TVSquad

(S04E16) "It's not Heat?" - Colby, amazed that the Pacino/De Niro classic isn't Don's favorite movie

I think it's a given that sooner or later, every cop show is going to have an episode about religious cults. They're just so easy to make into a bad guy, especially with all the crazy stuff you always hear on the evening news. That's part of the problem though; that it is too easy to turn into an hour episode and things can get stale fast. You've seen one, you've seen 'em all. Fortunately, the folks behind Numb3rs must have realized this because this episode was way more than, how did Colby put it? A bunch of religious "nut jobs."

Gallery: Numb3rs: Atomic No. 33

While the episode started out as a cult whose members all unknowingly drank some arsenic (hence, the episode title) laced coffee, it turned into an elaborate long con headed by a grifter and his partner - an orphaned teenage boy. They posed as members of the cult, killed off the leader, took over, and then attempted to get the government to recognize them as an actual religion. That means tax exempt status. With all the money coming in from the cult's members (everyone donated 75% of their personal income), the con artists would have been set for life, skimming from the church coffers.

One of the best parts of the episode was seeing Larry so passionately against the ignorance the members of the cult all embraced. He's always so torn between personal meaning and scientific acceptance, so you could tell he was fired up. It was some of the best dialogue we've seen Larry spew in the life of this series.

Moving on, Don and Robin are still going strong. If this keeps up, I think we may have a Numb3rs marriage in the future. They tell each other secrets, Don buys candy, and they watch old Preston Sturgess movies together. We've never seen him get this intimate with a woman - especially someone he works with. After Liz, you would have thought that'd be a no-no for him. Guess not.

The funniest part of the episode was Charlie's experiment with non-Newtonian liquids - aka corn starch mixed in water. The exact definition? A non-Newtonian liquid is a fluid whose viscosity is variable based on applied stress. Hit it hard, acts like a solid. Move gently, acts like a liquid. Everyone made this stuff at some point in middle school science class. Charlie and Larry made a whole tub of it though, and if you moved fast enough, you could run right across it without sinking in. How come classes like that weren't available when I was in college?

A few more thoughts...

• I loved Charlie's "Easy as π" tee-shirt. I want one.
• When David was chasing the kid up the bell tower at the train station, he had a great line when he yelled "I'm pretty sure the top of this tower isn't in Mexico..." or something like that.
• Why do Charlie's yellow dry-erase markers smell like urinal cakes?

With only two episodes left this season (18 total) there are still a few things I'm waiting on. Obviously, I want too see what's going to happen with Don and Robin, but I'm more interested in Megan. A few weeks ago, we found out she was unhappy with her job (Diane Farr is leaving the show). But what's actually going to make Megan leave the FBI? I'm assuming it's something big because it'll mean saying good-bye to Larry too.

This week's numb3rs: 1,137 members; 30 years; 2 families; 1 new religious movement (NRM)
This week's math: Atomic No. 33