Scorpion, “White Out,” was written by the team of David Foster and Nick Santora and was directed by Jeff Hunt. This was a solid typical episode with a high stakes case at its heart. The show did a great job creating realistic looking snow. There’s plenty of movement on the Toby (Eddie Kaye Thomas) and Happy (Jadyn Wong) front, but for anyone looking for follow up to Walter (Elyse Gabel) and Paige’s (Katharine McPhee) romance, they were disappointed.
As the episode opens at the garage, everyone is trying to make New Years’ resolutions. Much to Toby’s annoyance, Happy is trying to become happier through using his arch rival, Quincy Burke’s pop-psychology book. I loved how the book becomes the way Toby finds Happy later in the episode, and it's her search for happiness that also brings her back to Toby. Toby then bets Cabe (Robert Patrick) that he can’t go one day without caffeine.
Walter has vowed to honor Megan’s request that he become more social, which of course Walter has no idea how to do! Paige has to explain who the Kardashians are – hilarious! – and also explains that social media isn’t being more social. As true as that may be, can anyone deny that the videos Walter has made with Ferret Beuller are adorable?!
Paige is sending Ralph (Riley B Smith) to camp to interact with more people because that’s what being social is all about. Not coincidentally, she’s also sending Walter to camp with Ralph. Walter tries to logically point out the futility in learning to tie knots – though he’s clearly pleased that Ralph choose him to go. I loved Paige laying down the law and telling Walter that he would sing the songs, make smores and tie the damn knots!
At this point, Cooper (Peri Gilpin) arrives with their case. They have to go to Antarctica to send drones to save a group of pinned down soldiers in Darfur. Don’t try to make sense of this… just go with it. I did like that the show once again sets the case up so that there are very few guest stars and we really just focus on the team. However, one of the big reasons there’s no movement on the Walter/Paige front is that Paige and Sylvester (Ari Stidham) stay at the garage with Ralph while Cabe, Walter, Toby, and Happy make the trip.
As the Pilot (Brandon Barrera) drops them off, he warns them not to leave the hut because of white outs and a big storm – which of course, lets us know that’s exactly what’s going to happen! I did love all of Toby’s lame jokes about the world upside down and the computer frozen. Naturally, the storm interferes with the signal and the team must head out to set up an additional antenna. The mention of McMurdo Station had me thinking of the movie The Thing and so did the outside shots!
The group ties themselves together and ties off a line to find their way back. I loved that Walter checked with Ralph on the “traditional” directional methods of finding their way. Of course, it’s later in the episode when it’s Paige who instructs them on how to tie a knot – because she knew that Walter would never learn to do them!
While the group in the Antarctic works to set up the new antenna, Sylvester, Paige, and Ralph make contact with Decker (Taylor Handley), the leader of the pinned down soldier. Definitely have to give a shout out to Riley B Smith for his performance in this episode. Actually, I think he’s done a truly amazing job of showing how Ralph has benefitted from his time with Scorpion – he’s definitely a lot more gregarious, yet he’s still a kid too. It’s quite a fine line for him to walk as an actor, and I always enjoy seeing him in an episode.
It’s Ralph that tells Decker to have everyone smash their watches and throw the pieces out to fool the enemy into thinking there are more of them. It’s also Ralph who sends them “Sugar, We’re Going Down” by Fall Out Boy – maybe not the best song choice – but he chose it because Decker is about the same age as Paige and it was a song she liked. Ralph demonstrates that he is still a kid in his absolute faith that Scorpion never fails. He has a hard time dealing with it when it looks like Scorpion has failed Decker.
The others get to the location for the new antenna only to discover that they can’t put it up without being able to ice the pieces together. On the way back to the camp, Happy ends up getting separated and Toby goes after her, leaving Walter and Cabe to complete the mission. All the hand waving I can do, doesn’t really excuse the fact that they are worried about Happy freezing to death because it is so cold, yet they all have way too much exposed skin. All of them would have had frostbite if not worse – but that comes from having lived in the north, so we’ll excuse the Californians, especially because they did do an awesome job with the actual snow.
I loved watching Walter and Cabe work together. They manage to get the antenna up – again, yes, boiling water does freeze faster – but so fast that it would have frozen in the air before hitting the metal. Regardless, using the sonar to locate Happy and Toby was pretty cool – whether it’s scientific or not.
Meanwhile, Toby has located Happy and crawled naked into a sleeping bag to warm her up. Again, this is the correct technique – but I loved Happy’s reaction. It’s also adorable that their hearts actually synced up so Walter only heard one heartbeat. Aw!
Continuing with the awesome music in this episode – yes, I’m a fan of Fall Out Boy, but even more of REM – Happy gets a song stuck in her head: REM’s “Shiny Happy People.” It’s why she’s reading the self-help book, right? Turns out, she has a standard to go by. I loved Patrick (Jamie McShane) showing up at the end of the episode with the video of him and Happy’s mother, Grace (Jennifer Del Rosario), listening to REM. Patrick tells her that he showed her the video again and again as a baby so that she would know her mother. She tells him that she wants to be like him and her mother – she’s never been so carefree. He tells her she just has to find out what makes her happy. We already know – or think we do.
Cooper gets to show what a badass she is when Homeland is refusing to send in a rescue for the team. She blackmails the right person, but in a totally Cooper way as the blackmail material is hardly life and death! I like that they are keeping her character very different from the other handlers, but I do hope they don’t move her into comic relief territory. Regardless, she gets the job done and the team makes it home.
I loved the end scene. Paige has arranged for camping on the roof for the whole gang. Happy tests the waters of what might make her happy by inviting Toby to share a tent with her.
Walter has brought back snow for Ralph – real snow this time which was a nice tie in to the fake snow that they made for Ralph last Christmas. Paige tells Walter that she was worried that Ralph wouldn’t connect with others because he has no siblings, but she’s realized that Ralph actually has a bunch right there! And of course, a gigantic snowball fight closes out the episode.
What did you think of the episode? Favorite scene? Favorite line? Are you happy to see Toby and Happy finally – hopefully – moving forward? 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.
