Scorpion, “Fractured,” was written by the team of Matthew Davis and Nick Santora and was directed by Christine Moore. Davis moves up from assistant for this episode. The story is credited to Kim Rome and Scott Sullivan. Once again, the team faces both personal and public crisis when an earthquake hits LA. The episode also features a guest appearance by Pen Jillette as Dr Cecil P Rizzuto.
As the episode begins, Walter (Elyes Gabel) and Toby (Eddie Kaye Thomas) are driving the rest of the team crazy with their bickering – even over creamer! Paige (Katharine McPhee) has noticed things escalating between the two and sentences them to couples therapy! While the two have their first appointment with Rizzuto, Happy (Jadyn Wong), Cabe (Robert Patrick), and Paige are busy preparing a pitch to Hudler Motors.
Ralph (Riley B Smith) tries to sweet talk Paige into signing a permission slip so that he can go kayaking along the Channel Islands with his college class. Paige thinks it’s too dangerous and won’t let him go without adult supervision. Ralph tells her that even though the professor isn’t going, some of the students are 19. Paige tells him real adults and no means no. Interestingly, Sylvester (Ari Stidham) steps in to support Paige’s caution about “water craft” but even his phobias are trumped by the possibility that Ralph’s marks could suffer if he doesn’t participate in the field study.
Sylvester proposes an alternative – the tide pools near Malibu. Ralph can still study the indigenous sea life that way. Paige still thinks it’s too dangerous – the rocks are slippery and sharp! And apparently, she doesn’t trust Sylvester with Ralph! Happy suggest wrapping Ralph in bubble wrap which is hilarious. I have to say that her reluctance to let Ralph even explore the tide pools seemed a bit extreme and not entirely in keeping with her parenting up until now. I loved Cabe wading in to tell Paige to let Ralph be a boy – “We’re raising a nation of pansies!” Though he might have used a better choice of words… Paige does finally agree – though she also tells Sylvester she’s holding him personally responsible for Ralph’s safety.
Naturally, Sylvester is over-the-top safety conscious with Ralph and won’t let him go near the ocean! Ralph refuses to wear the water-wings that Sylvester has brought – or the state of the art life vest that Happy has made him. I love that he describes it as something made by a co-worker who loves him like a brother and Happy describes it as something she made for a lunatic that she works with!
Paige has her hands full prepping Happy to play nicely for their prospective customers – Hudler Motors. Happy’s technology is also applicable for air bags. Happy doesn’t want to beg, but Cabe clarifies for her that it’s called “getting business.”
Loved Toby comparing them all to
Saved By the Bell characters! Jillette is hilarious as their therapist. He has a BS (Bull…) from an Internet University! However, he starts with failures to communicate and points to body language. Toby tells him that from the way he’s sitting, Rizzuto has hemorrhoids. Rizzuto isn’t embarrassed – though Walter clearly is! However, if you check Walter and Toby’s body language, they are sitting as far from each other on the couch as they can. Rizzuto is leaning forward, showing he’s open and sharing – and Toby and Walter are leaning away and back…
Next time we see them, they are singing “More Than Words Can Say” acapella. But they are almost touching as they sit side by side – united against Rizzuto? Or is he actually pretty good at this? I also liked how the song keeps coming up throughout the episode.
Sylvester gets an alert about an earthquake that lets him know that there’s one about to hit LA. He gets Ralph to relative safety and sends a text to the rest of the team. They all make it through the quake unscathed, but when Paige tries to call Ralph, all the phones are out. Cabe explains that the same thing happened during 911 – a combination of network overload and infrastructure damage. Happy is able to connect them through their backup comm system. Sylvester manages to break his glasses.
Walter realizes that there is a problem with the water lines and the city is in flames. The team also realizes that the water lines must be pinched off – likely beneath Koreatown – and that the gas pipes there will combine to create a huge bomb. The crisis is on!
