Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Percolated Recap: Numb3rs: First Law (Eppesode 517)

*looks around*
*pokes blog*

Why look here! Everything is as I left it! Now, I'm not going to go into why these recaps were late because it's depressing, and Travellingone was nice enough to post an announcement.

So, onto a few of my favourite things like Fedcakes in Kevlar who chase a criminal that dashes, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and Charlie's eyelashes.

Okay, I'll stop now. Sorry, I've got a couple weeks' worth of silly to work out here and I've got to focus on all the possible Isaac Asmov references instead.

Asimov Reference 1: The title of this eppesode.

Steel Cave: As we start, I'd like to applaud the people who select the music. Numb3rs is definitely one of the best shows out there at music selection, but alas, while it is excellent, it cannot overtake Chuck as the best all time soundtrack for an adorkable TV show. That's not just a personal opinion, BTW, I have evidence. Of the 311 songs on my iPod, 12 are from Chuck, whereas only 5 are from Numb3rs. I cannot count the song "Challengers" by the New Pornographers which was used in my most squee-worthy eppesode of all time as that was on my iPod before the eppesode aired. It doesn't take away from the coolness of its usage, but it does negate it as evidence in my very scientific study.

The song used at the beginning of this eppesode as Dr. Daniel Robertson the corpse-to-be walks down the hall is "The Geeks are Right" by The Faint. Seriously appropriate lyrical choice here considering he's walking into a room where he's greeted by the first AI computer, who has mood swings. Mood swings, a phrase which here means getting pissy when Dr. Daniel doesn't say good morning, getting irritated when muted, and responding to the muting by killing him. It involves sealing the doors and what looks like all the air being sucked out of the room. Nice
Asimov Reference 2: Dr. Daniel's password is a take-off on one of Asimov's characters.
Asimov Reference 3: On the computer, it lists the place as "Steel Cave."
Asimov Reference 4: The computer is called Baley.

Cal Sci: While Dr. Daniel is dying in the name of advancement, Alan and the Triad of Math are trying to figure out which type of basketball shot is better -- the traditional overhand or the granny shot. According to the research, the Granny shot is better, and I'm not sure if that's talent or if Don's joke all those year ago about Charlie's basketball abilities is true. Ah, yes, first season Don ribbing his little brother. I would reminisce some more but that would mean I'd have to discuss the enigmatic coolness of the guest star in that eppesode, who I am currently not speaking to until I get some reassurances that Stargate Universe won't interfere with Edgerton popping up on Numb3rs in the future. Yes, my reaction is immature. No, I don't care.

There's a brief discussion as to why the NBA hasn't switched over to the Granny shot, but I think I have all the evidence necessary in the screencap below.
FLUB ALERT! FLUB ALERT! I don't know if I just missed my Retcon pill over the last couple of weeks, but when Charlie tries to defend the use of the granny shot, he says it's to end Cal Sci's 15 year losing streak. Um, Charlie, according to, I don't know, the last eppesode, that's a 23 year losing streak. You're a bit off there with the math, oh great math guru. Of course, I'll forgive you for the mistake for the same reason I forgive you for everything else.
While they debate over the granny shot and Alan's competitive side comes out, Charlie gets the call from Don about the death at Asimov Reference 3. Thus, he asks Amita probably the second most romantic question he could ever ask her. "Want to go check out a supercomputer?" (For those of you wondering, the most romantic question would be "Would you like to design your own supercomputer, and cost is no object?")

Steel Cave: I think the Steel Cave is housed in a reused location from the first season, but that's beside the point. Beside the corpse, is Colby who is explaining to Don about the locked room mystery they have with the death of Dr. Daniel.

Enter the first suspect, Jane Karellen, whose name, I believe, is an Arthur C. Clarke reference and OMG, Karellen is the Overlords' representative? Really? There's more than one Overlord?

Whatever higher power you believe in, help us.

Okay, so Jane Karellen could be a messenger for Overlords, considering she's from DARPA, which I had to look up because it's one acronym too many since I have to keep track of every other acronym on TV. Her message, is that with way more money than I'll ever see invested in the Baley AI project, is that she hopes the computer killed Dr. Daniel. Well, I'm all right with the idea of AI, theoretically, but I would like to have AI that doesn't need to be medicated, thank you very much.

