Scorpion season 4 - disc 3
The four eps on this disc got better from ‘It’s Raining Men of War’, to ‘Crime Every Mountain’ to ‘Who Let The Dog Out (Cause Now It’s Stuck in a Cistern’ and ‘A Christmas Car-roll’.
I overall liked ‘It’s Raining Men of War’, but Cabe’s therapy breakthrough didn’t do much for me - it’s one more layer of tragedy being heaped on him - although him getting acknowledged as their dad at the end of the ep was touching.
I have to admit that I only realised Tina Majorino was playing Flo(rence) in this ep (I couldn’t read the credits from the sofa, although I thought she was familiar) and I was helped get there by the ‘Waterworld’ references the writers kept dropping.
So, Cabe offers therapist!Toby a too-good-to-be-true flashback of when his father died. Walter is campaigning for the Quintis sprog to be called Walter/Walterina. Happy gives an understandable hard ‘no’ on the latter. There’s a vaguely heart-tugging explanation for why Walter wants this, but Walter, it’s still weird as you were Happy’s greencard first husband.
It’s Thanksgiving and Sly has taken the day off to read the latest Not!Game of Thrones book (aww.) But he gets pulled into the job because Toby is sure he can break through Cabe’s fake memory and help him. At least Sly’s copy didn’t get wrecked.
Flo also gets roped in after Ralph destroyed some of her equipment for maths. Paige has trained Ralph to give better apologies than Flo will give. She talks up a binding solution of hers (100% effective against 93% effective) for Scorpion’s job is to get plastic-eating worms to remove plastic waste that’s been bound together as a tester for a bigger job saving the ocean.
The trouble is that Walter and Flo can’t play nicely together, so team Scorpion only discover that the solution is like jellyfish catnip and the man of wars/men of war that it’s attracted mean that the support boat Paige and Sly are on is stuck. Teamwork is needed, but although Flo is brave (and we get a lot of her backstory), she’s spiky to the point that she earns a verbal smackdown from Paige.
Flo then ends up going overboard, a dangerously stung Walter is brave and reckless - setting the nearby sea and nearly their boat on fire to free the boat’s engine from the jellyfish so that they have a chance of saving Flo’s life. She apologises for her ‘tude and ends up joining the team for Thanksgiving.
Toby has been prodding at Cabe’s memories all episode, and at one point Cabe unhelpfully spaced out. But Toby gets Cabe to open up about how his father really died so he can start to forgive himself for reacting like a child in the situation, because, er, he was one. This also means he’s willing to let the team help him with the case. Ellie also joins them for the meal with a new hairstyle.
In ‘Crime Every Mountain’ everyone is VERY TENSE as they prep Cabe, who doesn’t appreciate Toby’s impressions, Sly’s critique as his defence lawyer and Walter being a bit harsh. (I was distracted by Walter seeming not to include himself as a criminal.) Anyway, Happy takes the idea of her and Toby having gangster blood to heart, and worries about their future kid. The two couples go to New Mexico for a rush job and are handily placed to witness a small plane crash involving a family.
Quintis doctor the injured daughter, Waige join the worried father on a search for the son who supposedly parachuted to safety, but turns out to be drug money. (I loved how offended the baddies were when it was pointed out to them that they were also involved in gunrunning.)
Sly and Cabe can only offer patchy support, because the comms are conveniently not working. Cabe finds out that Sly and Walter supersekritly (and illegally because they used Government resources) built a special computer to search for Mark Collins. It gets multiple pings, taking them to Santa Barbara. I was a bit suspicious at the mention of Mark Collins’s grandmother, but got distracted by the older lady who had the hots for Sly.)
Happy’s caregiving instincts and meting out of justice seem spot on for future parenting duties. An unfinished winch of hers and Toby come in handy for rescuing Waige, who got trapped by a rockslide after Paige went along with Walter’s plan of jumping off a cliff (it didn’t quite come off,) but their situation allowed her to call Walter out on subconsciously pushing Cabe away to avoid the pain of losing him if he loses his case. Walter admits he never really had friends while Paige opens up about her father’s pain over losing Veronica.
Their teamwork and Paige recognising that the father’s love for his daughter is more powerful than the pull of the drugs money enable Scorpion to get the guns and the upper hand.
