S02.E17: Four Body Problem

[Yeah No]

8 hours ago, Chit Chat said:

I FF through parts of this episode, so I missed that part.  Cremation doesn't involve a casket, so if they wrote it as him being cremated in a casket, it doesn't make sense.  

I'm seeing that a person can be cremated in a casket pretty much everywhere online. In fact they make special cremation caskets out of biodegradable material. And some look as fancy as the one on this episode.

[Chit Chat]

19 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

I'm seeing that a person can be cremated in a casket pretty much everywhere online. In fact they make special cremation caskets out of biodegradable material.

I wasn't aware of that.  I know that the deceased is taken to a crematory and is cremated there.  I never asked the details on that part of it when taking care of this for my late parents, but it's interesting to know that they may use a special type of casket (not a regular one, of course.)   

[zapper]

On 4/15/2025 at 7:12 AM, Nashville said:

In truth, I’m simply happy I’ve stayed alive long enough to be one of the (probably) few people who will get this reference.  😆

not the only one, and now i have that theme running through my head. Mike Post was the theme song god in the eighties.

[Nashville]

On 4/15/2025 at 5:00 PM, chitowngirl said:

I hope not…I like the rotation of detectives.

Same; I could easily see TPTB setting the stage for Elsbeth and Kaya to be matched up every other week, with the intervening episodes pairing Elsbeth with a different Detective Of The Week - caters to the fan base who loves the Elsbeth/Kaya pair, while also giving Production flexibility to keep some variety in the mix.  Kinda like Bones and her squinterns.

TIL the difference between a coffin and a casket:

The main difference between a coffin and a casket lies in their shape and how their lids are designed. Coffins are typically six-sided, tapered at the head and feet to fit the body's shape, and have removable lids, while caskets are rectangular, have four sides, and usually have hinged lids that can be opened for viewings.

 

[J-Man]

On 4/15/2025 at 2:30 PM, possibilities said:

 

Columbo had the same detective/cop coworkers for the entire run of the show, I think (Randy and Captain SomethingOrOther), 

I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Monk. 

[Nashville]

6 hours ago, J-Man said:

I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Monk. 

Yeah… aside from Peter Falk himself the only regular features in Columbo were his trench coat, his cigar, his basset hound, and his car - a 1959 Peugeot 403 Cabriolet that was as whipped as a rented mule.

[possibilities]

Damn. I was sure I remembered Columbo's police department knew his schtick and it was only the perps who were confused by it, and that he often had other investigators hanging around. But IMDB confirms that there were not in fact repeating characters. 

 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 4/15/2025 at 1:03 PM, Driad said:

This episode reminded me a bit of the Sherlock Holmes story The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax

Agreed. And the title "Four Body Problem" was undoubtedly a play on the following novel, recently adapted by Netflix: The Three-Body Problem

Edited April 25 by ItCouldBeWorse

[Nashville]

1 hour ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Agreed. And the title "Four Body Problem" was undoubtedly a play on the following novel, recently adapted by Netflix: The Three-Body Problem

The term “three-body problem” - and “four-body problem”, for that matter - in reality are physics references for calculations to resolve issues of orbital object gravitation; 3BP, for example, goes all the way back to Isaac Newton’s original writings back in the 1600s.

Edited April 25 by Nashville
Correcting damn autocorrect

[Nashville]

(There is a physics reference to the “problems” which, if not taken literally, could be interpreted as applicable to the plot of this episode - but I doubt most non-mathematicians would appreciate it…. 😄)

[ItCouldBeWorse]

33 minutes ago, Nashville said:

The term “three-body problem” - and “four-body problem”, for that matter - in reality are physics references for calculations to resolve issues of orbital object gravitation; 3BP, for example, goes all the way back to Isaac Newton’s original writings back in the 1600s.

For those who are unaware: n-body problem

26 minutes ago, Nashville said:

(There is a physics reference to the “problems” which, if not taken literally, could be interpreted as applicable to the plot of this episode - but I doubt most non-mathematicians would appreciate it…. 😄)

Attempting to reliably predict the movement of the nephew's body? Likely unsolvable.

Edited April 25 by ItCouldBeWorse

[seacliffsal]

On 4/15/2025 at 5:30 PM, possibilities said:

 

Columbo had the same detective/cop coworkers for the entire run of the show, I think (Randy and Captain SomethingOrOther), so they ought to be able to keep a relationship between Elsbeth and Kaya if they want to. I don't want to see Kaya held back. But they keep poairing her with other detectives, so it' sno tlike Kaya cna't be a detective and also work with Elsbeth.