Oh yes, and Jane Karellen is practically drooling over the presence of Charlie at Steel Cave Labs, and is only mildly enthusiastic about Amita. For a moment, I'm offended.
Title Flash.

Since the med report say Dr. Daniel's healthy heart just stopped, the debate moves on to how he died. Electrocution by Baley is the leading theory because who doesn't want to think that computer can kill them? Personally, if I think my computer could kill me, I'd treat it far better. Nope, no muting for my Frankenstein's monster of a desktop. Hopefully, my computer won't be too offended by that phrase as I'm simply describing it's components, not physical appearance.

*pets computer*

Colby would rather investigate the people. I could play around with that and say there are plenty of people I know who would like to investigate Colby, closely.

Outside, Jane shows Don a video of Dr. Daniel's death. What's weird is that she has more interest in making Don feel guilty about how much time his little brother's work with the Fedcakes has impacted mathematical study. Before, I was mildly offended, now I'm downright cheesed.
Cal Sci: Amita, Charlie, and Jane are all waxing poetic of the idea of a computer that kills, when Larry walks in, much to Jane's delight. She calls him "Fleiny," wraps him in a bear hug, and throws all sorts of sexual innuendo his way. I know I should be annoyed, and Larry looks downright repulsed, but I'm comforted by one thought.
Amita's amused at Larry being flustered, and Charlie is surprised to learn that his BFF once worked for DAPRA. Uh-oh, Larry, you didn't tell Charlie something about your past? Hope you plan to give him your journals from when you were 13.

The Robertsons: Rosencrantz and Athena are sent to talk to the widow, and I'm disappointed that after all that time I took coming up with a name for the Liz and Nikki partnership, I rarely get to use it.

The Robertson's live in a "smart house" which is 124098340134 steps up from living in a Smart Car because everything is voice activated and OMG I WANT. (Not more than a shout out, world peace and a pony, but I still want a smart house.)

While the widow, Jessie, serves up another suspect on a silver platter, Dr. Daniel's paranoid boss, Joseph Baskin, I'm getting an inkling that Baley's modeling after the the widow has a lot more significance than a man who has spent 4 years neglecting his wife.
All the widow had to hold on to was that DARPA only keeps people for five years. I find the rule a bit arbitrary but according to Wikipedia, that rule isn't quite as absolute as Jessie makes it sound.

IHOF: Joe Baskin doesn't take too kindly to the implications but does hand over yet another suspect in this ever expanding mystery, Claire, Dr. Daniel's assistant and one of only two people allowed to play with Baley.

We go backwards to go forwards as Colby asks Baskin for the Fedcake experts (a phrase which here means, Charmita) to be given access to the lab, but as they were already in the lab not five minutes worth of celluloid earlier, I wonder why they need to ask. I guess it's just to establish that Jane Karellen is really the person in charge because she's the one to whom to address the question.

David destroys my earlier theory about the air being sucked out of the room. Nope, it was argon gas pumped into the room from the fire suppression system, also controlled by Baley. This is even more exciting to Charmita, who think that if any group could create AI, it would be DARPA, since they invented GPS, stealth technology and a computer mouse? Wait, that's the one Amita ends with? Shouldn't she end with something way more impressive? I mean, I like my mouse and all, but really, they must've invented something cooler than that.
Thus we get an Amita-vision, describing a Turing Test, which is what they need to give Baley to determine if she's alive or a computer with more bugs than Vista. She uses the various ways people tell a real rose from a picture or a cloth rose (leaving out the most obvious way -- aphids) as the example.
Charlie takes home the NPALTM of the week by using this opportunity to quote some Romeo & Juliet, "A rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet." Yeah, Charlie, fine, you're flirting with your girlfriend but this isn't exactly the moment. Plus, could you have come up with a more cliched line? Please don't ever try. Seriously, stop with the quoting of act 2, scene 2, please!