Sly and Cabe realise MC yanked their chain, THEN it turns out he was at their garage (my reaction would have been to check for bugs etc) and left Cabe a sneaky present. He gets riled, and as a result Sly decides that Cabe can appear before a judge. I’ve felt the Cabe plotline has been forced this season, especially with the daddy issues, but I was glad that Cabe seemed to be playing a greater part in proceedings.
Walter is Walterishly nice to Cabe, Toby comforts Happy that they will make great parents (though they’re yet to conceive.) That and Team As family worked emotionally.
‘Who Let The Dog Out (Cause Now It’s Stuck in a Cistern)’ works even better emotionally.
It’s the day of Cabe’s case. The team (unsuccessfully) try to get the judge into a more mellow mood before hearing the case. Cabe reams them out for this once he realises what they were up to, and a new judge is installed anyway. It’s a closed court, so the rest of the team are sent to the garage, where Happy berates herself, Toby acts recklessly (isn’t that Walter’s pathology?) and Walter comfort eats. Apart from dealing with all that, Paige seems to be the only one worried that Homeland is tactlessly sending a potential new handler to meet with them.
The others have become fixated on a dog stuck in a cistern (they got the cutest beastie they could cast,) because they think they can rescue him. Of course, as per usual, it’s not so simple to extract him. Walter more or less suggests drowning him to get hm out. Quintis keep getting into trouble with the law, and the new Homeland guy witnesses all this, so Paige has to shout them all into shape.
Meanwhile, there are parallels with Cabe’s case, as the prosecution nixes Sly’s opening. Cabe‘s testimony only goes so far, though Sly proves that he wasn’t bribed by MC, and then Sly’s amazing memory recalls some obscure maritime case law.
By this point, even Flo has been brought in to help the team she isn’t a part of and then to help Cabe. The dog is saved (after Walter gives him an emotional little pep talk, heh.) Sly’s argument wins Cabe his freedom, though Sly then has to represent Toby and Flo.
In the wash-up, everyone realises having to bottle her own feelings up took its toll on Paige. Walter is nice to Flo (who I accepted as part of the team as they were lacking a chemist.) Cabe breaks everyone by giving them perfect gifts, including a lovely letter about Walter.
The energy thrown at saving one (very cute) dog, rather than the whole wide world was great as a sublimation for their feelings about Cabe. All the build-up of the past few eps has got us invested in the case and Sly as lawyer. (It was like last season’s bubble episode only with extra shippy treats.)
They upped the ante for Christmas ep ‘A Christmas Car-roll’. Walter is leaning hard into working on Christmas Eve (!) and is irritated that Quintis separately ask him for Christmas gift inspirations for their spouse and no-one is willing to stay on to do the job he lined up for Christmas Eve. (Actually, Cabe offers, but Walter rejects him.) So, when Walter falls down the stairs, knocks his head and wakes up in a strange new world, we all know it’s an It’s a Wonderful Life on Mars homage.
I loved the quirky bits. Patty turns up as everyone’s assistant, even a sergeant, to Walter’s irritation. It’s extra funny because she’s a teenager, and because the real-life joke has got wearing. Ray (<3) is invisible to everyone else in Walter’s alt world, as smart as Walter, but still Ray and eating everything in sight. The ep is full of callbacks, paying off the rather random ‘previouslies’. Things Scorpion did haven’t happened in this world. Walter’s doppelganger is trapped in a car (it’s not hanging off a cliff, but that’s still an emblematic fear.)
Walter needs to corral everyone from Scorpion (because his subconscious knows he needs them) to help him save his doppelganger, who is a clear proxy for his real-life condition. The episode intercuts from Walter’s imaginary world and the real one, where Flo turns up, find Walter unconscious and calls for help.
The regulars are all lonely figures, but more successful versions of themselves. I LOVED the story about Happy not wanting to be alone when they first met that Walter tells alt!Happy; alt!Quintis meeting for the first time (which we’ve never got to see for real) as staged by Walter. This is only topped by Walter getting through to alt!Paige via Ralph. (Elia is the tech support guy in her restaurant. Heh.)
In RL, everyone was a little too understanding of Walter’s ‘dream’ as he rambled about it, and as a shipper, I hated the splinter of doubt of Walter wondering why his subconscious had married him off to alt!Flo(rence). I know they’ve seeded the tape for a reason, but I was chuntering ‘You, and your blondes’ in Walter’s direction. Though did Paige forget last year by booking a cabin for Christmas?
