When you find a series you like it’s always sad to see it
leaving television. In the case of SCORPION it was even worse. I wasn’t even
aware this was the final season until the announcement of this DVD set was
announced. I had every expectation of seeing the show once more when the fall
season arrived. Unfortunately that is not to be the case.
If you never watched the series it revolved around a cast of
misfits, genius level IQ individuals who banded together to form a team that
solved world ending catastrophes on a weekly basis. They were led by Walter
O’Brien (Elyes Gable) with a genius IQ level of 197 and zero interpersonal
skills. Tobias "Toby" Meriweather Curtis, M.D. (Eddie Kaye Thomas)
was the psychiatrist of the group who was in love with (and married this
season) Happy Quinn (Jadyn Wong) an engineering expert who usually has no
reason to like most people. Sylvester Dodd (Ari Stidham) is a gifted
mathematician and statistician who this season finds himself attracted to the
team’s new neighbor chemist Florence "Flo" Tipton (Tina Majorino).
Paige Dineen (Katherine McPhee) is the waitress turned office manager and
social skills guide for Walter who this season finally became his love interest
as well. Ralph Dineen (Riley B. Smith) is Paige’s son whose genius level nears
that of Walter. And rounding out the team is Agent Cabe Gallo (Robert Patrick)
the Homeland Security agent who works with the team.
The season opens with a potential extinction event that the
team must find a solution for. Unfortunately they learn of the event from
ex-team member and now nemesis Mark Collins who is in prison. To solve the
problem they must take him with them to Norway where he helps them but then
escapes, putting the team in the crosshairs of Homeland Security who arrest
Gabe for allowing Collins to escape. This sets in motion several long running
story points involving Sylvester attempting to gain a law degree so he can
defend Gabe as well as the trial to save him.
The team also deals with a myriad of other items to solve as
well from dissolving plastic waste by helping Flo with a potential game
changing chemical compound resulting in their being stuck on a massive amount
of dissolving debris to an AI system in a doomsday bunker created by the
husband of Walter’s ex-girlfriend. One story that runs throughout the latter
part of the season involves Walter falling and injuring his head that results
in his having dreams of marrying Flo, something that both Sylvester and Paige
are not happy about, especially when Walter begins spending time with Flo as
nothing more than a friend.
By the end of the season the team has broken apart into two
teams that eventually must unite to solve yet another problem. This set in
motion the next season where fences would be mended even more strongly and
involvement between characters would develop to greater levels. Except that the
series wasn’t renewed. It also indicates the problems that can be found when
seasons end with cliff hangers, either minor or major, left behind for fans to
wonder what if to.
While I’ve been a fan of the show from the first season I
can also understand the networks lack of enthusiasm for the show. Each week the
show slowly deteriorated into almost a parody of itself with a set pattern of
beats that made up each one. Begin with a few jokes, set in motion a job to do,
the job alters to a life threatening situation complete with upbeat editing and
fast tempoed music and a solution found by the geniuses who then returned to
their base to be happy with one another or set in motion a possible issue for
the next episode. It became a bit predictable a certain death knell for a
series.
That doesn’t mean that the show could not be enjoyable as
well. It was one I continued to watch and looked forward to each week. It was
comfortable to me. And maybe that’s where it fell short. That feeling of
comfort meant that there were no real challenges to be found in the series.
Granted the science used was always interesting and made you want to find out
if it was real or not. But that was never enough for the show to gain
significant viewership.
That leaves us with this last season to enjoy forever on
disc along with the previous seasons. Each one was enjoyable in its own right
and can still be enjoyed when going back to watch them once again. That’s one
of the joys of having a series on disc, that chance to watch it again when you
want to. So let’s hope that Walter and Paige find happiness, that Happy and
Toby find the children that they want, that Sylvester and Flo can make a go of
a relationship, that Ralph can grow up to be a fine young man and that Gabe and
Allie Jones (Reiko Aylesworth) can find happiness together as well. We can only
dream of all that happening now.
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