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Numb3rs 5.11: Arrow of Time
No way, another 'hurts so good' episode so soon after Thirty-Six Hours? I don't know if I can stand it.
Oh, Don. I was so pleased that he refused to let Buck use him as a suicide weapon, and I'm glad he seems to be finding more peace from his new faith, but would talking to his exceedingly worried family have killed him? He seemed surprised that Alan thought he was detached. If I recall correctly, when Charlie said he was detached, it lead to a spirited defence of detachment and a brotherly argument. I suppose from this, whatever it looked like in this episode, Don wasn't feeling detached.
I'm trying to work out what was going on with him this episode, but it's pretty hard when it's a)all inside his head b)mostly in Hebrew. He left his gun in the locker room--was he even planning on bringing backup before David confronted him? He was confident that Buck didn't want to kill him, but you'd think he should have at least considered the possibility. Bother you and your non-talkativeness, Don Eppes.And you've been doing so well this series, apart from the bit where you didn't tell your brother or your girlfriend that you were going to temple.
I felt bad for Alan and particularly Charlie when Don wasn't talking to them. Alan with his worry about the mistakes he made raising Don (Don comes by his tendency to guilt trips honestly), and Charlie not whining and sulking, but giving Don the chance to talk, twice. I think Charlie came off worst: Alan got the admission that he was scared of having to kill Buck, and Robin at least got a hug, but Don actually walked off in the middle of Charlie's sentence. I suppose he did talk a little once Charlie chased him down the second time ("MATH!" "SERMON!" "MATH, please don't die!"), but, poor Charlie. So what was the result of Charlie's math? It was Don who brought up 'Buck killing Don', but he'd already had the phone call with Buck at that point. When did he realise that Buck wanted to die, not to kill him?
I loved the opening scene with Don at temple and Buck escaping and Charlie talking about entropy, all wound in together. And Amita lying in Charlie's lap and practically telling him to talk nerdy to her, lol. Incidentally, that newspaper photograph did not have Don's hair right for the start of s3. I don't think it could even be his s2 hair, that you could fudge as his FBI mugshot not being updated, because the s2 hair was the hedgehog spikes and this looked like the s5, less vertical, more curly hair. Speaking of hair, Charlie's hair is recovering. Also, he shaved! He's looking pretty s3-ish himself at this point, which is nice. Yes, I might be obsessed with the Eppes boys' hairstyles, possibly.
Don has this adorable little-boy expression when he's concentrating on the book. And talking of little boys, how sweet was that story about Alan and seven-year-old Charlie and the Taylor expansion? (Frankly I'm surprised that it appears Alan was keeping up with the maths up until then, and I'm a little sceptical about Charlie being seven, because that's probably early-university level maths in America, so I'd have thought he should have been closer to twelve). I liked the resolution, with Charlie showing he realises what he's learnt from Alan.
Robin was made of awesome all the way through. From the 'let's assume the requisite stoic Don Eppes posture' through the 'give up the info or I will prosecute your ass' scene (and love Nikki's admiring eyes in there, too), to her just coming in at the end and sitting watching Don and smiling. (Although she really shouldn't have been anywhere near the scene, especially considering that Don shot Crystal, and Buck might consider Robin a fair exchange, and plenty to provoke Don into killing him.) I think Robin got it right though in what she said at the beginning: he's only lying to everyone else, not to himself. I suppose it's a start.
Is it just me, or does Robin look a lot like Kim from certain angles? Boy has a type (leggy intimidating brunettes who work in law enforcement and pack heat, with occasionally forays into short intimidating blondes ditto ditto).
Larry isn't communicating too well either. I loved Amita's information-theory fuelled snark at male (lack of) communication, although she really needs to extend it to her future brother-in-law. I liked that Megan was discussed, but I wish that there had been an indication that Larry/Megan is still happening. Larry says 'cared about' when he's talking to Robin, which sounds a little ominous to me.
I liked Liz asking Don if it was eating him up, or if he was just being a tool. The girlfriend and the ex tag-teaming for sense-slapping. He does tend to need it at times. Nikki was true to her cowgirl-cop self by telling Don he did just fine torturing Buck (although I'm not sure she got as much of the story as Liz did.)
There was more humour in this episode than I realised, because the main storyline was so emotionally draining. 'Floss math', and the whole thing with Colby teasing Nikki about thinking the convict was pretty, and then being taken down by the girlfriend (I loved his squeaky "She's a girl!", and Nikki's snark and rescue with the two-by-four, and the fact that Nikki made sure to get a picture. And to use it as teasing/blackmail material.) David and Liz's running commentary at the start was fun too.
I actually think Don wasn't wrong in taking a back seat in the investigation. Mostly where he messed up before was when it was too personal. He should have officially handed it off to David or something, I suppose.
The ending scenes, Don and Buck's showdown intercut with Charlie and the others talking about entropy, was a nice mirror of the start. I loved Don in this scene, how calm he was, and the moment of empathy when Buck told him that Don didn't know what it was like to pay for things. Oh, Buck, you don't know our Donnie. And "you don't get to choose how I live with it"--aw, Don.
BUT! Could Don have chosen a worse place to meet Buck?? I was on the edge of my seat worrying there would be shots fired. The Rabbi is not going to be pleased with Don when he finds out....
Is there any reason to think that the dinner and the showdown happened simultaneously? The Eppes seemed awfully calm for Don still being in danger. I think the conversation could fit with them knowing Buck was in custody and Don was fine but not what exactly had happened.
So where is--or who is--Maxwell's demon here? From Amita's and Charlie's lines, I would have said it was Don, because he was the one in control, but Alan's comment that the real world doesn't work that way seems not to fit with that.
