Angels and Devils (Numb3rs)
Encyclopedia
"Angels and Devils" is the 23rd episode and the fifth season finale of the American television show Numb3rs
. In the episode, Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) agents search for a mathematician
who has been kidnap
ped by a cult leader. The episode ended with a character's priorities changed and a marriage proposal left unanswered. James Callis
guest-starred as the cult leader, Mason Dureya.
"Angels and Devils" first aired in the United States on May 15, 2009. Critics gave the episode positive reviews. Most of them found the episode exciting, and one called the episode "very chilling".
(Navi Rawat
) as she and her boyfriend, Dr. Charlie Eppes
(David Krumholtz
) leave CalSci for dinner. Charlie calls his older brother, FBI Special Agent Don Eppes
(Rob Morrow
), and gives Don a description of the getaway van and, when Don arrives at CalSci, of Amita's kidnappers. Don and FBI Special Agents Liz Warner
(Aya Sumika
), Nikki Betancourt
(Sophina Brown
), David Sinclair
(Alimi Ballard
), and Colby Granger
(Dylan Bruno
) begin to search for Amita. With Don and Charlie en route to their location, David and Colby follow the getaway van into a parking garage. The getaway van crashes into a car and explodes. Believing that Amita is inside the van, Charlie races toward it, only to be tackled by David and Don.
Back at the FBI office, evidence shows that Amita was not in the van when it crashed. When asked to develop the math needed to locate Amita, Charlie is so emotionally upset that he cannot think. Charlie's friend and fellow colleague, Dr. Larry Fleinhardt
(Peter MacNicol
), arrives at the FBI office and uses the angel and devils problem to describe how the FBI can determine the kidnapper's possible routes based on the FBI's roadblocks and checkpoints. Since the kidnappers avoided the FBI's roadblocks and checkpoints in their escape, the FBI agents can search for Amita in places along a limited number of escape routes. The next day, David, Colby and FBI Special Agent Ian Edgerton (Lou Diamond Phillips
) find several pieces of carved wood outside of Amita's office at CalSci. At the FBI office, Ian informs the team that Amita's kidnapper is Mason Dureya (James Callis
), who leads a cult
consisting of women who possess high school educations. Dureya and his cult are suspected in a series of burglaries and robberies in Oklahoma. This concerns the agents since Amita's college education does not match those of the cult's women. To determine Dureya's motive in kidnapping Amita, Don begins to review previously recorded interrogations with Dureya. Meanwhile, two women escort Amita into Dureya's hideout, where he instructs her to hack into a bank's computer.
At the FBI office, Don and Charlie's father, Alan Eppes
(Judd Hirsch
), handles a phone call about suspicious charges on Charlie's credit card. Charlie realizes that the charged items are a code from Amita, telling him and the FBI team to watch her office. At CalSci, David and Colby arrest Piper St. John (Sarah Drew), a member of Dureya's cult who arrived to retrieve Amita's notebook computer. Piper refuses to give the agents Dureya and Amita's location. Believing that the carved wood pieces are mathematical clues, Don hands Charlie the wood. Charlie, still emotionally upset, snaps at an empathic Don. Meanwhile, Amita tries to escape, but Dureya stops her in her attempt.
After David insists that the fraudulent charges' prices are a numerical clue, Charlie realizes that the numbers are an IP
address (275.3.60.28) that Amita is using as a mirror site. He also realizes that she wants to create a fake cyberattack on the bank, which holds a large percentage of the nation's debt. The team assumes that Dureya wants anarchy to arise from the bank's collapse. While the team discusses their theory, Larry tells the team that the wood pieces are a Burr puzzle. Don, inspired by the Burr puzzle, persuades Piper to reveal Amita's location. The FBI team and Charlie arrive at Dureya's hideout as Amita launches the "cyberattack". During a shootout with the cult, Amita learns that Dureya wants fame and a confrontation with the FBI, not anarchy. The team rescues Amita, who runs to Charlie. Back at the FBI office, Larry, David, Colby, and Liz celebrate the case's successful resolution while Nikki and Ian leave for a date. Don returns to Charlie's house where Don thanks Alan for the clue; Don and Alan also discuss Don's crisis of faith since his recent stabbing
. At CalSci, Charlie proposes to Amita.
n family.
