Charlie Eppes
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| Charles "Charlie" Edward Eppes | |
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| First appearance | Pilot Episode |
| Portrayed by | David Krumholtz |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 32 |
| Occupation | Applied Mathematician FBI Mathematical Consultant |
| Family | Alan Eppes (father) Don Eppes (brother) Margaret Mann-Eppes (mother, deceased) |
Dr. Charles "Charlie" Edward Eppes (played by David Krumholtz) is a fictional character and protagonist in the CBS crime drama Numb3rs.
He is portrayed as a young mathematical genius and professor of applied mathematics at the fictional California Institute of Science, CalSci (primarily based on Caltech, where some filming and mathematics consulting is done). As a world-class mathematician, Charlie helps his brother Don Eppes solve many of his perplexing FBI cases, sometimes with the help of his best friend and colleague Larry Fleinhardt and his on-again off-again girlfriend and former student Amita Ramanujan, who further refines Charlie's approach and helps him stay focused. Charlie has consulted for the NSA National Security Agency, in part as a cryptanalyst, for nearly five years, having attained a (now inactive) TS/SCI security clearance.
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[edit] Backstory
According to Charlie's father, he could multiply 4-digit numbers mentally at age 3 and at the age of 4 required special teachers. In the second grade, he attempted to find a 70-digit narcissistic number in base 12 — Charlie has described himself as "quixotic" in elementary school. A prodigy, he attended Princeton University at the age of 13 after graduating from high school at the same time as his older brother and took Professor Lawrence Fleinhardt's quantum physics course in his first year. They became fast friends, with Larry establishing his academic connections. Charlie published his first mathematical treatise at the age of 14 (in the American Journal of Mathematics) and graduated at the age of 16. In fact, he was the youngest person to ever write a paper of importance.
It was his paper on the Eppes convergence, which concerned asymptotics of Hermitian random matrices, that made him a star in his field. Following a seminar that heavily criticized this seminal piece many years after its initial publication, Charlie realized that his work with the FBI has prevented him from doing research significant to other mathematicians and now hopes to spend decades on cognitive emergence theory ("the mathematics of the brain") to rectify this certain inequity, which has delighted Larry. Although he was a child prodigy, Charlie now moreover fears the fact that his best years in his research will never come ahead of schedule again.
Following his five-year studies on random matrices, Charlie worked on sequences with orthogonal symmetry. He has also provided insights for possibly solving the P=NP problem and published works on H-infinity Control of Non-Linear Systems and computational fluid dynamics, while his current research is in cognitive emergence theory. Charlie is a recipient of the Milton Prize. He has presented seminars on harmonic analysis and the zeros of random orthogonal polynomials and given lectures on group theory and Kac–Moody algebras. Charlie has taught courses on calculus, chaos theory, fluid dynamics, game theory and probability at CalSci in addition to giving guest lectures on applied probability. The lecture in which he converted the classroom into a miniature casino for analyzing probabilities is considered an "Eppes Classic". Also, Charlie has taken over Larry's computational physics class when he was asked to do so, and has given a joint lecture on circular motion and the Coriolis effect with Larry.
[edit] Characterization
Charlie has wild curled hair, is wary of people and frequently enthralled with objects and patterns. His father has said Charlie is easily fascinated, possesses a big heart and is thorough, but he misses certain things completely. Meanwhile, Larry observed that he is "a talented theoretician with an ego problem" and a student once described him as fast-talking and disorganized, to the agreement of Larry. Fleinhardt also accurately noticed that his colleague has a high standard of guilt and is a pragmatist. Charlie is rather fond of providing excessive explanations (e.g., his discussion of Occam's razor) and reducing complex phenomena to intuitively obvious situations through practical analogies that are quite unlike Larry's metaphysical musings and cosmic metaphors. These analogies are known as "CharlieVisions" or, as friend Megan Reaves calls them, "those cute little analogies" While contemplating, his antics and mannerisms may even disconcert more conventional thinkers. Wearing his headset, Dr. Eppes has an intense focusing ability as he voraciously writes equations, often covering several chalkboards with a staccato clacking and the aid of a red chalk holder. Nevertheless, if his line of thought is interrupted during a tense moment, as one of restricted foresight, he can become very disgruntled. Further, when deeply concentrating on a particular problem, it seems Charlie is unable to provide insights to other topics for the sake that they are simply needed or wanted — he has to write what is in his head. Like his brother Don, he is characteristically stubborn and obsessive ("one part exuberance, two parts obsession"), especially when it comes to work, but he's rather naïve when it comes to human behavior. The latter often interferes with his FBI work and, thus, is the cause of much distress for him at times.
