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{{quote|''"We all use math every day. To forecast weather, to tell time, to handle money. We also use math to analyze crime, reveal patterns, predict behavior. Using numbers, we can solve the biggest mysteries we know."'' |'''[[Opening Narration]]'''}}
Ultimately, math conquers all, though on the way, Charlie usually faces a crisis of faith stemming from the fact that while he's a mathematical genius, he is emotionally immature, with only a very slight understanding of human motivation. Balance is restored via the assistance of his father Alan (Judd Hirsch) and physicist colleague Larry (Peter MacNicol). Larry generally advises him to steer clear of messy human-interaction problems, while Alan nudges him toward a better understanding of human nature.
In general, the mathematics underwriting the solutions is sound, and explained in such a way as to remain at least a little accessible to viewers. During seasons 1 to 2, the writers were fairly good at keeping each episode themed focused to illustrate a few related concepts or particular branch of mathematics, allowing them to give the math at least some decent coverage in depth. Unfortunately, as episode number climbed (especially in season 4), the math degenerated into magical solution generators. The creators gave the series a minor retool around the midpoint of season 5
The show finished its sixth and final season in 2010.
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Absent-Minded Professor]]: Both Charlie and Dr Larry Fleinhardt are prone to this. Charlie gets better as the series progresses, but Larry is often prone to being so deep in contemplation of either physics, math or philosophy that he forgets what's going on around him.
{{quote|
Charlie: Coming out.
Larry: [sighs] My memory is a memory. All right. [starts back inside]
Charlie: [yells] Larry, you were coming out! }}
* [[Action Girl]]: Megan Reeves.
** Arguably Liz Warner as well.
*** And to be fair Nikki Betancourt was never an liabilty on this front.
* [[Actor Allusion]]: At one point, Alan Eppes appears to have been involved in [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|an act of civil disobedience gone horribly wrong]] as a younger man. {{spoiler|He wasn't}}, but actor Judd Hirsh played a similar role in Sidney Lumet's ''Running On Empty''.
* [[
* [[Alternate Reality Game]]: [http://www.chainfactor.com Chain Factor], an addictive little Flash game which went rather deeper, including clues scattered throughout one episode, online sites, and the Los Angeles subways to unlock various power-ups.
* [[Always Gets His Man]]
* [[Awesomeness By Analysis]]: Avoided, wherein the super-brain Charlie Epps tries, among other things, golf and sniping, and learns that knowing the maths simply isn't enough. It requires some kind of instinct or gut feeling to get it right. But the [[An Aesop|Aesop]] the whole way through the series is one of synthesizing maths with the everyday skills of the FBI... Or something.
** The Aesop is that you should synthesize experience academic knowledge with experience (because in scientific terms that's what a gut feeling is), neither is sufficient alone.
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* [[Bald Black Leader Guy]]: David Sinclair. Although not technically a leader, he is Don's second-in-command.
* [[Beeping Computers]]: Most user interfaces seem to make an unusual amount of beeping, whining, and chirps as the user scrolls and clicks.
* [[Big Brother Instinct]] : Don toward Charlie. Amusingly, big brother Don also works for "Big Brother". But then in this case, Big Brother is also your friend.
** Don also acts like a big brother to the entire team. And the other members of the team often treat Charlie like a little brother.
* [[Incest Subtext|Bro Yay]]: Don and Charlie.
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** Moreover, working on unsolvable problems is his legitimate day-job: he's not doing it ''just'' to sulk. Plenty of folks use work as a distraction when they're upset.
* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2rGTXHvPCQ Explaining IRC.]
** True for just about every computer science description in the entire show. The Turing Test is incorrectly explained in two different episodes, one of which involves Amita "delivering" the test to a computer. <ref>The [[wikipedia:Turing test|Turing test]] proves that a computer is realistically emulating human conversation by having a neutral observer communicate with a human and a computer, not knowing which is which, and determining if the observer is able to distinguish between the two. Amita, by sitting in front of the computer and asking it questions, would therefore be unable to determine if the computer passed, since she already knows whether or not she is talking with a computer. Further, there's not a predefined list of questions for it. Oh, and a computer capable of passing the Turing test would be a spectacular feat, even if {{spoiler|that's all it was able to do. In the episode, it's pretty much shrugged off once it's revealed the computer was designed specifically to pass the test, and has no "intelligence" of its own.}}</ref> The show also makes typical use of [[Magic Computers]], and anything computer-ish at all needs Charlie or Amita to explain it (incorrectly), even though the FBI really should employ IT and CS staff of its own (egregiously, Amita acts like [[L33t L1ng0|leetspeek]] is a dead language that needs to be deciphered. While it can be hard to read, the title of the show is in leet).
