Don Eppes
Encyclopedia
Don Eppes is the main
fictional character
in the television show Numb3rs
. He is played by Rob Morrow
.
Don is an FBI Special Agent
who runs the FBI Violent Crimes Squad in Los Angeles. Don recruits his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes
, 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.
, his parents would take him to sit-in
s, and he twice watched his father be arrested (as mentioned in the episode "Protest"). When Don became too attached to his toy gun, his parents put him in Little League
, hoping Don would forget his love for guns. Don graduated high school on the same day as his younger brother Charlie
, who is five years younger. He went to college on a baseball scholarship and then played Single-A
with the Stockton Rangers (a fictional team) as a utility player
. Charlie used to predict the number of walks he would get just from his stance at the plate. Despite the attraction, Don never took steroids, although his backup player did. That player made the major leagues and Don has since wondered if he should have taken steroids to help improve his game. After realizing that he would never be better than a single A player, Don quit the Rangers and signed up for the FBI test the next day.
In the FBI Academy
, he dated fellow agent Terry Lake. As he later told his father, his favorite date ever was when he had pizza in a laundromat with her. Terry does not share that opinion. After graduating from the Academy, Don worked in Fugitive Recovery with Billy Cooper (episode "Man Hunt") and former Navy SEAL Petey Fox ("friendly Fire") and was very good at it. He taught at the FBI Academy for a time after Fugitive Recovery to help him come back to civilization ("Longshot"). After that, he worked in the field office in Albuquerque, New Mexico
, and dated Kim Hall (Sarah Wayne Callies
), and nearly married her.
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, from which she eventually died.
and is also often seen watching hockey
, which he played in his youth. He went to college on a baseball scholarship. 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." Don's giving up on the game is an emotional subject for him.
He and Charlie have had their differences over the years, and Don finds it hard to go to Charlie for help to do his job. In fact, in "One Hour" Don states that he does not like living in the shadow of his genius brother, though he respects him and his abilities very much and they have become closer. Sometimes, he feels that Charlie isn't doing all the great things he could be doing because he is working with the FBI. Still, he does often question his brother only to have his faith in Charlie's abilities restored. In "Burn Rate", their father says, "But have you ever known your brother to let his emotions trump his math?" Just because Don gets emotional, he thought this was the case with Charlie and even stated his brother was backing one of his own — a genius. In "Trust Metric", Charlie says that he has a giant ego.
He is a harsh taskmaster, likes being the boss, and is not very forgiving. One of his former tactical trainees from Quantico
, Liz Warner (Aya Sumika http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1628101/), 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.
He believes that the death penalty is a form of revenge.
Don has an ability to understand how criminals think, which causes him to suppress his thoughts in an effort to cope with the horrors that he sees on his job.
His relationship with Charlie was apparently somewhat strained even before their mother's death, as Don is stunned to learn that his little brother has enough security clearance to work with both the CDC and the NSA ("Vector"). He is even more surprised to discover that Charlie doesn't seem to know that his clearance will allow him to walk into the L.A. Office whenever he wishes, rather than obtaining a visitor's pass every time and being restricted in what he can do there. Upon resolving Charlie's status, Don now apparently calls Charlie in on most of his cases.
In "Uncertainty Principle", Don loses his temper at Charlie when Charlie once again reverts to working on P vs. NP after Don is shot in the arm by the 'Charm School Boys'. He vents his frustration and anger at Charlie for hiding in his math (members of the fandom refer to this state as 'Numbersville'). In "Vector", Don comforts Charlie when Charlie questions Don heartbrokenly about whether their mother was in pain during those last three months, showing that despite his anger that Charlie wasn't there for her, he cannot help but protect Charlie from whatever is hurting him.
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", 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.
When Megan Reeves
was kidnapped, Don pushed his ethics
to the limit to get her back. While he did not personally beat a suspect, he had Special Agent Ian Edgerton interrogate the teenager for information on where Megan was being held. It is never shown or said what Edgerton did during the interrogation, but it is heavily implied that he may have used physical force, up to and including applying pressure to the gunshot wound through the teen's wrist; Don expressed concern to his father over being willing to go that far, even if he wasn't doing it himself. 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.
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.
