Scorpion, “Arrivals and Departures,” was written by the team of Aadrita Mukerji and Nicholas Wootton and was directed by Sam Hill. This was the episode we said goodbye to Megan (Camille Guaty), and there’s not doubt that Guaty will be missed. I’m still rather disappointed in the show for painting such a bleak picture of MS. I had a cousin who was diagnosed in her twenties and lived to her seventies. There may be no cure for MS, and there’s no question it compromises quality of life, but it is not a fatal disease. Regardless, this was still a powerful episode, but I think we still haven’t seen the full impact Megan’s death will have on Walter (Elyes Gabel).
I really liked how the title played on so many themes in the episode. As the episode begins, we see Happy (Jadyn Wong), Paige (Katharine McPhee), and Walter speeding towards LAX, and of course, we associate ‘arrivals and departures’ with the airport. It’s not the usual high speed chase or the team speeding to an emergency, however. The arrival in this case is Sean (Glenn Keogh) and Louise (Pamela Shafer) O’Brien – Walter and Megan’s parents. The departure is clearly Megan at the end of the episode.
Walter’s relationship with his parents is clearly complicated. He seems to have kept them at a distance and they seem to be happy to have let him. Louise is not a very well developed character. She seems almost invisible, though at least she seems happy to see her children. I’d still like to know why she hasn’t pursued a relationship more actively with Walter – she does at least show some affection for him – and why would she not have come to Megan long before now?
The main interaction, of course, is between Walter and his father. Their meeting at the airport is painfully awkward. Gabel is simply excellent in this episode. Keogh has a hard task in the episode. When we meet Sean, he is clearly upset about the impending death of his daughter. It’s clear that Walter has learned nothing about dealing with emotions from his father! Sean is brusque with Walter, gives Toby (Eddie Kaye Thomas) the once over before essentially dismissing him, and barely even acknowledges Sylvester (Ari Stidham) – his daughter’s husband!
Neither Louise nor Sean are impressed by Sylvester, asking if he has kids because of all the Super Fun Guy memorabilia he has in Megan’s room. Watching the team save the day once the hospital is infected by the fungus, however, naturally changes their opinion of Sylvester and the entire team. I loved the scene in which Sean demands to know what kind of man Sylvester is, and he replies, “The kind of man who’s been caring for your daughter. Who hasn’t left her side in three weeks. Wo loves her.” Which makes me wonder again, what took her parents so long to get there? The capper of course is when Sylvester has to use spitballs and slingshots to help save the day, and Sean has to concede that maybe there’s a use for childish things after all.
This theme is also picked up by Sylvester and Megan’s last scene together. After Sylvester asks to have her alone for a moment, he crawls onto the bed with her and unveils the surprise he’s made for her. Only a genius could take what would ordinarily be a fairly clunky child’s toy – to project stars on the ceiling – and make it an accurate rendering of the night sky. He’s giving her the stars as she was regretting that she’d never see them again.
Sylvester tells her that falling in love with her was the smartest thing he’s ever done and that he will always love her. It’s a wonderfully tender moment between the two, but I have to say that I was a bit disappointed by Sylvester’s rather under-stated response after her death. I suspect we will get more of his feelings and how he’s coping in the two episodes coming up.
Of course, the case also changes how Sean thinks about Walter. He begins the episode by not wanting to know anything about Walter’s attempts to save Megan. He tells Walter that they came for Megan, not for science fiction. As the team works to save everyone in the hospital, Sean comes to respect what they do.
Of course, Walter’s motivation is just to get out to get back to his work, and it’s clear that Sean may have an issue with how Walter treats him too. Sean comes to help Walter seal off the quarantine ward, and Walter is ready to just dismiss him when Sean brings him the chart holder. But Sean’s idea to use it as a trowel is a sound one, and Walter has to admit it. When Walter and Paige finally escape via the dumbwaiter, it’s Sean and Sylvester working together who rip out the wall and save them.
In fact, Walter is trying to run away – depart – for most of the episode. He is holding on to the hope of holding on to Megan in any way possible, and he is denying her impending death. Once he brings their parents to her room, Walter wants to leave to go and work on his project. Megan brings up their childhood by saying “Not at the dinner table!” She doesn’t want him to leave. Louise translates for the rest of them: Megan means that Walter can’t rush off to finish his science project – that was the rul growing up.
