(S03E09) 13 million tons of hazardous waste. 9.6 billion dollars on fines. 1,244 disposal sites. 1 sinkhole. Bit of an Erin Brokovich feel, no? Because that's exactly what it was, but I liked it. This was a solid episode of Numb3rs.
Following a disaster at a local school's playground, Don and the team were called in. At first they couldn't understand why. Enter Joshua Malina in a his second post-West Wing role (Malina was in an episode of The Nine a few weeks ago). Here he played U.S. Attorney Howard Meeks and it's been his mission as of late to take down the construction company that built the damaged playground. He didn't realize half the kids on the playground also happened to have cancer. Uh oh.
Turns out the playground caved in on itself because when the construction company built it, they buried a whole bunch of toxic waste underneath it. The gases ate away at the ground and eventually, it well... popped. That wasn't it though. The toxic fumes were getting lots of kids sick with spinal tumor and other nasty ailments. It actually made me think of this week's South Park and that poor kid who had cancer.
I took issue with the way they finally busted the lawyer and his snarky boss though. David posed as an EPA agent and went to their facility, wired. They busted the two guys after they attempted to bribe David, but isn't that sort of like entrapment? I know just about nothing when it comes to the law and lawyers and all that hoop-la, but this just felt like something you can't do. Oh well.
If anyone else hasn't said it, I'm 100% against Kathy Najimy's new character, Mildred Finch. She's Charlie's new boss. More often than not, she's a giant b*tch who makes cutesy jokes and asks people to call her "Millie" so she seems nicer. I see right through it. Who is she to preach about professional ethics and tell Charlie and Amita to stop dating when she wants to get in the pants of her subordinate's father? I'm very frustrated about this character. I thought I was going to like her and I don't. Loved the Charlie/Amita kiss though. It's about time they got frisky. The whole "will they or won't they" was getting stale.
Anyone else notice the mini-Wire reunion? Deirdre Lovejoy and Larry Gilliard, Jr. both guest starred in this episode. Lovejoy played the school's superintendent and Gilliard was the father of one of the boys who fell in the sinkhole. It seems like this happens a lot though. You'll be watching one show and two (or more) actors from another will make guest appearances.
Last thing I wanted to mention was the previous week's episode. For anyone else out there that enjoyed the character of Oswalt Kittner as much as I did, then this is good news. Ausiello spoke with Cheryl Heuton, one of the show's executive producers, and she said they're "definitely interested" in having Jay Baruchel (he played Kittner) back. So here's hoping it works out.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-19-2006 @ 10:46AM
Brent McKee said...
As I understand the law it's not entrapment as long as David didn't solicit the action - that is say something to the effect that he could ignore some stuff if he got some financial consideration - which he didn't. The FBI set up a profile for the inspector that he was impersonating that made him look like someone who could be bribed but that's not entrapment because it was up to the lawyer and the company head to decide if they would take the option or not.
Can't agree with you more on "Millie" - a real drag on the show. Admittedly she may represent a real university administrator who would be concerned with her faculty members outside activities if they were taking time and more importantly resources from the university but Najimy and her portrayal of the character are a pain in the butt. And she doesn't get to tell two peers (Charlie and Amita are both professors after all) that they can't date, sleep together, marry or set up a small commune with Larry and Megan. And that's even before she went out with Allan.
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11-19-2006 @ 10:47AM
TedSez said...
It's typical that when producers are worried that their show is going stale, they throw in a "difficult boss" to add conflict and give an outsider's perspective on the characters' behavior.
We've seen "E.R." and "House" do this several times (although "House" is now trying something different with the "difficult cop" instead). Sometimes the boss becomes integrated into the show and turns into a fully fleshed-out character (like Carrie Weaver on "E.R." or Rebecca on "Cheers"), or develops into a romantic partner for a main character (like Felicity Huffman's character on "Frasier"). At other times he eventually just disappears (like Chi McBride's character on "House") or is even killed off (like Dr. Romano on "E.R.").
In any case, saying "Someone new just bought our company!" or "Someone's been hired to oversee us, and he [or she] wants results!" has been done so often that it's become kind of a cheap trick, but it apparently still works.
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11-19-2006 @ 10:47AM
imdennycrane said...
Millie's a very unnecesary character. I hope it's a short-term role. The case was good, at least. I knew something was up when the company's owner offered compensation so quickly.
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11-19-2006 @ 6:14PM
Mark Kawakami said...
I had a problem with busting those guys because that has got to be the fastest and least smooth bribery attempt in the history toxic waste. It's just plain lazy writing. Other than that, I liked the episode.
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11-21-2006 @ 5:19AM
Michael Moncur said...
I think Millie is really there as a love interest for Alan - everything else is just a smokescreen. If so, they'll concentrate more on that relationship (and Charlie's problem with it) than on Charlie's annoying boss, and that's fine.
Also, Millie spent a lot of time telling people what I would have been telling them--"Charlie: you never seem to work for anyone but the FBI. Larry: Get a house, you freak. You're not 19."--so I had to like her a little bit.
Anyway, not a bad episode. I was worried it would get preachy like last week's episode about steroids (anyone remember "Quincy"?) but they didn't go that route.
Random note: this is the second episode in a row in which someone has compared Charlie to Shaun Connery. I have no idea why.
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