Waardenburg syndrome (WS) is an inherited disorder often characterized by varying degrees of hearing loss and changes in skin and hair pigmentation. The syndrome got its name from a Dutch eye doctor named Petrus Johannes Waardenburg who first noticed that people with differently colored eyes often had a hearing impairment. He went on to study over a thousand individuals in deaf families and found that some of them had certain physical characteristics in common.

One commonly observed characteristic of Waardenburg syndrome is two differently colored eyes. One eye is usually brown and the other blue. Sometimes, one eye has two different colors. Other individuals with Waardenburg syndrome may have unusually brilliant blue eyes.

People with WS may also have distinctive hair coloring, such as a patch of white hair or premature gray hair as early as age 12. Other possible physical features include a wide space between the inner corners of eyes called a broad nasal root. In addition persons with WS may have low frontal hairline and their eyebrows may connect. The levels of hearing loss associated with the syndrome can vary from moderate to profound.

Individuals with Waardenburg syndrome may have some or all of the traits of the syndrome. For example, a person with WS may have a white forelock, a patch of white hair near the forehead, and no hearing impairment. Others may have white patches of skin and severe hearing impairment. The severity of the hearing impairment varies among individuals with WS as do changes in the skin and hair.

On rare occasions, WS has been associated with other conditions that are present at birth, such as intestinal disorders, elevation of the shoulder blade, and disorders of the spine. A facial abnormality, known as cleft lip and/or palate, also has been associated with WS

I don't think this is the end of Numbers as we know it. I think some big case will come up next season and Charlie will get his clearance back.

http://bitsmack.com

Love the interplay between the brothers and especially the funny parts - Don trying Larry's lab ice cream by extending his tongue to the bit on his spoon and Don getting down on his knees to give Charlie an edge in their flailing horseplay - wish I'd had brothers like that. In the last episode each stood up for his viewpoint and Charlie paid the price for his.

All Don's girlfriends resemble his mother or are feminine versions of himself so I do think he has trust issues with women, probably because his mother was consumed with taking care of his genius brother and he felt ignored. They are all slim, dark haired/eyed, flatchested and pack a gun - must be like dating himself. He needs a nice moral girl, petite, buxom and full of fun who won't take squat off him. He's morose and drinks too much so she has a job ahead of her!

Love the Craftsman house - the original and also the set. It's educating everyone about how great the style is. I'd like to see them "green" the house next year.

I actually thought this was one of the better episodes thematically speaking.

@Tom
I actually thought Numb3rs' treatment of the terrorist storyline was rather unique. There wasn't so much, "Oh look, all Muslims aren't terrorists," although there was some of that. It had more to do with the hindrance of scientific research. The government's restriction of the spread of knowledge, was what the episode was trying to go after, not so much the racial profiling, etc.

It is a question of some importance. Should scientific results be restricted if they could have negative results? It wasn't so much, in my mind, about the unfair detainment of political prisoners, etc.

I'll agree however, that this episode had way too much squeezed into it. While there have been hints about Megan leaving, her departure deserved way more screen time than it got.

I also don't think that Charlie losing his clearance is just "a pointless plot that was tossed together for the sake of having some sort of cliff-hanger." It offers a chance for Charlie and Don to work out some of their issues. While they have worked well together, they really still don't *get* each other's POVs. This could offer them a chance to do so.

However, I do agree that this episode had way too much crammed into it. I really think this should have been split up into at least two episodes. I personally think that the fake terrorist plotline should have had its own episode, in which Charlie is still upset about his friend's detainment, etc. Then in the season finale, they make up some other crime to solve, which doesn't have a guest star taking up so much space and doesn't have Charlie working on it, which allows more time to be devoted to Megan's send off. (While I agree that without the math, Numb3rs is just another procedural, it would be interesting to see where the team gets their breakthroughs from without Charlie's help, or for that matter to see them fail.) The B-plot of that episode could be Charlie discussing whether or not to send his work to Pakistan with Amita and Larry, ending with the same cliffhanger.

I did not find this episode sucky at all. I think a lot more could have happened, but I was digging the idea of Eppes v. Eppes - the sentinel v. scientist. I am not a genius like Charlie and Pakistani dude, but I if I were, I imagine I would be just as affronted that my scientific work was being reduced to something wicked, and the truth taken out of it. And for once, Charlie the geek, who you'd never expect to stand in a fight with you, finished the fight, so to speak, and floored the competition, or not. I like that idea a lot though - a war of ideas.

That said, I don't think they should drag Charlie and Amita too much more. It would be cool to see Charlie move towards marriage - it would be cool, awkward and funny. God knows someday, somebody will peg Don down (I liked Liz a lot).

I know the story isn't original - heck, the stories have NEVER been original, but I am looking forward to Don and Charlie dancing around each other next year. No they are not going to resolve the thing in an original way, but it will be fun for me to watch.
I liked Numb3rs last night. And I actually liked Moonlight too! I wish both would come back together. I really enjoy both shows in a "I want to be braindead on a Friday night" kinda way.

I didn't find the episode particularly preachy but I do have to say the Terrorist storyline is kind of played out.

I get that a lot of Hollywood writers want to make some kind of point about people being unfairly detained and I can understand that. But it's been done so many times at this point that you now know anyone being detained as a terrorist actually isn't one which sort of deflates the story. Having the characters debate whether its Islamic terrorists for a half hour when the viewer already knows it isn't becomes pretty mind numbing. This did go a little further by actually having it turn out to be an Irish guy in costume but it was still all pretty lame.

There were so many better ways to spend our time during this episode that the plot became almost insulting. I would have much rather spent the finale focusing on the emotional impact of Megan's departure or Don's relationship or Charlie and Amita or really anything with some kind of emotional resonance. Honestly, by the last 15 minutes they could have turned the thing over to Bill Nye and had a better episode than this.

As you can probably tell, I thought this episode stunk. From the generic plot to the cliffhanger that we all know is going to be resolved quickly next season there was just nothing redeeming here and honestly I kind of feel like Diane Farr got robbed of a decent send off.

Didn't they destroy another central characters career having him hauled off in cuffs as a spy? The writers resolved that one. I was glad they didn't clear it all up in one episode and explored some of the feelings of his co-workers who were duped. I started watching with low expectations but the writing is pretty darn good.

The episode sucked. The constant political preaching of the writers through the characters reached a new high. I most likely won't watch the show again.

I was very disappointed in this as a season finale. It thought there would be more impact of Charlie going to jail. Thought that might cliffhanger. Looked like his friend was really guilty. I expected more.

Megan, I won't miss her - never was a favorite character. I'd rather see Liz in the spot. You are right that more should have been made of her leaving. We didn't even see her tell Don or say goodbye to Don. Very odd.

This felt like a two hour show that got condensed at the last minute.