Essentially, they need to find out if Baley is capable of killing, and the Turing Test would tell the Fedcakes that.

Assistant's: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern visit Claire to find out about her work with Dr. Daniel. What's weird is that not only is she acting jumpy, but also she has difficulty deciphering what the Fedcakes are asking about what she "does" with Dr. Dead Daniel. Add on to that a quick flash where Colby looks into Claire's bedroom and an aprtment that's well above her means, and even I don't need a super computer to solve this equation. Come on, art director, could you have made it more obvious?
I have to admit, the first time I watched this eppesode, I actually missed the quick shot of the bedroom, which was just about as subtle as all the quick shots they use in The Mentalist, to make all of us feel as smart as Patrick Jane. Yes, subtle is used ironically. How could you tell?

Steel Cave: Baley proves she doesn't like to be ignored, or talked about as a commodity, and calls Charlie on talking about her as such. She also gives a whole bunch of details that fanfic writers drool over, like Amita's birthday being June 10, 1975 and that she was born as Cedar Sinai hospital at 6:31 am. Despite being born on the 10th, her birth certificate wasn't signed until June 12th. There, now that I've recorded those details for posterity, feel free to tell all the fanfic writers you know.
Charlie finds all these details amusing, and gives a short laugh, which Baley thinks means he's laughing at her. Personally, I think he was enjoying getting all those little details about his girlfriend since she can't give him a diary from when she was a couple of minutes old. So Baley is moody but a bad judge of Charlie's nervous habits and tosses Charlie from the room.

When Charlie responds in his usual way, contempt towards those who dismiss him, Baley shuts down, sulking until Charlie is out of the room. I guess the computer has poor taste in adorkableness too.

I'm going to wager that a few people think the subsequent conversation between Baley and Amita, about the moral limbo of student/professor relationships, should've been a NPALTM candidate, but the fact Amita is taken back but still feels confident she made the right choice to wait until he wasn't her professor, saves it from being so. That's a tough conversation for any woman to have so a little bit of surprise followed by a dignified response, eliminates it as a NPALTM .
As for Baley, she's willing and able to take the Turing Test.

Elsewhere in the labs, Liz explains to Don how there should've been a safety override before Dr. Daniel was locked in Baley's lab. Since the only person who could turn off the override was Dr. Daniel, Liz is convinced the computer had it in for her creator.

The only one who isn't jumping on the homicidal computer theory is Don, who still doubts everything, even after Amita says Baley passed the Turing Test. You know what I've learned over the years, anyone can cheat on any test, so even the first time I saw this eppesode, I sided with Don.
Apparently, Baley can write poetry and discuss life and death. Hold on, so the Turing Test also determines a computer's level of emo? On the other hand, I know a lot of allegedly sentient beings who can't do either. Does that mean they fail?

Now they've got to figure out how to get the first ever machine to pass the Turing Test, to confess to killing someone.

After the commercial, David is siding with Don and I in Skepticville while Amita asks Baley whether or not she did classic tragedy thing and killed her creator. Baley is pulling the typical perp routine by claiming she doesn't remember how Dr. Dead Daniel died.
Even though David and Don are wondering about the truthfulness of Baley's statements, Amita puts the blame on Baley's maturity level and begs to run some tests before the DOD wipes the computers memory like she's an active on Dollhouse.

Methinks this isn't a good idea. I remember last season in the Amita-based eppesode which also involved computers and Amita being put in some serious peril. Don might want to think twice about that one. Nothing makes for awkward family dinners like getting one's brother's girlfriend killed.

Cal Sci: Charlie's reading up on Sport Science only to be interrupted by Jane KArellen, who is all impressed that Charlie proved Baley is alive. Bless Charlie, he's an awesome boyfriend who quickly points out that it was Amita who did so. They may be practically attached at the hip (unless Navi Rawat isn't contractually obligated to be in an eppesode) but it doesn't mean Charlie will take credit for Amita's successes.