But on the other hand, alt!Sly’s pink glasses!
The actors all clearly enjoyed playing different shades of their characters, which adds zest to these kinds of episodes.
I overall liked ‘It’s Raining Men of War’, but Cabe’s therapy breakthrough didn’t do much for me - it’s one more layer of tragedy being heaped on him - although him getting acknowledged as their dad at the end of the ep was touching.
I have to admit that I only realised Tina Majorino was playing Flo(rence) in this ep (I couldn’t read the credits from the sofa, although I thought she was familiar) and I was helped get there by the ‘Waterworld’ references the writers kept dropping.
So, Cabe offers therapist!Toby a too-good-to-be-true flashback of when his father died. Walter is campaigning for the Quintis sprog to be called Walter/Walterina. Happy gives an understandable hard ‘no’ on the latter. There’s a vaguely heart-tugging explanation for why Walter wants this, but Walter, it’s still weird as you were Happy’s greencard first husband.
It’s Thanksgiving and Sly has taken the day off to read the latest Not!Game of Thrones book (aww.) But he gets pulled into the job because Toby is sure he can break through Cabe’s fake memory and help him. At least Sly’s copy didn’t get wrecked.
Flo also gets roped in after Ralph destroyed some of her equipment for maths. Paige has trained Ralph to give better apologies than Flo will give. She talks up a binding solution of hers (100% effective against 93% effective) for Scorpion’s job is to get plastic-eating worms to remove plastic waste that’s been bound together as a tester for a bigger job saving the ocean.
The trouble is that Walter and Flo can’t play nicely together, so team Scorpion only discover that the solution is like jellyfish catnip and the man of wars/men of war that it’s attracted mean that the support boat Paige and Sly are on is stuck. Teamwork is needed, but although Flo is brave (and we get a lot of her backstory), she’s spiky to the point that she earns a verbal smackdown from Paige.
Flo then ends up going overboard, a dangerously stung Walter is brave and reckless - setting the nearby sea and nearly their boat on fire to free the boat’s engine from the jellyfish so that they have a chance of saving Flo’s life. She apologises for her ‘tude and ends up joining the team for Thanksgiving.
Toby has been prodding at Cabe’s memories all episode, and at one point Cabe unhelpfully spaced out. But Toby gets Cabe to open up about how his father really died so he can start to forgive himself for reacting like a child in the situation, because, er, he was one. This also means he’s willing to let the team help him with the case. Ellie also joins them for the meal with a new hairstyle.
In ‘Crime Every Mountain’ everyone is VERY TENSE as they prep Cabe, who doesn’t appreciate Toby’s impressions, Sly’s critique as his defence lawyer and Walter being a bit harsh. (I was distracted by Walter seeming not to include himself as a criminal.) Anyway, Happy takes the idea of her and Toby having gangster blood to heart, and worries about their future kid. The two couples go to New Mexico for a rush job and are handily placed to witness a small plane crash involving a family.
Quintis doctor the injured daughter, Waige join the worried father on a search for the son who supposedly parachuted to safety, but turns out to be drug money. (I loved how offended the baddies were when it was pointed out to them that they were also involved in gunrunning.)
Sly and Cabe can only offer patchy support, because the comms are conveniently not working. Cabe finds out that Sly and Walter supersekritly (and illegally because they used Government resources) built a special computer to search for Mark Collins. It gets multiple pings, taking them to Santa Barbara. I was a bit suspicious at the mention of Mark Collins’s grandmother, but got distracted by the older lady who had the hots for Sly.)
Happy’s caregiving instincts and meting out of justice seem spot on for future parenting duties. An unfinished winch of hers and Toby come in handy for rescuing Waige, who got trapped by a rockslide after Paige went along with Walter’s plan of jumping off a cliff (it didn’t quite come off,) but their situation allowed her to call Walter out on subconsciously pushing Cabe away to avoid the pain of losing him if he loses his case. Walter admits he never really had friends while Paige opens up about her father’s pain over losing Veronica.
Their teamwork and Paige recognising that the father’s love for his daughter is more powerful than the pull of the drugs money enable Scorpion to get the guns and the upper hand.
Sly and Cabe realise MC yanked their chain, THEN it turns out he was at their garage (my reaction would have been to check for bugs etc) and left Cabe a sneaky present. He gets riled, and as a result Sly decides that Cabe can appear before a judge. I’ve felt the Cabe plotline has been forced this season, especially with the daddy issues, but I was glad that Cabe seemed to be playing a greater part in proceedings.
