Numb3rs: Arrow of Time (Episode 511)

It’s the return of Buck Winters. Considering he’s a teenager with serious anger management issues (and hot for teacher), who was injured in some way by Edgerton and Don (and I refuse to use the other word for it) into giving up his wife (see the aforementioned teacher) which wound up with her being shot in the head by Don, I don’t think he’s returned to bring Don a bouquet of Gerber daisies.  

If ever I needed proof that the Numb3rs PTB were trying to kill me with continuity, this eppesode would be it.  Now, I’m not talking continuity like the connection between “Thirteen” and “End Game”, or “When Worlds Collide” and the Twitter arc, or “The Janus List” and “Trust Metric.”   No, TPTB pull out an unfinished storyline from two freaking years ago (about two years, four months) which was the cause of Don’s downward spiral into therapy, or Donnie!Darko, as he came to be known, as well as, arguably, one of the factors that led to the tragic break up of my OTP (and my need for therapy).   Considering the depths Don went psychologically, you can’t blame a girl for cutting and running and taking a major case in Miami.

Unless Horatio Caine was involved, that would be unforgiveable.  Fortunately, Robin is awesome, so we know that isn’t the case.

We begin with a montage.  Said montage flips back and forth between images of Don at temple, Charlie reciting his lecture on the title of this eppesode, and Buck Winters, along with two accomplices, escaping from prison.  There’s a distinct contrast in the questioning of Don, the determination of Buck and the peacefulness of Charmita curled up on the couch together.  It’s a weird meshing of the spiritual, the academic and the physical.

“What might appear to be chaos, even decay is really a system’s way of smoothing out differences, its search for equilibrium,” is how Charlie explains it to Amita.  I’m not certain if he’s talking about the arrow of time, Don, or the overall purpose of this eppesode.  Maybe it’s all three because Charlie’s meta like that.

As a random side note, the car Buck and his accomplices drive away in is eerily reminiscent of the car we first saw him in.  Am I only one to think that?  He’s even sitting in the passenger seat with someone much older than him driving.

Oh yes, and just in case we can’t figure out what Buck is planning, he sticks a copy of the newspaper article describing the death of his wife to the dashboard, complete with Don’s picture.

Title Flash.

Highway: David and Liz consult with the US Marshals about the fugitives.  One of them, Ugly Joe (as opposed to Little Joe, Big Joe, Beautiful Joe or Little John) describes the situation, including how the fugitives have made it past the roadblocks in civilian clothing and escaped using a dental floss rope. 

David is taken aback when he comes across the file of one of the escapees.

IHOF:  Nikki starts to do a rundown on Buck but as Colby and Don are already well aware of that boy’s particulars, she moves on to the other two: Gray McClaughlin – a crappy criminal and “good looking cat” according to Nikki, and Rafe Lansky, a hitman for hire.  In short, everybody here is seriously bad, but what surprises me is how quickly Nikki comments on how good looking the first one is.  Sure Colby may snark her for it, but someone should tell Nikki to look at her coworkers.  Wait, I don’t mean it like that.  I just mean they are far better looking, not that I want Nikki to – ah hell, there’s no way to dig myself out of that hole, so I’ll leave it there.

Don wants it handled like any other fugitive case, but since every other fugitive case would probably include the baddie wanting vengeance against the person who shot his wife, Colby points out the inherent problem.

Crime Scene/IHOF:  David and Colby, doing what they do best (after leaping tall buildings in a single bound), give Liz and Nikki all the necessary exposition on why Buck would be out to kill Don.  We get the whole story in “Spree” and “Two Daughters” so if you haven’t seen them, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?  THEY ARE FREAKING AMAZING!

There’s a whole bunch of flashbacks from the two opening eppesodes of the third season, but I like how they neatly keep Edgerton’s name out of it.  He’s not even seen in any of the flashbacks.  I can only take this to mean it’s because we don’t need to see him as he’ll be making another appearance in an upcoming eppesode.  Right?

Liz recognizes the details but never talked about it with Don the entire time they were together.  On the other hand, this is all new to Nikki and the purpose of both women in this eppesode is made clear.  Both of them avoid the emotional entanglements the rest of the Fedcakes have with the case.  They allow for a clear head, and any members of the audience who haven’t seen the previous two FREAKING AMAZING EPPESODES, can relate to them.  It’s also interesting that Liz is the one to get the details about the interrogation but we see Nikki being told the story of the death of Crystal Hoyle.  We all know from a couple years ago that what happened in the interrogation room was sketchy and Liz, who would better understand the mindset of Don at the time, makes no comment about what was needed to get Megan back.  As for Nikki, she’s wondering why Don’s wandering around like he did the wrong thing.  