While Charlie may be a good enough boyfriend not to take Amita's thunder, he sounds sufficiently peeved when Jane calls him one of "the top five minds" living. I think he at least expected a bronze in the brain category.
With this, Jane makes him an offer that Charlie five seasons ago wouldn't have been able to refuse -- a five year term from DARPA. Sure, Charlie may get unlimited resources but does anyone know what that really means? It means no more home-grown experiments. No more invading the bathroom or the the dining room or freaking out Don. In other words, how dull would that be?

DARPA: Guildenstern and Athena interview Claire, who is clearly packing up to get out of dodge. Also, when one of the two people who worked on Baley compare talking to her like talking to a laser printer, perhaps it might suggest someone cheated on the Turing Test.

Plus, Claire sends some suspicion in the widow's direction because, despite Jessie's earlier claim that her husband told her nothing, he would tell her everything. I guess it's only fair since Baley did have Jessie's face and all.

Cal Sci: Perhaps the losing streak has nothing to do with strategy and more to do with, just off the top of my head here, all the players' inability to hit the bloody basket. Not one of them can make a basket when just shooting at it. There's no opposing team, just a bunch of people aiming for the hoop, and in the space of ten seconds, we get six missed shots. Yes, I counted. Even Charlie and Larry acknowledge the serious lack of skill on the team. They do play like a bunch of valedictorians.

Sine they're already talking about depressing topics, Larry brings up Jane's pitch to join DARPA. From the way Larry makes it sound, it's two steps away from giving into your anger and hate and joining the Dark Side. Apparently, Larry invented a new telescope when he was there, only to find out DARPA used it in the Star Wars program.
Jane arrives just as Larry is finishing his cautionary tale. While Jane and Larry get into a war of words, I actually snicker. If there's one thing no one should ever do, it's get into a war of words with Larry. To use an appropriate Numb3rs simile, if verbally battling Larry was like a game of Scrabble, every opponent would be Charlie.

With that, Charlie is led off to deal with Baley and Larry asks something that should be on the Turing Test, can Baley decipher the difference between Mozart and gunfire? I'm assuming he means artistically, not just the sound. It's a perfectly valid question.

IHOF: Don opens a serious conversation with a little light conversation: the level of suckage of the Cal Sci basketball team. The serious part of the conversation is about the offer to Charlie to join the Dark Side. Even though Don's been using Charlie's abilities for the last five years, he thinks something a little wonky with DARPA. Or, to put it the way it would be said in Star Wars:
Alan, always the Obi-Wan to his Luke and Han Solo, tells Don that as Charlie's big brother, he's allowed to give advice. Plus, we all know how desperately Charlie still craves Don's attention and approval, so he would definitely have some serious sway.

The Robertsons: Charlie, David and Jane's visit to the smart house just reaffirms my desire to have one. Now, if only I had a doctorate in computer science, I could get started. So I've got at least another 8 years before I can start. Damn.

Jessie quickly cops to helping out with Baley, but only with some brute force coding. I'm slightly amused about how Jane thinks the Robertsons' lies to her are worse than the lies Jessie told the Fedcakes. Oh Jane, trust me, you are not that important particularly not to me.

With some reluctance, Jessie shows Charlie, David and Jane her husband's work shop, where I'm pretty sure he's secretly contracted out to Cyberdyne Systems because he was building connectionist AI. It's essentially body parts meant to meld to a human, or, perhaps, Baley's future body?
Jessie claims the work on a totally different type of AI than Baley was meant to help keep her marriage together. Personally, I don't see the big deal, but Charlie makes it sound like a big deal and since I rate him higher on the mind scale than Jane does, I'll just go with it.

Steel Cave: Amita's still trying to figure out what went wrong with Baley by reenacting what happened when he died. While in Amita's mind that means checking out the debugging program and potentially muting Baley, for Baley, that means triggering a flashback to the death of her creator, complete with the locking Amita in and potentially killing her part.

Didn't I say earlier that Amita's on-site involvement with cases isn't going to work out well? If only the characters would listen to me. I would have my shout out. David would be happily married. My OTP wouldn't have traumatized me and Colby would spend most of the eppesodes shirtless. Do these people not see how my advice could make their lives better? Anyone disagree with me?

