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Scorpion - A Cyclone - Review

Oct 7, 2014

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This week’s episode of Scorpion, “A Cyclone,” was written by showrunner Nick Santora and Executive Producer Nicholas Wootton. The episode was directed by Gary Fleder, whose other credits include Beauty and the Beast, Life Unexpected, and October Road. This episode felt a lot more like the second episode of the series, so I had to wonder if they switched the order of the episodes for some reason. I can’t for the life of me figure out why they would have, however.

Some of the evidence that this was meant to be the second episode? In one of the first scenes, we see Paige (Katharine McPhee) hand her uniform in to Nemos (Anthony Skordi). She’s also clearly less comfortable with the team and is still trying to earn their respect in this episode. The episode also has Walter (Elyes Gabel) explaining the team to Cabe (Robert Patrick) and his supervisor Merrick (David Fabrizio). The team hasn’t been accepted as part of the “team.” It’s possible they didn’t want to follow the “Pilot” with another exposition heavy episode, but I think it was actually really helpful to have their various roles and personalities laid out for us again. 

We also get an explanation from Cabe about why he’s really in LA – he needs Walter and the team to save his own career. While some of the exposition felt a little heavy-handed – Toby’s (Eddie Kaye Thomas) run down of each member’s strengths and weaknesses – it felt even more out of place in the third episode. I hope that the show is now past this and we can have the characters show us what they are like rather than telling us. While some reviewers have not warmed up to the characters, I certainly have.

I thought it was very telling that Paige felt very much like she was being boxed out like the cool kids on the playground do to others. Although, I have to admit that I do still feel a little bit like Toby in wondering exactly what it is she’s supposed to do for the team. Toby himself is supposed to be the whiz kid at psychology, so why can’t he manage their interpersonal relationships more effectively? Maybe as far as Paige is concerned, it’s as simple as being the one that we can identify with on the show. The characters’ problem is that others can’t relate to them – is that the problem with the show too? Is it that viewers are having trouble relating to characters who are much smarter and who don’t play well with others? We all want to be able to root for the hero, but what if that hero is a bit of a jerk? 

Paige points out to Walter that they don’t listen to others because the team is always right. But being right doesn’t mean that they always get the job done. I thought it was hilarious that they were so, so bad at surveillance. In fact, it is the humor that is the most endearing thing about the show. So far the crises that they’ve had to solve have almost felt too complex, but that keeps the action moving. One thing the show does well is its stunts, effects, and fights. 

Walter does get one thing wrong. He tells Paige that Ralph (Riley B Smith) will never play on a team of be on student council, yet Walter himself is the leader of a team. I did like that Walter insisted that the entire team go to pick Ralph up from school. The riddle about what kind of punch a jellyfish likes nicely fit in with the theme of the show – and explained why they are called Scorpion. Scorpions are fiercely loyal to others in their group which is called a cyclone. The team certainly whips up a storm as they solve their cases! Scorpions also have very hard shells and are not liked by many – other than other scorpions. The answer to the riddle is a nice play on the word punch – a group of jellyfish is called a smack. And of course, this is what the marines were calling the team when they wanted to belittle them at the beginning of the episode. The test mission fails because of the marines. Left to their own devices, the team is able to save the day.

I’m very much enjoying Gabel as Walter. Patrick does a wonderful job in this episode peeling back some of the layers of Cabe. I particularly liked the scene in which he tells Walter that it’s a show of his trust for Walter that he’s bet his career on him. I also really liked that we see Cabe come back to Walter for redemption for the lives he’s lost – which is what drove Walter away in the first place. I’d be remiss in not giving a shout out to Ari Stidham’s portrayal of Sylvester. While many of his fears and phobias are very obvious, he also adds nice little subtle touches, like pulling his sleeve down over his hand to open the door – even when they are rushing out to figure out where the bomber went. What did you think of the episode? Are you warming up to the characters? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.

21 comments:

  1. Thanks for the review! :)
    I quite agree with the part about Paige, though I think she is suppose to tell them how to act "normal" like when Walter asks her how a normal person would react to what Cabe said in the end.
    But I also think it is meant to confuse the viewers right now what it is exactly that she is suppose to do since Walter mentioned (also in the end) that everybody will fit in eventually.
    She is the newest member of the team and has to find her way in first, that's why I definitely enjoyed when she talked to Walter about boxing her out but also when she cut off Toby.. She just has to find her part first :)

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  2. I said that too as soon as it started..that this was the second episode of the series and then couldn't figure out why it was switched. Doesn't make any sense continuity-wise....sigh..hope CBS doesn't mess this one up by switching more episodes around....I did enjoy it with a few minor issues.
    1. Walter is coming off as very arrogant. I'm assuming that's how his character is supposed to be played so well done...it's working.
    2. Walter also seems to be coming off as the hero which I hope he doesn't. Hopefully everyone gets a turn to save the day.
    3. Fight scene was badly done. I watch Arrow so everthing now compares to that show..lol..and the fight scene here was just bad. Two veteran agents should look like they've been in a few fights...sigh.
    4. The case of the week is always secondary to me (given the scope of the show and that I have to suspend my belief at the door) so this was fine to me. I watch for the interactions and humor.

    All in all, a good episode. I look forward to this show and it hasn't disappointed me yet.
    Sandra

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  3. My pleasure!
    Paige is definitely meant to be the character we identify with and who is the viewer's way in to the show.