Don was once nearly married to a fellow agent named Kim Hall, but that relationship ended when he returned to L.A. Owing to his distant demeanor and predilection for isolation, Charlie was unaware of this relationship. As Don's fiancée long ago, Kim Hall had a chance to come to know Don and observed that the brothers had "one part exuberance, two parts obsession," after she was assigned to a case working alongside the two. He had also 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
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0141931/) 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 http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0634409/). 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 does his family. Don is now actively pursuing his love interest in Liz Warner ("End of Watch"), something he has not done in a long time. She is initially hesitant about entering the relationship, especially given his reputation for short relationships. Don persuades her that they can still have an active relationship despite both being FBI agents and both working out of the L.A. Office ("Finders Keepers"). In "One Hour", Don's therapist questioned his motives concerning this relationship, and Don defended his actions. His supervisors in the FBI are aware of the relationship but the consequences have not been revealed. Finally, in the episode "Graphic," it is revealed that Don broke up with Liz, and was very depressed about it. With "In Security," Don's secrecy and his unwillingness to reveal information regarding his relationship with a woman in the Witness Protection Program
, Leah Wexford (Jennifer Riker), whom he knew in Albuquerque years ago, strained his relationship with Liz. He has spoken to his father on the matter.
In "Take Out," Don must see a therapist who is led to believe that he is "trigger happy." His father noted that this may be true, as he often shoots first. Further, Alan recalled how Don would take on others' burdens as a child and told him to get counseling, which he later willingly sought, especially considering that he viewed his life's work as a series of dirty deeds. In "One Hour", Don expressed that he doesn't have to trust his team, they have to trust him. The exception to this may be Charlie, whom the therapist identified as a member of the team to Don's initial confusion. It appears that Don considers Charlie more of an extension of himself than a member of his team, which may be true: Charlie would likely not be involved in the volume of cases that he is if not for Don's continued requests for his assistance, despite the team's respect for Charlie's contributions. He also confessed to his psychiatrist that he "respects the Hell out of" Charlie for all that his brother does for the FBI, and that Charlie has never let them down despite often having the team's and Don's lives in his hands. When the psychiatrist pushes Don about his relationship with Charlie, indicating first that Don resents Charlie's presence at the FBI and then that Don enjoys having his little brother as his 'employee', Don vehemently snaps back and defends Charlie. This shows how far the relationship between the brothers has come, especially since being damaged by the unusual pressures of their childhood and the three months near the end of their mother's life that Charlie spent working on P vs. NP. The therapist reveals that Don has deep-seated fears of losing what he has worked for, together with self-esteem issues from growing up in Charlie's shadow and likely some abandonment issues as well. In "Money for Nothing", he acquiesces to the counselor's request to ask Charlie to come in for a visit. A looming issue was the day Charlie walked all the way home from a camping trip at the age of 8 (taken for Don's 13th birthday) just to get away from Don who did not want him sticking around. During the meeting, he learns that his brother was not as inept as he and his father thought and stated he likes working with Charlie. Both Don's therapist and Edgerton himself bring up the incident in which a suspect was tortured that nearly took Don over the edge ("One Hour" and "Pandora's Box"), but given the fact that it was done to obtain the whereabouts of a missing FBI agent, Don and Ian's superiors appear to be overlooking the matter for now.
He was distraught over his father working with him in "Under Pressure", fearing for his safety. His father though straightens him out and shows him that he can help, which garners Don's gratitude — this surprises Alan.
In "The Janus List", Don sympathizes with the brilliant cryptographer
's desire to feel that his life had meaning, showing another side of him to his father, as he usually would not appreciate any sentiments of a criminal.
Though "Number-vision" (as it is called in the special features of the DVDs) usually only appears when Charlie's mind draws mathematical connections, it has been used twice to show Don's mind drawing connections in a similar fashion:
1) During the pilot episode, Don was examining a crime scene relating to the investigation of a serial rapist. While examining the position of cigarette butts on the scene, he suddenly drew several connections and determined the suspect's real motives for breaking his apparent pattern.
2) During "The Janus List" (Season 3 Finale), Don is looking at pictures of the placement of explosive devices on a bridge in the L.A. office with Charlie. Without warning, he sees a pattern in the explosives that translates into a musical scale, much to Charlie's surprise. This pattern, though something he initially shrugged off as a coincidence, turned out to be part of the key to revealing the Janus list and Colby Granger's position as a spy for the Chinese government.
When Colby escapes in Trust Metric, Don is conflicted about tracking Colby, and does not know whether to trust him about his status as a triple agent
. However, he and his team are hopeful and rescue him anyway. Prior to his escape, Don mulled over Granger's confession for five weeks.