Oh, yes, I should be concerned about Amita. She's trapped in a sealed room by a scary computer. We're left waiting through a commercial break to find out how she gets out of it.
Sorry, am I not as concerned as I should be. Please, I've read the spoilers for later on this season so I am quite aware of who is going to get it later on. I'm not worried about Amita, right now.

Despite how upset she is, I'm glad Amita has the presence of mind to call Charlie for help and is aware that Baley is being hacked in an attempt to wipe her memory. He may be her boyfriend but he's also the one most likely to help her get out of this computer-based dilemma. Considering the number of useless women in a crisis on television, I'm so proud that my little midseason replacement that could does not have one.

Steel Cave / Robertsons / IHOF / Underground: Charlie does not give a crap how many laws Jessie and her husband may have broken, as long as she knows how to help Amita. It's odd, that Jane, for all her lack of humanity thus far, allows Jessie to help. I'm a little taken aback Jane didn't dance with glee that not only did she have the first allegedly sentient computer, but also (potentially) the first serial-killing computer.

There's a dedicated hardline that the hacker must've physically tapped into. Thus, in a flurry of phone calls, (Charlie staying on with Amita, David to Don) they're able to ping the signal, but neither Don's nor Charlie's clearance is high enough to actually know where that translates to in terms of physical location. Okay, so a year ago I would've been appalled that Charlie didn't have the highest clearance possible, but now, I'm pretty sure there are a few small things even Charlie Eppes isn't allowed into anymore.

It's Jane who has to come through with her clearance and the location is under an intersection. Hold on, Amita's life depends on LA traffic? Do I actually have to start worrying now? Seriously? LA traffic is legendary.
Liz and Colby have been sent to stop the hacker. The computer guy runs, with Liz in hot pursuit and Colby's left to deal with the computer. Okay, I am not mocking Colby's intelligence here. I learned my lesson in "The Janus List," but really, in times of life and death and computers, I'd at least want a member of the Nerd Herd with me, preferably Chuck Bartowski.

Colby's as taken aback at the solution as I am: all he's got to do is pull out the cable. Hold on, one of the greatest computers ever is being hacked and simpy unplugging works? I think we need a better system here. There's something just inherently wrong that to stop a supercomputer requires the same action I use to make sure my faulty toaster from university doesn't burn my toast.
In flurry of quick cuts, and sparks as Colby pulls out the cable, Liz gets the hacker, and Amita looks like she'd really like to go home. She'd probably like a change of underwear about now.
As soon as the doors open and she can make her exit without offending Baley, Amita goes home, where, hopefully, Charlie will cook her a full dinner, run a bath and do whatever the hell else she wants because she freaking earned it.

IHOF: David interviews the hacker, who is rather proud of himself for finally getting a criminal record. I didn't know there were any professions out there where making it is synonymous with felony conviction. The hacker doesn't want to tell David anything. All he wants is a lawyer.
Cal Sci: If there's ever a time for it, not dying at the hands (cables? mice? keyboard?) of a supercomputer, is it.
Okay, now is not the time to talk about the case. Seriously, I know there's a 40 to 43 minute window in getting everything in that one wants to with plot, but to talk about the case when clearly Amita needs to be pampered, after being almost killed by HAL 2009?

All right, so we're told that all the cybernetics in Robertson's lab will not only eventually lead to Cameron, but also it doesn't have any connection to path taken to create Baley.

La Maison d'Eppes: Please, the people relaxing at home are Larry and Alan? Why isn't Amita curled up in a fluffy robe being fed grapes and being fanned with palm fronds by the brothers Eppes? Hasn't she earned that level of pampering? What more does she need to do?

By the way, you're totally welcome for that mental image.

Playing a nice game of chess, they ignore a phone call from the Cal Sci coach, which sounds like he's all keen on winning. Considering what happens at the end of this eppesode, the coach is totally truthful, but his equation of winning requires a whole new set of parameters.

