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Friday, March 12, 2010

Farewell Numb3rs

Possibly just for the season, more likely for a long time or forever, Numb3rs just posted its last episode tonight on CBS. It was a good story, representative of everything that was appealing about the series ... thoughtful, sometimes almost insanely intellectual characters ... compelling life and death FBI stories ... people who care about each other, love each other, but just can't seem to get their relationships to work (until tonight) ... and most of all numbers, statistics, odds, graphs, all used to help find the culprits and solve the crimes.

It's been a series like no other.   Not as momentous as 24, as hard-driving and engaging as NCIS, as dark and disturbing as Criminal Minds, not like any other FBI or cop show, really, but with an off-beat appeal all of its own.   No one would have complained much if a Presidential State of the Union had been scheduled opposite Numb3rs, it's hard to imagine a Press Secretary even joking about that as Gibbs did about Lost, but the soft-spoken action, the cut to animated charts and wave-forms, the talk about quantum mechanics and the cosmos and the connection of that somehow to a guy with a gun, a bank job or a kidnapping, will be missed nonetheless.

Don and Charlie should have settled down with loves of their lives years ago, except Don didn't really have one, and Charlie was too young emotionally to commit to Amita.   So they argued and laughed with their father instead, like a good Jewish family, in between their solving crimes and nabbing some nasty villians.   David and Colby were both far better than just agents on the team.   Megan, Liz, Nikki, all the women agents each had off-beat, original quality.

Some of these relationships were nicely resolved tonight, with a marriage, an accepted proposal for marriage, and a promotion to a better position back East.   But I like to think that even when I can't see them on television, the Eppeses and all the rest of these appealing people will be talking their heads off about one thing or another as Alan brings the chicken or whatever tasty dish he prepared to the table.



5-min podcast review of Numb3rs finale

See also Numb3rs ... Numb3rs 6.14: Globes, Relationships, and Poincaré




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1 comment:

Gspot said...

I think one of the directors said it best in his vlog, shot on the set of his final Numb3rs episode: gspot.posterous.com/12246355

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