With the beginning of the new year, Robert Patrick’s hit show is also coming back with its winter premiere. The episode puts us back into a reality where Walter O’Brien has been through some pretty serious life altering events.
Before you delve into the newest episode of Scorpion, we’ll give you a small rundown and review of the first half of the season.
For more details, click after the jump.
Scorpion’s second season has been very strong so far. If you didn’t have the time to go through them last year, here are our more comprehensive reviews of 2x01 - ”Satellite of Love” and 2x02 - “Cuba Libre”.
Following up is 2x03 “Fish Filet” - Silvester went undercover in a federal prison to save three judges whose lives were being threatened by a gang. They needed to find out the judges names in order to protect them. If you know anything about Ari Stidham’s character, this was a big deal. He has huge trust issues and is also a bit claustrophobic… never mind the fact that he’s also a scaredy cat. But the episode turns out to be a great opportunity for Sly to more brave and open up about his feelings to Megan.
The episode also gave value to the show’s newest addition, Kevin Weisman, as he’s instrumental in their plan to break Sly out of prison. Likewise, this was a shining moment for Cabe Gallo; the lack of cooperation from Molina—their so called boss at the Department of Homeland Security—really rubbed him the wrong way as it put the team’s lives in danger and showed tremendous disrespect for this group that he considers to be his family. True colors were shown and Gallo isn’t taking it easy.
The fourth episode of the season, entitled “Robots”, had Walter, Happy, and Cabe on a classified mission to infiltrate a top-secret submarine 300-feet below the surface. They’re also assigned to Katherine, a new supervisor from Homeland. She’s underqualified for the job, but she fights her darndest to prove her worth. When the crew at the submarine discover that the team is communicating with the outside, they destroy their communication devices and detain them. It gets complicated when trying to communicate back with the surface. Happy sets off a bomb that compromises the submarine. Cabe does what he does best: make a heroic sacrifice. And after a few close calls, the marines, their leader, Happy and Walter make it out safe and sound. This episode had them very close to death, which triggered emotional admittances that these two never allow themselves, which was great as a character development moment. The addition of their new supervisor and the dynamic of the support group was good as well, adding an extra layer.
“Super Fun Guys” was the fifth episode of the second season, and as usual, the campy character of this show takes us to a very unlikely yet enjoyable setting: Scorpion goes undercover on the set of Silvester’s favorite superhero movie in Kazakhstan to neutralize a nuclear missile being sold by terrorists. You’d think that this would be the dream mission for Sly, but because of Megan’s MS complications, he has to stay behind without really providing the team with a believable explanation. Toby still tries to convince Happy to be together as they face the intricacies of the case. Katherine proves to be a more helpful supervisor but not by much, and Ray continues to help out the team even when his skills are far from being scientific. This episode was important because it continued to go down the rabbit hole that is Walter’s drive, his objective in this show. He might want to save the world, but he’s almost doing so to save his sister. Meanwhile, Megan is not getting any better, and Sly is very aware of it, so much so that he ditches the mission to stay by her side.
The sixth episode of the season was “Tech, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll”. In this one there is a lot going on, including Walter trying to live a normal adult life by going out. This goes horribly when he meets a girl at a bar and she manages to infect his computer. So when he collaborates with Mr. Elia to inaugurate the smart building that they’ve been developing, the computer infects the building and it goes up in flames, putting the lives of the guests and Sylvester in danger. The episode brings quite a few features to the table. Paige is more compromised than she thinks; when they discover that Walter had been flirting with another woman, her levels of jealousy are quite something. Walter will do anything to save lives and prove he’s right, especially to prove it to his mentor; and he almost kills Toby doing so. Even when he has good intentions, his pride and loyalty are dangerous. It’s a sick balance between his sense of responsibility and his need to control everything around him.
This brings us to the next one. “Crazy Train” puts the lives of Paige and Ralph in danger. They’re aboard a runaway train that’s been hacked and cannot be stopped. Of course, Walter is the one to jump at the chance to save them. Even when the whole team collaborates to save the people aboard, Walter is the one to almost take his mission to the point of martyrdom. Also, this functions as a metaphor for Walter’s need to separate himself from those he loves, Paige being the ultimate test here. It takes a revealing conversation with Ray for Walter to ruminate over this, especially having hurt Paige when he decided to sacrifice his life and not account for her feelings. For the emotional handicaps that this man suffered through the first season, this second one proves that he’s being hit left and right with so many emotions that perhaps that’s the problem; his mind is being overloaded.
