It’s no coincidence that the best two episodes of Bones‘ seventh season have involved the genius computer hacking serial killer Christopher Pelant (Andrew Leeds). Bones is always a good time, but most of this season’s episodes have felt like the show was just going through the motions. Pelant’s character is creepy in the best way possible, and more importantly, because he’s so smart and always five steps ahead of the Jeffersonian gang, he actually represents a real threat to Brennan, and that makes for good TV.

“The Past in the Present” starts off just like any other Bones episode, with the discovery of an icky corpse. Everything escalates when Brennan (Emily Deschanel) quickly surmises that she knew the dearly departed — he was an old grad school buddy, he was helping her try to pin down Pelant as a murderer, and he also happened to be a diagnozed paranoid schizophrenic committed to a mental institution. As evidence begins trickling out, all of it points to Brennan: Sweets’ (John Francis Daley) psychological profile could fit either Pelant OR Brennan, the poison used to paralyze the victim was rare and came from a plant Brennan had recently borrowed from Hodgins (T.J. Thyne), and the victim had made paroanoid threats about baby Christine, calling her a demon (threats which Brennan never took to heart, by the way). Pelant also hacked a metric ton of things to go wrong, including a fake phone call from Brennan to Booth (David Boreanaz) that caused Booth to assault Pelant and get him kicked off the case; a fake bribe transferred from Brennan’s bank account to DA Caroline (Patricia Belcher), also getting her kicked off the case; a supposedly secure video of Brennan’s earlier visit to the victim at the institution timestamped the date of the murder; and a great number of very hard to refute evidence with no trails leading back to Pelant.

The episode ends with Brennan taking her ex-fugitive father’s advice to go on the run — leaving Booth without saying goodbye, and taking baby Christine. Max (Ryan O’Neal) had counseled her earlier that what Pelant was doing was turning the system against her, and that if she turned herself in as she was planning to do, he feared it would never let her go. In fact, the only people NOT playing into Pelant’s hands are Max and Cam (Tamara Taylor), who faithfully turns in all the evidence she collects against Brennan, knowing that if their investigation is to hold up in court, it has to be perfect. Max tells Booth that he will keep Brennan safe while Booth does his job to nail the slimy little genius to the wall. The episode closes as Booth sits despondent on the steps of the church where he and Brennan just had Christine baptized, and as Pelant breaks into Booth and Brennan’s home, planting a homemade bomb in place of their alarm clock.

“The Past in the Present” was a thrilling return to form for the seven year old show — calling to mind series classics like “Judas on a Pole” and “The Pain in the Heart” – and I hope they can keep the momentum going into season eight. No word yet on an airdate for the extra four episodes produced for season seven (“The Gunk in the Garage,” “The Patriot in the Purgatory,” “The But in the Joke,” and “The Ghost in the Machine”), although there has been talk of a separate Bones “mini-season” to air some time this summer. The network might also hold those four episodes until the fall.

What did you guys think of the Bones finale? Sound off in the comments.

Tags: andrew leeds, bones, david boreanaz, emily deschanel, fox', hart hanson, john francis daley, michael grant terry, michaela conlin, patricia belcher, reed diamond, ryan o'neal, tamara taylor, the past in the present, tj thyne