Numb3rs: Frenemies (Episode 510)

An eppesode like this makes me all nostalgic.  Colin Hanks causes me to reflect on a time when I was a newbie recapper, given the opportunity to jump into the world of snark, Fedcakes, the first ever NPAL™ and the official titling of the David and Colby partnership as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.  Why does Colin Hanks make me feel all nostalgic?  The first time he appeared as Darth Vader to Charlie’s Obi-Wan, was the first ever eppesode I recapped.  Sure, I later recapped eppesodes that had aired before “Convergence,” but it all started with Marshall Penfield, Charlie Eppes, and a “Math Fight.”  At that time, I only wanted to do two things: 1) not suck and 2) one day be as funny as Annie, whose recap for “Uncertainty Principle” is still the funniest thing I’ve read, ever.  Ah, the memories.

We begin at Southwestern Charter High School where there’s a robbery in progress. I’m thinking I’m going to get to be even more nostalgic because all the computers have been left on overnight; therefore, the robbers must be the ELM since this school has such a terrible time being eco-friendly.

Halfway through the robbery, a bunch of lights turn on and a voice orders the robbers to stop.  They try running, only to be scared by some flash bangs and rounded up in the gym.  Some vigilantes tie them up and tell the robbers they’re, “protecting the innocent, punishing the guilty.”  

Later, the Fedcakes are surprised to be called in by the LAPD on a simple B&E.  Nikki explains this isn’t the first time this group of vigilantes has taken down people and it’s confusing the hell out of everyone.  Hold on, is it really because the LAPD feel they need help with Vanguard or because they think they’ve got an in with Nikki on the team?  I’m not entirely sure about the motives of either Vanguard vigilantes or the LAPD.

I’m not the only one confused because the robbers don’t have any gang affiliations, yet there’ve been several robberies of this type.

The LAPD have nothing.  They know nothing about the Vanguard group, and the only clue they have is a cell phone.  Anyone who knows anything about high schools knows a cell phone lying around is so common, that I’d like Charlie to do the math telling me the likelihood that cell has anything to do with the case and isn’t just another example of how high school students treat cell phones like Kleenex.

IHOF:  With the lighting budget used up for the week, we’re back in the dark tech room, which can’t be easy on our poor beloved techie, Matt Li.  We’ve not seen him since “Velocity,” but I have a theory about that.

Someone’s taken out the MIN and ESN.  Apparently, removing the first set of letters is easy but removing the second set of letters should be impossible – as it makes the cell phone practically untraceable.  Do you care what those letters do?  No?  Good as I really don’t want to spend several hours researching how my cell phone works when I have enough difficulty getting it to let me type in my text messages manually and not by using the T9 function.

In interrogation, Nikki and Colby watch as David tries to scare the pants off the teenaged robbers. He fails because somebody already scared them out of their pants.  Umm, yeah, that sentence looks a lot worse than I meant it to be.  

IHOF:  I would like to say I have a reaction here.  I could fake something by going OMGWFTBBQ11!! But, as implied at the end of the last recap, I already knew what was coming.   I’ve had several weeks to adjust.  I’m planning on remaining calm.  

Oh fuck.

Okay, I’m still attempting to remain calm.  It’s not like a haircut has ever drastically affected someone’s life in a bad way.  

Oh fuckity fuck.

Positive things to focus on: Charlie is still adorkable, even with the quasi-Julius Caesar hair.  He still has beautiful eyes.  At least no one’s attacked him with a hot poker because of the haircut.   There’s a rumour going around the fandom (I say rumour because I haven’t been told anything, personally) that it was an accidental haircut.  It was never intended to be cut so short, clearly breaking the rules I set long ago about the appropriate length of Charlie’s hair.

While the circumstances surrounding this haircut are both strange and unexplained to my satisfaction (thus, for future reference, this haircut will be called the “WIT TIP” cut – What’s In The Trunk In Pulp Fiction , as it’s both unexplained and strange) it has proven that there is a time when I would not want a shout out.  Please see the following plea below.

Dear TPTB,
I promise, for the rest of this recap, not to plead for a shout out, world peace or a pony if you promise never to give me a shout out that names me as Charlie’s hairdresser.
Love,
Spy
PS:  WTF IS AN ACCIDENTAL HAIRCUT?
PPS:  Sorry.  I was doing so well at remaining calm too.