Episode number eight is titled “Area 51”, and I have to admit that this one did not rise to my expectations. Perhaps that was the actual issue; I had expectations and didn’t let the writers tell the story they wanted to tell. But here’s the gist: Megan's condition gets worse and Walter gets frustrated about not being able to help her, so when the CIA appears in the garage with the promise of a big payday, it seems like the solution is finally here. One of my main problems with this episode is that the solution for Megan’s illness is not quite it. Walter’s suggestion is that they’ll be able to upload Megan to a server that requires an excessive capacity to hold, yes, a lifetime. The issue is that, lost in the science, no one ever question ethics. No one asks: should this be done? Besides this, the episode as a quirky one, works, but it did feel like it was jam-packed with information that, at Scorpion’s pace, didn’t leave me enough time to digest. There’s a moment when the tone needs to come down a bit or the speed needs to slow down for us to follow. The strongest point of this episode is the quarrel that’s brewing between Sly and Walter over Megan’s future.
In my book, “US vs. UN vs. UK” is the start of the ramp up of season two. The team is blackmailed into helping out a team from the UK to break into the the UN to help kill an international arms dealer. The episode is filled with tons of twists and turns that reminded me of Ocean’s 11 and The Interpreter, if any of those were comedies, but it actually worked very well. Even aside from the case, the episode raised the stakes when Sylvester and Megan make the ultimate decision to protect themselves from Walter’s intervention in their lives, and they get married. Walter can no longer dictate Megan’s medical decisions and that causes a rift between the two friends that, while controlled, still remains.
The tenth episode, ”Arrivals and Departures”, is the moment many of us dreaded would come. Megan’s condition worsens, and it becomes inevitable to avoid the idea that she will die. The family gets called in and this makes for a very awkward reunion between Walter and his father. Meanwhile, a pathogen has infected the hospital threatening all of their lives. While I really liked this episode because it gave us the opportunity to learn about the dynamic of this family, it also makes me feel that this could have been the time to shy away from actually having a case and dedicate the time to the fact that Megan was dying. For me, the case almost took too much of the time and the situation with his sister was put on the back burner. Still, Megan’s death and final message to Walter are quite touching. It rattles him enough that his world is turned upside down; he doesn’t deal well with failure, even when others try to convince him that he has not failed.
Episode eleven is titled “The Old College Try”. Everyone is around to help Ralph build a time capsule, everyone but Walter who thinks it’s a waste of time because nothing good comes from dwelling in the past. This is a tough moment for Walter as this is the first case directly following Megan’s death. To add to this struggle, Paige is dead set on him expressing his grief as part as her emotional overhaul. For the episode’s case, the team goes undercover at a college to discover who is holding the federal reserve for ransom using a quantum computer, one that they will have to hack into. Each role they personify to go undercover leaves certain growth for the geniuses: Sylvester faces insecurities, Toby faces an old enemy, Walter allows himself to be emotional even if hiding himself behind Shakespeare, and Happy… just wants to be normal. She manages to have a bit of normalcy by the end of the episode, allowing Toby back in.
On the other hand, Walter is hurting, even though he had been so dismissive of delving into his pain over his sister’s passing. However, he manages to channel that pain towards helping Ray. And he does; he absolved his new friend of the guilt he’d been suffering from for years because of the death of his firefighter friend. After Walter helps him out of that rough spot, Ray tells Paige that she’s going to have to be the one to pull Walter out of his shell. He’ll gradually get there.
The christmas episode and number twelve of this season is titled “Dam Breakthrough”. Team Scorpion must prevent a catastrophe on Christmas Eve when torrential rains create a large crack in a dam. An entire town could disappear if they fail. As always, the members of the team face serious dangers. Cabe has to rappel down the dam to seal the crack on the dam’s wall confirming that he’s the ultimate badass. Happy gets sucked in by a turbine, the works. But what’s very important is just how committed the whole team is to saving those that matter…and that’s basically the world sometimes.
Once the case of the week has been resolved is when the real issues come to the surface. Walter finally breaks down in admittance of just how much emotional damage his sister’s death has done. It doesn’t help that the Karman Prize finally granted $15 million to Walter. This would have funded Megan’s cure research. This irony sends Walter on a spin that brings all the pain out, admitting just how much he misses her. With his investigation not quite serving purpose anymore, he decides to use the rocket to launch Megan’s ashes into space and the gang prepares everything for it. They have a good, touching moment at the beach where not only Toby and Happy share one steamy kiss, promising to work out their feelings, but also Paige and Walter allow themselves some closeness. It seems like every ship will sail. Sly and Walter also come to terms with the fact they both loved Megan, and their bond now is cemented as brothers.
So that’s it! You’re ready to go. Tune in tonight on CBS for the show’s Winter premiere. These geniuses have it going on.