Sylvester gives them 35 minutes. They determine they have to cut off the gas first and send Sylvester into the Malibu Hills to shut it off. Walter and Toby head to Koreatown underground. Toby is not happy. Cabe, Paige, and Happy are prevented from joining them when they have to save people stuck in a van in electrified water. So we get action on three fronts.
Ralph suggests that they steal the lifeguard’s truck and then he acts as Sylvester’s eyes. Paige overhears on the coms and Sylvester knows he’s a dead man! They encounter a woman (Meagan English) stuck in her car after a tree fell across the road. Her husband (Will McFadden) isn’t so impressed when Sylvester is taking orders from Ralph. Ralph risks his life to save the woman, almost giving Sylvester a heart attack!
Ralph and Sylvester have to jump the truck over the tree. Once again, Ralph risks serious harm by suggesting he drive and Sylvester is freaked out. Ralph tells Sylvester that Paige says he’s more of an indoor cat and that it bothers him sometimes. Ralph asks Sylvester if that ever happened to him, and Sylvester immediately relates based on the much worse things his dad said to him. This felt a little out of place coming after the episode in which we met Sylvester’s dad – but the end of the episode clearly places it after. It is a nice bonding moment between Ralph and Sylvester when Sylvester says, “Ok. Let’s be outdoor cats.” It’s pretty hilarious when Sylvester’s sweat inflates his lifevest!
Walter and Toby head into the sewers only to find a colony of Brazilian Fire Ants between them and where they need to go. Walter admits he has relationship problems, but he doesn’t understand why Toby is so mad at him. He finds it disheartening that he doesn’t even know what he’s doing wrong.
Happy tries to use tires to get the people out of the van, but then oil means there’s a risk of fire. Walter and Toby quibble about whose idea it is that they use – and Happy decides it’s Toby’s. An aftershock sets the van on fire. They manage to get a tire bridge to the trapped people, but the last survivor, Bryan (Thomas Rosales Jr), won’t leave. I loved them all helping each other via their coms. Toby tells them there are actually three “F” responses to stress – flight, fight, or freezing. Paige insists that she needs to be the one to go, and she gets to be the action hero this episode. She ends up having to use tough love to get him out, but almost blows up herself!
Walter and Toby are both injured in the aftershock. I loved them having to do a three-legged race while having to sing “More Than Words Can Say” again! See? Great therapist!
Sylvester uses Ralph’s life vest to break the lock to get into the gas valve and get it turned off! But it’s too late. The gas is already escaping because the aftershock cracked the pipe. Walter tells the whole team to meet him at Wilshire and Morel. To save the city, they’re going to light the gas on fire themselves!
Walter and Toby steal a cop car and get there first and set up a chimney over a manhole cover. Happy has made an ancient Aztec spear throwing device – a marvel of physics – that Cabe chucks the crap out of it to set the gas on fire.
The team works together to clean up the garage. Paige comments on how even though they were scattered, they were still able to save the city as a team. There’s a sweet reunion between Paige and Ralph. It looks like Paige is about to give Sylvester crap, but she sensibly thanks him for bringing Ralph back safely. The day has also given her more perspective that she has to stop treating Ralph like a typical kid and signs his permission slip.
Walter goes to see Toby and suggests they do all their sessions with Rizzuto. Walter wants to be a good friend, he’s never had many. Toby finally tries to take the blame for his own self-destructive behavior and he apologizes to Walter. He agrees to more therapy, but takes a raincheck on coffee.
When Toby shuts the door, we find out why Toby has never been happier in his life – HAPPY IS THERE IN HIS BATHROBE!!!! Great surprise for the ending of the episode!
This was another fun episode that still managed to have a good thematic message running throughout, nicely tied in with the music. I’m hoping we do get more of Pen Jillette, and I can’t wait to see what happens when the rest of the team find out about Toby and Happy! What did you think of the episode? Favorite scene? Line? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! Sorry for the delay in posting – travel and computer issues got in my way…
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.