He is extremely talented in chess, as it requires both his father and brother to play against him and a distraction to defeat him. Charlie also has vast understanding of theoretical physics, often assisting Larry with his multi-dimensional supergravity theory and papers on gravity waves, and biology, extending to knowledge of ciliate protozoa and the spread of infectious diseases. While brilliant in some areas, he is lacking in others. He is apparently a bad speller (e.g., he misspells "anomaly" and "conceited") and does not know the meaning of "defenestration" (for which Larry chastises him stating that the idealization is to be a Renaissance man and that even math and physics majors had to have a course on English). Thus, his father likes playing Scrabble with him.
[edit] Evolution over the series
The episode "Uncertainty Principle" is significant for the backstory it gives on the familial relationships, particularly Charlie's difficulty in dealing with his mother's death from cancer. While it's unclear how Don reacted, Charlie spent the last three months of his mother's life isolated in the garage, incessantly working on one of the Millennium Prize Problems, specifically P vs NP; it's a point of contention between the brothers. Also, Charlie doesn't think Don understood what he went through during their school years, especially how he was treated as "Don's brainiac little brother" by his peers in high school, and how he often left him to his own resources as a child, though he was not as inept as Don had reasoned. However, Charlie's relationship with Don remains strong, as he has begun to increasingly fear for his brother's safety on the job and still looks to his older brother for acceptance. Charlie and his father worry about Don committing to relationships, and feared that he had been cheating on Robin Brooks. Ironically, Charlie has similar problems with women himself. After a couple dozen murder cases, Charlie is somewhat jaded and world-weary like his brother. FBI agent David Sinclair of Don's team has even commented that he has never seen two brothers so similar and yet so different. In "The Janus List", the brothers seem to take on each other's tendencies a bit.
In "Prime Suspect," Charlie purchases the beautiful Craftsman family home from his father, who continues to live with him. Now 30 years old, Charlie wants to be responsible and take care of his father but still believes that much of the pressures involving their dad has been put on his shoulders as Don doesn't seem to have enough time. Realizing this, Alan had set his sights on moving out to accomplish things on his own, with Charlie seemingly supporting the idea, but has since chosen to stay as he favors his son's company. Recently, Charlie was bothered by his father trying to impose his will on him with maintaining the house, as he is a full tenured professor at one of the most prestigious institutions in the country working on "life-altering" mathematics, i.e., in solving crimes. Alan just wanted him to be responsible and not end up like Larry, though Mr. Eppes respects Fleinhardt. Even he has thought of this possibility and decided to do more around the home. After Charlie compared his own situation to that of Einstein his father looked into information on the physicist and understood his son's predicament. Charlie also feels guilty about the amount of time his parents, particularly his mother, who always was attuned to his way of thinking, spent with him as a child; he even asks his mother (JoBeth Williams) in a dream if she regrets the time away from Don and Alan because of the special attention he needed growing up.
Charlie's research often interferes with his relationships: as with Amita on their first date, for all they could talk about is mathematics; Fleinhardt said that it was a common interest and they should not struggle to avoid the subject. Charlie and Amita had several false starts. Charlie has also spent some time with his ex-girlfriend, Susan Berry (Sonya Walger), an attractive neuroscientist from London. He had lived with Susan for two years, and Larry described this as his very own Berry's phase. However, she later revealed that she is currently involved with someone else and had to return to England. Charlie attempted to start a relationship with Amita once more, though her job offer at Harvard University had strained this possibility and made him distraught for some time. Eventually, she decided to take the alternative offer at CalSci with the hope to begin a romantic relationship with him, though his fear of possible failure caused him to question whether he wanted this second chance; Don cautioned him about such an attitude. Amita noticed his ambivalence and wasn't certain if she wanted to back out of the relationship, but he then pushed it forward. Pressures from their colleagues over the inappropriateness of the relationship nearly cost them, but by the end of the third season their romantic involvement stabilized and they have grown considerably closer. He felt rejected when Amita did not want him to meet her father, due to his expectations about the men she dates. Initially, he wondered if it was based on him being Jewish, but the problem is that he is not Indian-born. Alan explained that Mr. Ramanujan would like him after meeting him. Charlie and Amita stated that they love each other, and have even decided to move in together, though, the actual living arrangement has not been determined.
