Having been inspired by the teaching of a basketball coach, Brennan calls all of her available interns together to have them sort through "Limbo" and identify as many of the remains down there as possible. One set, however, belongs to a homeless Gulf War veteran with a surprising connection to the September 11th attacks, bringing the entire team together to solve his case.
Tropes
- Dark and Troubled Past: Tim Murphy suffered from PTSD since his friends died saving his life. On a smaller scale, the interns all share their own experiences of 9/11 (Arastoo didn't feel like praying, Finn was stabbed by his stepfather, Fisher was caught stealing a test and he and his teacher just watched the news, Clark was working in a cafe and still recalls the meat burning, and Wendell's uncle was a firefighter who never came home).
- Due to the Dead: After thinking Tim Murphy just dropped out of society and vanished, his family get to attend a full funeral for him and be informed that he died a hero after saving three lives.
- Lower-Deck Episode: The primary characters of the episode are Brennan's various interns working together to discover the circumstances behind the titular Patriot's death.
- Shout-Out: Brennan mainly watches refuns of Nova. Booth regrets convincing her to watch basketball instead.
- This Is a Competition: The squinterns treat the identification as this until Arastoo comes across the body of a homeless man.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Arastoo delivers one to Finn when Finn compares Arastoo to the terrorists responsible for 9/11 just because they superficially share the same religion, Arastoo making it clear that he has no sympathy for their agenda.
