Crystal Hoyle (Numb3rs)

The villainous Crystal Hoyle

Crystal Hoyle (Kim Dickens) was the main villainess from "Spree" and "Two Daughters," the first two episodes of Numb3rs' third season (airdates September 22 and 29, 2006).

Backstory

Crystal Hoyle's backstory revealed that she ran away from home as a teenager, due to her parents pressuring her to get good grades in school, while she also worked as a waitress alongside her friend, Lydia Campos. At age 15, Crystal was involved in a relationship with Pierce Brenner, a married man, resulting in a pregnancy. However, Pierce remained with his wife and used lawyer Adam Denton to send Crystal to Billy Rivers, who talked Crystal into giving her baby--a girl--up for adoption.

Crystal and Lydia were arrested for drug possession, and after her release, she became a high school teacher in adulthood. She taught 20th Century Europe and had senior Buck Winters in her class, after which Crystal began an illicit relationship with her student. Once Buck's father found out about the relationship, he threatened to report Crystal to police, leading to Buck shooting his father to death.

Spree

Crystal and Buck had committed a spree of robberies entering the events of "Spree," which showed the couple, now married to each other, robbing a liquor store. After phoning Lydia and asking if she could help her out, Crystal and Buck drove to a car dealership, where Pierce emerged and recognized his ex-lover, only for Crystal to shoot him to death and Buck to express shock over Pierce recognizing her. The villainous criminal later acquired a collection of grenades from Lydia and later took Buck to a meth house; pouring gasoline in through the door and threatening the distributers with a grenade before setting the house on fire.

Lydia was taken into custody and revealed her history with Crystal during her interrogation, while also revealing her motivation for targeting the house: the people inside were connected to Rivers. Figuring that Rivers would be Crystal's next target, the FBI went to Rivers' home and captured Buck, who attempted to kill Rivers on his own for Crystal. Following Buck's arrest, Megan Reeves was approached by Crystal, who held up a grenade and ordered Megan to hand over her purse before Crystal captured her at episode's end.

Two Daughters

Crystal phoning Don Eppes in "Two Daughters"

The following episode, "Two Daughters," began with a search for both Megan and Crystal, with the latter using Megan's phone to contact Don Eppes and reveal that she had captured Megan. The villainess demanded Buck's release in exchange for Megan, after which Crystal took Megan to a hotel room and chained her up. Megan's attempt to get through to Crystal saw her reveal that she ran away from home at age 16, while Crystal revealed her backstory and her teenage pregnancy. This led Megan to realize that Crystal's desire to reunite with her daughter--who she hadn't seen since she gave her up--was her motive, though Megan's attempt to convince Crystal to realize the lack of reality in her goal was met with anger.

Crystal thwarted Megan's attempt to disarm her, though she fired a shot that was noticed by Don and the rest of the agents, leading to Megan's rescue. The villainess remained at large; having located Denton and shot him to death, and later used Megan's access to federal files (from Megan's purse) to find her daughter. She was later shown outside her daughter's home and seeing her with her adoptive parents, after which she drove off and phoned Buck, who pleaded with his wife to turn herself in while admitting that he screwed up.

Though Crystal forgave Buck, she said goodbye to him, and after tracking her location, the group rushed to her location. Megan spoke to Crystal on the phone once more, though Crystal was shown in her car activating a grenade and telling Megan to get out of the way. The villainess sped up towards the group, prompting Don to fire a shot at Crystal's head, killing her before the grenade activated and blew up the car.

Trivia

• Kim Dickens later played recurring villainess Eve Raytek on Briarpatch.