Unforeseen complications with his work emerged as the new Chair of the CalSci Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy Division, Dr. Mildred Finch, in the episode "Waste Not", made Charlie head of the Ph.D. admissions committee against his wishes, bogging him down with more work, and gave him pressures about using the school's supercomputer for FBI work or missing classes for such. This led to Charlie being confrontational, but she calmed him when she said she just wanted him to be "the Sean Connery of the mathematics department." In the episode "Take Out", Charlie and Millie attended a black tie reception for CalSci fundraising and bonded. Soon after, Charlie was asked by Millie to meet with Macmillan Pharmaceuticals, which according to Amita has a reputation for exploiting third-world countries. Amita served as his conscience in this matter, and he went to see Dr. Finch about it. With "Pythagorean wit ," he dazzled Macmillan and is to serve as a mathematical consultant for the pharmaco-kinetic modelling project, only under the proviso that CalSci will administer the trials and monitor the drug at every step, all computational analyses are conducted by Charlie and his team, and 5% of the gross will go to third-world AIDS organizations chosen by Professors Eppes and Ramanujan . In "Democracy", as part of his duties, he recruits the young fantasy baseball and sabermetrics fanatic Oswald Kittner (Jay Baruchel), who shows great promise, to attend CalSci.
When Larry announced his leave of absence to board the International Space Station (in the episode "Brutus"), Charlie was shocked and upset. He was in denial about Larry's ambitions and he thought reason of the risks involved would assert itself firmly in Larry's mind. He reasoned that apparently Larry wouldn't do such a thing. Larry remanded his few prized possessions to him, and he was grateful for the gesture. When he told him his concerns, Larry was angered. Amita said to Larry, "[Charlie] has never dreamt of something he couldn't reach, so he has no idea what it is like to want something he is not able to get. So how could he understand how much [Larry] you would give up when this chance comes along?" Larry understood and decided to ignore Charlie's protestations. Though neither apologized, they were on good terms. Charlie said to Amita that he does not know what he would do without him, as he perused through Larry's precious items that were bestowed upon him. In "Killer Chat", he said that he was glad that Larry's dream could come true, but felt conflicted about being relieved when he discovered that Larry might have been scrapped from the mission when NASA learned of his eccentric indulgences such as sleeping in the campus steam tunnels. However, Charlie agreed with Megan in wanting to help Larry and personally vouched for him. Eppes' words and affiliation with the NSA got him back on the mission, thus, repaying a debt as Larry helped launch him into the academic firmament. Earlier, he had given him back his lucky t-shirt.
In "The Art of Reckoning", Charlie was initially overjoyed to see his friend Larry return, but Charlie was dismayed with Larry's lack of enthusiasm in life, so Charlie didn't object to him readjusting at a monastery. His concern was apparent, and he said he just wanted his friend back.
Since then, in "Trust Metric", Charlie is pleased to see his friend doing well, feeling that he needed a friend, and is glad to have focused on teaching while Don did not include him with FBI work; though, on previous occasions, he expressed the desire to be involved. Granger's escape from the prison bus caused him to become active in helping his brother once more, allowing him a chance to use set covering deployment.
Dr. Finch told him to publish, and so he has renewed interest in old research, having decided to publish one of his eleventh-grade papers he started at nine years old, "The Mathematics of Friendship," with an addendum. A publishing company has turned his work into a classic book for those not mathematically inclined, while opting for a title with more pizazz, "Friendship, As Easy as Pi." Charlie takes joy in the belief that this book will allow his thoughts to reach a much wider audience than before. By the episode "In Security," the published book appears with the title "The Attraction Equation" and a dapper photo on the back cover of him holding a sculpture of a stellated icosidodecahedron with bevelled edges. A decision theoretic approach to relationships is covered in the book. His proud father hands copies to friends and Larry sells signed copies on eBay. He apparently has some fans and gave into a televised interview.
In one episode Charlie was training in weapons and tactics in LA's FBI school, where he showed to have a high skill in marksmanship at the range, impressing many of his FBI training peers as well as his instructor. He was given a certificate of marksmanship by the FBI. It is unclear whether Charlie's certification will allow him to take part in dangerous situations with the rest of the team, or that he will now be allowed to carry a service pistol. In the episode "Pay to Play", Charlie convinces Don to let him join the team when they go to arrest a suspect, mentioning that he passed the FBI course.
In the season four finale "When Worlds Collide", Charlie helps a collegue by sending genetic research to scientists at Pakastani universities which is prohibited. As a result, Charlie is arrested, loses his security clearance and ultimately loses his ability to help Don on FBI cases.
[edit] CharlieVision
CharlieVision (as labeled by the show's creators) is the mode in which Charlie's insights are displayed on-screen. It consists of fast-paced visions or cutscenes often characterized by false-color images that integrate his analogies and mathematical models. 'CharlieVision' is not to be confused with "audience visions," in which Charlie's voice uses an analogy to simplify a mathematical concept while corresponding images are flashed on screen.
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