In the episode "In Security," Don hides the level of intimacy he had with Leah Wexford and information contained in clearanced FBI files therein concerned, after she is killed. He appears close to her son, comforting him over his loss. Don feels overwhelmingly guilty, and so Charlie performs a Classification And Regression Tree (CART) analysis
behind his back. The result shows that he was not responsible for her death, and that his assertions of such lessen Leah's bravery.
After protecting Robin Brooks, he has become close to her and they are dating again. In the season finale, he is upset that Charlie cannot help him anymore due to his extreme act of sending his friend's work to a terrorist. He drives off alone to another case.
When season five opens, Don asks Amita and Larry to help with the math since Charlie no longer had his clearance, which neither brother wants to fight for. After Charlie helps the team find Don during a shootout on a mountainside and find a victim, Don decides to tell Charlie to ask for his clearance back. When they do begin the process of getting Charlie's clearance back, Don learns that FBI Security Officer Carl McGowan (Keith Carradine
) wants to open an investigation into Don instead of opening an investigation about Charlie's e-mail to Pakistan. In the formal interview, Don tells McGowan to reinstate Charlie's clearance, or Don quits the FBI. McGowan recommends disciplinary action against Don for his actions during the Crystal Hoyle and Clay Porter incidents, which Don expects. When the ADIC overturns McGowan's recommendations about Charlie and Don, Don is glad that Charlie is working with him again but feels lost in regards to the recommendation concerning him.
The fight with McGowan, coupled with seeing a fellow agent reach out for a picture of his family before dying in a shootout, causes Don to explore Judaism
. His decision surprises his family and Robin.
Buck Winters breaks out of prison to go after Don, causing Don to fear that he may have to shoot Buck. After Charlie tells him that he cannot go back in time and reverse his actions, Don then makes a plan to capture Buck alive. Don, the team, and Buck go into the temple where Buck reveals that he wanted a death-by-cop. The team arrest Buck.
When Charlie gets an offer from DARPA, he confides to Alan that he does not know whether he wants Charlie to take it. Don later tells Charlie that there was a better offer with the FBI. Don also teams up with Larry to tell Jane Karellen that Charlie was not taking DARPA up on their offer.
Toward the end of season five, David applies to be Don's primary relief supervisor. Don first leaves the letter of recommendation on his desk for David to read. After the request is granted and some on-the-job training in being Liz's handler, Don breaks the news about the request to David.
Don asks Charlie to help him during a home invasion case. Charlie's results confirm the area that the suspects would hit next. While checking out the property after a gun battle with the four suspects, a fifth man comes out and stabs Don, puncturing Don's right lung
and nicking Don's pulmonary artery
. After Don is out of surgery, he goes into cardiac arrest
and flatlines. The doctors are able to revive him. Don finally wakes up to Alan by his bedside. Later, his team comes for a visit. He tells them that he is allowed to return to desk duty initially and then full duty about a week later.
While recovering at home, Don realizes that his job does not influence him as much as it has in the past. He shows concerns for Charlie's reaction to his stabbing. About three weeks after the stabbing, Don goes to Charlie's new office for the first time, being pleased about Charlie's new office. After finding Charlie's converted police scanner, Don cautions Charlie about the risk of burnout from police work. After fifteen minutes after leaving, Don receives a phone call from Charlie saying that Amita has been kidnapped. Throughout the investigation, Don keeps putting himself in Charlie's shoes and even asks Larry to help with the math. When they find Amita, Don is the one to reunite Amita and Charlie. At home, Don confides in Alan that he had his faith in God's existence shaken by the stabbing and that he does not know whether he wants to continue his spiritual journey.
Since the beginning of season 6, there are signs that Don becomes fragile and more hesitant. His chase toward a runaway sniper in season premiere and his hunt to a rogue agent in episode 2 are not as quick and overwhelming in previous seasons. He also admits that the stabbing really shocked him, meaning that he has more concern on his safety now. Although, he admits he has a "lost a step" to his father, not remembering when he has beaten David or Colby in a sprint, he is quick enough to kill his old, tough FBI pal Pete "Petey" Fox, who is an expert in a gunfight and has fallen to the wrong side of the law. He grieves the loss of his adrenaline-chasing friend. In response to a mid-life crisis
sparked by his stabbing and the loss of Petey, Don buys a motorcycle
.