, portrayed the cult leader. Seeing it as an opportunity to portray a new character, Callis auditioned for the role of Mason Dureya. A British actor, he had previously played an American twice before, once in the BBC
series "A Dance to the Music of Time" and the other in "West End". The director and the producer told Callis that they did not want Duryea to sound too southern. Callis did not research cult leaders but instead chose to derive Duryea's behavior from the episode's dialogue.
Jeffrey Robinson of DVD Talk called "Angels and Devils" "thrilling" and one of "the best" episodes of the season.
NUMB3RS
Numb3rs is an American television drama which premiered on CBS on January 23, 2005, and concluded on March 12, 2010. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, and follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes and his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes , who helps Don solve crimes...
. In the episode, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI) agents search for a mathematician
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
who has been kidnap
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
ped by a cult leader. The episode ended with a character's priorities changed and a marriage proposal left unanswered. James Callis
James Callis
James Callis is a British actor. He is best known for playing Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, and Bridget Jones' best friend in Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason...
guest-starred as the cult leader, Mason Dureya.
"Angels and Devils" first aired in the United States on May 15, 2009. Critics gave the episode positive reviews. Most of them found the episode exciting, and one called the episode "very chilling".
Plot summary
Two people grab Dr. Amita RamanujanAmita Ramanujan
Amita Ramanujan is a fictional character from the TV series Numb3rs. Over the course of the series, she has become a professor at CalSci and has since become romantically involved with her former thesis advisor, Dr. Charlie Eppes . First introduced in "Pilot", the character of Amita has received...
(Navi Rawat
Navi Rawat
Navi Rawat is an American television actress, known for her roles as Theresa Diaz on the drama series The O.C. and math prodigy Amita Ramanujan on the drama series Numb3rs. She is the niece of Prem Rawat....
) as she and her boyfriend, Dr. Charlie Eppes
Charlie Eppes
Charles Edward "Charlie" Eppes, PhD is a fictional character and protagonist in the CBS crime drama Numb3rs.Dr...
(David Krumholtz
David Krumholtz
David Krumholtz is an American actor best known for playing Professor Charlie Eppes in the television series Numb3rs. He appeared as Seth Goldstein in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and its two sequels, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay and A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas...
) leave CalSci for dinner. Charlie calls his older brother, FBI Special Agent Don Eppes
Don Eppes
Don Eppes is the main fictional character in the television show Numb3rs. He is played by Rob Morrow.Don is an FBI Special Agent who runs the FBI Violent Crimes Squad in Los Angeles. Don recruits his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes, to help him and the Bureau solve some of their most...
(Rob Morrow
Rob Morrow
Robert Alan "Rob" Morrow is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Don Eppes on Numb3rs and as Dr. Joel Fleischman on Northern Exposure, a role which garnered him three Golden Globes and two Emmy Award nominations for "Best Actor in a Dramatic Series."-Personal life:Morrow was born in...
), and gives Don a description of the getaway van and, when Don arrives at CalSci, of Amita's kidnappers. Don and FBI Special Agents Liz Warner
Liz Warner
Liz Warner is a fictitious character on the American television show Numb3rs. A former girlfriend of FBI Special agent Don Eppes, she has since become a part of Don's team.-Evolution over the series:...
(Aya Sumika
Aya Sumika
Aya Sumika was born Aya Sumika Koenig on August 22, 1980 in Miami, Florida. She grew up in Seattle, Washington.She is an American actress best known for her semi-recurring role as FBI Agent Liz Warner in the television series Numb3rs.Her mother is Japanese-American and her father is of European...