Once story time is over, Colby decides to look into Lansky’s past while ribbing Nikki about looking at McClaughlin.  Careful Colby, I don’t think Nikki is one to let things lie.

Cal Sci:  Charlie’s slightly peeved that an idea he had has just been patented by someone else and their think tank.  I don’t think there’s any implication that the think tank stole the idea, but I do find it amusing that Charlie Eppes has so many ideas, he is only mildly perturbed when one is scooped out from under him.  

This jumps into what I think is going to be a big part of the rest of the season, the idea that a think tank be created using a bunch of continuity points previously seen characters like Professor Osaki, and yay-yay Ray-Ray!   The one person who can’t join is Alan.

We’ll have to come back to that later as Liz and David interrupt with the rope made of dental floss.  Let me digress for a moment to point out a couple of things that amused me about this scene.  The first is how nicely Charlie’s hair is growing back.  I’m glad to see this happening because, otherwise, the title of best hair on CBS might have had to go to Patrick Jane.   The second is the really poorly put together prop.

They haven’t had a prop of such poor quality since the finale of the first season!

IHOF:  Nikki’s found McClaughlin’s girlfriend.  Colby is wise enough not to make a crack about her being jealous.  Wait, I take that back.  The girlfriend is a forklift driver, causing him to comment on the “not Super-feminine types” this baddie attracts.  Plus, he promises to hold back on making a comment on how McClaughlin met this woman (through a prison penpal website) until he’s consulted with David on how best to snark her.  Ooh, you’re going to pay for that, Colby!

As for Don, he couldn’t seem less interested in this new development if he actually made an effort.  

Cal Sci:  Back to dental floss and Amita’s freakishly specific knowledge of how it is sold.  Not that there’s anything wrong with her being an informed shopper, but it’s still weird.  Apparently, according to some quick math, we could all make that rope with 127 rolls of floss with 50 yards of floss in the container.  

Considering floss is restricted in prison because one could use it to a kill a person, and, I’m sure, dental hygiene isn’t the biggest priority in maximum security, I’m wondering how it’s even possible for this rope to be made.  Luckily, Charlie is there and he’s going to do some calculations to tell everyone how long they were building that rope.  I’m not exactly sure how that would help but it’s math so I’ll accept it.  Liz has a term for it.

David reveals that none of the escapees, including Buck Winters, could’ve planned something like this.  It’s not really a development in the investigation; it’s more of a chance for Charlie to realize his brother didn’t tell him something.  David tries to make excuses for Don, but no one believes him.  Uh-oh, Don, better get out your diary to give to your baby brother to make amends!  

IHOF:  Don’s not acting like Donnie!Darko, as I expect.  No, it’s much more in the vein of Zombie!Donnie.  Why?  A really awesome woman who is desperately concerned about his well-being has just arrived and Don’s not paying enough attention to her for my liking.

Robin calls him on his stoic bullshit, as I would expect.  Buck escaped from jail and booked it to LA.  The only thing he didn’t do is send a singing telegram to La Maison d’Eppes announcing he was coming to town to shoot Don.

Loading Doc:  Colby and Nikki have gone to talk to McClaughlin’s girlfriend.  At first, I think the girlfriend has a much better idea, tackle Colby, but then I realize it’s for nefarious purposes not for what most of us would assume a woman would tackle him for.

“A hand! Please!?” He pleads.  Why does Colby need help?  “She’s a girl.” It would be impossible for me to put in words the hilarity of the combination of this woman totally winning against Colby, complete with his high pitched squeaking when asking for Nikki’s help.  Therefore, you’ll just have to take my word for it.  Trust me, it never loses the funny.

“Girl must mean something different in Idaho,” Nikki snarks before hitting the girlfriend over the head with a board.  I would like to point out the board breaks when in contact with the girlfriend.  Before helping him out from under the unconscious Amazon, Nikki does something I find completely reasonable – takes a picture with her product placement.

Seedy Motel:  The three escapees are with some gun dealer.  Buck picks up a fifty caliber, only to have Lansky pat him on the shoulder and say he can have whatever gun he wants.  At this moment, I now realize what’s really happening between these two and one other small thing, pun intended.