Midway through season six, he proposes to Robin. She rejects his proposal, stating that she felt he is still in the middle of significant changes in his life. She does promise to accept his proposal when he finds what he wants from life. In the sixth season finale, Don is at peace with himself after recovering his Glock, decides to take a head FBI position, and proposes once more to his now-fiancee Robin on his brother's wedding day. He promises to remain close with Charlie.
said that Morrow’s performance was “with full CSI-inspired stoicism”. Melanie McFarland, TV critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
, stated that Don was not an original character as of the pilot. Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle, however, called Morrow, as Don, “likable”. Robert Bianco of USA Today
stated that, although Don did not come across as an obvious choice of role for Morrow, Morrow was excellent as Don.
Since then, Don has been more widely accepted. Morrow is now as recognized for his role as Don Eppes as he is for his role in Northern Exposure
. In a public service announcement, Morrow congratulated the Federal Bureau of Investigation
on their 100th anniversary. With 53 percent of the votes, Don took first place in the category of "Sexiest FBI Agent" in TV Guides poll.
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the television show Numb3rs
NUMB3RS
Numb3rs is an American television drama which premiered on CBS on January 23, 2005, and concluded on March 12, 2010. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, and follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes and his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes , who helps Don solve crimes...
. He is played by Rob Morrow
Rob Morrow
Robert Alan "Rob" Morrow is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Don Eppes on Numb3rs and as Dr. Joel Fleischman on Northern Exposure, a role which garnered him three Golden Globes and two Emmy Award nominations for "Best Actor in a Dramatic Series."-Personal life:Morrow was born in...
.
Don is an FBI Special Agent
Special agent
Special agent is usually the title for a detective or investigator for a state, county, municipal, federal or tribal government. An agent is a worker for any federal agency, and a secret agent is one who works for an intelligence agency....
who runs the FBI Violent Crimes Squad in Los Angeles. Don recruits his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes
Charlie Eppes
Charles Edward "Charlie" Eppes, PhD is a fictional character and protagonist in the CBS crime drama Numb3rs.Dr...
, 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.
Backstory
Don is the older son of Alan Eppes and Margaret Mann-Eppes. During the Vietnam WarVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, his parents would take him to sit-in
Sit-in
A sit-in or sit-down is a form of protest that involves occupying seats or sitting down on the floor of an establishment.-Process:In a sit-in, protesters remain until they are evicted, usually by force, or arrested, or until their requests have been met...
s, and he twice watched his father be arrested (as mentioned in the episode "Protest"). When Don became too attached to his toy gun, his parents put him in Little League
Little League
Little League Baseball and Softball is a non-profit organization in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, United States which organizes local youth baseball and softball leagues throughout the U.S...
, hoping Don would forget his love for guns. Don graduated high school on the same day as his younger brother Charlie
Charlie Eppes
Charles Edward "Charlie" Eppes, PhD is a fictional character and protagonist in the CBS crime drama Numb3rs.Dr...
, who is five years younger. He went to college on a baseball scholarship and then played Single-A
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
with the Stockton Rangers (a fictional team) as a utility player
Utility player
In sport, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently, a sort of jack of all trades. Sports in which the term is often used include association football , baseball, rugby, rugby league, water polo and softball....
. Charlie used to predict the number of walks he would get just from his stance at the plate. Despite the attraction, Don never took steroids, although his backup player did. That player made the major leagues and Don has since wondered if he should have taken steroids to help improve his game. After realizing that he would never be better than a single A player, Don quit the Rangers and signed up for the FBI test the next day.
In the FBI Academy
FBI Academy
The FBI Academy, located in Quantico, Virginia, is the training site for new Special Agents of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was first opened for use in 1972 on 385 acres of woodland. It is a relatively small government academy, housing three dormitory buildings and...
, he dated fellow agent Terry Lake. As he later told his father, his favorite date ever was when he had pizza in a laundromat with her. Terry does not share that opinion. After graduating from the Academy, Don worked in Fugitive Recovery with Billy Cooper (episode "Man Hunt") and former Navy SEAL Petey Fox ("friendly Fire") and was very good at it. He taught at the FBI Academy for a time after Fugitive Recovery to help him come back to civilization ("Longshot"). After that, he worked in the field office in Albuquerque, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, and dated Kim Hall (Sarah Wayne Callies
Sarah Wayne Callies
Sarah Wayne Callies is an American actress who is best known for her role as Sara Tancredi in the American television series Prison Break. She now plays Lori Grimes in The Walking Dead.- Early life :...