Back to the case, Amita uses a “Cold Boot Attack” or a “Cold Ghosting Attack” or an “Ice Man Attack” to get the data off the phone.  Apparently, that means freezing the memory chip to make it readable.  I’m glad they explained it because those were sounding like an action that might be performed in an RPG, as opposed to a genuine investigative tool to find out whose phone it is.

Drycleaners:  Well, the phone is definitely not some little old lady whose grandson runs a drycleaners.  How do we know this?  The woman not only is clutching the phone like it’s the good crack, but also her grandson is upset about the texting charges.  Thus, it’s a bit of overkill for both David and Nikki to come in guns raised, when the phone being cloned is a very real possibility – which is what happened here.

On the other hand, the little old lady + the irritated grandson + the Fedcakes leaving behind a card in case the drycleaners want to file a complaint + the Fedcakes hauling ass out of the place = the funny that’s been missing for a good portion of the season.

Second Crime Scene:  During the commission of a robbery, one of the Vanguard vigilantes is shot and killed.  The robbers leave a message challenging Vanguard to go after them in the future.

IHOF:  The Fedcakes aren’t taking into account the success rate of Vanguard either, as they’re all afraid all the other vigilantes will become like the dead grad student.  

Nikki’s made some discoveries of her own.  All the robbers are from Toonerville.  I had to Google what she’d really said because I was certain she’d said “Tunaville” thus making me think Captain Highliner had taken to a life of crime.  The baddie is actually Vic Tooner – one of those prime time staples of the guy who not only terrifies a neighbourhood, but also can’t seem to provide enough evidence to permit an arrest.  He does all the untouchable baddie things such as killing witnesses, being insanely organized and just generally insane.  This includes killing one of his own people for driving the same type of car.  Okay, that is nuts.  I love my Matrix and would be happy if everyone drove one.  I don’t understand the reasoning here other than crazy, so I’ll have to go with it.

As for Tooner’s master plan, he uses kids, who will be less likely to serve long sentences, to commit the robberies, giving Don a chance to use the classic Dickensian allusion of Fagin.   Now, if the allusion is upheld, Tooner is so dead by the end of this eppesode.

Cal Sci:  Cell phones are easy to copy and the people stealing the info are hard to trace.  A lot of them steal the info while sitting near busy roads.  Well, there are a lot of old people in my area that sit by roads supposedly “volunteering” for the county to do traffic studies.  Considering the little old lady in this eppesode, I’m now highly suspicious that they’re trying to steal my cell phone info.  Oh, and in case you’re Larry and don’t know this – they can steal your info even if you’re just playing Tetris.

In order to move forward in the investigation, the Fedcakes and Team Math have to find out how Vanguard is getting a hold of the robbers’ communication.  To do that, they need to make use of deep current sets.  Who is the expert on that?  None other then the frenemy Colin Hanks Marshall Penfield.

I know everybody loves Charlie.  I love Charlie.  Amita Loves Charlie.  Colby and Larry love Charlie (not like that!).  The problem is that it’s so damned amusing to watch Charlie squirm, that everyone, from his girlfriend, to Colby, to your intrepid recapper, enjoy as he’s teased about the excuse for the eppesode title.  Colby remembers the “ooo, math fight.”  Amita remembers how useful Marshall was on the case and Larry remembers the nickname, “Eppesy.”  I remember my amusement at Penfield’s constant one-upmanship of my adorkable professor.

Trying to get out of talking to his frenemy, Charlie first turns to Larry – who excuses himself by claiming CERN’s about to call him.  Hopefully, it’s because of the Higg-Boson and not because aliens are invading again.   As for Amita, she’s just amused by this awkward moment, which reminds me why I finally made my peace with this character.  Unlike in the last eppesode with the uncomfortable here-read-my-diary-and-know-about-my-13-year-old-crushes creepiness, Amita remembers that she is best when even though she loves the adorkable professor, she’s much more grounded than he is about the appropriateness of his reactions.

College that is not Cal Sci:  Nikki gets nothing out of the dead vigilante’s roommate, Robert Santos.  At least, she gets nothing about the dead vigilante.  As for Santos, he drops about his tutoring, which, even before I knew the end of this eppesode, stuck out like such a sore thumb that I knew it was important.  

Cal Sci:  Ah, the lecture hall, where Marshall is giving his lecture, is another place that makes me nostalgic.  I remember when we got our first glimpse of one of TPTB.   I’m even more nostalgic because I theorized what Nicolas Falacci’s inner thought would be and one of them applies greatly to this eppesode.

