Oh what a surprise, I’m reviewing another television crime drama series. It seems never ending, but let me tell you that I’m beginning to find out there are a lot more worthy shows on the air right now that I’ve unfortunately been missing out on. Still, when it comes to the crime drama, the creators need to come up with something unique or they’re simply going to fall into the same, generic bin as most of the others out there. You’ve got to make it about naval crimes, or deal mostly with forensics, or put Lieutenant Dan in the lead role and let him showcase that sneer in the name of all that is good and just. Or you can have a team of brothers pair up with one being a hard-nosed cop while the other is a mathematical genius that can solve clues with numbers.<--more-->
Don Eppes is a special FBI agent that loves his work. He actually gets so involved in his work at times that he barely remembers to have a social life or even sleep sometimes. The only people he ever really interacts with are co-workers, his father Alan, and his brother Charlie. Charlie, on the other hand, is a bit more of a free spirit kind of guy and a genius that can recite anything dealing with math like it’s the alphabet. He is a college professor, but often times gets summoned by his brother and other FBI agents to help solve cases with his brilliant mind. While Charlie and Don work well together and appear to be very similar in their work, except for Don’s seriousness and Charlie’s playfulness, they still don’t always come off as being related. Over time they’ve gotten a bit more used to one another and both lightened up some, but it’s hard to change all their ways.
Together, Don and Charlie take on some of the toughest cases the FBI must solve out in Los Angeles. Don is all about the police work and doing what is right while Charlie uses his mathematical knowledge to put the facts together and decipher what has actually happened. Over the first couple seasons we’ve seen Don open up a bit more and start socializing and conversing more with not only his team, but also civilians. There are a number of situations that need to be addressed in this fourth season including one of Don’s fellow agents Colby granger working undercover unbeknownst to anyone else. Charlie’s love life has taken a good turn as he finally broke out of his shell and admitted that he has a thing for his former grad student and now they are living together. Love, deceit, anger, death, and so many other things make for a wild and exciting season full of equation-filled cases.
Numb3rs did exactly what every crime drama needs to do in order to be successful in a crowded field. It went out and created an extremely unique little niche that sets it apart from just about every other show of its kind. Sure there are going to be similarities, but the whole “numbers” deal really keeps my attention. Perhaps it is because I’ve always sucked horribly at math, but continuously been obsessed with how intricate they truly are. No matter what you do in life, numbers are a part of it. They are involved in your work, your cooking, your driving, and even your walking. Take a good look at The Number 23 with Jim Carrey and you’ll see how cool it is when particular numbers add up to be significant in time. A lot of that happens in this series and it is an amazing feat watching Charlie come up with these calculations that can determine why, when, how, and where someone committed a crime.
Having seen the entire first season of Numb3rs and not being entirely thrilled, I only caught a few episodes off and on over seasons two and three. They were much better then what the series originally offered in its debut. Season four on the other hand has made me the fan I first hoped I would be when the series started years ago. It such a shame that we are only given eighteen episodes in this set; thanks to the writers’ strike which cut the season a tad short. Still, they are great episodes and rarely ever have one that doesn’t entertain or keep you entirely engrossed in how Charlie will come through with another freakish math problem.
Episodes
Disc One:
Trust Metric: Was Special Agent Colby Granger really a double agent working for the Chinese? Don and his FBI team have been reeling at that stunning revelation…but an even greater surprise is in store when Colby escapes from prison and they attempt to track him down.
Hollywood Homicide: Colby is back on the job, but only temporarily, until he is reassigned. When charismatic up-and-coming movie star Brett Chandler is implicated in the murder of a young woman, Don and his team, including Colby, are thrown in the dizzying world of a Hollywood entourage.
Velocity: As Colby prepares to be reassigned, Don and his team investigate the case of an out-of-control car driven by a teenager that smashed into a coffee shop, leaving one person dead and many others injured.
Disc Two:
Thirteen: The team embarks on a desperate hunt for a sinister serial killer who is obsessed with replicating the deaths of Jesus Christ’s apostles – and leaves Bible verses behind at the site of each murder.
Robin Hood: A bank vault laden with safety deposit boxes is broken into and looted by an apparent “Do-Good” bandit. Meanwhile, physics professor Larry Feinhardt mulls over the possibility of leaving the monastery.
In Security: A case hits close to home when a woman in a Witness Protection Program – with whom Don once had an affair – is found murdered; he fears he may have led the killer right to her.
