History Fridge / Numb3rs

** Also, if Josephine's father ''did'' intend to marry her, that raises the question of what he might have done to her before his death. Given the value the cult places on girls being virgins when they marry, he probably didn't outright rape her, but he may well have been grooming her at the very least.

* In "Soft Target", the director's assistant makes a comment about how stopping the drills would be akin to "turning the ''Titanic''". It initially appears to be an AnalogyBackfire -- except that the assistant turns out to be behind the sabotage. Maybe the actual reason he made that analogy was that he ''did'' think the drills were a disaster waiting to happen.

* In "Soft Target", the director's assistant makes a comment about how stopping the drills would be akin to "turning the ''Titanic''". It initially appears to be an AnalogyBackfire -- except that the assistant turns out to be behind the sabotage. Maybe he ''was'' saying exactly what he meant: he didn't want to "turn the ''Titanic''" because crashing into the "iceberg" was exactly what he was hoping for.

* In "Soft Target", the director's assistant makes a comment about how stopping the drills would be akin to "turning the ''Titanic''". It initially appears to be an AnalogyBackfire -- except that the assistant turns out to be behind the sabotage. Maybe he ''was'' saying exactly what he meant -- he didn't want to "turn the ''Titanic''" because crashing into the "iceberg" was exactly what he was hoping for.

* In "Soft Target", the director's assistant makes a comment about how stopping the drills would be akin to "turning the ''Titanic''". It initially appears to be an AnalogyBackfire -- except that the assistant turns out to be behind the sabotage. Maybe he ''was'' saying exactly what he meant.

** Also, if Josephine's father ''did'' intend to marry her, that raises the question of what he might have done to her before his death. Given the value the cult places on virginity at the time of marriage, he probably didn't outright rape her, but he may well have been grooming her at the very least.

** Also, if Josephine's father ''did'' intend to marry her, that raises the question of what he might have done to her before his death. Given the value the cult places on virginity, he probably didn't outright rape her, but he may well have been grooming her at the very least.

** Also, if Josephine's father ''did'' intend to marry her, that raises the question of what he might have done to her before his death. Given the value the religion places on virginity, he probably didn't outright rape her, but he may well have been grooming her at the very least.

** What makes it even worse is that it's only a matter of time before Josephine figures this out too. She'll have to go through the rest of her life knowing that there's a pretty significant possibility her father would have forced her to marry him if he'd had the chance. What's more, even if her father's motives ''were'' entirely innocent, she'll probably never know it; from her point of view, the more sinister explanation will always be a possibility.

* In "Nine Wives", Josephine Kirtland's father is stated to have been exiled (along with Josephine and her mother) because he didn't approve of the cult leader's sexual interest in Josephine. At first, it seems like a simple case of a father trying to protect his child, but then we learn that Josephine's mother is also her half-sister, meaning that Josephine is the product of father/daughter incest. Was Josephine's father trying to protect her, or did he just want to keep her away from the cult leader so he could have her for himself?
** What makes it even worse is that it's only a matter of time before Josephine figures this out too. She'll have to go through the rest of her life knowing that there's a pretty significant possibility her father would have forced her to marry him if he'd had the chance.
** It also raises the question of what Josephine's father might have done to her before his death.

** The first two are explained in-episode. The "Minesweeper" reference was an analogy for "they use what they find in one place to decide where to go next"; it's not making an exact mathematical parallel. As for the Tipping Point, Charlie explains that one pretty clearly. The fuel truck does cross into IdiotBall territory at the very least.

* The discussion of covering sets in "Hangman". Charlie remembers the case well enough to know exactly [[LaymansTerms what analogy]] he used, but he asks Don, David, ''and Colby'' if they "remember when we used covering sets". The problem? The original episode they used that in was "Trust Metric". Colby wasn't working with them for that one; he was the ''target''. That's a pretty big thing for Charlie to forget, especially on a case he remembers that clearly.

* The discussion of covering sets in "Hangman". Charlie remembers the case well enough to know exactly [[LaymansTerms what analogy]] he used, but he asks Don, David, ''and Colby'' if they "remember when we used covering sets". The problem? The original episode they used that in was "Trust Metric". Colby wasn't working with them for that one; he was the ''target''. That's a pretty big thing to forget, especially on a case he remembers that clearly.