), and nearly married her.
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, from which she eventually died.
Characterization
Don is a principled character and very devoted to his job, leaving him not much time for a social life. According to actor Rob Morrow, Don has a tendency to sacrifice, even at the expense of what he wants from life. He enjoys the occasional game of baseballBaseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
and is also often seen watching hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
, which he played in his youth. He went to college on a baseball scholarship. Don thought baseball was his first love, though his father Alan Eppes
Alan Eppes
Alan Eppes is a fictional character on the television show Numb3rs, played by Judd Hirsch. Alan is the father of the main characters, brothers Charlie and Don 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." Don's giving up on the game is an emotional subject for him.
He and Charlie have had their differences over the years, and Don finds it hard to go to Charlie for help to do his job. In fact, in "One Hour" Don states that he does not like living in the shadow of his genius brother, though he respects him and his abilities very much and they have become closer. Sometimes, he feels that Charlie isn't doing all the great things he could be doing because he is working with the FBI. Still, he does often question his brother only to have his faith in Charlie's abilities restored. In "Burn Rate", their father says, "But have you ever known your brother to let his emotions trump his math?" Just because Don gets emotional, he thought this was the case with Charlie and even stated his brother was backing one of his own — a genius. In "Trust Metric", Charlie says that he has a giant ego.
He is a harsh taskmaster, likes being the boss, and is not very forgiving. One of his former tactical trainees from Quantico
Quantico, Virginia
- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there are 561 people, 295 households, and 107 families living in the town. The population density is . There are 359 housing units at an average density of .-Racial composition:...
, Liz Warner (Aya Sumika http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1628101/), has proclaimed to this and, after Colby
Colby Granger
Colby Granger is a fictitious FBI agent on the American television show Numb3rs. First introduced during the second season, he has become a part of the team led by FBI Special Agent Don Eppes and is usually partnered with David Sinclair...
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
FBI Academy
The FBI Academy, located in Quantico, Virginia, is the training site for new Special Agents of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was first opened for use in 1972 on 385 acres of woodland. It is a relatively small government academy, housing three dormitory buildings and...
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.
He believes that the death penalty is a form of revenge.
Don has an ability to understand how criminals think, which causes him to suppress his thoughts in an effort to cope with the horrors that he sees on his job.
Evolution over the series
Having been Special Agent In Charge of the Albuquerque Office, Don took a demotion in order to obtain a position as Special Agent in the L.A. Field Office, but he did so to be with his family when his mother was diagnosed with cancer two years prior to the series pilot. Margaret Eppes died approximately one year later, and according to the pilot, Don elicited Charlie's help on two cases between her death and the series pilot. These cases involved IRS extortion and stock fraud. Initially uncertain about what Charlie might actually be able to contribute, he reluctantly allows Charlie to assist with their attempts to track down a rapist and is pleasantly surprised when Charlie's math leads to the suspect's apprehension.His relationship with Charlie was apparently somewhat strained even before their mother's death, as Don is stunned to learn that his little brother has enough security clearance to work with both the CDC and the NSA ("Vector"). He is even more surprised to discover that Charlie doesn't seem to know that his clearance will allow him to walk into the L.A. Office whenever he wishes, rather than obtaining a visitor's pass every time and being restricted in what he can do there. Upon resolving Charlie's status, Don now apparently calls Charlie in on most of his cases.
In "Uncertainty Principle", Don loses his temper at Charlie when Charlie once again reverts to working on P vs. NP after Don is shot in the arm by the 'Charm School Boys'. He vents his frustration and anger at Charlie for hiding in his math (members of the fandom refer to this state as 'Numbersville'). In "Vector", Don comforts Charlie when Charlie questions Don heartbrokenly about whether their mother was in pain during those last three months, showing that despite his anger that Charlie wasn't there for her, he cannot help but protect Charlie from whatever is hurting him.
After Charlie found a classical music composition for the piano (an Etude
Étude
An étude , is an instrumental musical composition, most commonly of considerable difficulty, usually designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular technical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidly growing popularity of the piano...
in G minor
G minor
G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. For the harmonic minor scale, the F is raised to F. Its relative major is B-flat major, and its parallel major is G major....
) 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", 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.
