(S02E23) 361 seaports. 16 million containers. 9 H5 sub-types. 1 mutation.

Someone want to explain to me what's with all this bird-flu nonsense all of a sudden? I realize it's out there. I understand the extremely scary threat that it poses. But do we really need all this crazy television coverage? First ABC has that bird-flu TV movie, and now CBS has an entire episode of Numb3rs devoted to it. I guess people just like to be scared.

Fortunately, this episode had a lot of other good stuff happening. Larry is back, and it's a good thing. His comic relief was sorely missed in last week's episode. Plus, the romance between Charlie and Amita has started to heat up... well, sort of.

After the bodies of five Asian females wash up on a beach, Don and the team are called in because... well, because five bodies washed up on a beach. The Coast Guard tracked the currents to try and figure out where the bodies came from, but Charlie went ahead and proved them wrong with some fancy electronic tracking buoys. He was able to narrow down their point of origin to the routes of two ships, both of which came from China. That was easy enough.

The scare comes when the medical examiner (Claudia Gomez) informs David and Meghan that one of the girls has the H5-N1 strain of avian flu. That's no good. On top of that, the fifth body was that of an American reporter who was tracking the girls and their involvement in the L.A. sex trade. She was undercover when she was thrown overboard with the four others. Charlie tracked down her co-worker using a coded tattoo on her foot. It was a phone number. Back and forth, and eventually more girls were found being held down by the port. None of them were infected so it was all good.

On to the romances. Seems like there's something going on with David and that M.E. Claudia. The real story is Charlie and Amita. He's finally gotten over any issues he had with dating Amita, and so Charlie asks her out. She says yes to going on a date, but also informs him that she may be taking a job at Harvard. We're left hanging with her choice. Charlie or the job? We'll find out next week in the season finale.

Best Quote of the Episode:

David: "Why do they [criminals] always run?"

Colby: "Because we're wearing suits, man. They always figure they can outrun a guy in a suit."