My Editor and friend Jeremy asked if I could write a Valentine to Numb3rs. Hail yes. I’m a fan and have been for a while. There are some smart people putting out this product and they didn’t make many missteps, although wrapping up Colbys’ China arc at the beginning of the next season (four I think) was, in our opinion a big one. By and large they have hit us where we live, i.e. character and relationships, and let the math become an old but welcome adjunct. Smart.
The bedrock is and always has been the dynamic of Judd Hirschs’ father character Alan and his wildly different sons Don (Rob Morrow) and Charlie (David Krumholtz) . Don is street smart, Charlie, book smart. Bringing Charlie in to consult on his FBI cases has brought the brothers closer than any other phase of their lives, which has changed them and by extension their relations with friends, co-workers, and lovers. Gradually. That’s the operative word. We were not hit in the head with it nor did we need insulin to counteract The excessive sweetness so undeservedly popular in most production staff. This moved at the pace of life and thus reeked of the real.
Smart.
The supporting cast was superb but I must give them short shrift or this Valentine becomes a love letter and then a book of Sonnets. I will say that watching the, almost certainly, last episode the affection of the characters and the people playing them was palpable. I know these are fiction but on some level they are as real as anyone I’ve ever known. I didn’t have to reach for a tissue but it was a close thing.
Numb3rs was a quality item.
Smart.
Lee Crawford
