of the money, much to the displeasure of his partner who did all the shooting and editing without pay. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is also mentioned, and a profiling algorithm called VAL deduces he had a lot of hidden rage (he didn't but his partner did).
