A young girl's bones are found in an old ammunition box and Russell tells the network that the find could be the remains of Alex's daughter. The team tries to crack the case by delving into Web-based scavenger hunts.

ABC's "The Forgotten" is featuring another geocaching murder case connection... looks like this time the cacher is actually going to be the killer. Someone has been placing geocaches to taunt the police... It's about half over on the east coast, but those of you on the west coast can probably catch it.

Globocaching, Travel Hoppers and Furries, oh my!

If you missed it, last night's show "The Forgotten" had geocaching in it. Well, sorta. Some highlights:

• Geocaching was called Globocaching in the show. It reminds me of how Law & Order uses a social networking site called Facespace.
• The geocache that started the show was labeled "EXPLOSIVES" in huge letters. Globocaching guidelines must be slightly different in regards to labeling caches. </sarcasm>
• Travel Bugs were called Travel Hoppers.
• The Travel Hopper in the show was a ladybug Cachekinz.
• The girl who owned the ladybug Travel Hopper was cute though somewhat deranged.
• Apparently Globocaching events are slightly different than Geocaching events. A globocacher seems to be a cross between a geocacher and a furry. Don't get any wild ideas, event organizers.
• They used TNLN (took nothing, left nothing) and TFTC (thanks for the cache) as part of the plot. You'll have to watch it to find out what LOTM means. Maybe we should add it to our glossary.
• The urban geocache was actually pretty ingenius. Christian Slater must have a 3rd eye or something since he found it quickly.

Murder always seems to be on the menu for geocaching related shows. Law and Order: Criminal Intent's show, "The Unblinking Eye" was the first portrayal of geocaching. There's even a suspense thriller called GPS The Movie that has some fun plot twists.

Okay... I watched it so you don't have to... and believe you don't WANT to...

Here's a bit of a "live blog" of the show as I watched it...

Show opens with the bomb squad being called to open up an ammo can found by two teens in the woods. Can still has all it's "Caution Live Explosives" stickers all over it and it wasn't hidden so much as... well... sitting beside a tree.

Worse and worse the ammo can contains a child’s jacket, and… the bones of a young girl. Great…

Police are confused…. Besides the bones there are also several odd things in the cache, a rubber band ball, a couple of puzzles and a keychain shaped like a ladybug. We of course know that this is just swag…

Silly investigators think the swag is clues to the murder. They’ve solved the puzzles and found a name hidden in the crossword and a series of numbers in the Sudoku… (“Too long to be a phone number” they say.)

Some ongoing subplot about the lead investigator’s daughter being missing for years, she was wearing a jacket like the one in the cache when she disappeared.

They track down the name they find in the puzzle (though it’s a common name and the show is set in Chicago and how they managed to figure out that this was the right person I have no idea.) When they question the young boy whose name was in the cache he says, “Oh you must have found the cache, as in Globalcache.” At least they call it something else.

Globalcachers must not use net handles since he placed his real name in the cache.

He explains the game to the cops. And actually explains the acronym TFTC. Ugh.

They’ve tracked down the cache listing. Only two finders. Neither saw anything weird in the cache, but one asks if they moved the “hopper.” (?)

Cops have figured out that the Sudoku was coords, and have gone there. They are actually searching for a cache. They aren’t very good searchers… one of the cops just looked under a bunch of bananas on a hot dog cart.

They finally find the “cache,” actually in a pretty decent hiding spot, under a loose part of a sign. That cop has GREAT geosense.

Cache is just a piece of paper saying “LOTM You can’t find me.” Guess the hider didn’t average his cords well… they’re pretty far from where they started looking.

LOTM isn’t a game acronym, but they do say several others (FTF and TNLN). They’ve figured out what a hopper is… it’s a TB.

Confirmation that the bones are not the missing daughter.

They’re going meet the owner of the TB… at a Globalcaching convention that just happens to be in town. Wonder if it’s a mega event?

At the con… there’s someone in a giraffe costume… and a skunk… and a penguin… what the hell? Half the people at the event are in an animal costume. Are they confusing cachers with furries or does every convention on TV have to feature people in weird costumes?

