Scorpion was one of the few new pilots that really drew me in as soon as I heard about it. I had pretty high expectations, and the pilot certainly delivered, providing us with a great starting point that got straight to the point about everything and left me ready to watch this show for the next nine months (and beyond).
For those of you that didn’t know, the show is based on a real life person named Walter O’Brien, who is a computer genius and actually helps stop terrorist attacks. This in itself is pretty cool, if you ask me.The pilot followed the crisis of LA X losing contact with dozens of planes due to a bug in the automatically updating software, and Homeland agent Cabe Gallo had to recruit Walter and his ‘team’ of geniuses to help land the planes safely. I thought this was a great story to start off with, and some great writing made it a really good episode.
I particularly liked how fast-paced it felt. Watching it, you could actually feel the tension of situations and I felt rushed off my feet by the time the episode ended. A show clearly has promise when you feel as if you’re in the show (to a point) from the very opening minutes.
The geniuses were so great to watch. I particularly loved Sylvester, whose apparent form of OCD means that he has to organise things before he does tasks, and in that stressful situation, it cooled the scene off a little, which was great. Obviously, you don’t want to completely take away the tension from a scene, but equally you don’t want to have no humour whatsoever, because then the show just becomes too dramatic (and yes, I consider that to be a real thing on a drama).Anyway, back to the characters. Learning about Walter was great to watch. The flashback was also based off the real story, though dramatized slightly, for obvious reasons. Though not perfect, his social skills were far and away better than the rest of his group. However, that didn’t mean they were good – as evidenced by his break-up towards the beginning of the episode. Breaking up with someone with a list of issues while on a job?
Happy and Toby weren’t as good as the other two, however. Toby seemed very self-absorbed in what he did, particularly in the scene in the server room. Though I enjoyed watching that scene, Toby bugged me a little bit in his confidence – it was bordering on cocky. Happy had a reasonably minor role in the episode, but I had no real issues with her. Hopefully the writers utilise her more in upcoming episodes.I was glad that we got to find out about the Gabe-Walter backstory in the pilot. I would have hated it had they dragged it out for a number of episodes, considering how minor it is. It does make me wonder whether or not Walter will ever properly trust Cabe after what he did, but we will see in due course.
The only real loose story point for me was Paige. I loved Ralph, particularly his chess game and gaming with Walter at the end, and really do hope that he appears very often this season. Paige, however, seemingly went from being a waitress who didn’t think her son needed help in any way, to being some sort of genius psychologist that (albeit rightly) thought she needed to help the team to connect with Ralph.
Though the offer for Paige to join ‘Scorpion’ was more on a “translate the world for us” basis, I still can’t comprehend how she has been invited onto this team of geniuses when she isn’t the brightest in the bunch, even as a non-genius as it were. If anyone in the comments can make sense of this, please do so.As for the actual resolution to the plot… it was so far-fetched that I abandoned all sense of reality and went along with it. With scenes like that, there is little you can do except to just go with it. I hope they don’t consistently use scenes that ridiculous in the future.
Overall, I really enjoyed this episode. Things worked well with each other and it was a really fun pilot to watch. Hopefully the writers can churn out more great episodes throughout the season for us to all enjoy. For now though, let me know what you thought of the pilot. Also, though I have no notes for this episode, I need a cool name for my notes/odds and ends section – though it has to relate to the show somehow. If you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments!
It was pretty good. As really good seeing Robert Patrick back on TV. He played a crusty guy with a heart of gold as he seems typecast with those. Elyse Gabel was good as the leader as Walter and Katherine McPhee is good as the lead. Hope that it will be a hit. But unfortunately, IMHO, it will be the first show CBS cancels.
ReplyDeleteGreat pilot! I also really liked the last few minutes, they really touched me.
ReplyDeletea bunch of genius plus a normal person(paige) who is pretty much Penny......
