When Worlds Collide (Numb3rs)
Encyclopedia
"When Worlds Collide" is the 18th episode and the season finale of the fourth season of the American television show Numb3rs
. In the episode, two brothers, one a Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) Special Agent and the other a mathematician
, disagree with each other on the issue of academic freedom after one of the mathematician's friends is arrested on terrorism charges. Series creators Cheryl Heuton
and Nicolas Falacci
, who wrote the episode, first mentioned the idea for the brothers' conflict during a season two commentary. When Heuton and Falacci wrote the episode for season four, their episode launched a story arc that was later resolved during season five.
"When Worlds Collide" first aired in the United States on May 16, 2008. Critics gave the episode positive reviews. One called the episode "intense" while another called it "game-changing".
ped . Meanwhile, in front of Drs. Charlie Eppes
(David Krumholtz
) and Larry Fleinhardt
(Peter MacNicol
), FBI Special Agent William Fraley (Zeljko Ivanek
) arrests Dr. Phil Sanjrani (Ravi Kapoor
), one of Charlie's friends, on charges of sending classified information that could assist terrorist
s to Pakistan
. When Charlie, a FBI math
consultant
goes to the FBI office to discuss Phil's arrest, FBI Special Agent Don Eppes
(Rob Morrow
), Charlie's brother, asks Charlie to link Phil to the kidnappings as Phil and the kidnapping victims belonged to the same Pakistani charity. While insisting on Phil's innocence, Charlie suggests using social network analysis to find the connection between the victims and their kidnapper. Don, Fraley, and FBI Special Agents David Sinclair
(Alimi Ballard
), Colby Granger
(Dylan Bruno
) and Megan Reeves (Diane Farr
) uncover evidence that the kidnapping victims could be planning an RPG attack on a Los Angeles school. Although Phil asserts that he sent research on DNA
modification of crop
s to Pakistan, Fraley insists that Phil has given terrorists a way to create a bioweapon
. Megan is not convinced of Phil's guilt. Charlie's analysis reveals that, by the FBI's own criteria, neither Phil nor the charity is linked to terrorism. David and Colby later find the kidnapping victims dead.
At Charlie's house, Don argues that national security should be a priority while Charlie insists that Don should not tell Charlie how to work. Their father, Alan Eppes
(Judd Hirsch
), asserts that the brothers' individual beliefs are at the heart of their conflict. At CalSci, Charlie, Larry, and Dr. Amita Ramanujan
(Navi Rawat
), Charlie's girlfriend and fellow colleague, learn that Phil's research most likely could not produce a bioweapon. The team attempts to arrest a man who shares the same name as one of Phil's friends. Phil confirms this when Charlie visits him in prison. Phil also tells Charlie that Phil did not send all of his research to Pakistan. Meanwhile, upon Charlie's suggestion to look at the evidence in a different light, Don, David, and Fraley realize that the men could have been involved in a construction project at the school and that the kidnappers left some evidence behind. Charlie's analysis reveals that the victims were suspicious of how the charity's funds were being spent, confirming what David and Colby uncovered earlier at the charity. At the house, Charlie asks Don if Don would arrest Charlie for having colleagues in countries linked to hostile actions, and Don responds that he would not. Later, while chasing a suspect, Don and David realize that their suspect was not Pakistani.
On a hunch, Megan uncovers a link between the charity and the Irish Republican Army
(IRA). David and Colby learn of their suspect's (Shawn Doyle) true name: Shane O'Hanahan. O'Hanahan had posed as a member of the charity to redirect the charity's funds to the IRA. The FBI team arrest O'Hanahan as O'Hanahan goes to the airport. After the arrest, Megan tells David and Colby that she is leaving the FBI and returning to Washington, DC to finish her Ph.D. and to begin a career in counseling female prison
ers, something that she had earlier discussed with Larry and Don. At CalSci, with Larry and Amita as witnesses, Charlie sends the rest of Phil's research to Pakistan. Hours later at the house, in front of Alan and Don, Charlie turns himself in to federal authorities. Larry confronts Charlie and Fraley, who now believes Charlie, about the loss of Charlie's security clearance and demands that Fraley return Charlie's clearance. At the house, Alan tries to get his sons to discuss the incident over dinner. Don receives a call about a case and leaves the house without telling his family about the case. Charlie then realizes that he is going to have difficulty in not being involved in FBI work.
and Nicolas Falacci
mentioned that, for early season three, they wanted to have a story that contrasted Charlie's and Don's opinions about academic freedom. Throughout the course of the series, the writers attempted to both explicitly and implicitly show Charlie's attempt to balance his FBI consultation work with his academic work. They also wanted to show viewers to see the repercussions of that conflict. At the end of season four, series producers decided to have the conflict between national security and academic freedom as the season finale. They planned to have the brothers' relationship with each other altered in that they would realize that their work together did not prevent them from having a difference in opinion.
