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Episode Recap: "End Game"
A good episode, with a lot of reunions in it, and only one heavily telegraphed goof on the part of our agents. Aya Sumika returns as Liz Warner, Bil Nye as Bill Waldie, Sharif Atkins as fugitive Clay Porter, and the continuing presence of Michelle Nolden as Robin Brooks...and Don is even showing that he might've finally learned something about balancing work and love lives with a partner. We also get to see the still slightly shaggy, more irascible than usual paterfamilias, Alan Eppes, attempting to force some environmentally-friendly but irritating upgrades on the house, only to have Charlie return the favor by counterproposing upgrades that would incovenience Alan, instead. I suspect that this thread, of restless and slightly snappish and unshaven Alan, is likely to make itself more important by season's end.
One could also see the groundwork being laid for Larry's eventual departure...he has a slightly underexplicated crisis of faith in his project seeking the Higgs boson, and a scuffle with one of his brothers at the monastery where he resides part of the time. Charlie's diagnosis, however, that the problem Larry's facing being that the Higgs boson might not be any more revelatory than *merely* a world-class breakthrough in physics, was one of the highlights of the episode.
The primary storyline in this episode is of the kidnapping of the father and one of the sisters of fugitive ex-Marine Clay Porter, Jr., by ex-Marines who'd served with him, including a commanding officer Porter had testified against in a court martial proceeding, for torture of an Iraqi prisoner. Porter's other sister manages to hide and identify two of the kidnappers, but the thugs waste no time contacting their ex-comrade and demanding that he come to them. It's eventually revealed that the commanding officer was torturing his prisoner to find out where the latter had stashed stolen cash, to the tune of $15 million dollars; he thinks that Porter might have that information, and to keep his father and sister alive, Porter allows him to keep thinking that, and sneaks back across the border from his hiding place in Mexico.
Liz Warner is among the first agents to the kidnapping scene, and calls Don into the case, interrupting a tryst with Robin, who only half-teases him about leaving her to go to Liz's side. Robin is even less thrilled when the FBI captures Porter, who's wanted in the vigilante murders of two serial killers, but lets him go on Don's say-so, as an attempt to find the kidnappers through tailing Porter. Porter takes an opportunity to chat up his tail of Sinclair and Granger and, somewhat too easily, disable their car and slip away. Meanwhile, Warner finds one of the kidnappers dead in his apartment, and sees Porter flee the scene, but forensics suggests that the dead man had been killed while Porter was in custody. Don initially stonewalls Robin about his reasons for letting Porter go, but Warner gently suggests that he might want to rethink that approach. Unfortunately, the kidnappers, growing impatient, kill Clay Porter, Sr. and threaten on video to do the same to the sister. Porter, Jr., comes in to the FBI, to see his father's corpse and to volunteer to cooperate in setting up the kidnappers.
Charlie and Amita, and a distracted Larry, have been working on models that hope to predict the actions of opponents in a game or battle, both while Porter is at large and while he's cooperating, and manage to use the ambient noise of commercial jetliners overhead to narrow down the location of the hideout.
Don discovers that Robin is willing to bend the law in ways similar to his, if it will bring about a good result, after coming in to confess. She unofficially okays the use of Porter to get at the kidnappers. The FBI does so, with Porter going in first and pretending to be willing to trade information for his sister's safety. The FBI team comes in after, saving the sister and killing most of the kidnappers; the leader manages temporarily to use Porter as a shield, but between them Don and Porter put a couple of non-lethal bullets in him.
Otherwise, matters end on a mostly happy note.
The episode moves along at a good clip, has only the one very egregious bit of foolishness (the agents wouldn't be expecting Porter to try to lose them by fiddling with their car in some way?) and while it doesn't quite give us enough of what's actually bothering Larry or Alan, it's pretty clear we're meant to watch for both to continue to stew. Those who suspect that Larry and Megan will leave the series together are probably right...though, as this episode proves, few have to leave the series permanently.
For more on Numb3rs, please see our Online Video Guide.
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Apr 26, 2008 12:13 AM
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How refreshing was it to see all the cast members together in one show? Even the recent ex and the current(former ex) were in attendance. The only one missing was Millie. Bring her back, darn-it.