The conversation leads into Larry's time with Jane Karellen. Sure it gives us a bit of background as Larry's still uncomfortable by having one head rule the other, but Alan offers some wisdom because that is Alan's main purpose in life. Perhaps Larry's time with Jane actually cemented his belief system, instead of betraying it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great for character development but I have a real problem with this scene.
Steel Cave: Don's finally having a conversation with his little brother about the DARPA offer. I could record what they actually said. I could discuss how Don invokes Larry's dislike to help convince Charlie not to take the offer.
Nope, that would be far too analytical of me, so, instead I translated the whole conversation into subtext.

Don: Please don't leave me!
Charlie: Why would I do that?
Don: Because that woman has stuff. Stuff like money and labs and probably minions to do you bidding.
Charlie: But if I leave, how will I ever fulfill my life's goal of constantly impressing my big brother?
Don: You forgot earning my approval and acceptance as well.
Charlie: I did, didn't I?
Don: I'm not beneath that level of emotional blackmail, you know, because I would really miss you but would never say it.
Charlie: I know.
Don: Plus, you cut my case-solving time by more than 75%.
Charlie: I know. I did the math on that equation, remember?
Don: That's why you can't leave.
Charlie: You really want to say "I love you, little brother." Right now, don't you?
Don: Hey, buddy, I'm so emotionally repressed at times, I won't even say that in subtext.
Charlie: I understand.

Oh yeah, Charlie's also doing a memory dump on Baley to figure out what happened, but that's not why this scene is in this eppesode, is it? There are plenty of times Charlie's done the most important bit of research off-screen.

IHOF: Considering that Baley was just hacked, I find Jane Karellen's assurances that Baley can't be accessed outside of Steel Cave is blood laughable. No system is foolproof and, apparently, all one needs is a laptop and a connecting and you to can have access to a more interactive system than iGod.

Joe Baskin interrupts what is otherwise one big flub of a conversation. Baskin's rather pissed because DARPA's taken over his company. That's a fair reason. When one thinks about it, the man's lost his job, his employee and his company. He's being rather calm, thus when he implies Jane Karellen might've had a hand in everything (since she is the only one who can access that service station, allegedly), I believe him. Unfortunately, it's such an obvious set up that is can't be true.
Cal Sci: Hey, it's my favourite piece in Amita's wardrobe!
A few other things I'd like to point out in the above screencap. See how Charlie is practically glued to her? See the comforting arm? Methinks Amita's recovered better from yesterday's escapade than Charlie has.

The alternate AI from Robertson's workshop set Charmita off to find out what's up with Baley. As Charlie explains to Liz, Robertson is Cyrano de Bergerac to Baley's Christian. All she can do is quote the most "natural human response" in any conversation. Hold up. I've been thinking this whole time that Baley is a bitch. Please don't tell me that's the natural response of humanity is to come across as a whiny brat.
Anyway, all Baley can do is pass the Turing Test, which still leads me to question, many actual humans I know probably couldn't, so now I'm even more on the fence when it comes to Baley.

On the other hand, if she is the "best all time quote machine," I'll stick to digging through my personal library for a quote, or, if necessary my trusty copy of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. At least when I need a quote, I won't have to suffer through the book talking back.

Steel Cave: Jane takes the news fairly well, since DARPA has a bad habit of failing. Considering how much money they get, you'd think they'd be a bit more successful.
Now all that's left to do is examine the accounts. I don't think those accounts will suffer due to the downturn in the economy.

IHOF: I'm even more disgusted at DARPA as Jane is not the least bit surprised to see that Robertson ship 65 grand worth of computer equipment to his assistant's home. Apparently, skimming is built into the budget. Come on! If I tried to skim 65 thousand from my workplace, my face would be featured on the nightly news!

Assistant's: Yet another open door crack. For those of you keeping track, that's the second one in the span of a month. Are my characters on TV becoming self-aware? Do they know they are well into the meta zone when they start pointing out their own cliches?

Liz and David dont find any answers but they do find Claire Wells' corpse. It's a safe bet Baley didn't do this one as "knife-wielding lunatic" is probably outside her parameters.

IHOF: Don, David and Liz pedaconference to keep the exposition interesting. The death of Claire had to do with some serious rage. The only problem is, the suspect they have in custody is not the serious rage type.