When Megan Reeves
Megan Reeves (Numb3rs)
Megan Reeves is a fictional FBI agent in the American television series Numb3rs. Created as a replacement for another FBI agent who served in the same capacity, Megan is a psychological profiler working with Don Eppes' team and serves as the head of the team when Eppes is away. Over the course of...
was kidnapped, Don pushed his ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
to the limit to get her back. While he did not personally beat a suspect, he had Special Agent Ian Edgerton interrogate the teenager for information on where Megan was being held. It is never shown or said what Edgerton did during the interrogation, but it is heavily implied that he may have used physical force, up to and including applying pressure to the gunshot wound through the teen's wrist; Don expressed concern to his father over being willing to go that far, even if he wasn't doing it himself. 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
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
house so often rather than staying at his apartment.
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.
Don was once nearly married to a fellow agent named Kim Hall, but that relationship ended when he returned to L.A. Owing to his distant demeanor and predilection for isolation, Charlie was unaware of this relationship. As Don's fiancée long ago, Kim Hall had a chance to come to know Don and observed that the brothers had "one part exuberance, two parts obsession," after she was assigned to a case working alongside the two. He had also once dated an ATF agent, and was pained to find out that she called him before she was killed. The prosecutor
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
Nadine Hodges (Sarah Carter
Sarah Carter
Sarah Carter is a Canadian actress, best known for her role in the TNT drama Falling Skies.-Biography:Carter was born in Toronto, Canada and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She attended Balmoral Hall School where she was a dedicated dancer and took part in various school plays including ‘’The Wizard...
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0141931/) 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 http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0634409/). 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 does his family. Don is now actively pursuing his love interest in Liz Warner ("End of Watch"), something he has not done in a long time. She is initially hesitant about entering the relationship, especially given his reputation for short relationships. Don persuades her that they can still have an active relationship despite both being FBI agents and both working out of the L.A. Office ("Finders Keepers"). In "One Hour", Don's therapist questioned his motives concerning this relationship, and Don defended his actions. His supervisors in the FBI are aware of the relationship but the consequences have not been revealed. Finally, in the episode "Graphic," it is revealed that Don broke up with Liz, and was very depressed about it. With "In Security," Don's secrecy and his unwillingness to reveal information regarding his relationship with a woman in the Witness Protection Program
United States Federal Witness Protection Program
The United States Federal Witness Protection Program is a witness protection program administered by the United States Department of Justice and operated by the United States Marshals Service that is designed to protect threatened witnesses before, during, and after a trial.A few states, including...
, Leah Wexford (Jennifer Riker), whom he knew in Albuquerque years ago, strained his relationship with Liz. He has spoken to his father on the matter.
In "Take Out," Don must see a therapist who is led to believe that he is "trigger happy." His father noted that this may be true, as he often shoots first. Further, Alan recalled how Don would take on others' burdens as a child and told him to get counseling, which he later willingly sought, especially considering that he viewed his life's work as a series of dirty deeds. In "One Hour", Don expressed that he doesn't have to trust his team, they have to trust him. The exception to this may be Charlie, whom the therapist identified as a member of the team to Don's initial confusion. It appears that Don considers Charlie more of an extension of himself than a member of his team, which may be true: Charlie would likely not be involved in the volume of cases that he is if not for Don's continued requests for his assistance, despite the team's respect for Charlie's contributions. He also confessed to his psychiatrist that he "respects the Hell out of" Charlie for all that his brother does for the FBI, and that Charlie has never let them down despite often having the team's and Don's lives in his hands. When the psychiatrist pushes Don about his relationship with Charlie, indicating first that Don resents Charlie's presence at the FBI and then that Don enjoys having his little brother as his 'employee', Don vehemently snaps back and defends Charlie. This shows how far the relationship between the brothers has come, especially since being damaged by the unusual pressures of their childhood and the three months near the end of their mother's life that Charlie spent working on P vs. NP. The therapist reveals that Don has deep-seated fears of losing what he has worked for, together with self-esteem issues from growing up in Charlie's shadow and likely some abandonment issues as well. In "Money for Nothing", he acquiesces to the counselor's request to ask Charlie to come in for a visit. A looming issue was the day Charlie walked all the way home from a camping trip at the age of 8 (taken for Don's 13th birthday) just to get away from Don who did not want him sticking around. During the meeting, he learns that his brother was not as inept as he and his father thought and stated he likes working with Charlie. Both Don's therapist and Edgerton himself bring up the incident in which a suspect was tortured that nearly took Don over the edge ("One Hour" and "Pandora's Box"), but given the fact that it was done to obtain the whereabouts of a missing FBI agent, Don and Ian's superiors appear to be overlooking the matter for now.