Marshall wraps up his class upon seeing Charlie promising that next week’s lecture will be on the spectral theory of non- hermitian random matrices.  Sounds like a snoozy doozy!  

Charlie starts the conversation with, “Where’s the glasses?”

“Where the hair?” Marshall quips back.  Point to Marshall.

When he goes on to act all surprised to hear Charmita is still going strong, he gets another point.  Okay, while I’m going to keep tabs on the points, we all know Marshall’s going to win.  He wouldn’t be an appropriate antagonist if he couldn’t out-quip Charlie.

Charlie takes away all chance of even competing when he practically gets down on his knees and begs Marshall to verbally slap him down by saying this week’s NPAL™.  “I’m going to ask you something… and if it’s at all possible you can manage not to launch into your smirky world of glee, it’d be much appreciated.”  Well, needless to say, Marshall jumps at the chance to help in the investigation, upstage Charlie and his new haircut as well as dwell in his smirky world of glee.  

La Maison d’Eppes:  Charlie’s up late reading Marshall Penfield’s paper on deep current sets, to make sure Marshall can’t completely show him up in front of Amita. 

To distract his father from asking any awkward questions about working with his frenemy, and fails at distracting me by mentioning Robin Charlie asks about having Don and Robin (SQUEE!) along with Amita over for brunch on Saturday.  Nothing distracts Alan more than mentioning the potential Eppes’ brides.  I’m still convinced that Alan wants nothing more than a house full of grandchildren to distract him.  

Charlie’s plan backfires on him, when Alan has plans (golf) and reveals that Don will be going to temple Saturday morning.  Charlie takes that news, as well as he did about Amita’s arrest; he scoffs, trying to hide his annoyance that he didn’t know something.  I hope this eppesode doesn’t end with Don turning over his diaries from when he was 13.  I can just imagine what that would be like.

IHOF:  Colby’s found another instance where robbers were caught by vigilantes and Nikki finds something else in the older crime scene photos – a symbol painted on the wall.

Cal Sci:  The symbols mean nothing to Charlie, and why should they, unless they were super-secret codes only math people could understand.  Umm, yeah, forget I just said that.  Charlie theorizes that there’s a subset within the superset and while we get an analogy of things visible in both day and at night in the sky, I’m still unclear as to what a symbol has to do with a subset.  I forgive the lack of clarity when Marshall snarks about Charlie getting his own PBS show.  Point to Marshall.

Charlie launches into a proper Charlie-vision, explaining how Marshall’s set theory will help them determine the whosits and the whatsits to the case.  I’d be more specific, but, like Marshall, I stopped paying attention to what Charlie was saying and just stared dreamily at him instead.  Now, Marshall doesn’t stare dreamily at Charlie; he is just bored and irritated at Charlie trying to explain what Marshall’s life’s work is.  Point – Marshall.
 
In what has to be the greatest Nikki moment to date, Marshall tries to change the subject to Nikki and handcuffs.  What she actually says is unimportant as her subtext is clear.

Like Charlie, Marshall avoids dwelling on the awkwardness by turning the attention back to the super secret computer symbols that were at the crime scene.  There’s a whole bunch of discussion about cipher codes that I just don’t get, but it leads them to the Vanguard website, which nicely lists all the times and dates of the robberies, as well as one just about to happen.  To make sure everyone is clear on what’s happening, the site also has a pop-up of Vic Tooner.  This site will later save a pair of mathematician’s lives.

Robbery:  The theory is that the robbery is taking place in broad daylight to save even more on the lighting budget to let Tooner flush out Vanguard.  All it does is bring a bunch of Fedcakes down on the teenaged bandits and us some great shots of Fedcakes in Kevlar.

Last season, we had That Guy on the show.  This year we have This Kid.  We all know This Kid as he’s been in everything.  All This Kid was supposed to do is film the robbery.

Oh yes, and somehow, our Fedcakes completely miss that Tooner and his armed crew are watching the whole thing.  Bad Fedcakes!  No cookie!

IHOF:  This Kid is totally acting as if he were on a mission for the CIA.  I’m surprised he doesn’t just sit there reciting his name and Social Security number.  All of the people, including the dead vigilante, Bars, go by codes names.  The dead guy got his name because he could “do things” with cell phones.  They’re called “freakers.”  I think the joke here is painfully obvious.

While Rosencrantz interviews This Kid, Guildenstern goes after the robbers.  The whole point of these scenes is to show how alike Vanguard and Tooner’s kid crew really is.  They both use websites to pass on the info.  They both work on a need to know basis to avoid destroying the operations.