Cacher is PISSED that the cops haven’t placed her TB in a new cache. It has a GOAL dammit!

They get a sketch from the TB owner of a suspicious person she saw at the cache. A vendor at the con recognizes him and provides a name (“He bought some patches and a bunch of coins.”)

Cops are suspicious because he didn’t log the cache or trade for swag. If he broke the guidelines he must be willing to break the law too is the logic here I guess? Suspect claims to be a new cacher and didn't know he was supposed to do that. They let him go.

Cop confronts cacher on the street… in a dramatic turn of events he admits that he put the bones there, and (Dun dun duh!) he might know something about the missing daughter! Funny, he was wearing glasses as the meek confused cacher, but he sheds them when he gets all mysterious and serial killer-y. Even though he just confessed the cop lets him walk away… as he leaves he taunts “I wonder if you’ll find them?”

Oh… wait… these guys aren’t cops? They are some sort of private investigators that specialize in John Doe cases… I guess that’s why he let the killer walk away? But couldn’t he have just called the police at that point? I don’t understand who these people are supposed to be...

Email notification! A new cache has been placed! The team is on an FTF hunt!! And it’s a “Platinum Cache.” They explain that as “a multi-step cache with a huge prize at the end.” That sounds fun… why don’t we have THAT?

Oh, snap! The user name of the cache hider is the name of the lead investigator! They’re being toyed with!

It’s a puzzle cache… pretty basic puzzle a dingbat font that they correspond to numbers. 2 star at best.

Cop's… I know they aren’t cops but I’m calling them that anyway… Cop’s geosense is telling him the cache is a buoy out in the lake. Seriously… he’s got killer geosense. Those buoys were a good 50’ from the cords and there wasn’t even a hint! He should use his geosense to find his missing daughter. Cache on the buoy is another puzzle: pics of presidents. I’d call this one a 1 star.

Cemetery cache!! And it’s a night cache too… they’re following those driveway style reflectors across the graveyard. Cache is under a bench, a locked metal box. Combo lock has letters. Combo isn’t the daughter’s name… or the cop’s name. Ah! It’s LOTM. There’s another TB inside.

TB belongs to a user named “Little Princess.” Wait…. I thought the cacher’s didn’t use handles? But her real name is on her profile. She’s a 12 year old girl. What parent lets a 12 year old girl put her real name in a profile?

Meeting with the family. Dad has died since the girl went missing, and mother went into hiding. Cousin blames himself for girl’s death. He just admitted that he swiped the girl’s backpack from her room when she went missing 5 years ago. He wanted a memento.

Cacher’s fingerprints are on stuff in the backpack. They’ve arrested him, but there’s still 15 minutes in the show… Something else is up.

Killer keeps repeating LOTM and says he invented his own acronym. It means Left One Took Many, and says he wants a deal… lesser sentencing for admitting where the other girls are buried.

They gave him the deal, no death penalty. He’s shown them where 3 other bodies are, but still no match to the cop’s daughter.

Oh blah blah…. Boo hoo cop has to find the dead girl’s mother now because “She has to know.” Is the caching stuff over? I care nothing for these characters…

OKAY… so dead girl’s mother… wait… what the hell is going on on this show?! Dead girl’s mother kidnapped the cop’s daughter after her own daughter died and has kept her hidden for three years… I’m sure if I was a regular viewer of this show this would be a major revelation and I’d be totally into it… as it is… bleh, it’s just schmaltzy crap. Is this show getting canceled and they are wrapping up the major subplot? Let’s hope so, it is pretty poorly acted and written…

Okay... all in all... even though the cacher was actually the killer this time it was somehow better than the L&O geocaching plot. It didn't leave as bad a taste in my mouth... maybe because the show is just so flimsy and never really managed to achieve any sense of gravity in the plot? I dunno. How many cop shows are left that HAVEN'T used caching as a plot yet? Are we pretty much wrapped up with this by now?

The show's portrayal of geocaching wasn't perfect, but it was quite a bit better than the others that I've seen.