Scorpion, “Crossroads,” was written by the team of David Foster and Rob Pearlstein and was directed by Kevin Hooks, whose many other credits include Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Castle, Bones, and 24. The episode’s main storyline followed a somewhat well-worn television trope of having to go on the run to protect the star witness in trial. I remember seeing a similar story in almost every cop/PI show in the 70s and 80s – Starsky and Hutch and Simon and Simon both leap to mind. I might have overlooked the numerous clichés in the main plot if I’d found the B plot more satisfying, but once again Walter (Elyes Gabel) and Paige (Katharine McPhee) and Happy (Jadyn Wong) and Toby (Eddie Kaye Thomas) seem further apart than ever.
As the episode opens, it looks like those of us who have been rooting for Toby and Happy are about to get what we’ve been waiting for. Happy arrives for their date looking stunning. She’s clearly fully committed to the date. Flash to Toby asleep. Sleeping through the date while Happy goes through the excruciating experience of being stood up. Honestly? I wanted to throw something at my television. C’mon writers! There’s building tension and teasing, but this was one step too far. I think most viewers were willing to wait for Walter and Paige, but have been satisfying their shipper inclination with Happy and Toby – this was just one twist too many. Which seems to be becoming my pet peeve with this show.
Toby spends the rest of the episode trying – unsuccessfully – to get back into Happy’s good graces. He tells her he was so excited that he had to self-medicate and that he over did it. He explains to her that when you grow up with nothing good, you think you don’t deserve anything good and so you self-sabotage. Walter tells Paige to make things go back to how they were, but she tries to get Happy to give Toby another chance. Happy knows that’s not what Walter wanted her to say, and regardless, Happy is done. She also wants things to go back to how they were with she and Toby as friends, nothing more. Frankly, I don’t blame her.
Walter makes no secret of what he thinks about Toby and Happy’s failed date. Work place entanglements are doomed to fail because work and romance are like oil and water. When Toby brings Happy gifts to try to make it up to her, Walter says, “I don’t have any feelings, and I feel uncomfortable!” Walter tells Paige that discord is bad for the team – he’s not wrong – and assigns her to fix it.
In helping Maya (Ginger Gonaga), Paige asserts that “you have to take risks when you love someone.” Toby takes up the call to take risks in the name of love. He tells Sylvester (Ari Stidham) to take a risk with his yogurt and he convinces Walter to take a risk with Paige. Viewers hopes that this might mean some movement on the Walter/Paige front are dashed when naturally, Walter doesn’t even knock on the door when he sees through the window that Drew (Brendan Hines) is at Paige’s.
While the main plot of protecting Maya from Hector (Jason Manuel Olazabal) is fairly predictable, there were still some funny moments and good stunts and action. I liked how they teased out that Maya was gifted – her lack of emotion and then her offhand remarks. It’s a nice touch when the team recognizes her as one of their own and really takes her under their wing. But, of course, it’s Paige who figures out that she’s pregnant.
Robert Patrick (Cabe) is excellent in this episode, and he continues to get some of the best lines. I loved him saying the van they buy takes him back to the seventies – as the entire episode did for me! When Walter points out that he wasn’t even born in the seventies, Cabe replies with “Screw you.” Perfect! I also liked when Cabe told them, “Stop acting like kids, and I’ll stop acting like your Dad.”
Some of the action I really liked about the episode was Cabe and Walter teaming up to infiltrate Lambert’s (Chad Todhunter) compound. The urinal cake canon was another great MacGyvered invention from Happy. Using the skateboards to get under the RV. Using Maya’s photographic memory to recreate Hector’s books so that she didn’t have to testify. The entire standoff at the gas station was excellent – though I do have a quibble with the ending of it.
Things about the action that I really didn’t like? The need of the show to go one twist too many. Did Cabe have to back the RV onto a rock? He really didn’t. Lambert just had to call Hector to apologize and then they still could have left in a hail of bullets. Why didn’t they tie Hector up and leave him for the police – or even Homeland because they suspected a mole in the police – at the gas station? While the scene with the skateboards was cool, having the brakes hacked on a huge hill was one cliché too many for me. For a show written about geniuses, I wish the writers would give the audience a little more credit.
What did you think of the episode? Were you frustrated by the lack of progress on the romantic front? Do you just watch for the action? With only two episodes left in this season, what are you most hoping to see? 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.