Later, the Fedcakes discuss the similarities.  They’re like the gang version of the title of this eppesode.

Cal Sci:  Marshall and Charlie are bickering again; this time it’s over who makes the best burgers.  Charlie’s solo burger joint and Marshall supports the chain restaurants.  OMG, at the rate they’re going, they’ll never eat.  I don’t want to see what’ll happen if they start discussing milkshakes.  Chocolate versus Strawberry could get bloody awfully fast.

Larry reminisces about a time he forced Marshall and Charlie to work together as students and OMG, if ever there was a time for a flashback, this would be it!  I would pay to see a young Charlie and young Marshall working out that problem – and the whole beer keg story from the first time we met Marshall’s Tom to Charlie’s Jerry.  

Besides the funny – which I’m so glad has come back in spades in this eppesode, Larry comes up with an idea to track Vanguard, which involves tracking down grad students will all the technical skills necessary to use cell phones and computers.  Um, I may not be an expert, but wouldn’t that be almost any grad student?  

IHOF:  Charlie and Marshall, their algorithm to find grad students complete, explain to Nikki why such students would get involved with Vanguard.  They think they can outthink anyone because they’re so clever.  They see life like chess – the smartest player wins the game.

Toonerville:  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern take a walk down the streets to find “everybody knows our name and nobody’s glad we came.”

IHOF: Well, nobody except Vic Tooner, who is more than happy to come in for a voluntary interview.  He’s done this with the LAPD.  While he won’t admit to anything to do with the robberies, he will drop hints about his own time studying police sciences and how stressed out students wanting to play hero might have car accidents or kill themselves in libraries.  Okay, Vic, the point of being a mastermind is not to give away the plan and then walk out, pissing off the Fedcakes.

Cal Sci:  Now it’s war.  Marshall ruined Charlie’s favourite strawberry-scented marker.  Next, they bicker about the ideas and who is king of the mathverse (also about “Eppesy” and just about any subject upon which they dwell for naught point 0 seconds).  Oh, this eppesode is kind to fanfic writers.  All the little character details and bickering to build on: it’s like Christmas came early to the fandom.

“Boys, don’t make me pull the math car over,” Larry says, trying to quiet them down. The problem is that it’s Larry, and we all know from season one the level of authority he has over his students.  While it’s a great line and perfectly delivered, for once, this is where the quip should’ve gone to Amita.  Imagine how quickly those two men would shut up if the extremely sexy and intelligent woman told them to.  

Just to prove my point, Amita’s come up with a way of tracking the main Vanguard guy, through his computer code with the inter-university astrophysics project.  I’m not too sure how she managed to find this obscure coding, but she’s brilliant and I’ll just chalk it up to that.

Math Garage:  Charlie asks Larry why Marshall gets to him. I ask Charlie if he really wants to know.  While Larry gives a lovely, well-worded answer, I’m going to sum it up.  Marshall and Charlie are like two siblings who want to get all the attention from their parents.  Replace siblings with two geniuses and parents with math community and we have the real answer.  I dare someone to tell me I’m wrong.  If there’s one thing these two share, it’s ginourmous egos and the inability to share the spotlight.

Larry’s Gargamel to his Smurf is some guy who wants Larry’s car, and demonstrates this by insulting it.  As for Don, he’s his own frenemy.  Since it’s an obvious statement and anyone who has ever seen the aftermath of “Two Daughters” or “One Hour” or any eppesode in the third and fourth seasons, knows this, it’s quickly abandoned for another subject: Larry knowing about Don’s trip to the temple.  Oh great, Don is going to have to turn over his diary, isn’t he?

IHOF:  David’s doing what he does best (after exposition) and is researching the really obvious clue anvils Tooner dropped in interview.

Local College:  And there’s a guy hanging in a library with a clichéd (i.e.: I can’t take this anymore.  The lies and the secrets…) suicide note pinned to his chest.  I’ll try to work up some shock.  I’ll let you know when I find it.  I’m also not surprised the body is in the least-lit library, ever.  I guess this library doesn’t want the students lingering by being able to read the books there.

IHOF:  How does someone not notice a body hanging in the library for 10 hours?  I’d like to know that!  And no, yet again you can’t distract me with a mention of Robin (squee!).  I’m sorry, but what college misses bodies hanging in the library?  I mean, the lighting may be bad, but a body hanging from the ceiling should stand out!