Paige keeps telling him that it’s not about research. He doesn’t need to get out of the hospital, he needs to stay. He’s right where he needs to be. Walter finally opens up to Paige and tells her that Megan was the only way that he could talk to his parents. She was the only person who understood him and was the most important person he’s ever had in his life. Of course, he now has Paige and Cabe (Robert Patrick) and the rest of the team too.
Walter slowly begins to realize as he and Paige are trapped that Megan really is dying. He completely loses it when she has a seizure. McPhee is excellent in this scene as well as we see her react and how upset she is by the violence of Walter’s reaction. She’s finally seeing the depth of his emotion, and it is clear that she’s got to be worried about how Walter is ultimately going to get through Megan’s death.
When they return to the garage, Paige tries to tell Walter how important it was that he was with Megan when she died, but Walter can only see the months of research he left undone and that did nothing for her. He tells Paige that he failed before he starts dismantling all of it.
Naturally, the deathbed scene was fabulous. I’d expect nothing less from this talented group of actors. Walter makes it to Megan’s side just in time to say goodbye, but with not quite enough time for her to say everything she wanted to say to him. Megan tells him, “Walter. Don’t be afraid.” She clearly wants to say more, and once again, Walter thinks he can simply hold back death through a force of will.
He tells her to just take a moment and gather her strength, but it’s in that moment that she dies. Louise and Paige are crying in the background. Walter’s response is a stunned, “H’unh. Ok.” He’s still surprised by her passing. Is that acceptance? I don’t think so, and I think that Walter’s passage through the stages of grief is not going to be an easy one.
But Megan really did know her brother and she’s had Sylvester send him and email from her after she passed. It seems she knew she wouldn’t get to say it in person. We return to the beach – where we saw them so happy together about this time last year. Megan finishes her thought – “Don’t be afraid of who you really are. You’re not your brain. You’re your heart. Don’t be afraid to love. I want you to be as happy as I am.” Walter does seem to get some peace and guidance from her message.
Walter and his father come full circle once they come back to the garage. After seeing Megan’s message, Walter returns from his office upstairs to the group, telling them that “we should get some rest.” Effectively, dismissing everyone. Cabe offers to take his parents back to their hotel. Before he leaves, however, Sean apologizes to Walter for discounting his efforts as science fiction. I loved the reaction shots as they can all hear Megan’s message to Walter down below.
Walter is watching them all go, when he finally does listen to his heart. He stops their departure. He doesn’t want to be alone, and there’s still a way for him to talk through Megan to his parents. He asks them if they ever heard the story about Megan pulling the fire alarm to save him. Sean says no, and Toby jumps in to keep Walter talking. He says he’d like to hear that story. They all turn and come back in with Happy offering to get the coffee on.
Happy and Toby have their own adventure in the cafeteria. It’s always fun to watch these two together. Toby ends up having to deliver a baby. Another arrival! I loved Happy reassuring the father into fainting! Part of me really hopes that she never develops people skills! Happy also risks her life by going into the kitchen to help disburse the cure. She knows she’s going to get infected but does it anyway.
Meanwhile, on the outside, Cabe enlists the only genius not trapped in the hospital – Ralph (Riley B Smith)! When Cabe arrives to pick him up, Ralph is reluctant to depart (see what I did there?), Ralph worries about what the other kids will think. Cabe assures him that the girls are gonna dig it – everyone loves a bad boy, right? The two work together, with the help of Ray’s disgusting jar of eggs, to make the cure.
There are lots of fun moments in the case. I loved Toby and Happy figuring out that the cook was patient zero and what it was – but not being able to stop Dr Castillo (Mary-Bonner Baker) from doing exactly the wrong thing. It was hilarious that Sylvester’s OCD had created the cure! It was also cool – and Sean thought so too! – even if it didn’t work to use the MRI magnet to stop the fan. I loved all the team once again coming together to play an important role. The show really does an extraordinary job in balancing that.
This episode managed to have some of the fun, light-hearted moments that make it fun to watch every week while still having a fairly deep emotional core to the episode. Kudo’s to the writers for balancing both and to the actors for delivering. I still feel this was a fairly muted send off for Megan, and I anticipate that we’ll see the fallout from her death in at least the next two episodes. What did you think of the episode? Favorite scene? Favorite line? Who do you think will struggle most with Megan’s death? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