IHOF:  McClaughlin’s girlfriend is one tough bitch.  She looks like she woke up from a nap, not knocked unconscious with a large board!  Although, it’s not like the interrogation room can give her any headaches by being too bright.  I can barely see anyone!

I’d also like to complement Nikki for being all sympathetic that the girlfriend picked a creep.  Who the hell else did this woman think she would pick up on a prison penpal website?  It’s not like every prisoner is Charlie Crews.

We get a sob story about McClaughlin.  “He’s a looker but no actor.  He’s got this way about him.  The way he looks at you.”  All right people, we had this discussion last season.  If the person is not remotely good looking and bears a resemblance to a ferret, it doesn’t matter how many times you try to tell us he is hot.  It cannot be made true.  For trying to convince us of something that is so painfully not true, this line, though aptly delivered, wins this week’s NPAL™.

While the girlfriend provided the car and the clothes, she had nothing to do with the dental floss.  Is it just me, or is all this discussion on the merits of dental floss getting more humourous the more I watch this eppesode?

Don’s not pleased with the lack of development.  Well, he’s either not pleased or doesn’t give a shit.  I can’t tell by his expression.  In an attempt to bring the boss back to the team, Nikki tells him, from an outsider’s perspective, Don did two seasons ago was the right thing.  

Math Garage:  And we’re not done with dental floss yet!  Larry’s musing on the ingenuity of the rope leads to the following analysis: Ginger was a whore and Mary Ann was quite the distraction in her short shorts.  

Okay, dental floss and Gilligan’s Island were really a distraction for Larry and Charlie, as this case has brought up memories of Megan’s kidnapping and the aftermath.  Now, it’s clearly an emotional conversation involving such charged words as “get around to it,” “stuff,” and “yeah.”

Amita puts it best.  “Yet again, male communication tests the limits of Shannon’s source coding theorem.”  I found that joke a lot funnier once I found out what Shannon’s source coding theorem is.

It’s like someone threw into a hat all the conversation topics that no one in the room wants to talk about, and they’re slowly making their way through each one.  Now it’s on to Alan’s role in the think tank.  Charlie shares a specific memory of when he was 7 and asking for his father’s help coming up with a limit of something about the Taylor expansion and hyperbolic whatsits.  That, by the way was not made any clearer after looking it up.   It just made my brain hurt.  Since I can safely assume it’s not about over exaggerating things, like I would usually associate the term, being that I was an English major, I don’t think I’m going to understand it any time soon.  The whole point is that Charlie learned at the age of 7, that his father wasn’t superman and thus keeps math separate from his father.  I know it’s supposed to be an emotional moment but with Super!Colby and Super!David, we really don’t need Super!Alan.  I like Alan just the way he is.

So now that we know why Charlie doesn’t want Alan in the think tank, can it be my turn to suggest an awkward subject to make everyone talk about?

Outside IHOF:  It’s a slightly different outside of the IHOF than I’m used to, as it’s not the bridge.  Charlie and Don obviously did not learn their ability to make a point from Alan.  He’s quite good at bringing up the emotional stuff if it concerns his boys.  His particular talent is bringing up the important details and not wallowing on other details like if Buck kills Don, Don won’t be able to provide Alan the grandbabies he so desires.

Instead he focuses on how Don couldn’t keep the secret of Buck Winters from him, since there is this handy thing call the ‘net, which gives the news, and all sorts of information.  It also has someone who has been excluded from any shout outs, and I’m not giving up on that, ever.  Alan may know when it’s an appropriate time to bring things up.  I, on the other hand, am missing that gene.

Alan’s concerned about Don’s lack of concern.  I guess now would not be a good time to tell Alan my theory of Don being a zombie.  

In truth, Alan’s scared for Don, which gets his son to admit what scares Don. He’s frightened that it’ll be a repeat of Crystal Hoyle and he’ll have to kill a 19 year-old kid.

Inside IHOF:  The floss math has revealed the baddies took eight to nine months making their perfectly woven rope.  Okay, I need someone to explain to me how this is possible on any planet.  I’ve made rope when I was a kid in guides.  It took a group of kids several hours to make a couple feet of rope and we had the proper equipment.  We weren’t using flipping dental floss.  Plus, we knew how to tie knots (okay, so we told the leader we did) and it did not look as perfectly woven as that thirty-foot dental floss rope.  Oh lordy, I think my suspension of disbelief needs to be taken in for a tune-up.