To resolve one of the issues brought up in "When Worlds Collide", the loss of Charlie's security clearance, the writers and producers developed a four to five episode storyline for season five. In the arc, Larry and Amita served as the main math consultants while Charlie attempted to regain his clearance. Carl McGowan (Keith Carradine
), a tough FBI agent created by writers to be unlikable, was brought in to investigate Charlie. The arc culminated in the episode "Jack of All Trades", in which Charlie regained his clearance.
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, two brothers, one a 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) Special Agent and the other 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...
, disagree with each other on the issue of academic freedom after one of the mathematician's friends is arrested on terrorism charges. Series creators Cheryl Heuton
Cheryl Heuton
Cheryl Heuton is an American television writer and producer. Along with her husband and writing partner Nicolas Falacci, she co-created the television series Numb3rs.-External links:...
and Nicolas Falacci
Nicolas Falacci
Nicolas Falacci is a television writer and producer. Along with his wife and writing partner Cheryl Heuton, he co-created the television series Numb3rs. His only directing credit is the season 6 finale of the program. Falacci also wrote the story and screenplay for the 1991 horror film Children of...
, who wrote the episode, first mentioned the idea for the brothers' conflict during a season two commentary. When Heuton and Falacci wrote the episode for season four, their episode launched a story arc that was later resolved during season five.
"When Worlds Collide" first aired in the United States on May 16, 2008. Critics gave the episode positive reviews. One called the episode "intense" while another called it "game-changing".
Plot summary
Two men are kidnapKidnapping
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 . Meanwhile, in front of Drs. 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...
) and 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...
), FBI Special Agent William Fraley (Zeljko Ivanek
Željko Ivanek
Željko Ivanek is an Emmy award-winning Slovenian American actor best known for his role as Ray Fiske on Damages. He is also known for playing Blake Sterling on short-lived NBC series The Event and Emile Danko on Heroes....
) arrests Dr. Phil Sanjrani (Ravi Kapoor
Ravi Kapoor
Ravi Kapoor is an actor of Indian heritage best known for his roles on Gideon's Crossing and Crossing Jordan. Before relocating to Los Angeles, Kapoor worked for ten years as an actor in England. He trained at East 15 Acting School...
), one of Charlie's friends, on charges of sending classified information that could assist terrorist
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
s to Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. When Charlie, a FBI math
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...
consultant
Consultant
A consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, accountancy, the environment, entertainment, technology, law , human resources, marketing, emergency management, food production, medicine, finance, life management, economics, public...
goes to the FBI office to discuss Phil's arrest, 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...
), Charlie's brother, asks Charlie to link Phil to the kidnappings as Phil and the kidnapping victims belonged to the same Pakistani charity. While insisting on Phil's innocence, Charlie suggests using social network analysis to find the connection between the victims and their kidnapper. Don, Fraley, and FBI Special Agents 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....
), 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:...
) and Megan Reeves (Diane Farr
Diane Farr
Diane Farr is an American actress. She is known for her roles as FBI agent Megan Reeves in the CBS television series Numb3rs and Laura Miles on Rescue Me.-Life and career:...
) uncover evidence that the kidnapping victims could be planning an RPG attack on a Los Angeles school. Although Phil asserts that he sent research on DNA
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
modification of crop
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
s to Pakistan, Fraley insists that Phil has given terrorists a way to create a bioweapon
Biological warfare
Biological warfare is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war...
. Megan is not convinced of Phil's guilt. Charlie's analysis reveals that, by the FBI's own criteria, neither Phil nor the charity is linked to terrorism. David and Colby later find the kidnapping victims dead.