Walter is Walterishly nice to Cabe, Toby comforts Happy that they will make great parents (though they’re yet to conceive.) That and Team As family worked emotionally.
‘Who Let The Dog Out (Cause Now It’s Stuck in a Cistern)’ works even better emotionally.
It’s the day of Cabe’s case. The team (unsuccessfully) try to get the judge into a more mellow mood before hearing the case. Cabe reams them out for this once he realises what they were up to, and a new judge is installed anyway. It’s a closed court, so the rest of the team are sent to the garage, where Happy berates herself, Toby acts recklessly (isn’t that Walter’s pathology?) and Walter comfort eats. Apart from dealing with all that, Paige seems to be the only one worried that Homeland is tactlessly sending a potential new handler to meet with them.
The others have become fixated on a dog stuck in a cistern (they got the cutest beastie they could cast,) because they think they can rescue him. Of course, as per usual, it’s not so simple to extract him. Walter more or less suggests drowning him to get hm out. Quintis keep getting into trouble with the law, and the new Homeland guy witnesses all this, so Paige has to shout them all into shape.
Meanwhile, there are parallels with Cabe’s case, as the prosecution nixes Sly’s opening. Cabe‘s testimony only goes so far, though Sly proves that he wasn’t bribed by MC, and then Sly’s amazing memory recalls some obscure maritime case law.
By this point, even Flo has been brought in to help the team she isn’t a part of and then to help Cabe. The dog is saved (after Walter gives him an emotional little pep talk, heh.) Sly’s argument wins Cabe his freedom, though Sly then has to represent Toby and Flo.
In the wash-up, everyone realises having to bottle her own feelings up took its toll on Paige. Walter is nice to Flo (who I accepted as part of the team as they were lacking a chemist.) Cabe breaks everyone by giving them perfect gifts, including a lovely letter about Walter.
The energy thrown at saving one (very cute) dog, rather than the whole wide world was great as a sublimation for their feelings about Cabe. All the build-up of the past few eps has got us invested in the case and Sly as lawyer. (It was like last season’s bubble episode only with extra shippy treats.)
They upped the ante for Christmas ep ‘A Christmas Car-roll’. Walter is leaning hard into working on Christmas Eve (!) and is irritated that Quintis separately ask him for Christmas gift inspirations for their spouse and no-one is willing to stay on to do the job he lined up for Christmas Eve. (Actually, Cabe offers, but Walter rejects him.) So, when Walter falls down the stairs, knocks his head and wakes up in a strange new world, we all know it’s an It’s a Wonderful Life on Mars homage.
I loved the quirky bits. Patty turns up as everyone’s assistant, even a sergeant, to Walter’s irritation. It’s extra funny because she’s a teenager, and because the real-life joke has got wearing. Ray (<3) is invisible to everyone else in Walter’s alt world, as smart as Walter, but still Ray and eating everything in sight. The ep is full of callbacks, paying off the rather random ‘previouslies’. Things Scorpion did haven’t happened in this world. Walter’s doppelganger is trapped in a car (it’s not hanging off a cliff, but that’s still an emblematic fear.)
Walter needs to corral everyone from Scorpion (because his subconscious knows he needs them) to help him save his doppelganger, who is a clear proxy for his real-life condition. The episode intercuts from Walter’s imaginary world and the real one, where Flo turns up, find Walter unconscious and calls for help.
The regulars are all lonely figures, but more successful versions of themselves. I LOVED the story about Happy not wanting to be alone when they first met that Walter tells alt!Happy; alt!Quintis meeting for the first time (which we’ve never got to see for real) as staged by Walter. This is only topped by Walter getting through to alt!Paige via Ralph. (Elia is the tech support guy in her restaurant. Heh.)
In RL, everyone was a little too understanding of Walter’s ‘dream’ as he rambled about it, and as a shipper, I hated the splinter of doubt of Walter wondering why his subconscious had married him off to alt!Flo(rence). I know they’ve seeded the tape for a reason, but I was chuntering ‘You, and your blondes’ in Walter’s direction. Though did Paige forget last year by booking a cabin for Christmas?
But on the other hand, alt!Sly’s pink glasses!
The actors all clearly enjoyed playing different shades of their characters, which adds zest to these kinds of episodes.