NUMB3RS – The Fifth Season (2008 – 2009/CBS DVD)
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: C+ Episodes: C+
When NUMB3RS
began, it seemed like it could be an exciting groundbreaking show if it lasted
long enough. Here is what we thought of
the First Season:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4124/Numb3rs+%E2%80%93+The+Complet
Then the Second
Season arrived and it was still good, but something was giving way and it
was not necessarily a good thing for the show, as this review will show:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4513/NUMB3RS+%E2%80%93+The+Comple
Besides becoming more like the other police procedurals,
one big criticism is that is was getting away from the mathematics that made
the show special. What was shaky was
getting very slowly worse, as this coverage of Season Three will show:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6008/Numb3rs+%E2%80%93+The+Third+S
Well, we missed the Fourth
Season (Maybe we’ll see the Blu-ray later), but picking up on The Fifth Season,
the show has (spoiler!!!) Charlie in trouble with the feds and turning himself
in to prove his innocence, hopes to resolve the dilemma. A nice twist, but it gets so far away from
the first seasons that it sometimes is not the same show and though the cast is
still good and likable, it is also trapped in a holding pattern that it may
never get out of.
The 23 hour-long shows on 6 DVDs here are still of a
better quality than most of what is on TV today, but the arc from the beginning
to now is underwhelming at the least and disappointing at times. This is a comeback for Rob Morrow and the
show has managed to hold onto both Peter MacNicol and Judd Hirsch, but the
series has simply not lived up to all of its potential and some of the energy
that made the show great and exciting to begin with has been somewhat lost.
It could make a comeback, but will that happen before its
time is up? We’ll see.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is a little
soft from the stylized approach the show has taken and may have become more
styled down since its debut. Color and
definition are consistent, but we expect a Blu-ray version would resolve some
image issues better. The Dolby Digital
5.1 mix is the highlight of the disc with good surrounds, some character in the
mixes and well-recorded sound overall.
Extras include two making of featurettes (Crunching NUMB3RS and Celebrating
100), Cast/Crew Commentary on some episodes, Blooper Reel and Deleted
Scenes.
- Nicholas Sheffo