), Nikki Betancourt
Nikki Betancourt
Nikki Betancourt is a fictitious character on the American television show Numb3rs. Developed as a replacement for a regular who had left the series, she joined FBI Special Agent Don Eppes' 's team at the beginning of season five...
(Sophina Brown
Sophina Brown
Sophina Brown is an American actress who had a starring role on the CBS drama series Numb3rs where she played Nikki Betancourt, an "adrenaline junkie" and former LAPD officer....
), David Sinclair
David Sinclair (Numb3rs)
David Sinclair is a fictitious FBI agent in the TV show Numb3rs. First introduced in the Pilot episode, he has become the usual partner of FBI Special Agent Colby Granger and has also become the primary relief supervisor for the Supervisor of the FBI Violent Crimes division, Don Eppes...
(Alimi Ballard
Alimi Ballard
Alimi Ballard is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as FBI agent David Sinclair on the CBS drama television series Numb3rs....
), and Colby Granger
Colby Granger
Colby Granger is a fictitious FBI agent on the American television show Numb3rs. First introduced during the second season, he has become a part of the team led by FBI Special Agent Don Eppes and is usually partnered with David Sinclair...
(Dylan Bruno
Dylan Bruno
Dylan Bruno is an American actor and former model. He portrayed FBI agent Colby Granger in the CBS series Numb3rs.-Personal life:...
) begin to search for Amita. With Don and Charlie en route to their location, David and Colby follow the getaway van into a parking garage. The getaway van crashes into a car and explodes. Believing that Amita is inside the van, Charlie races toward it, only to be tackled by David and Don.
Back at the FBI office, evidence shows that Amita was not in the van when it crashed. When asked to develop the math needed to locate Amita, Charlie is so emotionally upset that he cannot think. Charlie's friend and fellow colleague, Dr. Larry Fleinhardt
Larry Fleinhardt
Larry Fleinhardt PhD is a fictional character in the television show Numb3rs, played by Peter MacNicol.Dr. Lawrence Fleinhardt is a professor of physics at CalSci and best friend and colleague of Charlie Eppes...
(Peter MacNicol
Peter MacNicol
Peter MacNicol is an American actor. He may be best known in films for his roles of Janosz Poha in Ghostbusters II, Stingo in Sophie's Choice, Thomas Renfield in Dracula: Dead and Loving It and David Langley in Bean...
), arrives at the FBI office and uses the angel and devils problem to describe how the FBI can determine the kidnapper's possible routes based on the FBI's roadblocks and checkpoints. Since the kidnappers avoided the FBI's roadblocks and checkpoints in their escape, the FBI agents can search for Amita in places along a limited number of escape routes. The next day, David, Colby and FBI Special Agent Ian Edgerton (Lou Diamond Phillips
Lou Diamond Phillips
Lou Diamond Phillips is an American film, television, and stage actor and director. His breakthrough came when he starred in the film La Bamba. He earned a supporting actor Golden Globe Award nomination for his role in Stand and Deliver and a Tony Award nomination for his role in The King and I...
) find several pieces of carved wood outside of Amita's office at CalSci. At the FBI office, Ian informs the team that Amita's kidnapper is Mason Dureya (James Callis
James Callis
James Callis is a British actor. He is best known for playing Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, and Bridget Jones' best friend in Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason...
), who leads a cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
consisting of women who possess high school educations. Dureya and his cult are suspected in a series of burglaries and robberies in Oklahoma. This concerns the agents since Amita's college education does not match those of the cult's women. To determine Dureya's motive in kidnapping Amita, Don begins to review previously recorded interrogations with Dureya. Meanwhile, two women escort Amita into Dureya's hideout, where he instructs her to hack into a bank's computer.
At the FBI office, Don and Charlie's father, Alan Eppes
Alan Eppes
Alan Eppes is a fictional character on the television show Numb3rs, played by Judd Hirsch. Alan is the father of the main characters, brothers Charlie and Don Eppes...