He was distraught over his father working with him in "Under Pressure", fearing for his safety. His father though straightens him out and shows him that he can help, which garners Don's gratitude — this surprises Alan.
In "The Janus List", Don sympathizes with the brilliant cryptographer
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
's desire to feel that his life had meaning, showing another side of him to his father, as he usually would not appreciate any sentiments of a criminal.
Though "Number-vision" (as it is called in the special features of the DVDs) usually only appears when Charlie's mind draws mathematical connections, it has been used twice to show Don's mind drawing connections in a similar fashion:
1) During the pilot episode, Don was examining a crime scene relating to the investigation of a serial rapist. While examining the position of cigarette butts on the scene, he suddenly drew several connections and determined the suspect's real motives for breaking his apparent pattern.
2) During "The Janus List" (Season 3 Finale), Don is looking at pictures of the placement of explosive devices on a bridge in the L.A. office with Charlie. Without warning, he sees a pattern in the explosives that translates into a musical scale, much to Charlie's surprise. This pattern, though something he initially shrugged off as a coincidence, turned out to be part of the key to revealing the Janus list and Colby Granger's position as a spy for the Chinese government.
When Colby escapes in Trust Metric, Don is conflicted about tracking Colby, and does not know whether to trust him about his status as a triple agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
. However, he and his team are hopeful and rescue him anyway. Prior to his escape, Don mulled over Granger's confession for five weeks.
In the episode "In Security," Don hides the level of intimacy he had with Leah Wexford and information contained in clearanced FBI files therein concerned, after she is killed. He appears close to her son, comforting him over his loss. Don feels overwhelmingly guilty, and so Charlie performs a Classification And Regression Tree (CART) analysis
Decision tree
A decision tree is a decision support tool that uses a tree-like graph or model of decisions and their possible consequences, including chance event outcomes, resource costs, and utility. It is one way to display an algorithm. Decision trees are commonly used in operations research, specifically...
behind his back. The result shows that he was not responsible for her death, and that his assertions of such lessen Leah's bravery.
After protecting Robin Brooks, he has become close to her and they are dating again. In the season finale, he is upset that Charlie cannot help him anymore due to his extreme act of sending his friend's work to a terrorist. He drives off alone to another case.
When season five opens, Don asks Amita and Larry to help with the math since Charlie no longer had his clearance, which neither brother wants to fight for. After Charlie helps the team find Don during a shootout on a mountainside and find a victim, Don decides to tell Charlie to ask for his clearance back. When they do begin the process of getting Charlie's clearance back, Don learns that FBI Security Officer Carl McGowan (Keith Carradine
Keith Carradine
Keith Ian Carradine is an American actor who has had success on stage, film and television. In addition, he is a Golden Globe and Oscar winning songwriter. As a member of the Carradine family, he is part of an acting "dynasty" that began with his father, John Carradine.-Early life:Keith...
) wants to open an investigation into Don instead of opening an investigation about Charlie's e-mail to Pakistan. In the formal interview, Don tells McGowan to reinstate Charlie's clearance, or Don quits the FBI. McGowan recommends disciplinary action against Don for his actions during the Crystal Hoyle and Clay Porter incidents, which Don expects. When the ADIC overturns McGowan's recommendations about Charlie and Don, Don is glad that Charlie is working with him again but feels lost in regards to the recommendation concerning him.
The fight with McGowan, coupled with seeing a fellow agent reach out for a picture of his family before dying in a shootout, causes Don to explore Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
. His decision surprises his family and Robin.
Buck Winters breaks out of prison to go after Don, causing Don to fear that he may have to shoot Buck. After Charlie tells him that he cannot go back in time and reverse his actions, Don then makes a plan to capture Buck alive. Don, the team, and Buck go into the temple where Buck reveals that he wanted a death-by-cop. The team arrest Buck.
When Charlie gets an offer from DARPA, he confides to Alan that he does not know whether he wants Charlie to take it. Don later tells Charlie that there was a better offer with the FBI. Don also teams up with Larry to tell Jane Karellen that Charlie was not taking DARPA up on their offer.