* In "Nine Wives", Josephine Kirtland's father is stated to have been exiled (along with Josephine and her mother) because he didn't approve of the cult leader's sexual interest in Josephine. At first, it seems like a father trying to protect his child, but then we learn that Josephine's mother is also her half-sister, meaning that Josephine is the product of father/daughter incest. Was Josephine's father trying to protect her, or did he just want to save her for himself?
** What makes it even worse is that ''Josephine'' probably knows this too.

* In "Nine Wives", Josephine Kirtland's father is stated to have been exiled (along with Josephine and her mother) because he didn't approve of the cult leader's sexual interest Josephine. At first, it seems like a father trying to protect his child, but then we learn that Josephine's mother is also her half-sister, meaning that Josephine is the product of father/daughter incest. Was he trying to protect Josephine, or did he just want to save her for himself?
** What makes it even worse is that ''Josephine'' would almost certainly be able to make this deduction herself now that she knows about the incest. And as her father is already dead, she'll probably never know the answer.

* Why does Charlie have so many chalkboards just laying around the house? Enough to basically re-wall the garage with? Professors and teachers don't take their chalkboards home with them... but remember that Alan owns the house, and he's a retired City Planner/Architect. They frequently DO have chalkboards and drawing easels and such in their homes to go over projects on. Combine that with Alan having to raise Charlie-the-prodigy from a young age, and it's no wonder the house is filled with things to write on and erase over and over... otherwise, little Charlie would have gotten into the drafting paper and written all over the walls!

** Early on they make some effort to justify the cases. The murders take place on land that "happens to be owned by the federal government" or the victim is an undercover FBI agent.
* Issues regarding the plots of the criminals are often filled with this as well. How is it even remotely possible for bank robbers to play minesweeper with banks? How is it possible that TheTippingPoint can be applied to a sniper spree in LA? Wouldn't a prison check a fuel truck to see if it is full before allowing it inside the prison?
* Charlie's calculations occasionally hinge on the people he's after being as smart as he is. Apparently random criminals can intuitively make the mathematically ideal move when planning a crime. In the bomb plot in Season 1, for example, Charlie needs detailed maps of the city and help from both a physicist and a city planner to have all the information needed to find the ideal location for a dirty bomb. The bombers put it in that exact position.
** Well, he was specifically looking at variables people intending to use a dirty bomb would be looking at, things like wind speed and population density and even then, he could only narrow it down to two likely place. The city planner contributed by providing the final location because he's familiar with what the places are actually like.
** What was made worse was that in that episode it was the same plot as Die Hard 3 in which it was a robbery that used a terror threat in order to serve as a distraction. The problem was that it required the FBI to figure out where the bomb was planted without a threat ever being given. While Charlie was obviously able to figure it out, there was no way for the thieves to know this ahead of time.
* How does Charlie input the sometimes hundreds of thousands of data points he need for his equations in a single night?

* Why does Charlie have so many chalkboards just laying around the house? Enough to basically re-wall the garage with? Professors and teachers don't take their chalkboards home with them... but remember that Alan owns the house, and he's a retired City Planner/Architect. They frequently DO have chalkboards and drawing easels and such in their homes to go over projects on. Combine that with Alan having to raise Charlie-the-prodigy from a young age, and it's no wonder the house is filled with things to write on and erase over and over... otherwise little Charlie would have gotten into the drafting paper and written all over the walls!

** With a hell of a lot of coffee?

* How does Charlie input the sometimes hundreds of thousands of data points he need for his equations in a single night?

* FridgeLogic: Why the heck is the FBI investigating car crashes in LA? Or even murders (that are not even serial killer-related)
** Issues regarding the plots of the criminals are often filled with this as well. How is it even remotely possible for bank robbers to play minesweeper with banks? How is it possible that TheTippingPoint can be applied to a sniper spree in LA? Wouldn't a prison check a fuel truck to see if it is full before allowing it inside the prison?