Monday, October 30, 2017

Scorpion 4x05 Review: "Sci Hard" (Allies and Enemies) [Guest Contributor: Yasmine]


“Sci Hard”
Original Airdate: October 23, 2017

Die Hard is probably in my top ten movies of all time. So this episode being called “Sci Hard” and featuring Cabe Gallo as John McLane just totally made my week.

In this week’s episode, the team is broken up — a consequence of events beyond their control — but still manage to make useful allies (and some enemies) and work together in order to save the day.

With Sylvester away in Vermont for the Bar Exam, the team is one member short when they head off to a tech exhibit, Tech-splosion, where their good old friend Richard Elia — who is always fun to have around — is unveiling his latest mind-blowing tech endeavors in E-Life and the AI butler Barnaby, which, among other things, provides a phone banking app. Also at the exhibit is Vadat, a member of the Vor Collective, the elite of the elite of the genius world, who just happens to hate Walter. It’s a long story that happened a long time ago, but it led to members of the collective getting a form of e-coli and Walter being forever banned from the Collective. Vadat really, really doesn’t like Walter and he is vocal about it.

But when a group of assailants take the exhibit visitors hostage, Vadat has no choice but to trust Walter and team and even help them to save the day. The assailants are there to basically steal the money from Elia, but he admits to Paige and Walter that the app is not ready, that it is all just for show, and the team needs to fake the money transfer in order to save everyone and figure out how to stop them.

Running late to the exhibition means that Toby and Happy are not in there with the hostages. Instead, they are on the outside, and while they try to explain to the cops who they are and try to offer their help, Cabe’s current legal situation sends this the wrong way. Toby and Happy tell the police officer in charge that they have a man on the inside in Cabe Gallo, but when the officer checks on Cabe, he finds out he is currently suspended, and his theory is immediately that Cabe is behind this — a disgruntled government employee out for revenge. And if that is not enough, he assumed Toby and Happy are his accomplices.

Inside the exhibit, Cabe is lucky to have not been rounded up with the hostages. With everything he is currently going through, including his SUV being taken and having to buy a beat up old car that even Happy cannot fix, Cabe jumps at the opportunity to try an isolation chamber. When the assailants attacked, that was where he was and by the time he gets out, all hell has broken loose. He manages to get in touch with Happy and Toby, and despite the warnings from the police, the three of them start working together to bring the thieves down.

At the same time, Happy hacks Elia’s laptop and sends a Morse Code message to Walter and he — along with Paige, Vadat and Elia — is also on board with the mission. Which leaves Sylvester, who is still in Vermont taking the Bar. I think Sly breaks more than one rule in having his phone on him and turned on, but luckily the team manages to get in touch with him. He sneaks off into the toilet and gets all caught up, but he also gets caught by the Proctor of the Bar.

Luckily, he gives Sly a chance to explain and what happens next may just be one of my favorite things. The Proctor believes Sly, but not only that, he spends the episode being completely in awe of Sylvester and Team Scorpion. The Proctor allows Sylvester to continue helping the team while finishing his Bar Exam, in the toilet. Seeing someone be so much in awe of Sly and almost hero worship is awesome, because Sly deserves that.

The team are required to do some badass things and some crazy things. Sly has to hack a bank, while Toby and Happy have to rob a bank. Yes, rob a bank. And Cabe gets to play John McLane, take down the bad guys, and prove that he has also picked up some tech skills from the geniuses. Inside, Walter and his unexpected ally do some fake hacking with guns pointed at them while it is Paige at the end of the day who rescues the hostages by getting everyone through Elia’s trap door and distracting the assailants with confetti and balloons.

This is honestly one of the best things about this show: the fact that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s not slapstick, but it’s comfortable and confident enough in its storytelling and its characters that it manages to wrap up the humor and the silliness into an hour procedural drama just so seamlessly, never forgetting the heart and soul of the show.

For example, the running joke this week is once again Happy and Quintis using silly acronyms to organize their married life. They are trying to get pregnant and the new rules are turned appropriately into STORK. It’s an opportunity to have an underlying running joke throughout the episode while also developing this relationship and proving that you can have a couple be happily and healthily married and still keep their story interesting and fun. It may serve as a comedic element, but the essence of it is always these two people, and their relationship and how they are navigating this new and scary chapter of their lives. It’s fun and silly and hilarious, if only because it ends up giving us Toby in tightie-whities.

Even separated, the team is still stronger and smarter and more together than any other team. It’s season four and they’ve definitely found their rhythm and are so comfortable in their abilities and confident in themselves and each other. And at the end of the day, it’s what really matters. They’re not just a team, they’re a family that can rely and depend on each other — whatever gets thrown their way.

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