The Fedcakes are more focused on how similar the killing is to what Tooner said, but without the benefit of evidence.  Now Charlie and Marshal are set on the path of finding out how Tooner is able to track Vanguard as Vanguard is tracking Tooner while the Fedcakes investigate Tooner’s time in higher learning, to see where the Vanguard / Tooner feud would’ve started.

They quickly find a girl who was raped and murdered at one of the colleges Tooner attended.  He was a person of interest in the investigation, but no solid evidence could be found.  Thus, like any good cipher, the dead girl will be the key to decrypt the origins of Vanguard.

La Maison d’Eppes:  I know it’s the big discussion about Don going to temple and not telling Charlie, but is it bad that I’m distracted by the efforts to keep the best supporting prop – the lime green fluted bowl – out of the scene?  First, it’s hidden behind a coat, and then behind Charlie.  Close-ups give us a scene featured where the bowl usually sits in all its well-lit glory, but only give us the briefest glimpse.

Sorry, back to the plot.  Don makes the mistake of comparing telling Charlie about his trips to temple would be the equivalent of contaminating and experiment.  Ouch.  

Don never wanted to get into the God debate with Charlie – nor did he want to have Charlie argue him out of going.  Finally, Don tells Charlie what the younger Eppes’ is too obtuse sometimes to notice; he’s intimidating when he gets into logistical debates.  Plus, his whole insistence at proving he’s right, particularly to Don, has been made evident over and over in this series.

For once, Don’s euchred all of Charlie’s arguments before anything can be said.  Thus Charlie takes the gracious way out by claiming he had nothing negative to say about going to temple.  I don’t fully believe him since this is Charlie who holds science so dear that religion baffles him, but it’s nice of him to leave Don alone about it.  I’m also relieved as it means that we won’t be completely squicked out when Amita tells Don to turn over his diary.

Alan who overheard the whole thing, is impressed that Don was both able to hide and able to admit that Charlie intimidated him.

Cal Sci/City College:  I like it when we see the math people and the investigators through entirely different methods, come up with the same solution.  I’ve never liked the Charlie swoops in and saves the day tactic that’s used when the writers have dug themselves into a hole.  This time, both Nikki, through interviews, and Larry and Amita, through studying code, come up with the Vanguard founder – Clayton Caswell – a tutor for the dead girl.  While not the same guy from earlier – the dead vigilante’s roommate was kind enough to make sure the tutoring thing was seen as important.

IHOF:  The Fedcakes review Caswell’s file and determine he’s not dead because Tooner likes to display his prizes like cats do with dead mice.

Colby interviews This Kid, who proves Marshall and Charlie’s earlier point that smart people think they can do anything.  He actually believes that Caswell, a computer geek, can handle himself against Tooner.  That’s like thinking Wile E Coyote can handle himself against a cliff.  This Kid also proves the similarity between Caswell and Tooner.  They can both make anyone do anything they want them to do.

As for This Kid, all he wants to be is a hero.  Oh Colby, you’d be the perfect one to explain that being a hero isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Cal Sci:  “God, why am I so stupid!?”  Marshall exclaims.

“You want answers 1 through 50 or 50 through 100?”  Charlie replies.

The answer to the problem involves Tooner watching the cell network and Vanguard watching Tooner.  Umm, yeah, even I figured that out.  Plus, it’s far more entertaining to watch Marshall and Charlie devolve into a “You started it,” argument.  It’s about time for the math car to be pulled over and the pair of them can walk home.

They both get distracted when a result comes up on the computer indicating a computer repair store which should’ve been hit by the robbers but wasn’t reported.  Thus, instead of stopping the math car, the two of them get in it for a field trip.

La Maison d’Eppes:  Don’t tell Marshall and Charlie, but the pair of them really is alike.  They’re both so wrapped up in their work; they’re missing the dinner being laid out at home by Don, Alan and Amita.  

Field Trip:  The Wonder Twins (as Don called them) go do some of their own investigation (and ignore Don’s call – or don’t see it – I’m not certain which) and find themselves in the middle of a robbery.  Considering how brilliant the pair of them is, they both miss the robbery happening right in front of them, until they’re confronted by Vic Tooner.  It’s a good thing the Vanguard Website had a pop up of him so that way Marshall and Charlie can compete in a new sport.

They make up some lie about sending a super computer in for repairs.  Tooner plays along as Marshall scratches his neck and Charlie has enough presence of mind to call Don for help

La Maison d’Eppes:  Don immediately springs into action; meanwhile I notice that a dinner prepared for both Marshall and Charlie involves an interesting piece of prep work.