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  4. We are definitely on the same page! The series that immediately comes to mind as being totally torpedoed by having the episodes all shown in the wrong order is Almost Human - I don't think this show would be quite as affected, but still - they're in an "order" for a reason!
    I wondered if it was the characterization of Walter in particular that they wanted to soften? Having met real life Walter, he doesn't come across as arrogant at all. The actors would have been still settling into the parts, so I'm really going with this as the primary reason to switch 2 and 3.
    I had this exact same thought too, but in the end, while he did have the big hero walking out of the smoke moment, everyone on the team did play a crucial role in solving the case - but I also agree with what you are saying here. I'd really like to see cases that also rely almost entirely on another team member's skill set...
    I've been reviewing Arrow since its debut and I completely agree - best fight scenes on tv. A huge part of that is James Bamford and his team - but the fight scenes on The Tomorrow People which he also did still weren't as good as Arrow - some of it has to be attributed to the actors as well. I was a bit disappointed in the fight scene as you were, but at least for Patrick, he's not a young guy - so suddenly having a stunt double obviously moving way more fluidly would have been too obviously not him. I think we'll have to just realize that Arrow has spoiled us for anything else! LOL!
    I used to watch CSI because it was all about the procedure - but this isn't that kind of show. I'll keep watching cuz I like the characters. Again, having gotten to interview the real Walter at Comic Con, he told us that most of what we'll see are real cases! A lot of the cases they've worked on are tightly classified, but truth is apparently stranger than fiction...

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  5. On Sunday evenings I watch two shows: Scorpion at 6:30, then the new Doctor Who at 7:40. While I have so far only seen two episodes of Scorpion (this episode won't air until the weekend here), I have been watching Doctor Who since the classic series ruled the 6:30 timeslot. Some observations: Paige is to Scorpion what the various companions are to DW, i.e. the audience identification, specifially the normal everyday person who asks the high-intelligence (and, at least in new-DW, low-social/emotional) main character all the questions that an ordinary member of the viewing public would ask in an extraordinary situation they don't understand. Scorpion extrapolates from real-world science in the way that classic-DW used to, particularly in the early/black-and-white years, when the production staff read scientific journals, employed scientific advisors (one of whom turned his concerns over spare parts surgery into scripts for the Cybermen, for example), hewed more closely to the BBC's "to inform and educate" policy, and the Doctor was portrayed as a man of science. I mention this because, as lifelong a follower of Doctor Who as I am, so far only Scorpion makes me want to watch it again immediately. In fact, by the time this episode airs here I will probably have watched the three Scorpion episodes more times in total than the whole of DW series 8. And that's even with my appraisal of Peter Capaldi as the best Doctor I have seen since I was Ralph's age. Long may Scorpion air.

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  6. Worst case of airing episodes out of order I ever saw was Babylon 5, a show intentionally structured as each episode being a chapter that builds on the one before it and leads into the one after - and when it first aired here, the first half of the first season was so out of order that, not only did we see supporting characters settling in several episodes before they were "I'd like to introduce you to my aide who just got off the shuttle from homeworld" introduced, the actual first episode that kicks off the snowball-of-events-leading-to-further-events plot aired closer to the season finale than whatever episode they decided to air first. Show made hardly any sense till I started buying the released-in-the-order-they-were-meant-to-air videos...

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  7. Wow! That is a ringing endorsement! The ratings are really good so far, so it looks like we aren't the only ones enjoying the show. What a great comparison to the Doctor's companions - and yes, Paige is actually that pretty standard trope of the character that the audience can best identify with and who acts as an interpreter really between the audience and the other characters. I guess the real twist here is that there is a Paige in real life working for the real life Walter and Scorpion... which really just makes it cooler for me...

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  8. Also, perhaps the most sympathetic/accessible portrayal of the misfit genius stereotype I've seen since the '80s Australian film Malcolm. Not that Scorpion are likely to commit bank-robbery-via-remote-control-cars any time soon, of course.

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  9. Jorge Castro SalinasOctober 7, 2014 at 6:21 PM

    The fight scene was good for me. Patrick is in his 50s. And he did well for a continous shot. Arrow has younger actors and well-fitted for action scenes.

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  10. Glad to see someone doesn't mind the science part of the show. Over on IMDb, the Scorpion board has ben overrun by trolls bashing the show for not being realistic.

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  11. They're veteran agents, but in reality very few agents are actually taught advanced hand to hand combat. Just pointing that out. Plus the other guy was from a department that doesn't teach its employees anything more than basic self-defense.

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  12. Ugh! Hope the network or whoever stops picking it apart like that! My pleasure!

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  13. So hysterical given it's actually based in fact!

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  14. Yes, it is frustrating (it's also frustrating trying to keep track!)

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  15. There are tech wizards. Not fighters as Walter can come off a bit arrogant. But he is got a heart of gold. Cabe is crusty but has a heart of gold. Paige I thing as Katherine pulls it off as a person that has to earn respect. Slowly but surely things will even out. Sylvester is the breakout character with his OCD and phobias.

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  16. A compromise for the sake of telling a story within the limits television has to work in I don't mind, e.g. Happy's instructions in the pilot episode as to how to steal a luxury sports car probably left a few details out (if only for the sake of social responsibility). I doubt Scorpion will start using science as a magic wand in the way the new version of Doctor Who sadly does.

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  17. Did anyone else notice that some of the promo stills that were released were from a scene that ended up not being in the episode (the one of Walter getting hugged by someone who looked like a doctor, etc)?

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  18. Yes - I guess we'll have deleted scenes to look forward to on the DVD! Luckily, it didn't feel like something major had been dropped from the plot though.

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  19. Firefly was also somewhat pooched by episoded bieng aired out of order--albeit not this egregiously!

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  20. Nice review--and good catch on the "smack"/SMAC connection! Totally missed that!
    Put me down as another fan of a show at least gesturing towards using science--loved the Macguyvering of the bomb-dampener!

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  21. Liked the episode and series in general but not really enjoying K. Mcphee's character so far. They better give her something to do or some compelling storyline to keep her interesting and relevant. Thanks for the review!

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