Lou Diamond Phillips, reprising his role of FBI Special Agent Ian Edgerton, made his third appearance on Numb3rs.
A recently married couple, Buck Winters (David Gallagher) and Crystal Hoyle (Kim Dickens), shoot the people inside a convenience store outside of Los Angeles, California and drive off in a stolen a convertible.
Some time later, FBI Special Agent Ian Edgerton (Lou Diamond Phillips) informs FBI Special Agents Don Eppes (Rob Morrow), Megan Reeves (Diane Farr), David Sinclair (Alimi Ballard), and Colby Granger (Dylan Bruno) that Crystal and Buck have been on a 17-day robbery spree from Texas to Los Angeles.
A call stating that Crystal and Buck were involved in a shootout in a Wyoming bar confirms Charlie's suspicion and fills in a gap in the timeline.
A background check reveals that Crystal, along with her friend Lydia Campos (Georgia Hatzis), was arrested for drug possession in Los Angeles at age 15.
Meanwhile, Buck and Crystal drive into a downtown car dealership belonging to Pierce Brenner (Jerry D. O'Donnell).
Meanwhile, Alan Eppes (Judd Hirsch), Don and Charlie's father, contemplates moving into a condo, citing privacy issues and the need to invest the money from the sale of the house.
While telling his friend and colleague Dr. Larry Fleinhardt (Peter MacNicol) about these changes and the idea about the Wyoming shooting, Charlie becomes inspired to use pursuit curves to model Crystal and Buck's as well as Ian's movements throughout the western United States.
Beginning with season three, creators Cheryl Heuton and Nicolas Falacci decided to serialize the show in terms of character's lives.
[3] When the episode premiered, 11.42 million people in the United States watched "Spree", beating Law & Order by about 490,000 viewers.
[8] Jeffrey Robinson, a DVD Talk reviewer, called "Spree" "[o]ne of the season's strongest episodes".