Field Trip:  Charlie and Marshall (who is still itching) prove they would be the worst undercover agents in history, holding up various product placements computer bits which clearly do not make up a supercomputer.  

Since they’re terrible at covert ops, Tooner gives them something they would be good at: a math problem.  “Take the number of people who’ve seen me at crime scenes.  Subtract the number who’ve testified.”  Hey that’s math even I can do!  The answer’s zero, isn’t it?  I’m right, aren’t I?

Just as Don’s SUV races past towards the store, Tooner and his crew of Oliver Twists make a clean getaway.

Don is just about as pleased to find Charlie in danger as he was all the other times Charlie’s been in danger.  As for Marshall, in what has to be the greatest quirk of any character on this show, ever – even better than Larry’s obsession with white food or Don’s checking his watch, adrenaline make his skin itch.  Thus, we can deduce he was utterly terrified the entire time.

IHOF:  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern give us what should’ve been the voiceover for all promos of this eppesode:

I love that my show has rediscovered its funny!  Since Megan left, there’s been this big hole of snark and while Liz was trying to fill it, I’m glad everyone else is now onboard!

Charlie needs to get Tooner to avoid dying, but Marshall’s reason is much more personal: he made him itch in front of strangers.  Even the guest starts are contributing to the funny!

When trying to assess the situation, Marshall Penfield has a Marshall-vision – which, of course, wouldn’t work unless Charlie tried to co-opt it at some point.  It’s the story of the three person gunfight in Game Theory.   It tells the worst shot to shoot at the second best shot, in order to turn the two better shots against each other.  Accidentally, Marshall casts himself into the role which Charlie would find the most amusing.

On the other hand, in this scenario, Colby and Charlie kill each other, leaving Marshall alive, not itchy and Amita free for a date involving more pie.   I mean literal pie here.  Perhaps Marshall knew what he was doing after all.

Thus, they’re going to play Vanguard and Tooner off each other by setting up an irresistible heist.  In this case, the Fedcakes want to be the worst shot in hopes of taking out the other two.

Marshall and Charlie bond over using Caswell’s and Tooner’s hate against each other.  Wait a second, these two can’t bond and make peace!  <i>It’s no fun!  Plus, Marshall totally weakens his position by admitting Charlie intimidates him.  At least Marshall hasn’t completely lost his snark when he responds “Only the second?" when Charlie tells him it’s the second time that day he’s been called intimidating.

Charlie admits that he always wonders how Marshall’s going to rip his newest theory to shreds and while it’s great to see that Charlie can get over his irritation of the name Eppesy, I much prefer these two when they’re arguing.

Faux Heist:  Is it just me or did Tooner steal Dean Winchester’s car?

Of course, this means he must die.  

The heist goes off as planned – by the Fedcakes that is.  Vanguard tries to stop Tooner and this eppesode’s baddie spends valuable time yelling at the vigilantes, instead of getting away, allowing the Fedcakes time to swoop in.  

The vigilantes surrender quickly, but Tooner refuses to be caught.  Both Nikki and Don take him out, which is fine with me, except I’m a little worried this’ll send Don back into a tailspin to Donnie!Darko zone.  In fact, I was so worried about how this might affect Don, I initially missed how damned creepy it is when Caswell, the leader of Vanguard, laughs at the death of his nemesis.  

Oh yes, and the Fagin allusion is definitely appropriate now.

La Maison d’Eppes:  Finally getting that dinner they missed (although this time it’s pizza), Marshall and Charlie’s truce is obvious to everyone since no one’s getting hammered.  Admitting he enjoyed FBI work, Marshall’s psychosomatic fleas come back at the mere thought of meeting with Tooner.

As for the conditions of their truce, Marshall will stop calling Charlie “Eppesy.”  Trying to be the bigger man, Charlie comments that he’s been called worse.

Cue Don to come in and call his little brother, Chuck: point, Don.

“Chuck, like that.  I can work with that.”  Point – Marshall and I grin with all the smirky world of glee possible as the frenemy feud is far from over.

Plus, it amuses me that Charlie has issues being called a name that, most recently, has been associated with all levels of awesomeness.  That’s my Charlie, hair or no hair; he doesn’t like sharing the spotlight.  So Marshall, you’re allowed to come back and steal his spotlight any time.  Remember to pack the funny.

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