Actually, it was Monk who had Randy and Captain Stottlemeyer (sp).  Columbo may have had the same Sargeant for an episode or two, but didn't have a consistent one throughout the series.  There was also a coroner who appeared in several of the later seasons.  His most consistent castmate was his basset hound 'Dog.'

[shapeshifter]

On 4/18/2025 at 12:49 AM, possibilities said:

Damn. I was sure I remembered Columbo's police department knew his schtick and it was only the perps who were confused by it, and that he often had other investigators hanging around. But IMDB confirms that there were not in fact repeating characters. 

Both things can be true?

[Nashville]

2 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Attempting to reliably predict the movement of the nephew's body? Likely unsolvable.

Ooookay then - without trying to ubergeek the subject matter overmuch, keep in mind that in the suite of n-body problems…

1. 2-body problems are considered “solved”; i.e. exactly solvable via mathematical equations.
2. 3-body problems are currently considered either “conditionally solved” or “unsolved”, depending on your personal preference (or degree of cynicism, whichever applies); only solvable analytically in certain cases (“special”), but not in all cases (“general”).
3. At present, 4-body problems are considered unsolvable analytically; i.e., can only be solved via iterative simulation runs.

So, that’s the mathgeek answer - but I believe the writers’ intentions were a bit more prosaic:

1. “Three-body problem” could be considered a reference to (a) the funeral director, (b) his nephew’s body, and (c) the body the director was searching for to disguise disposal of the nephew: three entities in motion, with the funeral director’s “solution” to the problem being successful and undetected destruction of the nephew’s body (and attendant evidence).
2. Add Elsbeth into the mix, however, and the funeral director’s three-body problem just became a four-body problem - and there’s no easy way to solve those, especially when he doesn’t have more than one or two tries to get it right.

(Toldja you probably didn’t want to hear it…. 😆)

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 4/25/2025 at 9:02 PM, Nashville said:

Ooookay then - without trying to ubergeek the subject matter overmuch, keep in mind that in the suite of n-body problems…

1. 2-body problems are considered “solved”; i.e. exactly solvable via mathematical equations.
2. 3-body problems are currently considered either “conditionally solved” or “unsolved”, depending on your personal preference (or degree of cynicism, whichever applies); only solvable analytically in certain cases (“special”), but not in all cases (“general”).
3. At present, 4-body problems are considered unsolvable analytically; i.e., can only be solved via iterative simulation runs.

So, that’s the mathgeek answer - but I believe the writers’ intentions were a bit more prosaic:

1. “Three-body problem” could be considered a reference to (a) the funeral director, (b) his nephew’s body, and (c) the body the director was searching for to disguise disposal of the nephew: three entities in motion, with the funeral director’s “solution” to the problem being successful and undetected destruction of the nephew’s body (and attendant evidence).
2. Add Elsbeth into the mix, however, and the funeral director’s three-body problem just became a four-body problem - and there’s no easy way to solve those, especially when he doesn’t have more than one or two tries to get it right.

(Toldja you probably didn’t want to hear it…. 😆)

Well, since I'm a fan of XKCD, read and understood the "problem" they were trying to solve in the Three-Body Problem, (and was HS math team captain), I actually did!

[Milburn Stone]

On 4/12/2025 at 8:24 AM, possibilities said:

I would like to see Elsbeth solve cases by being smart, not because her suspects are sloppy and stupid.

Very much agree.

This and the previous episode have reduced my pleasant anticipation of future episodes considerably. The show runners could be setting a record for "fewest episodes before show jumps shark."

[chediavolo]

OMG he locked his poor nephew alive in a coffin to die! I could not get past that horror. He should suffer a tortuous death in prison for that! The nephew was a wacko conspiracy theorist but in no way deserved that death. 

[shapeshifter]

On 5/30/2025 at 7:00 AM, chediavolo said:

OMG he locked his poor nephew alive in a coffin to die! I could not get past that horror. He should suffer a tortuous death in prison for that! The nephew was a wacko conspiracy theorist but in no way deserved that death. 

I guess I blocked that out? 
Not going to rewatch to see.

 

[christie]

16 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I guess I blocked that out? 
Not going to rewatch to see.

 

Same