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I'm ambivalent about Don Eppes' current storyline on Numb3rs. On the one hand, yay for immaculate continuity with their return to a S2 episode, and I'm thrilled that the writers are examining the characters beyond their rigidly demarcated roles as heroic Feds and mathematicians. I'm even more ecstatic that this examination isn't exclusively predicated on or concerned with whose field Don is currently plowing. On the other, I'm displeased and made uneasy by the extent to which Don's religious exploration has begun to affect his relationship with others, especially since those relationships require a great deal of trust and often involve life-and-death crises.
I'm not surprised that Don decided to give Judaism a whirl; the institution in which he'd previously invested his trust--the FBI and his team--has proven to be vastly unreliable. Yes, it turned out that Colby wasn't a lowdown, dirty traitor to his country, but he did betray his team, and that carries inescapable consequences no matter how noble his reasons. As a leader who vouched for his team, and who prides himself on being able to read people, Don was bound to be unbalanced by a treachery he never saw coming. If that weren't bad enough, Meagan, his trusted counselor in all matters psychological, hitched up her wagon and headed east...after disappearing for a month on a shady DOJ assignment she later refused to discuss. Small, wonder, then, that he threw up his hands and turned to Judaism. Judaism has been around for thousands of years, and while its leaders and scholars have struggled to redefine it in light of the current era, its core tenets and practices remain unchanged from the time of the Abrahamic covenant.
Don's life has been nothing but chaos and upheaval; it's the nature of law enforcement. And his personal life has been just as tumultuous. He's an admitted manslut, and we've seen him change squish mittens as though they were cheap underwear. We've seen three love interests in five seasons, and the show has made oblique references to at least three others, two of whom have ended up dead. So, Don clearly needs the stability that Judaism offers.
But when new-found religious convictions trump his regard for the team under his command, the solace offered by that religion stops being a benefit and becomes a dangerous crutch akin to the reprehensible moral conscience laws currently poisoning the country's medical field. Calling Buck to warn him that his team was on the way endangered each of them, and I don't give a shit about Don's bizarre, Zen conviction that the chips were going to fall where they would regardless of what he did because they were beyond his control. Newsflash Eppes, you tool: The ultimate outcome might have been beyond your control, fuckwit, but that doesn't mean that you should blithely ignore the protocols designed to give you optimum advantage, the ones that have kept your team safe and made you a successful agent. Doing so endangers everyone, and while you might be besotted with the idea that bad outcomes are no longer your responsibility, the rest of your team didn't sign up to take the Magical Mystery Tour with you.
It was also incredibly stupid of him not to wear a vest during his final confrontation with Buck. What if he'd been wrong and Buck had blasted him to Kingdom Come? At least the rabbi wouldn't have had to go very far to administer the Kaddish. Dumbass. God admires courage, but he hates stupidity, and there is a difference between the two. Good God.
If Eppes is no longer comfortable with his job requirements, i.e, that he might have to kill a dangerous fugitive, then he needs a new job before he becomes a dangerous, boring zealot. But hey, at least they're laying the groundwork for the inevitable "Are you a Jew or an FBI agent?" episode. Boy, I'm sure looking forward to that.
I'm not surprised that Don decided to give Judaism a whirl; the institution in which he'd previously invested his trust--the FBI and his team--has proven to be vastly unreliable. Yes, it turned out that Colby wasn't a lowdown, dirty traitor to his country, but he did betray his team, and that carries inescapable consequences no matter how noble his reasons. As a leader who vouched for his team, and who prides himself on being able to read people, Don was bound to be unbalanced by a treachery he never saw coming. If that weren't bad enough, Meagan, his trusted counselor in all matters psychological, hitched up her wagon and headed east...after disappearing for a month on a shady DOJ assignment she later refused to discuss. Small, wonder, then, that he threw up his hands and turned to Judaism. Judaism has been around for thousands of years, and while its leaders and scholars have struggled to redefine it in light of the current era, its core tenets and practices remain unchanged from the time of the Abrahamic covenant.
Don's life has been nothing but chaos and upheaval; it's the nature of law enforcement. And his personal life has been just as tumultuous. He's an admitted manslut, and we've seen him change squish mittens as though they were cheap underwear. We've seen three love interests in five seasons, and the show has made oblique references to at least three others, two of whom have ended up dead. So, Don clearly needs the stability that Judaism offers.
But when new-found religious convictions trump his regard for the team under his command, the solace offered by that religion stops being a benefit and becomes a dangerous crutch akin to the reprehensible moral conscience laws currently poisoning the country's medical field. Calling Buck to warn him that his team was on the way endangered each of them, and I don't give a shit about Don's bizarre, Zen conviction that the chips were going to fall where they would regardless of what he did because they were beyond his control. Newsflash Eppes, you tool: The ultimate outcome might have been beyond your control, fuckwit, but that doesn't mean that you should blithely ignore the protocols designed to give you optimum advantage, the ones that have kept your team safe and made you a successful agent. Doing so endangers everyone, and while you might be besotted with the idea that bad outcomes are no longer your responsibility, the rest of your team didn't sign up to take the Magical Mystery Tour with you.
It was also incredibly stupid of him not to wear a vest during his final confrontation with Buck. What if he'd been wrong and Buck had blasted him to Kingdom Come? At least the rabbi wouldn't have had to go very far to administer the Kaddish. Dumbass. God admires courage, but he hates stupidity, and there is a difference between the two. Good God.
If Eppes is no longer comfortable with his job requirements, i.e, that he might have to kill a dangerous fugitive, then he needs a new job before he becomes a dangerous, boring zealot. But hey, at least they're laying the groundwork for the inevitable "Are you a Jew or an FBI agent?" episode. Boy, I'm sure looking forward to that.