For some reason I was having a hard time following the thread this week. I just had a hard time discerning who was who among the bad guys; it seemed every time they threw out a name at me I said "huh?" After a while I got tired of hitting the rewind and said "screw it".
ITA, Todd. It was pretty obvious when Clay was about to sabotage David and Colby's ride. I was thinking knife to the sidewall, which goes in like butter, so those spikes were unexpected. Can't imagine they're much fun to carry around in your pocket, though. Ouch!
Once again, I gotta say the math here was head scratching this week. The "Sound Crater"? Is that even possible without knowing the exact time of the video to correlate with the FAA info? I guess the producers won't be coming to me for arithmetic problems and I won't be asking them to make my fish deliveries.
Now for one of my major pet peeves. After almost 20yrs. of dealing with, and 5yrs. of war there, why the hell can't we pronounce Iraq properly? It's not Eye-Rack, people, the proper pronunciation is Eee-Rock. I'll even put up with Don's 50 to 100 "I mean"s every episode (do the writers actually put those in???), but this one just sets me off. Just seems disrespectful. Rant over.
On another note, was it me or did the scenes at the house seem particularly underlighted? Compared to the other shots it appeared dark and shadowy, considering all the interior lights that appeared to be on. Weird.
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Apr 26, 2008 11:08 AM
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Numb3rs is one of my favorite shows and I look forward to it every week.
That being said, this week's episode seemed off to me. It was like they were trying to acomplish too much in one hour.
I was particularly disappointed with the "B" storyline concerning greening the house. Alan sold that house to Charlie in the first season. He has no right to make any changes to the house. It's not his house. Also, seeing that the house is in the middle of a neighborhood, I truly doubt that any town would permit either a 21 foot silo or a wind turbine on their property. It was a poorly thought out storyline.
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Apr 26, 2008 11:55 AM
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First off, I didn't even remember the first time "Clay Porter" was on the show, so it was a good thing they had that "previously on" segment. Even after watching that segment, I still didn't remember him, so the whole episode wasn't that great for me. NOT saying I didn't like the episode, cause I did, but I would have appreciated the episode more, had it been the second part of a two-parter episode instead.
Was "Clay Porter" on earlier this season, or was he on a season or two ago?
I like what they've done with Colby's character this season. He seems to really care, want to get involved in different ways to catch the "bad guy." Take his interest in Charlie's math, before he and the other guys wouldn't really care how he figured things out as long as he did, but lately Colby's taken things to Charlie, stuck around and has even mentioned some of Charlie's past ideas to solve the latest puzzle/problem.
Oddly enough, I actually sort of liked Liz in this episode. I didn't really care for Robin and do not see her and Don lasting. They do not seem to fit together at all. If Don has to be paired with one of the two women, I'd say put him back with Liz.
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Apr 26, 2008 12:38 PM
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waggy, Clay Porter was in the episode "Thirteen", airing earlier this season (Oct. 19).
He was the sniper who shot the guy that was being lead away at the end of the ep by Don. They figured out where he was holed up, and found the place empty, surmising he was heading for Mexico.
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Apr 26, 2008 5:06 PM
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Thank you bmp956! I too am tired of people mispronouncing Iraq after all these years. Especially when they are representing a federal government agency for crying out loud!
I quite like this show regardless but it would be nice if the math wasn't the only thing factual on the show!
Now my rant is over! 
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Apr 27, 2008 7:12 PM
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Y'know, I'm not sure I like where the show has gone since it came back from the strike. On the one hand, I think Charlie's involvement and the FBI reliance on math has decreased somewhat--which I actually think is a GOOD thing. But this whole Alan-not-shaving thing is getting annoying, and in this most recent episode he was almost downright surly to Charlie. As another poster noted, he does NOT own the house anymore, so any big changes or renovations to the house or property are not his call to make. Plus, knowing about the upcoming cast changes... well, that makes me sad.
All in all, I liked the episode, but to me, the details of the case aren't all that important. I've said it before, and someone else said it about this episode too: sometimes the plot can be hard to follow. This week, they mentioned character names that we hadn't met (the guy's Marine unit-mates) and I couldn't tell who they were talking about. One guy was dead in the bathtub, one guy had broken out of the brig, etc. (And by the way, don't you think the military police or investigative unit would've been involved when Marines are committing crimes? Great cross-over opportunity w/ NCIS.)
