User reviews

You know how scientists and nerds get mad at "The Big Bang Theory" for getting their culture and jobs wrong? I have no sympathy. As a former Army sniper I cringe at the mere mention of a show having a sniper- centered episode. It is extremely rare for shows to even come close to not screwing up royally.

Then comes NUMB3RS. A show I only watched on Netflix out of boredom. And lo and behold, they have a sniper episode that gets nearly everything right. 300 meter center-mass shot? Yup, not impressive says the FBI sniper guy. He explains it's amateur hour. He even deconstructs the crappy hide-site the would-be sniper selected. Bad mouths the cheap yet somehow often-championed on TV Blazer rifle, and explains mechanics of long-range shooting like hear rate and breathing patterns.

I was dumbfounded. A relatively dumb show about solving crime with math and yet it came the absolute closest I've seen in depicting snipers by deconstructing all the crap other shows spout about us. The sniper in question turns out to be a simply a wannabe, which isn't a spoiler considering FBI sniper-guy says it flat out within the first three or four minutes, which explains why he uses the crappy techniques one would think a sniper uses from a lifetime of video games and bad TV.

All in all, it's still NUMB3RS, so either you like the show's premise or you don't. But as far as an episode goes, this one was a winner. A nice critique of crappy sniper tropes from other shows and movies. Hopefully the show does the same with all it's subject matter in other episodes.

This episode involves the predictability of serial sniper. Charlie gets in there because of the word "predictable." He pontificates, using statistics to explain human behavior and randomness. While I thought the episode was quite good, Charlie is so clueless at times. I enjoyed the input of the Lou Diamond Phillips character, a man of practicality.