Scorpion, “US vs. UN vs. UK,” was written by the team of Scott Sullivan and Nick Santora and was directed by Omar Madha. Sullivan moves up from story editor on the show to writer with this episode. I really liked the case in this episode as it had lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing, including the big reveal at the end of the episode. The episode features two great guest stars with Sonya Walger as Olivia Cromwell – the name is a little on the nose for Oliver Cromwell – and Damon Herriman as Gleason.
As the episode opens, we see that Megan (Camille Guaty) is on a ventilator, and we learn that Walter (Elyes Gabel) went to a judge and had her declared unfit so that he could gain control over the situation. Paige (Katharine McPhee) tries to tell Walter that it’s in his nature to solve things, but some things don’t have an answer. Later in the episode, Paige tells Walter that it’s so hard to deal with Megan’s situation because he’s becoming more human, and humans don’t treat death casually.
Meanwhile, at the garage, Ray (Kevin Weisman) is helping Ralph (Riley B Smith) with his gym “homework.” It’s unsurprisingly the only subject he doesn’t get an A in, but to make matters worse, he’s the kid who always gets picked last. Toby (Eddie Kaye Thomas) commiserates that it’s like
Lord of the Flies in gym! Paige isn’t so sure she likes Ralph confiding in the others instead of her.
At that point Cooper (Peri Gilpin) shows up with Cromwell and Gleason. Cromwell who is MI6 needs the team to smuggle linguist Gleason in to the UN to overhear a meeting with infamous gunrunner Madaky (Sammi Rotibi). I loved the gimmicks to get them into the UN, though I have to tell you that thing with the horse urine would have no effect on the police horses. I did love them smuggling the fake hands in in Paige’s pretend pregnant belly!
Once the team gets in, they find out what Cromwell and Gleason are really up to – they’re there to assassinate Madaky – or at least Cromwell is. She tells them they are now on International soil in the UN and therefore, she can have them arrested and imprisoned in The Hague if they don’t do her bidding. Walter would be separated from Megan and Paige from Ralph – hence the relevancy of the opening scenes.
Once again, I loved how the rest of the sting played out. It seems that Walter is going along with the plan and that Gleason ends up dead. Toby acting as interpreter for the Polish Delegate (Marek Probosz) was hilarious – and yeah Ray for stepping up to help the team in a big way! I also loved Paige pretending to be the makeup person for Madaky – with Happy (Jadyn Wong) as Ursula, Paige’s assistant! Hilarious! Making a salami bomb was also pretty terrific.
The sting at the end is terrific. Walter uses Megan’s toy Lamborghini to set off the methane explosion. It’s a nice symbolic break with the past and how he’s related to her – because of course that gets exploded in the final scene too.
Once the team fakes Madaky onto US soil, they are able to arrest him and it’s revealed that Gleason isn’t dead and that Cromwell was actually in league with Madaky. Walter has hacked all his accounts and given the money to children’s charities. I particularly loved when Cromwell tries to pull her gun on Cooper, but Cooper has already removed her bullets because she was tipped off because she knew her team would never go along with an assassination! Cooper is definitely one of the team now. Gleason disappears which Happy declares, “So bad ass!”
While the team is busy on the case, Megan comes off the ventilator and begs Sylvester (Ari Stidham) to never let it happen again. Sylvester vows to find a way around Walter’s court order. Both Gauty and Stidham are excellent in this scene.
The big reveal at the end is that Sylvester’s way around the court order was to marry Megan, thus replacing Walter as Megan’s guardian. And I loved that it was Ray who married them! And gave them bandaids to use in place of rings. Walter finally accepts Sylvester’s place in his sister’s life, but leaves to continue to try to prolong her life. He tells Paige it’s because “I don’t treat death casually.”
I thought this was a fun, fast-paced episode with James Bond overtones. I really hope that we’ll see Gleason again – a lot! I’m glad to see that Walter seems to be starting to be a bit more sympathetic to Megan’s own wishes and to accept Sylvester’s place in her life. I really hope that the team will have grown enough to provide support for each other in what appears to be Megan’s imminent passing. What did you think of the episode? Favorite scene? Favorite line? Do you hope to see Gleason again? 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, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. 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.