And by the way, I too thought the house looked dark and depressing. I don't know about them, but the CFLs in MY house are nice & bright!!
As for Don & his woman... why does he bother? He's like Jack Bauer: no luck with his relationships. He might as well just not bother & concentrate on his work.
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Apr 27, 2008 7:48 PM
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Usually when a TV show character says "Eye-Rack" or "Eye-Ran" or "Eye-talian" it's supposed to hint that the character is dumb, provincial or even bigoted, but that may not be the case here. I think some people nowadays might be doing it deliberately as a sort of pun on Ipod and Iphone (and MadTV did a sketch based on that idea).
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Apr 28, 2008 6:11 AM
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I don't know what it is but I found this & last weeks show to be so-so. I can't put my finger on it but I end up feeling 'blah' afterward. Nothing felt compelling or hooked me. Maybe I just expect more from this show.
I do know I'm tired of the whole 'green' thing already.
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Apr 28, 2008 11:50 AM
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It's not Eye-Rack, people, the proper pronunciation is Eee-Rock
I think that the show has to pronounce Iraq the same way as most of the nation does which is Eye-Rack. Sorry if it isn't correct but it is an accurate protrayal of the way Americans prounounce the word! - including representatives of the government, ie soldiers!
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Apr 28, 2008 12:04 PM
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I sure as heck didn't know it was "Eee-Rock"! I know I'm not the most involved person in current affairs and I don't have any family members currently serving overseas (although I have a cousin in the Army Reserve) but still...I don't recall ever hearing it pronounced any other way than "Eye-Rack" and if I did I would think the "correct" way was wrong!
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Apr 28, 2008 12:46 PM
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I really enjoyed this episode even though it seems from some of the other posts that reviews are mixed. It does appear that Larry may end up leaving the show with Megan and while it makes sense to me for storyline purposes, Larry's character (as well as Megan's) will be greatly missed. If Larry leaves, the show really MUST bring Millie back and I am still holding out hope for her return before the end of the season. Maybe Mille's return could improve Alan's mood?
I love Don and Robin's brewing romance. The chemistry is there and I hope they give Robin a greater role in the show and Don an opportunity for a real relationship.
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Apr 28, 2008 1:29 PM
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This episode was pretty good. Although the boo-boo I spotted is when Porter was put in the chair they tied his hands behind his back and through the magic of televison--when the shooting started his hands were magically tied in front. Hmmmmmmm. I haven't seen anything yet that has given me the idea that Larry is leaving. He is back at the Monistery and having beers with Brother Theo, he has decided to continue his research with Amita. I will be sorry to see Megan leave, but I don't think Larry was as committed to that relationship as first appeared. Don needs a girl he can't get into bed on the first date. Let's face it so far all of Don's relationships are of the bedroom variety. I would like to see him find a girl that is not quite so willing to play the bedroom game. I agree that the "greening" of the Eppes homestead is getting a little old and unrealistic. No one would willing put a noisy turbine in their back yard. And a silo?? I can see the neighborhood lawsuits already. And Alan still needs a shave. He is starting to look like a dirty old man. Not good--Millie certainly would not want to return to that. I liked Charlie's hair. Often times it tends to get a little too long. Since they have been back it looks much better.
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Apr 28, 2008 5:02 PM
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Maybe the reason so many have felt this episode was a little 'off' may be that it felt to me that it was pushing some political agenda's over the storyline. The show minimized that the torture that went on was by a bad soldier for personal gain, and yet the tone made it sound like he was carrying out policy. The whole discussion of having a right and wrong war really was a disservice to the military. Those people are making sacrifices that people here can't comprehend to help others to attain the freedom and prosperity we enjoy. There is also the green theme. It was also presented very heavy handed as well.
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Apr 28, 2008 6:28 PM
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matt1158: i don't agree that this episode "pushed any political agendas," at least no more than it ever does. Colby has discussed his service before, and talked about things "over there." And I think it was VERY clear that the Marine tortured the prisoner privately, for personal gain, and not due to any orders or military policy.
I do agree that the "green" theme has been pretty heavy-handed. Are the writers implying that people who DON'T have energy silos or wind turbines are NOT doing enough to conserve? I sure hope not. That's about as political as I thought the writers were getting, and I do think that's a mistake.
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Apr 28, 2008 7:40 PM
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