Zack Addy - Character History

Character History

Coming from a large Michigan family with three brothers and four sisters, Zack is a former child prodigy, a genius with an I.Q. well above 163 and a supposed photographic memory. It is revealed in the episode "The Boy in the Time Capsule" that Zack was physically bullied harshly all through high school by other boys. In another episode, he is heard saying he "didn't have any friends" all through high school, and endured relentless physical and emotional abuse all through his school life. Additionally, it is revealed that Zack is an excellent singer. At the beginning of the show, he had started two doctorates—one in forensic anthropology, the completion of which is shown on-screen in the episode "Judas on a Pole", the other in applied engineering, the completion of which is referred to in "The Killer in the Concrete".

His specialty, just like Dr. Brennan, is in the analysis of remains, especially identifying cause of death and weapons from marks on skeletal remains. It is usually his task to remove the flesh from the bones, a process known as maceration. Because of his tremendous intellect, he has a strong broad-based knowledge of many of the specialties in the Jeffersonian lab.

Zack's best friend is Jack Hodgins. Although it at first appears Hodgins and Zack are roommates, it is later revealed he rents the apartment over Hodgins' garage. Zack also carpools with Hodgins because he can neither drive a car nor ride a bike. He once made a comment to Booth that if Booth shared Zack's knowledge of structural engineering, he would be afraid to drive as well (Season 1 "The Man on Death Row").

Episodes towards the end of Season 1 reveal Zack's colleagues, especially Dr. Goodman, feel he has become too comfortable as Dr. Brennan's assistant and is therefore not completing any of his work towards his doctorate degrees to avoid having to move into a new position. Goodman and Hodgins conspire to make Zack less comfortable in his position to motivate him to complete his studies thus encouraging him to fulfill his potential of more than just an assistant.

Right before he was about to complete his doctorate, Zack asks the Jeffersonian's new forensics head, Dr. Camille Saroyan, if he can have a job working at the Jeffersonian. She replies she could not put him in front of a court to testify because people would not take him seriously. Zack then goes to ask Angela for fashion advice, and she gives him a complete makeover that includes a new haircut and suit. After completing his doctorate and getting the makeover from Angela, Zack again asks Cam for a job, and she gives it to him, saying "Who am I to break up the team?"

At the end of Season 2, Zack receives a request from the office of the President to ship out to Iraq. What his duties there would be is not revealed, and he only tells Hodgins and Booth about it. He initially seems inclined to go, but after talking about the reality of war with Booth, he seems less sure, asking Booth for advice because Booth "knows more about duty and honor than anyone else knows". He also turns down the offer to be the best man at Hodgins and Angela's wedding in case Zack decides to go to Iraq and is killed, because he does not want Hodgins' memories of the wedding to be tainted with sadness, but Zack is later seen at the wedding. It is revealed in the first episode of Season 3 Zack had just returned from a three-month stint in Iraq, having returned early because he "failed to assimilate."

In "The Pain in the Heart", the final episode of Season 3, Zack receives third-degree burns and massive tissue damage on both hands after an explosion in the lab. It is later revealed he was in fact working as the apprentice of the Gormogon, (even though he is not the son of a widow), and the explosion was designed as a distraction so Gormogon could break into the lab and steal back the silver skeleton. Zack's weaker personality was easily manipulated by Gormogon so he believed his belief system irrefutable, even going as far as to divide the bones of a lobbyist killed by Gormogon's other apprentice among limbo. However, Zack still maintained a loyalty to his friends. As pointed out by Bones, he was willing to injure himself to keep Hodgins safe. He gives up the location of Gormogon's house after Bones makes him realize his logic is faulty.

At the end of the episode, prosecutor Caroline Julian cuts Zack a deal; he agrees to plead guilty to killing the lobbyist and cooperates; and the law will have him declared "Non compos mentis"; a decision committing him into a mental asylum rather than to prison.

Zack is no longer a regular character on the show, but series creator Hart Hanson said he may become a recurring character to provide consults to the team with "certain talents we can use in a 'Hannibal Lecter' kind of way."

The episode "The Perfect Pieces in the Purple Pond" reveals Zack is receiving psychological treatment from FBI psychiatrist Dr. Lance Sweets. It is also shown at least Hodgins and Angela have both been in contact with Zack during his internment. Hodgins is shown bringing him a mathematical riddle to solve. In his session with Sweets, Zack admits to feeling guilty for killing the lobbyist, but claims he was not actually crazy, arguing he committed the crime for what had appeared to be perfectly logical reasons at the time. "I was wrong, not delusional," he says. Sweets believes Zack should feel more guilty about killing the lobbyist and less about having been taken in by Gormogon's rhetoric.

Towards the end of the episode, Zack escapes from the institution. It is revealed he could have escaped at any time but did not feel it was necessary to do so until that particular moment. After helping his co-workers solve the case, he willingly returns to the institution with Sweets. While returned to the asylum, Zack tells Sweets that while he had helped Gormogon find the lobbyist, he himself had not actually stabbed him; in other words, Zack believes he killed the lobbyist, but from a legal standpoint he is considered only an accessory or co-conspirator. Sweets insists Zack change his story, but Zack refuses. He fears if his secret were to come out, he will find himself in prison, where he is sure to do very poorly. He reminds Sweets as Zack's therapist, he must not reveal his secret because if Sweets were to do so, he would be violating doctor-patient confidentiality. The episode closes with Zack behind bars at the institution and Sweets keeping his secret.

In the season 4 finale, Zack is considered a suspect when a man is murdered in a popular nightclub owned by Booth and Brennan. Zack is described by Vincent as "the type of moron who goes to jail for a murder he didn't commit", suggesting that, on some level, Booth knows Zack is innocent. At the end of the episode, it is shown that the entire thing was in fact a dream about an alternative timeline that Booth had while unconscious and part of a new book Brennan was writing.

Zack also returned in the hundredth episode of the show as a flashback to Booth and Brennan's first case together, although he has yet to return to the show in "reality".

Later on, Hodgins says that Zack will be in the asylum "forever", hinting that Zack would be in the asylum on a permanent basis and would never even be released into the general public. Also in the episode, "The He in the She", Hodgins tells a new Intern, Vincent, that Zack would be locked up for the rest of his life.