Primacy: Professor Amita Ramanujan, a secret alternate reality game player, is forced to introduce the team to the obsessive world of video gamers after a man plunges to his death while participating in one such game.
Disc Three:
Tabu: An extremist group targets an heiress for abduction in order to punish her industrialist father. But after she is kidnapped, he refuses to negotiate with the suspects to try to win her release.
Graphic: Agent David Sinclair, an avid comic book collector, takes special interest in a case in which a deadly robbery leads to the disappearance of an extremely rare comic – and forgeries of the coveted item quickly start to surface.
Chinese Box: With David trapped in a stalled elevator with a paranoid, gun-wielding shooter, Megan and Liz rush to validate the apparent madman’s claim that an agent at the FBI offices had placed him under surveillance.
Breaking Point: After appearing in a news report about the FBI’s involvement in the case of a missing investigative journalist, Charlie becomes the target of a thuggish intimidation, which inhibits his ability to perform his math.
Disc Four:
Power: The team must track down a serial rapist who is using his position as a police officer to ensnare and then assault his victims.
Black Swan: A raid on an inner-city meth lab also nets a bystander, whose van is filled with guns and other suspicious items. Has Don and his team unintentionally stumbled upon a member of a terrorist cell that is planning an attack on Los Angeles?
Checkmate: Don’s old flame Robin Brooks returns to California to prosecute incarcerated criminal kingpin Jarobi “J-Light” Taylor. Don and his team get involved in the case when three key witnesses are murdered, and it’s discovered that Robin is the next victim.
End Game: Clay Porter’s father and sister are taken hostage by a gang of military thieves, forcing him to return from hiding in Mexico for the murders he allegedly committed in the U.S. Don’s team uncovers the motive behind these kidnappings, revealing that the military thieves need Clay because they believe he knows the location of stolen money in Iraq.
Disc Five:
Atomic No. 33: A mass poisoning at a cult compound – with the affected members refusing treatment – leads Don and his FBI team into a maze of old grudges and a complex murder plot.
Pay To Play: While investigating the murder of a rap star, the team uncovers a conspiracy of embezzlement and bribery that may be connected to the popular musician’s death.
When Worlds Collide: Don and Charlie find themselves in conflict over their differing beliefs as they investigate a case involving national security, while Megan, facing a crisis of conscience, makes a starling career decision.
The episodes are shown in 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen format and looks alright for the most part, but it doesn’t appear as if there was much done in the transfer to DVD. Still, the colors are bright where they need to be and all looks decent.
The episodes are heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and it also has its problems like the video quality. While it is a mostly dialogue driven series, it is sometimes overpowered by the music when it starts to really kick in and causing you to adjust the volume up and down.
Crunching Numb3rs: Trust Metric – This feature is broken down into five segments that can be played all at once or separately. They are entitled: “Pre-Production,” “Tony’s Touch,” “The Ambush,” “The Freighter,” and “Post-Production.” This feature looks at everything that goes into making the show and being careful not to fall into a rut or become stagnant in the episodes. It’s a good, if rather basic, look at the making of an episode from beginning to end. This feature runs fifty-five minutes total.
Trailers – Dexter, Criminal Minds, and Ghost Whisperer
This is a really good series that has seemingly only gotten better from when I first started watching it back in its debut season. Numb3rs brings about a new way of looking at the crime drama while keeping all the aspects of it that works. My only complaint is that we sometimes are shown a bit more into the personal lives of the characters then what is going on in the case. Its season four already; I think we have formed good relationships with Charlie and Don by now so just go to work on solving the crime. Other then that, there are no real complaints to be found except for the writers’ strike depriving fans of a full season. Now what I am disappointed about is the lack of special features included on this set. Having done a little research, it shows tat audio commentaries, a gag reel, and numerous other extras were not put into this set like the first three seasons. Sure we get a five piece featurette, but it doesn’t make up for what was taken away. Guess the writers’ strike took away the bloopers too? Bah! Anyway, Numb3rs is a good show even though this is a shortened season and close to bare bones DVD release. …1 plus 2 plus 1 plus 1!
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Paramount presents Numb3rs: The Complete Fourth Season. Created by: Nicolas Falacci & Cheryl Heuton. Starring: David Krumholtz, Judd Hirsch, Rob Morrow, and more. Running time: 720 minutes on 5 discs. Rating: Not Rated. Released on DVD: September 30, 2008. Available at Amazon.com