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review, Bradley. I was actually disappointed by the pilot but still like the premise. It actually kind of made sense to me to have Paige join the team. She helped Walter push through a couple different times when he was ready to give up. Having an "outsider" to the geniuses who could "translate" for them would be helpful in that they couldn't always communicate the same with those who don't speak their language - so she could be the one to help them get through that barrier. She'd already helped the kid with the chalk issue - and she thought of that solution quickly - so I don't think she was too dumb. I actually thought she was kind of quick on her feet when she needed to be. (I also watched an old interview with the real Walter O'Brien and he talked about how hard it is for geniuses to communicate with those around them - so maybe I'm projecting what he said onto the show. But it seemed to me they were really trying to convey that.) Plus, I thought her character grounded the others and was more identifiable than the team of geniuses (to us normal people. ha ha.) And I thought Katharine McPhee did a good job. Anyway, I'll keep watching to see how it goes but I hope the plots get more realistic and the team gets more interesting. I hate to say I thought they were overall pretty weak.
ReplyDeleteGreat Review but you completely misunderstood Paige. She from my pov is the breakthrough star here.
ReplyDeleteShe was genuine and completely on point. She doesn't let anyone bully her or go at her cause they have a fancy degree or something. She is a fighter, it was hard on her to raise Ralph on her own, and constantly listen how people say something is wrong with her son. She isn't a wanna be psychology major she is just a woman who went through so much and had to handle all that stuff on her own and showed Walter that giving up isn't an option.
Paige is part of the team as a balance! people with such gifts life on another plain of existence because their way of thinking is so different, so they need someone to put them in their place so they don't lose toch with reality or in their case normal life! I like the addition of paige and I think that she will be of great value
ReplyDeleteThe premise was really good, but as an IT professional you're telling me they had to hire 4 geniuses to restore buggy software from a backup? This would be easily handled by the IT staff at LAX. While I liked the characters and overall plot, the problem of the week was pretty lame.
ReplyDeleteFar fetched doesn't even scratch the ice. Any link to reality from an aviation perspective is completely NULL and VOID. I could write a whole blog on the crazy plot from this pilot. I will continue to watch but hopefully the rest of the shows are not this unbelievable.
ReplyDeletenot a fan of the lead character....his facial expressions weird me out.
ReplyDeleteI still have high hopes for this series. But I was left torn by the pilot. There were some good moments, and many times I thought it was almost silly, like it was trying too hard to be an action thriller. I think it worked better, during the pilot at least, during the personal scenes between Walter and Paige, Walter and Ralph, and even chess scene with Sylvester and Ralph. Hopefully the future plots that propel the team into action will be more believable. One note: Robert Orci, is listed prominently in the credits. I think an EP. He has/had a similar role in Hawaii Five-O. In the action and conflict dialogue I see some similarities. It's fine. It just feels more formulaic and average than I thought this show might be. I'll stay hopeful and keep watching.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Bradley, I liked your review and thought it was well written. I do think Paige fits in better than you think. For me, the chemistry she has with Walter is enough to justify her presence for now, at least. She provides balance and grounding, as others have mentioned in comments. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeletePaige got invited to the team because Walter has the hots for her and she challenged him. Standard geek behavior.
ReplyDeleteMy main problem with the first episode is the main people Walter or his team talk down to are Black. The only two black men in the episode both get treated like dirt.
ReplyDeleteI liked nearly everything but the Paige character, but I felt that it had more to do with bad acting on the par of Katherine McPhee, who unfortunately has no on-screen personality;
ReplyDeleteShe will be the voice of reason when they only logic. In a series like this, they need a character like her.
ReplyDeleteGreat comments. As a code toad (and GA pilot) myself, I, too, have high hopes for this show. But that car/plane scene was beyond far-fetched. You must've been watching from a nursing home if you swallowed that fish tale. If they don't get this show on a more plausible track, Shelby's comment about imminent cancellation will be spot on.
ReplyDeleteThe basic premise of Scorpion has a tremendous amount of potential.
ReplyDeleteToo bad it was wasted on such an abysmal script.
I understand the need for “the willing suspension of disbelief” but this tripe has so many holes in the plot, it makes a screen door look like a bank vault.
I would list the failings but even limiting myself to the most egregious offenses would strain the 10,000 character limit for postings.
I also thought Penny as well. Its good to have a everyday normal character though :)
ReplyDeleteI did have some doubts before watching this, I questioned the character depth and if it is just going to be nerds talking without the audience understanding. I am not going to be critical as it is just the first episode but I think this show is pleasant.
ReplyDeleteScorpion, I loved it, every minute
ReplyDeleteI went into the show with no preconcieved notions and was absolutely blown away by the characters, the excitement, the whole package, LOVED IT!!
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