Monday, October 30, 2017

Scorpion 4x06 Review: "Queen Scary" (Scooby Boo) [Guest Contributor: Yasmine]


“Queen Scary”
Original Airdate: October 30, 2017

This week’s episode of Scorpion somehow felt like it was two separate episodes in one — one was potentially funny, with so much room for humor, and the other was just a generic, almost forgettable case. Unfortunately, that meant that the episode itself fell flat and if it weren’t for the threads of character and relationship storylines, it could almost be forgettable, which is a shame after last week’s extremely fun episode.

The primary job of the day for Team Scorpion is to prove or disprove the existence of ghosts. With their current financial situation, they have to take any job that comes to them and this one came in the form of a producer looking to produce a documentary in which a team of geniuses investigate the possible existence of ghosts. The team take the job, and even though they go there determined that they know the answer, they still do their job and earn their pay by doing the necessary scientific research. One team member refuses to go, citing his reputation as one of the top five smartest men in the world, which he wouldn’t jeopardize by appearing on such a show. So Walter stays back at the garage while the team investigates the strange happenings aboard the Queen Mary.

The team quickly resolves this. They find the reason behind the recent hallucinations and they are due to an EMF caused by an installation of an antenna a few days earlier, which means this case is wrapped up halfway through the episode. There were barely enough ghost jokes and puns, and barely enough scared Sylvester or cynical Walter before the case was closed and another was opened.

The antenna belongs to a company that delivers natural gas ships to ports without a crew. As a result of the malfunctioning system, one ship is on course towards Malibu instead of Long Beach. The connection between the two cases is scientifically sound but totally unnecessary in my opinion. The events that follow — the team trying to redirect the ship and avoid a disaster — are very straightforward Scorpion, but by far one of the least exciting or interesting cases. The best thing about it was the fact that it was Paige who finds the scientific solution in the end, proving that she may not be a genius by their standards, but she is very smart herself.

And that is an absolute shame because while they do manage to save the day by a hair, I think it was far more interesting and entertaining watching them trying to find ghosts on a haunted ship.

I hate to say it, but I was really disappointing with how the two cases were handled this week, especially when the relationship and certain individual storylines that carried through the episode were so good.

First, there was Cabe and his struggle with his upcoming court date. Cabe Gallo isn’t one to open up or express his emotions. But lucky for him, he is surrounded by a group of people who love him and who have grown to know him like no one else does. Throughout the episode, Cabe voices concerns about Ferret Bueller’s living conditions, and continues to think of way they can make him happier and more comfortable. Happy is the one to pick up on this and understands what truly is bothering the team’s father figure. She recruits Toby to talk to him, in his capacity as a psychiatrist. It does take some coaxing from the doctor, but he eventually manages to convince Cabe to talk to him. It’s always beautiful when the walled-up characters finally open up and Cabe is no different. He finally admits his fears and that he is worried about his future and potential incarceration.

Another amazing thing about this storyline is how Happy (and Toby) dealt with it. Happy was the first one to pick up on the situation but she did not confront Cabe about it. She kept an eye on him. She watched him and studied his development, and then she went to Toby about it. He is the professional and more equipped to deal with it — and he did use a great mix of professionalism and pure care and friendship. I love when Toby gets to display his skills as a psychiatrist almost as much as I love seeing how far Happy’s people’s skills have grown and how much she has come to love and care for this team.

Cabe was not the only one to learn a valuable lesson this week. The team, for one, learned that you could never trust a Hollywood producer. Happy’s line, “what a shock, a Hollywood producer is a dirt bag,” was the perfect punchline after the team see the trailer produced for what has been documented and it is made to look like Team Scorpion believe in ghosts.

But there was bigger lesson to be learned by Walter as well. Benching himself for the case was not the only thing he did this episode that was selfish. At the beginning of the episode, he and Paige are at a concert for her friend and it turned out he had not been listening to her play. Instead, he’d been listening to a lecture on his phone the whole time. This upsets Paige, naturally, and she spends the episode angry at him. With a little push from Toby — again being the amazing shrink that he is — and a little help again from Paige, Walter finally realizes why it is important to share your partner’s interests. Walter is lucky Paige loves him so much and is patient with him because he really is struggling with the whole normal relationship thing. But this slow and bumpy road is actually fun to watch him navigate, with the help of Paige, because it shows how much he has grown and how much he wants to be the man that Paige deserves to be with.

The highlight of the episode for me, to be honest, was Toby’s Halloween costume. All he did was wear a sign around his neck that said, “I love ceilings!” and went as a ceiling fan and I am still laughing at that.

Unfortunately for me, this was a forgettable episode case-wise but one that did push forward Cabe’s story as well as the Waige relationship, while continuing the trend of showcasing Quintis as this healthy, ever-growing, loving and established relationship — which just may be my new favorite trope.

0 comments:

Post a Comment