We may not get a Charlie-vision explaining the rope, but we do get a great moment where Charlie leads his audience (David) into asking him what is interesting about the rope.  Not only did the baddies make a perfectly woven rope out of 19 thousand feet of floss, but also they picked the right floss – the type that won’t break or cut your hand.  I’ve heard of that brand of floss, I think.

The point is that the rope was engineered, not built.  Talk about splitting hairs, or floss, with vocabulary.

Charlie leaves his dental floss briefing – which is probably the weirdest thing I’ve ever typed and that is saying a lot, to try and talk to Don.  It doesn’t really work, since Don blows him off.  That’s so sweet; even as a zombie, Don doesn’t want to hurt Charlie by eating his brain.  Although, wouldn’t Charlie’s brain be full of extra nutritional value?  Would that matter for zombies?

Two Pianos Towers: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have found Tim Pynchon, who is way too cooperative.  He all but admits he came up with the plan, only to be paid five grand by McClaughlin for the information on how to build a dental floss rope when Pynchon was released due to a technical error.  He even gives them the name of someone who would give McClaughlin a safe place to hide.  

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern find the whole conversation as unbelievable as I do.  Pynchon’s skills are worth way more than five grand and the only thing he didn’t do is get on his knees and beg to go back to prison.  The only believable thing he did was comment on Colby’s Fed shoes.

Oh, yes, and if you’re wondering why I called this place Two Pianos Towers, the screencaps below prove my point.

Outside IHOF:  On the bridge which is far more familiar to me than wherever Don and Alan were, we get a scene with Robin (squee!) and Larry?  I can only take this to mean that Robin bonding with Larry is a sign she’s staying around long enough to learn to deal with Larry.  That’s how I’m choosing to take it and no one can talk me out of it.

Robin’s upset that she wants a 19 year-old kid to die in a bar fight and Larry understand how she feels, except he has the advantage of two years of insight, so he sympathizes more with the motive than Robin’s capable of at the moment.  So his whole lecture about the arrow of time might mean something later, but right now, it’s just pretty words and an attempt to make someone feel better.  It’s Larry’s purpose that’s appreciated, not the philosophy.

Two Pianos Towers:  The final decision on Pynchon’s honesty was that he was lying through his teeth, thus Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are on a stakeout.  They are joined by the other, now officially named partnership: Artemis and Athena.

The ladies had nothing to do that night, even though Nikki snarks she had a picture to e-mail to Idaho.  I’ll bet the night’s plans were to macro the picture with a variety of silly statements before posting in on the Fedcakes Intranet too.

Unfortunately, before the pair properly macro Colby, Pynchon makes his move.  He goes into another apartment around the back of the building, and there are shots fired at Artemis and Athena.  Between the female Fedcakes coming at them from behind, and the male Fedcakes coming at them head on (which sounds way dirtier than it actually is) where exactly do Pynchon and McClaughlin think they’re running to?

Artemis and Athena take down Pynchon but a superhero is needed to catch McClaughlin.

Super!David lands inelegantly in a dumpster but McClaughlin is there to break his fall.

IHOF:  As David makes the call to Don reporting on the arrest, another line rings.  We all know it’s Buck so the suspense is not who it is; it’s what he’s going to say.

After the commercial Liz tells us that the actual phone call was 2 minutes and thirty-eight seconds.  Thus, according to the timing, that phone call took most of the commercial break, at least, according to the Canadian feed from Global.  

Liz tries to find out what could possibly take 2:38 to talk about since the recriminations and threats from such a poetic wordsmith as Buck would probably be only 1 minute, maximum.  When Don doesn’t answer, Liz hits his attitude straight on the head, when she asks if he’s being evasive or a tool.  Oh sweetie, it’s the best of both worlds in this case!

Liz reminds Don that it would be stupid for him to screw up an investigation that might otherwise get him killed.

While Athena’s out with Don, Artemis is in interrogation with McClaughlin and Robin.  The baddie laughs about how he fooled Pynchon about a fictional drug stash and asks for a deal.  I could type a whole detailed summary of the back and forth banter, but let me just sum up how Robin has the biggest balls in the room.

Bowing to her superiority (and her really scary smirk), McClaughlin reveals that the relationship between Buck and Lansky is way more complicated than just cellmates and they’re staying at the Starlight Motel.  Hold on!  Wasn’t the motel in “Two Daughters” called the Twilight Motel?  Are we at a different motel?  Is it just renamed?  Is this a continuity error?  Am I thinking too much?  Although, it could be worse; it could’ve been renamed the New Moon Motel or Eclipse Motel.

