Scorpion: Sylvester’s Worst Fear Realized

Terry Tate
Episode recaps

Courtesy of CBS

Warning: Spoiler Alert

While on community service detail, one of the group tries to befriend Walter. Walter does not seem too thrilled at the notion of getting friendly with a guy he doesn’t ever plan to see a week from now. Even with his offer of listening to Eddie Money tunes. Meanwhile, Sylvester is having a difficult time saying what he wanted to say to Megan. He makes up an excuse to get out of there to avoid the socially awkward situation he has created for himself.

Molina arrives at the garage right about the time Cabe decides to teach Ralph how to fight to avoid a bully. Harrison prison is a hot bed for Chinese gang activity. Last week a federal judge got assassinated and a CI inside the prison pegged it. Yesterday that same CI delivered 3 sheets of paper showing a very intricate code. Those codes correspond to the name of three more judges to be assassinated soon. Today, that CI is dead. They cannot remove the books checked out by the head kingpin inside without drawing attention to what they are trying to do. They need someone inside to view, memorize and report back. They need Sylvester on the inside.

The greatest ‘unimportant’ scene that is only window dressing or the moment in the history of this young show might just be watching the Scorpion team get Sylvester ready for his undercover prison job while Geto Boyz’ Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangster plays in the background. Everyone on the team including the warden of this prison try to get him ready. Sylvester’s matter of fact nature doesn’t take to this too quickly. He is without question hesitant about every aspect of this job. But could not live with himself if he let innocent people die.

When Sylvester enters ‘gen pop’, his reaction is exactly what you’d expect. In the library, Sylvester is not finding anything that helps. Then he realizes that acetate is missing from medical text books on the list. The team deduces that Shimma (the leader) spends 3 hours a day in the infirmary. The conclusion being, that the infirmary is where the manual is and that’s where the kill orders get made and distributed.

Sylvester needs to get into the infirmary. How do you get sent to the infirmary in any prison movie or show you’ve ever seen? Provoke the biggest guy in the yard and get hit. His initial insults don’t do much other than entertain the king of the yard. Who, consequently is the man who played Terry Tate: Office Linebacker during a Reebok campaign of the early 2000s. It wasn’t until Sylvester pulled his gang colors from his waistband and use it as kleenex for his allergies that this king of the yard laid Sylvester out with one shot.

Courtesy of Reebok

During the altercation, ‘Terry Tate’ gets a clean shot. That shot cleanly removed Sylvester’s tooth coms, thus creating a very real problem with their plan. Inside the infirmary, Sylvester creates a reason for the doctor to leave. Sylvester takes this time to scour the room looking for the manual. He finds it after some basic and not genius investigation. Sylvester walks out in front of the cameras he knows the team is watching. He mouths that he cannot decipher the code. Then there is some commotion. The warden, the only person on the inside that knows Sylvester’s real identity is seemingly unconscious on a gurney.

With this new emergency situation with the warden, Sylvester’s escorted back to gen-pop in the prison cafeteria. There before he can sit down, everyone at the table gets up at once to present an opportunity for Sylvester to be alone with the King of the Yard. In no uncertain terms, the large gentleman informs Sylvester that with some assistance from a guard, Sylvester’s lights go out by 10:02 tonight.

Getting little to assistance from Director Molina, in part because any assistance would tip-off the prisoners to the notion that Sylvester isn’t a typical prisoner and thus adding more risk to his life, the team decides the only way to save Sylvester is to break him out of prison. Their plan involves slipping Sylvester a drug cocktail designed by Toby to present the appearance of death. Then they will somehow extract him using the biohazard water main. Problem is how do they slip him the drug? Enter Ray Spiewack.

During maybe the worst first strategic meeting in the history of bad ideas, Ray introduces the “Ray Way”. The initial plan involves 6 weeks, they don’t have 6 hours. Plan 2 involves Ray and Paige playing lawyers. Inside, Sylvester is not as excited to see Paige as you might think . That feeling’s made more complicated when she tells him he has to almost die to get rescued from actually dying. While he is resistant to the idea, Toby left a note.

You can’t tell Megan that you love her if you die in prison -Toby

Sylvester has a hunch that the legend or key to the entire manual’s stored somewhere in Shimma’s wheelchair. With the drugs beginning to take effect, Sylvester makes a play on the wheelchair. Problem is that the drugs are taking effect quicker than he can get to the wheelchair. Sylvester passes out before he can get to the wheelchair.

Sylvester wakes up as predicted. Right on cue, Walter and Cabe show up to break Sylvester out. Whether it be the drugs, the desire to see Megan again or something else entirely, Sylvester’s motivated to find that legend. Toby does his part to deactivate the security cameras while Sylvester decipher the code. In the chaos of trying to escape, Terry Tate grabs Sylvester from behind his cell. He tries to choke Sylvester to death but Sly isn’t having it. He bends the man’s finger back then pulls his arm through the cell door, knocking him out in the process.

Sylvester: I have a limit of one death per day.

After pulling this off, Molina pays them a visit to congratulate them on a job well done. A sentiment that Cabe will not extend to Molina. Cabe stands tall asserting that he no longer trusts Director Molina and will never again put a member of his team in harm’s way again. His job or any other consequences pales in comparison to leaving man down. She says nothing, turns and leaves.

Ralph finds himself on television commenting to a reporter about how he got accepted to Harvard, MIT, and Cal tech at the age of 10. Thus, becoming a school celebrity and using his new-found fame to avoid attention from his bully. This clever move impresses Walter because he has tried to warm Ralph to the idea of going to college. Just like Paige has tried to warm Walter to the idea of social interaction with someone outside the garage. Walter rejects the idea of spending any more time with Ray than he has to.

Sylvester finally gains the confidence post prison fiasco to tell Megan how he feels. He uses the analogy of a lifelong faithful bird. Then plays the birds mating call and even acts out the birds mating dance. His risk’s rewarded when Megan replies, “I love you too”.

Walter makes his way onto Ray’s job site where they have been given the day off on account of their truck being tampered with. (Wink, wink) The same truck Scorpion used to bust out Sylvester the night before. Ray invites Walter to join them as they will get down to their underwear, cover themselves in oil and ride down an adult scale slip ‘n slide of sorts. Walter has zero interest in such a proposition, but agrees to be their ‘timer’.

Rate article
Add a comment