*** And what was with all that [[Artificial Intelligence|"silicon-based lifeform"]] stuff? Since when is intelligence even a component of life, let alone ''its only'' feature?
*** When it shows none of the prerequisites for life (i.e. respiration (anaerobic or aerobic), growth, reproduction), most philosophers fall back on the argument of intellect. The only prevailing quality that can count as life in an inorganic structure is intelligence or the ability to create an original thought process (or the programming equivalent), so this is probably not that far stretched (depending on your definition of life). Also the Turing Test thing wasn't so bad. They ''very'' awkwardly handwaved the idea saying it was a "modified version" and barely skimped on the boundary parameters but it sorta holds up (you just have to rewrite the book on bias though...)
** While the equations specifically shown on screen for more than a split second are usually relevant, often the ones flying in the background of explanations aren't. See the above IRC video for a perfect example--online chatting is being compared to a drug trade; no mathematical equation <ref>If the boundaries of relevance are stretched a lot, when the box of drugs is thrown from one ship to the other, the physics equations for two dimensional motion of a projectile make sense</ref> would really be relevant there, yet thousands of symbols and numbers fly around in the background. Sometimes the math is wrong too, and even when it's right, it's often an overcomplicated or unnecessary introduction.
* [[Did the Research]]: In a TV Guide Channel interview, it was stated that David Krumholtz was actually taught the math that Charlie would need to know, as opposed to simply being taught the lines. Math professors were even brought in.
* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: {{spoiler|The kindly rec center owner who set off more than a half-dozen "chain reaction" gang shootings after a stray bullet killed his daughter, resulting in the deaths of ''hundreds'' of people, including innocent bystanders and children. Unsurprisingly, he's [[Driven to Suicide]]}}
* [[E=MC Hammer]]: Averted.
* [[Empty Cop Threat]]: Not ''every'' episode, but on occasion. In the episode "Toxic," a private security contractor was found going through the files of a journalist the FBI was visiting. After confirming his credentials, and after the journalist declined to press charges, Sinclair let the contractor off with a warning that if they ever caught him near their investigation again, he would charge him with obstruction of justice ''personally''. When the contractor was caught there again, Sinclair didn't charge him - he did something more drastic.
** Another episode uses the trope: A man hires private security to find his stolen loot. The FBI is also on the case as people were kidnapped during the theft. The private security guys barge in as the FBI is about to arrest the kidnappers, which allows them to escape. Don immediately has both men arrested as accessory to the kidnappers, and warns their employer that if he sees any more of his employees following FBI agents around, he'll have him arrested under the same charges.
* [[Epic Fail]]: In the episode featuring the hacker on the run from various criminal groups, the Israeli hacker/arms-dealer gets cornered by an FBI agent while said Israeli hacker's muscle is elsewhere. The hacker's eyes dart over to the glass window and the viewer just ''knows'' he is going to try and make a break for it—but does not expect for the break to fail so spectacularly, as the hacker's body (appropriate for his specialty, and thus not made like a linebacker's) bounces off the window not once, not twice, but ''[[Rule of Three|three times]]''. He is caught, obviously, no doubt wondering why the breakaway glass didn't break away, like in the movies.
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** There is also another nerdy character that plays Fantasy Baseball, Oswald Kittner. Played by [[Jay Baruchel]] who is a real life friend of David Krumholtz, according to the DVD commentary on that episode.
* [[Good Parents]]: Alan
* [[Gentleman and
* [[Good
* [[Hollywood Nerd]]: All over the place, but Charlie is the most prominent.
* [[Idiot Ball]]: The FBI has an unlimited supply of those.
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*** In the same episode, it's mentioned how surprising it is to the FBI's expert manhunter that the fugitive never tried to leave his ''home'' county, despite it being in his best interest to do so and avoid the intense police presence searching for him. The cops repeatedly found the campsite where he stayed, but just after he's just vacated it. Yet it takes Charlie and his math to reveal the obvious: The man's sticking around his home county because he goes to visit his wife once in a while. Said wife still resides in their home, where the shooting took place. That's right. The FBI, and their expert tracker, NEVER considered that a fugitive who remains near his home ''might'' be visiting his family on a regular basis.
*** In another episode, they ask a interviewee if she knows anything about pot. After denying it, she mentions that she doesn't know anything about ''pot farms''. They treat it like a [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]].
* [[
* [[If Jesus, Then Aliens]]: This trope seems to crop up with distressing regularity. Every few episodes, Charlie is challenged to move beyond the empirical world to a matter of faith, only the matter of faith in question is something completely outside the normal debate of science vs. religion, and yet Larry's right there urging Charlie to consider that it might possibly be true. After all, even scientists don't pretend that they can know everything, right?
