"Who Let the Dog Out ('Cause Now It's Stuck in a Cistern)"
Original Airdate: December 11, 2017
It’s finally here: the day absolutely no one was looking forward to. It’s the day of Cabe’s trial and no one is dealing with it well. As the day progresses, the general attitude among the team only goes from bad to worse as things pile up and nothing goes as planned. This Scorpion episode had all the makings of a very tense and emotional episode, but somehow, in a way that only Scorpion can, enough lightness and humor were added — through subtle character-driven plotlines and a side case — that the episode never once felt melodramatic but still managed to deliver all the emotional notes required to make it a home run episode.
The day starts with the team, minus Cabe and Sly, trying to do everything they can to make sure the verdict sways Cab’s direction. Paige is first up. She accidentally “bumps” into the judge with her soothingly-scented lavender perfume. Walter is up next and he switches his morning tea with decaf, then Happy tampers with the ventilation in the court room to make sure it is set at the ideal temperature, and finally, as the judge walks up the steps, Toby is there posing as a street performer providing some comforting tunes from the tropics. Unfortunately, Cabe, who had spent the morning leaving gifts on their desks, does not take kindly to their trying to manipulate his case.
Either way, none of it matters since the judge appointed to the case gets called away with a family emergency and is replaced by one whose nickname is “Maximum Max” Talbertson because, according to Toby, he hands out convictions and hard sentences like breath mints. On top of that, the case is going to happen behind closed doors, so the team cannot attend.
Like I said, things just keep going from bad to worse. At the courthouse, the judge from the makes it clear from the get-go that he agrees with the prosecutor and will not be listening to evidence from Cabe’s past years of service and will only listen to facts pertaining to the case — that in which Cabe unlocked Collins’ ankle cuff and allowed his escape, which the prosecution claims Cabe was a part of. Sly and Cabe’s entire defense was based on Cabe’s past and his character and Sylvester suddenly finds himself lost and flustered,blowing his opening statement.
Back at the garage, the team has managed to hack the cameras in the courtroom but they have no audio. But again, this is not their worst problem. Homeland informs them that they will be getting a visit from an Agent Micklethorn, the man who would replace Cabe if he ends up in jail — and even then, only if Micklethorn deems Scorpion still beneficial to the government.
And the worst of it all, is not what is happening around them, but what is happening to them. Unable to control the Cabe situation and not fans of not being in control, the team start coping in ways that are anything but healthy. The always confident Happy is beating herself up about everything. She refers to herself as an idiot and a dummy and loses her faith in anything she needs to do. Her husband, on the other hand, starts engaging in any activity that endangers him, becoming the daredevil he never is. And Walter, apparently, is a person who eats his feelings: for the whole episode, Walter O’Brien is eating one thing or another.
Lucky for them, they have Paige, and when the time comes, she knows how to whip them into shape. Trying their best to get their minds off the case, the team hear of a dog stuck in a cistern and the police are unable to pull him out, so they decide to offer their help. It sounds like an easy enough job for these geniuses, but once again, bad turns into worse.
The dog apparently has diabetes and is in a weakened state because of that, plus a broken leg. The dog’s owner is there and is not taking it well, as the dog has been the only thing helping her through the loss of her husband. To add to that, Micklethorn arrives on site and is already judging the team. All these factors, and the fact that none of them are acting like themselves, means Operation: Rescue Puppy is probably one of the toughest jobs this team has had to do, and they have had their share of tough jobs.
Back in the courthouse, Sylvester isn’t having the best of days. The judge seems to agree with everything the prosecution is presenting and their defense is week. Poor Sylvester even resorts to using the electrocuting cuffs the judge to demonstrate the pain that Collins was in, which Cabe was protecting him from when he uncuffed him, but even that ill-advised stunt doesn’t do the trick.
The team finally get an idea to flush the dog out of the cistern, and in a final attempt to rescue him, they call on an old friend, their chemist neighbor Florence, for help. They need one of her concoctions to make a fast solidifying cement mix to close the drain and fill the pipe with water and get the puppy out. Flo’s mixture works, and after a scary moment where it looks like the puppy might drown, the team manage to rescue him. But that is not where Flo’s assistance to the team ends. Sly calls from the courthouse. He has a Hail Mary play and needs someone from the team to head over to the library and send him a picture from a rare law book of an 18th century case that might help Cabe.
Toby and Flo head off, running way too many lights on their way and forced to flee from the cops, but Toby finally manages to get those pictures to Sylvester. The case Sly submits to the judge is an old maritime case in which it was determined that, the captain of a vessel has the right to release his prisoners if he fears for their safety.
Somehow, the works and yes, Cabe Gallo deserves the not guilty verdict he gets, even if it happens through the most unconventional of ways. Sylvester may not have had a great first case, but he does get a win — and his second case is not that far away as the cops bring in a cuffed Toby and Florence, for whom Sly manages to get community service.
Once again, as the geniuses were falling apart, it was up for Paige to take charge and keep it all together. But by the end of the episode, it becomes her turn to express all her pent-up frustration and the poor phone operator at Kovelsky’s is the recipient of her anger when he gets an earful about them not having fermented fish.
But none of that matters because the team is finally together, Cabe is safe and back in his old job (he tears up at the intern badge that Toby had made him) and Flo is given a warm welcome and thanks for her help in everything. Back in the garage, the team opens the presents that Cabe had left them: for Sly, an action figure of Sir Ainsley from Chair of Blades; for Happy, a vintage 1959 tool of sorts; for Toby, Cabe gives him his father’s old hat; and for Paige, an old copy of Tech Talk Made Easy, which Cabe tells her he had gotten way back when he met young Walter, hoping it would help him get closer to him and understand him. It’s his way of telling her that he finds comfort in the fact that the team has her.
And finally for Walter, Cabe leaves him a copy of the letter Cabe had written for Walter’s visa application. In the letter, Cabe describes the then twelve-year-old Walter as someone who will grow up to be the most remarkable person he would ever get to meet.
I think they could not have written a better episode for Cabe’s trial; touching, emotional, tense throughout — whether with the puppy case or with Cabe’s court case — and still funny and entertaining and lighthearted. We’ve all been worried about this since Collins escaped and I think they absolutely nailed it.
One thing that did bother me? The episode title. They have been absolutely brilliant this season but this one just didn’t work for me. But otherwise? Absolutely flawless episode!
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