Don Eppes

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Don Eppes is one of the two main fictional characters in the television show NUMB3RS. He is played by Rob Morrow.

Don is an FBI Special Agent who recruits his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes, who is five years his junior, to help him and the Bureau solve some of their most difficult cases. Don makes great sacrifices in his personal life in order to devote himself to his career, which to him is more of a way of life than a mere job. More important to him than his work is his family, especially Charlie, even though he doesn't understand his brother's way of looking at the world.

Although Don's devotion to his job means he does not have much of a personal life, he does enjoy the occasional game of baseball and is also often seen watching hockey. He played Single-A with the Stockton Rangers as a utility player between college and joining the FBI. After making a mistake in a game, he signed up for the FBI test the next day. He is quite amazed at how Charlie used to predict the number of walks he would get just from his stance at the plate. Don thought baseball was his first love, though his father Alan Eppes reminded him that a toy gun and playing a cop as a child was actually his first love, and comforted him in noticing that the FBI needs utility players. Charlie said that he was a "born cop." His giving up on the game is an emotional subject for him.

Don gave up his position as Special Agent in Charge of the Albuquerque FBI office to move back to L.A. when his mother became ill with cancer. He doesn't understand how his brother could lock himself up in the garage with a possibly unsolvable math problem, P versus NP, for the three months before their mother died, never going to see her. It's a point of contention between them (1st season - "Uncertainty Principle" and a brief mention in "Vector"). After Charlie found a classical music composition for the piano (an Etude in G minor) that their mother wrote under her maiden name and his father admits that music was one of Margaret's first loves, Don and his brother remember the piano lessons that she made them take. While Don jokes about the dreadful teacher they had, he and Charlie realize why it was so important to their mother. At the end of "Running Man" (2nd season), Don comes home and finds the sheet music his mother wrote on the table. He sits down and starts playing, hesitantly at first, as Charlie and Alan listen from the garage.

In "Provenance," Don began to wonder why their family was not more religious and wanted to get in touch with his relatives, especially his grandmother's cousin who escaped World War II. A victim of the Holocaust found solace when Don had given a stolen painting which held much sentimentality back to her. Prior to this she had said that he knew pain in losing his mother. All of this had surfaced deep emotions in Don. Also in this episode, Don has jokingly stated he was a "lost cause," when his father expressed a failure in parenting him. On the other hand, in the previous season's "Calculated Risk," Don showed a connection to a boy who had lost his mother, giving hope to Alan that he had done something right.

When Megan Reeves was kidnapped, Don pushed his ethics to the limit to get her back. While he did not beat a suspect, he had another torture the man. Don showed concern to his father. After this discussion, he convinced his father that it is good to have someone to come home to, and that is why he comes around the Craftsman house so often rather than staying at his apartment. He is a harsh taskmaster and is not very forgiving. One of his former tactical trainees from Quantico, Liz Warner (Aya Sumika [1]), has proclaimed to this and, after Colby confided in her that he made a mistake, she told him that the very fact that he still remains on Don's team means something. She also said that Don never spoke of his personal life while at the FBI Academy and was at the time fresh from the field in hunting fugitives (with friend Agent Cooper). Liz knows he has mellowed with age and he can hold a commitment with a woman for longer periods of time.

Don dated Terry Lake while at the FBI Academy approximately 10 years ago (his favorite date was when he had pizza in a laundromat with her) and, unbeknownst to Charlie for a time, nearly married another agent named Kim Hall (Sarah Wayne Callies) who is now with the Secret Service in L.A. The latter love interest observed that the brothers had "one part exuberance, two parts obsession." He had once dated an ATF agent, and was pained to find out that she called him before she was killed. The prosecutor Nadine Hodges (Sarah Carter [2]) seems to be smitten with him and vice versa. In the episode "Guns and Roses", he decides to investigate his flirtation with AUSA Robin Brooks (Michelle Nolden [3]). In "Blackout," after Robin broke up with him, Don became involved in a brief romance with Special Agent Liz Warner, whom he remembers for having an issue with adrenaline and being wild. He often makes reference to the difficulties in maintaining a relationship, given his career, as do his family.

[edit] Notes

• According to a prop used at one point on the show, Don Eppes was born on July 15, 1967, his address is 8111 Aguacate, Los Angeles, CA 91021. However, Nicolas Falacci confirmed this date of birth was incorrect as it didn't take into consideration that Don is only five years older than Charlie, who was born in 1975.
• After some initial reluctance, Don and his FBI team welcomed Charlie's innovative methods to crime-solving as they have provided unexpected revelations and answers to the most perplexing criminal questions. In "Uncertainty Principle," he indicates that he now has to rely on Charlie to accomplish his job.
• His knowledge of Occam's razor impresses his father in "Structural Corruption." Charlie elucidates the concept, much to their annoyance.
• His call number is 3695 from "Hot Shots."
• Don, along with his team, is unique in the fact that while he is focused mainly on criminal investigations, he will don SWAT gear for tactical situations as well.
• Don speaks French as "there was a girl once upon a time."

[edit] See also

• NUMB3RS