Numb3rs: Dark Matter

(S02E19) I don't recall (lately anyway) watching something that so vividly took on the topic of school shootings. I honestly found this episode far more compelling than that film from a couple years back, Elephant.

What struck me the most though was that fact that the story had to be dramatized, in the sense that it had to have a twist. The events that occurred were all placed in motion at the hands of one manipulator. As the show usually does well, I had my mind set on another person the whole time.

A few major things happened in this episode that weren't related to the case at hand, and I'll get to those. First off, after Charlie isolated all the data and determined that there was a third shooter involved, did anyone else have a hunch that it was the school principal? I really thought it was him. He kept acting all shady, wasn't willing to give up school records due to a court order, and he was overall just abrupt with Meghan and David. I truly thought it was him after Charlie reasoned that the third shooter would have needed access to the school's tracking system. That sold it for me.

When it was revealed that the school's newspaper editor was responsible for everything (the shootings, the manipulation of the computer geeks), I was surprised. But her story was far more compelling than whatever would have been the principal's justification.

On to other topics. Meghan and Larry! They went on a date! They flirted every chance they got! It was about time they addressed this because they hadn't done so for about ten episodes I think. The only thing that has me bugged about this is the fact that Meghan is fully integrated in this cast now. I don't think we'll be seeing Dianne Farr as even a guest star in the upcoming third season of Rescue Me, which is quite lousy if you ask me.

Also, where was Alan? Judd Hirsch wasn't in this episode at all. I think this is the first time that's happened. They said he was on a date with that caterer (another topic that hasn't been explored at all) but that was the only mention of him. That was the one thing that lacked in this episode. He's always there for good comic relief, although this is probably the one episode where you didn't need (or want) that angle.