The Good

A well written show that manages to make math and science the crux of the entertainment.

The Bad

I wish the packaging wasn't so elaborate.

Numbers: The Complete Third Season is really a show analyzing the relationship between two very different brothers. FBI Agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) is aided by his mathematician brother Charlie in solving crimes that occur in Los Angeles. Aided in their quest by Megan Reeves (Diane Farr), David Sinclair (Alimi Ballard) and Amita Ramanjuan (Navi Rawat), among others, this show highlights just how much math we use on a daily basis no matter what we are doing. Numbers is very smart in its approach in that it takes very human elements and manages to put them together with fields that are normally thought of as being somewhat cold. The fact that the characters in question can make the situations of this show believable (and that does get to be a problem at times) says a lot about how the writing, acting and solid execution make what has been created a true team effort.

Some of the stand out episodes in this set were "Two Daughters" which actually sees the team really affected when Megan is kidnapped by a couple who has gone on a killing spree. At first I balked at this premise but the way it was presented made what happened on screen more than palatable. "Blackout" was great because of it's timeliness to what had happened in New York when it blacked out a couple of years back. As the teams tries to figure out what is happening, they seem to first miss then uncover the true cause of the powerless city. Lastly. "End of Watch" tells the tale of a police officer only backwards and using the Numbers motion graphics, storytelling process.

Features

Audio Commentary Tracks

Seeing as how there were a bunch of commentary tracks on this 6 disc DVD set I chose to make it easy on myself and listen to the track for the episode "Two Daughters." Providing the commentary is David W. Zucker, Ken Sanzel and Lou Diamond Phillips. This track opens with Phillips talking in his radio voice and then shortly after this Phillips gives a history of acting (yes, you have read that correctly). Sanzel and Zucker then talk about adjusting the show for Phillips and how he really took ownership of who this character was. They then discuss such things as the characters motivations and the logistics of pulling this show off week after week.

Crunching Numbers: Season 3

Blooper Reel

Here we are treated to things like guns not firing at the most inappropriate times, missing handcuffs when they are needed most, Rob Morrow complaining about having trouble removing his microphone, actors messing up lines, and all in all I found this to be far more entertaining than normal blooper reels. Call me sadistic, but there was just something kind of cool about seeing this very structured show run into problems.

Eppes Central

Set House Tour

David Krumholtz starts off giving us a tour of the Eppes house. He's walking along and suddenly he sees that Rob Morrow and Judd Hirsch (he plays Alan Eppes, the boys father on the show) are there. Then, instead of pointing out things about the set, they start pointing out how fake the set actually is. How it was painted, what it looked like the season before, and then things just devolved into them going off on inside jokes and suddenly I felt like I was watching Arrested Development.

Video

Widescreen Version enhanced for 16:9 TVs. The thing about Numbers that really makes it stand out as how visually arresting this show is. There is a lot of editing to be sure but it never seemed to get in the way of the viewing experience. There are a lot of motion graphics and this helps to put across a nice amount of fluidity to this show. In fact, I also liked how involved the motion graphics were because with all their detail it was like they become another character in the show.

Audio

Dolby Digital: English 5.1 Surround / English Stereo Surround. Again, my biggest problem with the show (aside from the aforementioned plot problems) is the fact that these characters consistently talked in those whispery voices. I cannot explain how much this takes me out of the reality of the show. There's just something so phony about it. I know that in some way it probably helps the actors but I really get taken out of the reality that is being presented. I turned up the audio and I was able to hear everything fine, I just wish things played more naturally.

Package

I wasn't a fan of this packaging mainly because it comes in a plastic case that lets the DVDs slide out from the bottom. The front cover gives us Rob Morrow and David Krumholtz. There is a fiery, orange/red that they use as the main color for this cover. The back portion features pictures from this show, a description of what Numbers: The Complete Third Season is about, a Special Features listing and technical specs. As I mentioned all the discs pull out in one piece of packaging which actually removes Krumholtz from the front cover (you'd have to see it...). The artwork unfolds giving us more pictures, episode descriptions, airdates, and locations of the special features. Oh, how I wish that this were a digipack.

Final Word

I have to admit that I think I might have a love hate relationship with this show. I can appreciate what the actors and everyone else is trying to do with Numbers, it's just that episode after episode things seem to fit together a little too easily. Also, and this might be because I am bad at math but this show seems to go out of its way to try and make things simple, yet somehow or other I know even if it gets confusing it's going to rework itself and make things come together. As I mentioned above I have a problem with this as it would be great to see these characters really get stumped. What if they couldn't put everything together? What if they couldn't solve the case? As much as I am sure that thought bothers the network and other people, at the same time I think this could lend itself to a humanity that would enable Numbers to transcend itself as being a mere procedural.

While it might seem a bit odd that things always work out so well for these characters, at the end of the day Numbers: The Complete Third Season does add up.

Numb3rs was released .