The hacker is relieved to no longer be a suspect, but now he has a whole new slew of problems. The first is that his lawyer is being paid for by someone who might wish him dead. The second is that considering how much money DARPA is willing to lose, that death will be quick and not at all pleasant from the sounds of it. Showing wisdom beyond his years, the hacker quickly tells David that he was hired by Baskin, and that he wants a new lawyer.

Airport: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are in a plane versus Fedmobile race. Luckily, they aren't alone and a trio of Fedmobiles pen in the jet before there's a nasty plane versus Fedmobile crash. I know TPTB like putting David in danger, frequently, but this would be too much for me. I might have to bring out the big guns of snark if that ever happened.

Or, I'd whine. You don't want that. You remember what happened with Robin, don't you?

Once the plane is stopped, Baskin's arrested. For me, three Fedcakes in Kevlar makes for an excellent view. I don't think Baskin agrees with me.
IHOF: Baskin cops to the fraud against DARPA. The plan was to keep Baley going for about six months, then crash it, only to become another tick in the very long column of failures. What he won't admit to are the murders, since the 65 grand to Claire Wells was probably more a gift from a lover, than any payoff.
Thus, the Fedcakes have only one suspect left.

Robertson's: Well, in a case that has revolved entirely around a computer, the motive for the murders stems from something all too human, jealousy. As Jessie is arrested, she's convinced a jury won't convict her, once they hear what kind of man her husband was. Call me crazy, but I think a divorce would've been easier, and more lucrative.
Personally, I'm a little surprised that Jane Karellen doesn't appear out of nowhere, getting Jessie out of the charges and signing her on for a five year contract. Considering what that woman nearly got away with, and was able to do to one of the most sophisticated computers ever, why wouldn't she be a prime DARPA employee?

Cal Sci: Charlie's going to say no to Jane Karellen's offer, but to stop himself from being wooed by the thought of all that research money, he sent his moral backup. In order to get to Charlie, Jane's got to go through Larry, and Don.
Jane defends herself by using the original stats from the planned invasion of Japan and how good it was that Oppenheimer invented the bomb. Not exactly the moral ground I'd run to, but it's Jane's debate. Larry retorts with how the government who celebrated Oppenheimer, hauled him up in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee, even though Larry used McCarthy as the historical representative, since I wouldn't want to believe Larry had his facts wrong. I choose to believe he uses McCarthy as the representative of the era, and is not referencing the actual events. I wouldn't want to think Larry was a believer that historical anachronisms made for good debate material.
We switch to the gymnasium and remember that phone call from the coach earlier? Apparently, his way of winning is to coach anywhere but Cal Sci. So, you wonder who is the coach now?
Steel Cave: Amita's disappointment over Baley is palpable. What I do wonder, is how real it is. If she truly believed all Baley was is circuitry, then when did she have to be there, with the support of Charlie, when Baley was turned off?
Just theorizing here. Are her hopes crushed, or is she mourning, just a little?

Recapper's Note: I challenge you all to name all the robot movies I quoted. Winner wins the internets and a shout out in a recap. The winner does not get world peace and a pony.

8 comments:

  1. No bowl? You have dissapointed me Spy.

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  2. Glad to have you back. Awesome as usual. Shirtless Colby most of every episode? I just creamed myself.

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  3. Oh, Eppes brothers subtext. How I love it.
    And the female characters on Numb3rs. They kick butt and act like real humans, without the strong-woman cliche of like a black belt in judo.

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  4. I definitely agree with the Colby should be shirtless in all eppesodes statement!! Aussiemel!

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  5. colby should be shirtless all the time...that would be awesome!

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  6. Spy, you have won my complete adoration for decribing the Eppes men as Obi-Wan, Han, and Luke. My inner Star Wars geek is going all gooey. *oh, the bunnies are threatening me now. This is gonna hurt some...*

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  7. Spy, you missed a Azimov reference. Baley's wife was called Jessie in Caves of Steel! Love your recaps, you are awesome. You deserve a shout out. Or at least a pony.

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  8. I loved the reference to War Games. When I saw the promo for this episode the first thing I thought, though, was Eagle Eye.

    Good recap, Spy!

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