I hope this has tied up the ongoing Donnie!Darko arc, because I can't imagine getting more of a resolution than this.
Oh, Don. I was so pleased that he refused to let Buck use him as a suicide weapon, and I'm glad he seems to be finding more peace from his new faith, but would talking to his exceedingly worried family have killed him? He seemed surprised that Alan thought he was detached. If I recall correctly, when Charlie said he was detached, it lead to a spirited defence of detachment and a brotherly argument. I suppose from this, whatever it looked like in this episode, Don wasn't feeling detached.
I'm trying to work out what was going on with him this episode, but it's pretty hard when it's a)all inside his head b)mostly in Hebrew. He left his gun in the locker room--was he even planning on bringing backup before David confronted him? He was confident that Buck didn't want to kill him, but you'd think he should have at least considered the possibility. Bother you and your non-talkativeness, Don Eppes.And you've been doing so well this series, apart from the bit where you didn't tell your brother or your girlfriend that you were going to temple.
I felt bad for Alan and particularly Charlie when Don wasn't talking to them. Alan with his worry about the mistakes he made raising Don (Don comes by his tendency to guilt trips honestly), and Charlie not whining and sulking, but giving Don the chance to talk, twice. I think Charlie came off worst: Alan got the admission that he was scared of having to kill Buck, and Robin at least got a hug, but Don actually walked off in the middle of Charlie's sentence. I suppose he did talk a little once Charlie chased him down the second time ("MATH!" "SERMON!" "MATH, please don't die!"), but, poor Charlie. So what was the result of Charlie's math? It was Don who brought up 'Buck killing Don', but he'd already had the phone call with Buck at that point. When did he realise that Buck wanted to die, not to kill him?
I loved the opening scene with Don at temple and Buck escaping and Charlie talking about entropy, all wound in together. And Amita lying in Charlie's lap and practically telling him to talk nerdy to her, lol. Incidentally, that newspaper photograph did not have Don's hair right for the start of s3. I don't think it could even be his s2 hair, that you could fudge as his FBI mugshot not being updated, because the s2 hair was the hedgehog spikes and this looked like the s5, less vertical, more curly hair. Speaking of hair, Charlie's hair is recovering. Also, he shaved! He's looking pretty s3-ish himself at this point, which is nice. Yes, I might be obsessed with the Eppes boys' hairstyles, possibly.
Don has this adorable little-boy expression when he's concentrating on the book. And talking of little boys, how sweet was that story about Alan and seven-year-old Charlie and the Taylor expansion? (Frankly I'm surprised that it appears Alan was keeping up with the maths up until then, and I'm a little sceptical about Charlie being seven, because that's probably early-university level maths in America, so I'd have thought he should have been closer to twelve). I liked the resolution, with Charlie showing he realises what he's learnt from Alan.
Robin was made of awesome all the way through. From the 'let's assume the requisite stoic Don Eppes posture' through the 'give up the info or I will prosecute your ass' scene (and love Nikki's admiring eyes in there, too), to her just coming in at the end and sitting watching Don and smiling. (Although she really shouldn't have been anywhere near the scene, especially considering that Don shot Crystal, and Buck might consider Robin a fair exchange, and plenty to provoke Don into killing him.) I think Robin got it right though in what she said at the beginning: he's only lying to everyone else, not to himself. I suppose it's a start.
Is it just me, or does Robin look a lot like Kim from certain angles? Boy has a type (leggy intimidating brunettes who work in law enforcement and pack heat, with occasionally forays into short intimidating blondes ditto ditto).
Larry isn't communicating too well either. I loved Amita's information-theory fuelled snark at male (lack of) communication, although she really needs to extend it to her future brother-in-law. I liked that Megan was discussed, but I wish that there had been an indication that Larry/Megan is still happening. Larry says 'cared about' when he's talking to Robin, which sounds a little ominous to me.
I liked Liz asking Don if it was eating him up, or if he was just being a tool. The girlfriend and the ex tag-teaming for sense-slapping. He does tend to need it at times. Nikki was true to her cowgirl-cop self by telling Don he did just fine torturing Buck (although I'm not sure she got as much of the story as Liz did.)
There was more humour in this episode than I realised, because the main storyline was so emotionally draining. 'Floss math', and the whole thing with Colby teasing Nikki about thinking the convict was pretty, and then being taken down by the girlfriend (I loved his squeaky "She's a girl!", and Nikki's snark and rescue with the two-by-four, and the fact that Nikki made sure to get a picture. And to use it as teasing/blackmail material.) David and Liz's running commentary at the start was fun too.
I actually think Don wasn't wrong in taking a back seat in the investigation. Mostly where he messed up before was when it was too personal. He should have officially handed it off to David or something, I suppose.
The ending scenes, Don and Buck's showdown intercut with Charlie and the others talking about entropy, was a nice mirror of the start. I loved Don in this scene, how calm he was, and the moment of empathy when Buck told him that Don didn't know what it was like to pay for things. Oh, Buck, you don't know our Donnie. And "you don't get to choose how I live with it"--aw, Don.
BUT! Could Don have chosen a worse place to meet Buck?? I was on the edge of my seat worrying there would be shots fired. The Rabbi is not going to be pleased with Don when he finds out....
Is there any reason to think that the dinner and the showdown happened simultaneously? The Eppes seemed awfully calm for Don still being in danger. I think the conversation could fit with them knowing Buck was in custody and Don was fine but not what exactly had happened.
So where is--or who is--Maxwell's demon here? From Amita's and Charlie's lines, I would have said it was Don, because he was the one in control, but Alan's comment that the real world doesn't work that way seems not to fit with that.
I hope this has tied up the ongoing Donnie!Darko arc, because I can't imagine getting more of a resolution than this.