** More like Larry's just weird that way. If anything, his entire character exists to pointedly avert the [[Straw Atheist]] scientist stereotype while other scientists (like Charlie) take a more traditional view.
** Actually, it's more that Larry is a physicist whose focus is on Quantum Mechanics in subatomic theory where the observation of a particle changes its nature and the reality of a subject of inquiry can be both existent and non-existent concurrently depending on the parameters of study. Hence he spends most of his time theorizing on things that change when he observes them. Spending a career on that requires an existential trust in both stable and unstable influences that are constantly interchangeable. I.e. he ''has'' to have faith in stuff that isn't there because half the time he finds it ''is'' there, it actually ''isn't''.
* [[I Just Shot Marvin in
* [[Instant Marksman, Just Squeeze Trigger]]: Both downplayed and somewhat justified in "Sniper Zero". Charlie's bullet ballistics number-crunching keeps failing to give him the whole picture of how the suspect sniper operates, so he resolves to learn what shooting a gun feels like. After struggling with a rifle at the shooting range for a while, Don gives him a few of the usual pointers: relax his hands, shoot in-between breaths, etc. Charlie's next shot, while not sharpshooter material, is a lot better, and his final prediction on the sniper's nest location is off by only a few feet.
* [[Insufferable Genius]]: Charlie can on occasion be this. Just enough times to give him human faults.
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* [[Ivy League for Everyone]]
* [[I Want Grandkids]]: Alan takes the proactive approach, giving solid relationship advice to Don and Charlie.
* [[Just Smile and Nod]]: The FBI gang do this when Charlie explain some very complicated math theories.
* [[Knight Templar Big Brother]]: Don... He has gotten better about it over the years though.
* [[Lady of War]] : Megan. Amita in the episode ''Primacy'', and other episodes. Also Liz.
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* [[Russian Roulette]] - {{spoiler|Used as a way to make money from very desperate gamblers and really sick viewers. The organizers even gave the players nicknames and everything; unfortunately for them it was rigged.}}
* [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]]: In one episode, a psychic predicts the killers' next move and goes there with his camera. {{spoiler|The killers are there, along with their big truck. He doesn't get better either.}}
* [[Shipper
* [[Sibling Team]]: Don and Charlie.
* [[Sibling Yin-Yang]]: Don is more "Jock-like" and Charlie is more "Geek-like".
* [[Smart People Play Chess]]: It isn't enough that Charlie Eppes could multiply four-digit numbers in his head when he was three, graduated from high school and entered Princeton at 13, completed his bachelors degree in three years and is a multiple Ph.D. No, just so we'll know he's ''really'' smart, he regularly beats his father and his former academic advisor (both portrayed as above-average intelligence) at chess, too.
** Justified. Chess is a proponent of game theory with a zero-sum outcome in which all information is available and possible moves are restricted based on previous moves. Hence it really comes down to a calculation of possible outcomes weighed against a target outcome. The reason why mathematicians tend to be good at chess is because chess is based in a very specific form of game theory. Why does Charlie always play and always win? Because he's [[Good
*** Which Dr Fleinhart did to the point of being banned from casinos, making him doubly smart!
* [[The Spock]]: Dr Fleinhart. Charlie doesn't qualify, as he emotes just fine.
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** Less weird in that since Charlie was a child prodigy, they're about the same age.
* [[Team Dad]] : Don
* [[Theme Serial Killer]]: A serial killer whose victims had the same names as the 12 apostles and killed them in the way each apostle died.
** Not only that but the locations of their deaths were consistent with a map of the last significant events of Jesus's life.
* [[Treacherous Advisor]]: The one encouraging the team is usually the [[Big Bad]], and, if so, usually gets caught. [[Accidental Aesop|So]] [[Don't Try This At Home|don't]] [[The Informant|help]] the [[Police Are Useless|police]], [[Space Whale Aesop|because helping the police]] will always result in a [[Stable Time Loop]] that [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|corrupts you]] into being a [[Big Bad]] that will get caught for the crime that you help the police to solve.
* [[Walking the Earth]] : Larry is always doing this or wanting to.
** Except when he went into space.
* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: {{spoiler|The Neighborhood Watch types who got hold of Don's gun used it to kill a pair of drug dealers who sold to schoolchildren, a serial drunk driver who ran down two people, and to intimidate a vicious neighbor who turned out to be an escaped murderer. I suppose there are ''worse'' people who could've gotten hold of it, but it still made Don very uncomfortable.}}
* [[Will They or Won't They?]]: Charlie and Amita.
** Though this has progressed to [[They Do|"they do"]]. {{spoiler|They are now married.}}
* [[Writer
* [[You Fail Mathematics Forever]]: Zigzagged like crazy.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:TV Series]]
[[Category:Crime and Punishment Series]]
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