At Charlie's house, Don argues that national security should be a priority while Charlie insists that Don should not tell Charlie how to work. Their 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:...
), asserts that the brothers' individual beliefs are at the heart of their conflict. At CalSci, Charlie, Larry, and Dr. Amita Ramanujan
Amita 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....
), Charlie's girlfriend and fellow colleague, learn that Phil's research most likely could not produce a bioweapon. The team attempts to arrest a man who shares the same name as one of Phil's friends. Phil confirms this when Charlie visits him in prison. Phil also tells Charlie that Phil did not send all of his research to Pakistan. Meanwhile, upon Charlie's suggestion to look at the evidence in a different light, Don, David, and Fraley realize that the men could have been involved in a construction project at the school and that the kidnappers left some evidence behind. Charlie's analysis reveals that the victims were suspicious of how the charity's funds were being spent, confirming what David and Colby uncovered earlier at the charity. At the house, Charlie asks Don if Don would arrest Charlie for having colleagues in countries linked to hostile actions, and Don responds that he would not. Later, while chasing a suspect, Don and David realize that their suspect was not Pakistani.
On a hunch, Megan uncovers a link between the charity and the Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
(IRA). David and Colby learn of their suspect's (Shawn Doyle) true name: Shane O'Hanahan. O'Hanahan had posed as a member of the charity to redirect the charity's funds to the IRA. The FBI team arrest O'Hanahan as O'Hanahan goes to the airport. After the arrest, Megan tells David and Colby that she is leaving the FBI and returning to Washington, DC to finish her Ph.D. and to begin a career in counseling female prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
ers, something that she had earlier discussed with Larry and Don. At CalSci, with Larry and Amita as witnesses, Charlie sends the rest of Phil's research to Pakistan. Hours later at the house, in front of Alan and Don, Charlie turns himself in to federal authorities. Larry confronts Charlie and Fraley, who now believes Charlie, about the loss of Charlie's security clearance and demands that Fraley return Charlie's clearance. At the house, Alan tries to get his sons to discuss the incident over dinner. Don receives a call about a case and leaves the house without telling his family about the case. Charlie then realizes that he is going to have difficulty in not being involved in FBI work.
Writing
During the commentary for "Protest", series creators/executive producers Cheryl HeutonCheryl Heuton
Cheryl Heuton is an American television writer and producer. Along with her husband and writing partner Nicolas Falacci, she co-created the television series Numb3rs.-External links:...
and Nicolas Falacci
Nicolas Falacci
Nicolas Falacci is a television writer and producer. Along with his wife and writing partner Cheryl Heuton, he co-created the television series Numb3rs. His only directing credit is the season 6 finale of the program. Falacci also wrote the story and screenplay for the 1991 horror film Children of...
mentioned that, for early season three, they wanted to have a story that contrasted Charlie's and Don's opinions about academic freedom. Throughout the course of the series, the writers attempted to both explicitly and implicitly show Charlie's attempt to balance his FBI consultation work with his academic work. They also wanted to show viewers to see the repercussions of that conflict. At the end of season four, series producers decided to have the conflict between national security and academic freedom as the season finale. They planned to have the brothers' relationship with each other altered in that they would realize that their work together did not prevent them from having a difference in opinion.
To resolve one of the issues brought up in "When Worlds Collide", the loss of Charlie's security clearance, the writers and producers developed a four to five episode storyline for season five. In the arc, Larry and Amita served as the main math consultants while Charlie attempted to regain his clearance. Carl McGowan (Keith Carradine
Keith Carradine
Keith Ian Carradine is an American actor who has had success on stage, film and television. In addition, he is a Golden Globe and Oscar winning songwriter. As a member of the Carradine family, he is part of an acting "dynasty" that began with his father, John Carradine.-Early life:Keith...
), a tough FBI agent created by writers to be unlikable, was brought in to investigate Charlie. The arc culminated in the episode "Jack of All Trades", in which Charlie regained his clearance.
Reception
Critically, the episode received positive reviews. Jeffrey Robinson of DVD Talk called "When Worlds Collide" "strong" and "a pretty intense storyline". One of Amazon.com's editors, Donald Liebenson, called "When Worlds Collide" "game-changing".External links
- Numb3rs: When Worlds Collide 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: When Worlds Collide (2008) 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...