TV 411: Scorpion, An Introduction

All right. I was all ready to go ahead and give Season 2 a review when I realized that I never did any posts about Scorpion. Not an intro. Not a single episode review. Not even a preview.

So, here I am. Writing an intro and I’ll have to see if my mind can slow down enough to give a review of Season 1 and Season 2 or I just might have to skip it until I decide to binge watch it again. Sighs.

Creator: Nick Santora
Network: CBS
On air: September 22, 2014 – present

The Hook: A team of geniuses who work for Homeland? Yeah, that’s worth a peek at.

So, the show has successfully made it to the end of Season 3. The over all story arc follows Walter O’Brian, a genius who is the leader to a small team of other geniuses. They start off as freelancers doing the odd job like hooking up security systems and such when they catch the eye of Homeland Security. And that’s when all the magic happens.

This basic plot line has so much potential, as with any crime-solving, problem-solving, mystery-solving story line. Add to that different relationship combinations among a crew of seven characters and you got yourself a self-sustaining show for a few good years.

I also like the broad approach. Instead of only being a murder-solving type of show or an action type of show, you can have things like black market art dealing to operations with MI-6. There is so much to work with you just have to make sure it all makes sense.

Cast of Characters:

Walter O’Brien (Elyes Gabel) – The genius of all genius. He’s good at computer coding and design and math and … well, mostly everything. Or a little bit of everything with computer coding being his forte. He’s the one who kind of took everyone else under his wing and gave them purpose by forming Scorpion.

Paige Dineen (Katherine McPhee) – As with all genius, there is a down side. While they are really smart, they kinda don’t know how to mix with people, which is what Paige is for them. She kind of keeps them in check emotionally, making sure they understand the sensitive side to the clients they’re helping and making sure their clients understand why Scorpion is the way they are.

Ralph Dineen (Riley B. Smith) – He is Paige’s son and he’s a genius himself. Paige had a hard time understanding some of his oddities until she met Walter, who explained those oddities. I sometimes think of Ralph as Scorpion’s mascot. He’s still going to school and such, but he can also keep up with the team. He helps Paige keep her cool when dealing with Scorpion since a lot of Ralph’s behaviors can be seen among the members, except in overdrive.

Sylvester Dodd (Ari Stidham) – Math genius. He’s good with numbers and can whip out some calculations in less than a minute. And he loves comics! Or, well, Super Fun Guy.

Happy Quinn (Jadyn Wong) – Mechanical genius. She’s wicked good with all kinds of machinery. She can whip up just about anything the team needs, machine wise.

Tobby Curits (Eddie Kaye Thomas) – Behavioral genius. He can profile anyone within a minutes. I knew understanding human behavior and such is kind of important, but sometimes that can get over looked when put up against someone like Sylvester, but wow. Watching this show and seeing just how much of an asset someone like Tobby has given me a deeper appreciation for this skill set.

Gabe Callo (Robert Patrick) – Homeland Security liaison. He and Walter have a history and so he kind of pushes Homeland to consider Scorpion for some of the jobs where … well, you need a genius. He’s their muscle. Being a military man, he does the heavy lifting for the crew, in terms of keeping everyone safe that is, and helps Paige in terms of being a translator for genius speak to average human speak.

And I love this cast. They have great on-screen chemistry. The characters feed off each other and create a very real, and very plausible, if not very strange, relationship among crew. They all have something their good at and through their combined efforts they survive life.

And there you have it. The foundation for Scorpion. So, sit back. Relax. And enjoy!