Toward the end of season five, David applies to be Don's primary relief supervisor. Don first leaves the letter of recommendation on his desk for David to read. After the request is granted and some on-the-job training in being Liz's handler, Don breaks the news about the request to David.
Don asks Charlie to help him during a home invasion case. Charlie's results confirm the area that the suspects would hit next. While checking out the property after a gun battle with the four suspects, a fifth man comes out and stabs Don, puncturing Don's right lung
Right lung
The human right lung is divided into three lobes , superior, middle, and inferior, by two interlobular fissures:-Fissures:...
and nicking Don's pulmonary artery
Pulmonary artery
The pulmonary arteries carry deoxygenated blood from the heart to the lungs. They are the only arteries that carry deoxygenated blood....
. After Don is out of surgery, he goes into cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest, is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively...
and flatlines. The doctors are able to revive him. Don finally wakes up to Alan by his bedside. Later, his team comes for a visit. He tells them that he is allowed to return to desk duty initially and then full duty about a week later.
While recovering at home, Don realizes that his job does not influence him as much as it has in the past. He shows concerns for Charlie's reaction to his stabbing. About three weeks after the stabbing, Don goes to Charlie's new office for the first time, being pleased about Charlie's new office. After finding Charlie's converted police scanner, Don cautions Charlie about the risk of burnout from police work. After fifteen minutes after leaving, Don receives a phone call from Charlie saying that Amita has been kidnapped. Throughout the investigation, Don keeps putting himself in Charlie's shoes and even asks Larry to help with the math. When they find Amita, Don is the one to reunite Amita and Charlie. At home, Don confides in Alan that he had his faith in God's existence shaken by the stabbing and that he does not know whether he wants to continue his spiritual journey.
Since the beginning of season 6, there are signs that Don becomes fragile and more hesitant. His chase toward a runaway sniper in season premiere and his hunt to a rogue agent in episode 2 are not as quick and overwhelming in previous seasons. He also admits that the stabbing really shocked him, meaning that he has more concern on his safety now. Although, he admits he has a "lost a step" to his father, not remembering when he has beaten David or Colby in a sprint, he is quick enough to kill his old, tough FBI pal Pete "Petey" Fox, who is an expert in a gunfight and has fallen to the wrong side of the law. He grieves the loss of his adrenaline-chasing friend. In response to a mid-life crisis
Mid-life crisis
Midlife crisis is a term coined in 1965 by Elliott Jaques and used in Western societies to describe a period of dramatic self-doubt that is felt by some individuals in the "middle years" or middle age of life, as a result of sensing the passing of their own youth and the imminence of their old age...
sparked by his stabbing and the loss of Petey, Don buys a motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
.
Midway through season six, he proposes to Robin. She rejects his proposal, stating that she felt he is still in the middle of significant changes in his life. She does promise to accept his proposal when he finds what he wants from life. In the sixth season finale, Don is at peace with himself after recovering his Glock, decides to take a head FBI position, and proposes once more to his now-fiancee Robin on his brother's wedding day. He promises to remain close with Charlie.
Creation
Don Eppes was created as Charlie's brother and as a link to the procedural part of the show. Gabriel Macht originally was cast as Don Eppes in the original pilot of Numb3rs. The believability of the family in terms of physical appearance and chemistry, however, created a need to recast the role. Rob Morrow replaced Macht when Macht left the show. At this point in development, Don was rewritten to be more intellectual than he was in the original pilot. To prepare for his role as Don Eppes, Morrow did some training with the FBI as well as reading about and talking to real-life police officers.Reception
Early critical reception of Don was mixed. Gillian Flynn of Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
said that Morrow’s performance was “with full CSI-inspired stoicism”. Melanie McFarland, TV critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
, stated that Don was not an original character as of the pilot. Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle, however, called Morrow, as Don, “likable”. Robert Bianco of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
stated that, although Don did not come across as an obvious choice of role for Morrow, Morrow was excellent as Don.
Since then, Don has been more widely accepted. Morrow is now as recognized for his role as Don Eppes as he is for his role in Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure is an American television series that ran on CBS from 1990 to 1995, with a total of 110 episodes.-Overview:The series was given a pair of consecutive Peabody Awards: in 1991–92 for the show's "depict[ion] in a comedic and often poetic way, [of] the cultural clash between a...
. In a public service announcement, Morrow congratulated the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
on their 100th anniversary. With 53 percent of the votes, Don took first place in the category of "Sexiest FBI Agent" in TV Guides poll.