Outside the IHOF:  David’s trunk, from the size of the gun he’s holding, must be second only to the Winchester boys on weapons.  Seriously, that’s a big gun, but, unlike Buck did earlier, I’m quite sure David’s holding the right size weapon and that’s all I have to say about that.

Alan’s taken aback by the size of David’s weapon (do not even go there) and tries to bring some levity by joking that Rosencrantz is going to hunt bear.

“Actually, I like bears,” David replies.  Oh, David, how can you like bears?  Don’t you know they’re godless killing machines?   Don’t believe me?  Just enter “godless killing machines” into Google.  ‘Nuff said.

As if Alan was trying to prove my earlier point about him being the only Eppes man capable of expressing his feelings, he starts telling David about how he didn’t do everything right when Don was a kid.  It’s a sweet confession that I’m sure every parent feels sometime.  David is another man who can disprove Amita’s earlier comment about male communication.  He understands that Alan is looking for reassurance and promises to take care of Don.  

Cal Sci:  Charlie’s done some equations.  Since the actual writing on the board doesn’t make any sense to me, I’ve decided to fix it to show the outcome of all that math.  

Starlight Motel: All right, time to make a confession.  I was sure that the Starlight would be the same as the Twilight Motel from “Two Daughters.”  Buck may not be the sharpest tool in the drawer but he would like obvious symbolism like that.  After close examination, the motel size, shape and layout (and colouring, if one takes into account the use of yellow gels on the camera) are the same as the Twilight.  After too much time spent examining railings and window sizes, I’ve come to a decision: I will present the evidence and let you, good reader, decide for yourself.

Yes, I have far too much time on my hands?  How did you know? And by avoiding making the call, I cannot be wrong either way.

Okay, so the purpose of the Fedcakes going to the same motel is because the manager called in a huge fight between Buck and Lansky.  So the Fedcakes, with the Ugly Joe and the Marshals (which sounds like the worst band name ever), break into room 7 and find Lansky dead in the tub.  For a hitman, I’m amazed he didn’t see it coming.  Okay, let me rephrase that. Since the wounds are in the front, he obviously saw it coming.  I’m just astounded he didn’t break Buck like a twig.

IHOF:  Zombie!Don is sitting in the dark (which really isn’t any different from the past season, considering the lighting) staring at a picture of Buck and the film footage from the killing of Crystal.

Charlie, for all his Charlie-visions actually surprises me.  His earlier solution was not that Buck was going to kill Don; it was that Don already knows where Buck is.  Okay, for the floss math breaking my suspension of disbelief, this development wasn’t even on my radar of potential plot twists.  Is that broken too?

Plus, this scene has so many layers to it; I barely know where to begin.  Don tries to explain a lesson he learned from temple, about what he really can control.  Here the brothers come to a crossroads.  Charlie argues that more people can only mean more connections (and yes, he has to realize that also applies to his father).  It’s been a huge motif for Charlie this season as he wants everyone to share openly – from his desire to get his clearance back so that he can share more intellectually with his friends and the Fedcakes, to his mini-freak out about not knowing about Amita’s arrest.  I’m not entirely sure Charlie’s discussion about what Don will regret two years from now, is actually that relevant.

Why?  Don’s behaviour, says the polar opposite.  If it’s all about what’s in his hand, what he can control, then the only thing he thinks he can control is himself.  He’s never really been able to control Charlie.  Also, what does it say about his opinion of his team?  He couldn’t stop Megan from leaving – not that he would want to but it was still a blow.  The Colby’s-a-spy (not theoriginalspy) thing proved Colby wasn’t what he thought and that just leaves David.  Two years after “One Hour,” Don’s back in the same place emotionally.

Holy crap, that’s a lot of subtext in one really, really short scene.

Starlight Motel:  The Fedcakes are learning the hard way about Don’s lack of trust in this situation.  They’ve found Buck’s cell only to discover that one of the incoming calls was from their superior Fedcake.

IHOF:  David confronts Don in the locker room.  It’s obvious that Don is preparing for something dangerous and I will not get distracted much by the seriousness of this situation by Don getting dressed in Kevlar. Going with my earlier theory, David is the only one who can have this conversation with Don.  There isn’t any yelling and posturing.  It’s just David calling Don on his bullshit.  Let me cut straight through to the subtext.