(Judd Hirsch
Judd Hirsch
Judd Hirsch is an American actor most known for playing Alex Rieger on the television comedy series Taxi, John Lacey on the NBC series Dear John, and Alan Eppes on the CBS series Numb3rs.-Early life and education:...
), handles a phone call about suspicious charges on Charlie's credit card. Charlie realizes that the charged items are a code from Amita, telling him and the FBI team to watch her office. At CalSci, David and Colby arrest Piper St. John (Sarah Drew), a member of Dureya's cult who arrived to retrieve Amita's notebook computer. Piper refuses to give the agents Dureya and Amita's location. Believing that the carved wood pieces are mathematical clues, Don hands Charlie the wood. Charlie, still emotionally upset, snaps at an empathic Don. Meanwhile, Amita tries to escape, but Dureya stops her in her attempt.
After David insists that the fraudulent charges' prices are a numerical clue, Charlie realizes that the numbers are an IP
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
address (275.3.60.28) that Amita is using as a mirror site. He also realizes that she wants to create a fake cyberattack on the bank, which holds a large percentage of the nation's debt. The team assumes that Dureya wants anarchy to arise from the bank's collapse. While the team discusses their theory, Larry tells the team that the wood pieces are a Burr puzzle. Don, inspired by the Burr puzzle, persuades Piper to reveal Amita's location. The FBI team and Charlie arrive at Dureya's hideout as Amita launches the "cyberattack". During a shootout with the cult, Amita learns that Dureya wants fame and a confrontation with the FBI, not anarchy. The team rescues Amita, who runs to Charlie. Back at the FBI office, Larry, David, Colby, and Liz celebrate the case's successful resolution while Nikki and Ian leave for a date. Don returns to Charlie's house where Don thanks Alan for the clue; Don and Alan also discuss Don's crisis of faith since his recent stabbing
The Fifth Man (Numb3rs)
"The Fifth Man" is the 20th episode of the fifth season of the American television show Numb3rs. In the episode, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and mathematicians attempt to find a group of home invaders while dealing with the injury of the agents' boss. For FBI Special Agent David...
. At CalSci, Charlie proposes to Amita.
Writing
In separate TVGuide.com interviews, actors Rob Morrow and Alimi Ballard mentioned the season finale was a cliffhanger. Writers chose to end the season with Charlie's proposal to Amita as the cliff-hanger. Numb3rs series regular Navi Rawat told Adam Bryant in a TVGuide.com interview that, in contrast to her other dangerous situations, Amita's kidnapping was unexpected and intense for her. As a result of the incident, Amita reprioritized her life. The storyline continued with Amita's response in the season six season premiere "Hangman", where she accepted his proposal and asked him to keep her response a secret until he asked her father for her hand in marriage. The writers and producers created the resolution since they had earlier established that Amita's family was a traditional IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n family.
Casting notes
James Callis, previously on Battlestar GalacticaBattlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica TV series in 1978, and was followed by a brief sequel TV series in 1980, a line of book adaptations, original novels, comic books, a board game, and video games...
, portrayed the cult leader. Seeing it as an opportunity to portray a new character, Callis auditioned for the role of Mason Dureya. A British actor, he had previously played an American twice before, once in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
series "A Dance to the Music of Time" and the other in "West End". The director and the producer told Callis that they did not want Duryea to sound too southern. Callis did not research cult leaders but instead chose to derive Duryea's behavior from the episode's dialogue.
Reception
Critically, the episode was very well-received. Brian Zoromski, a reviewer at IGN.com, stated that the episode "wasn't going to be a typical episode" and gave "Angels and Devils" a 9.0 rating. Matt Fowler, another reviewer at IGN.com, called the episode "taut". Tim Holland of TVGuide.com called the episode "an emotionally demanding hour". Matt Mitovich, also of TVGuide.com, called the episode "very chilling".Jeffrey Robinson of DVD Talk called "Angels and Devils" "thrilling" and one of "the best" episodes of the season.
External links
- Numb3rs: Angels and Devils at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...
- Numb3rs: Angels and Devils (2009) at Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...