While I love the whole ensemble concept in series these days
I’m concerned that at some point it will seem to standard to work. That hasn’t
happened yet but it could easily become that way with the number of shows
working that formula. That being said at the moment I’m still happy with
several series in that mode and this is one of them.
Walter O’Brien (Elyes Gabel) is an eccentric genius, devoid
of emotion but able to think things through faster and in more depth than any
normal person. His current line of work is solving problems for people with a
team of other genius outcasts like himself. The team includes Toby Curtis
(Eddie Kaye Thomas), a brilliant psychiatric specialist who is a behaviorist
but with a gambling addiction he’s in the midst of conquering. Then there is
Happy Quinn (Jadyn Wong), an engineering prodigy who also happens to have an
anger issue she tends to solve with physical confrontation. Lastly in this
group is Sylvester Dodd (Ari Stidham), a mathematical and computer whiz who has
social skills problems. The team isn’t doing well when the show starts but
their fortunes soon change.
That’s because into their life walks Agent Cabe Gallo
(Robert Patrick) who works for Homeland Security. Gallo and Walter have a past
together. It was Gallo who arrested Walter when he was a young child and had
hacked NASA. He became a father figure to Walter helping him through those
troubled times and keeping him out of prison. But something happened that
brought about a rift in their relationship, something that works its way out
before the end of season one. When the show begins though, Gallo walks into the
team’s headquarters and offers them a job working as consultants for Homeland
Security. It pays well, offers them a chance to work with great equipment and
stay solvent, but Walter is hesitant.
The team votes and agrees to the job and each week following
is called upon to stop some crime or catastrophic event from happening. The
types of aid the team offers to Homeland Security more often than not involves
some technical situation that require knowledge only their expertise can
handle. These items range from communications being shut down on all airplanes
in the Los Angeles area to the internet infrastructure being attacked with the
intent of collapsing it to a mole within the CIA. Each week the team takes on a
different task.
Another item it tossed into the mix which is the fact that
this group of socially awkward geniuses have trouble relating to people out in
the field. A chance encounter at the local diner where Walter has fixed the
internet for the owner finds him discovering that a waitress there named Paige
Dineen (Katherine McPhee) has a young son named Ralph (Riley B. Smith) who
reminds Walter of himself at that age, a child genius misdiagnosed as having
problems when the truth is he is brilliant. It doesn’t hurt that Walter just
might also find himself attracted to Paige but having never been in touch with
his emotions he’s not quite sure of what is going on. When the time comes to
get someone to take on the liaison task, Walter gets Cabe to recruit Paige. The
healthy jump in pay coupled with allowing her son to be around others like
himself makes her acceptance of the job a no brainer.
With all of the characters in place and numerous reasons to
save the world set in motion the series kicks off. Everyone should be happy,
including the critics right? Well maybe not. Many found this show to over the
top and unbelievable to accept. Moments seemed cartoonish to them. For those
critics I say hogwash. The show was made not to be a blueprint on how to set up
Homeland Security. It was made to have fun, to offer adventure coupled with
brains instead of a team that just opens fire at the first sign of trouble.
The show harkens back to another well received series that
the critics were never overly fond of either, MACGUYVER. That show lasted for
some time and then went into movie of the week mode. It was a fan favorite. And
SCORPION seems to be following in its footsteps with better than average
ratings for a new series. Season two is already being filmed.
If you find that the elements mentioned in this review peek
your interest, if you think that a show that has fun and heart is one that you
might like to watch then I highly recommend this one. Not only do we get to see
the development of characters from week to week, we get to see a group of
people that have grown into a family of their own as well as grow accustomed to
the newer members with each episode. And while they’re saving the world the
odds are that something along the way will be new to you as well, a method used
to save the world might teach you something too. With the wasteful number of
shows on TV these days this becomes a good thing. Who knows, you might find
yourself watching season two the day it begins airing after watching this one.
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