La Maison d’Eppes:  Charmita, Larry and Alan are at home discussing the metaphor of Maxwell’s Demon.  It’s all about how one demon can personally control the flow of molecules and yes, I have just simplified it to the lowest common demon-inator.

Temple:  While Charlie continues his florid prose on Maxwell’s Demon, we move to the final showdown of Buck and Don.  Outside the temple, Robin waits and worries while listening to the communication of the team.  Inside, Don stands alone at the front, while the Fedcakes and the Marshals are instructed to wait by David.  

Buck arrives and walks to Don, instead of the other way around.  This entire eppesode has been about Buck coming to Don and instead of a violent shoot out, Don is unarmed.  That Buck doesn’t instantly shoot him in the head makes me far more interested in Buck than I ever was when Crystal was around.

In reality, none of this is about Don.  It’s all about Buck’s perception of his inner failings.  He failed Crystal when he gave her up.  He feels he needed to be harder and stronger, yet he still gives Don a fair chance to take his gun away.  Don gives the signal and Fedcakes and Marshals make their presence known.  Still, Buck doesn’t try to shoot Don.  

Thus we learn what Don’s known all along.  Buck didn’t come there to kill Don.  He came to die.  In his twisted mind, dying at the hand of Don was the only way he could make up for what happened to Crystal.  He’s not hard at all.  He wants to be with Crystal.  I think Buck Winters is the most tragic villain we’ve ever had on this show.  That is, if you can call a mixed-up, terrified, abused kid pretending to be a man, a villain.

Finally, we get what’s in Don’s hand.  “I had to kill her, Buck.  I don’t have to kill you.”  That’s what Don can control.  

Despite his insistence that he’s a hard man, what Buck is really experiencing is remorse.  “I’m 19 years old.  They gave me 250 years.  You don’t know what that’s like to have to pay for things that I can’t take back.”  He doesn’t even use the safer second person, like so many do.  He’s not what he insists.  He’s just come to a realization about what he’s done and can’t live with himself any more.  

What Buck doesn’t know is that Don understands what the kid is feeling.  As Buck falls to his knees, weeping and is taken into custody, I realize that these two people were the two rooms being controlled by the demon.  The fault lies in the fact that one of them no longer recognizes the demon’s power.

On a side note, I am utterly fascinated by what Don does next.  He takes Buck’s gun and passes it off to David.

La Maison d’Eppes:  Alan agrees with my analysis of the demon analogy.  “Maxwell’s Demon is a thought experiment…when the window breaks, the cold air still rushes in.”  Yup, everyone is affected by everything and there isn’t a demon controlling things.  The person is.  Don just chose board up the broken window.

Temple:  As Buck is taken away, Don thanks David for trusting him.  

La Maison d’Eppes:  Alan’s practical analysis of the thought experiment finally inspires Charlie to ask his father to join the think tank.  Like father, like son, Alan also remembers that moment from when Charlie was 7 but, despite that, Charlie realizes how much his father has been able to teach him, even if it wasn’t about math.  Let me explain it using my understanding of the Maxwell’s Demon analogy.

Temple:  There’s a brief voiceover of Larry talking about the future being under one’s control, and speaking of one’s (Don’s) future, Robin comes in to check on him.  Instead of disturbing his contemplation, she respects it and stands back to give him his moment of peace.

The eppesode ends with Don turning to a picture of Daniel in the lions’ den. In an eppesode laden with brilliant metaphors and analogies, I’m quite annoyed at this one.  If the idea is not being injured because you believe, then yes, on the surface the idea fits.  Everywhere else, this simplistic metaphor falls flat.  Don’t believe me?  Read the Book of Daniel, Chapter 6.   Seriously?  Who is the king?  Who is the angel?  Why is there only one lion?  I want my analogies to be full of depth!  Epic fail at biblical allusions at the end of this otherwise brilliant eppesode.

Now, if I were to have my own way, because, of course, that’s how it should work out in the cases of world peace, ponies and shout outs, and biblical allusions.  If we wanted a specific, one-shot metaphor, next time, consider Samson and the young lion.  Go ahead and tell me that with his bare hands, Don didn’t tear young Buck to pieces, emotionally.  Plus, good things and truths come out of that lion later.

Go ahead and tell me I’m wrong without making a crack about haircuts.

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