Warning: Spoiler Alert
In the last episode a number of big picture and episodic plot points came into play. One of the lesser story lines was Sylvester’s affection for Megan, Walter’s sister with MS. In the last episode, Paige in no uncertain terms suggested that Sylvester act on his impulses despite his Walter related hesitation. As irony would have it, just as Sylvester was about to leave the shop, Walter asked if he’d like to tinker with the rocket. Sylvester said he had a date. Walter’s exact words were, “any woman would be lucky to have you”.
Today we start with Sylvester and Megan enjoying each other’s company in that early stages of dating sort of way. Megan points out the frequency of Walter’s visits and suggests he tell Walter as soon as reasonably possible so that Walter doesn’t find out another way. I foresee a problem with Sylvester finding the ‘right time’ to tell him.
Walter did a television interview. Yep. Let that marinate for a moment. Whether he’s aware of it or not, the interview and subsequent b-role paints a picture of Walter’s heroics and not the collective effort of the Scorpion Team. Eventually, the interviewer gets to giving credit to the rest of the team. Naming them and their respective areas of expertise. Giving of course the most simplistic and in some cases incorrect titles. Then the interviewer makes a colossal mistake. The interviewer identified Happy as the “nanny” and Paige as the master fabricator. Happy is still Happy but she is very much not Happy. And even though I can’t see Paige, I’m sure she won’t enjoy being thought of as the team’s “Nanny”. In typical Walter fashion, he can’t comprehend why the team is upset.
We have a case. A billionaire’s estranged daughter has been kidnapped in Mexico. The billionaire paid the ransom but that was then reconfigured to be a ‘down payment’. Inside 60 seconds, Sylvester was able to figure out what town she was most likely held in. The man is satisfied and is about the leave. Then Walter suggests they can pinpoint her exact location with a little time. Toby is not at all excited about this new reach. In short order Walter basically informs Toby that if the job is too much he need not assist.
The Mexican Federale escort was less than advertised. He drops them at a bus stop 10 miles out. Citing that a man in uniform and a marked car puts them in danger. So all of Walter’s “we won’t be handling the dangerous parts of this job” kind of just flew out of the window. Sylvester hints that he’s been trying to find the right time to tell Walter something. Walter suggests he just say it if he has something to say. A dirty old van comes racing around the corner. It’s the drug cartel. They take the money and race off. With Walter staring off in the van’s direction, Walter takes his advice.
Sylvester: Walter…I’m dating your sister.
After collecting themselves and tabling their little fight, Walter, Toby and the team work toward a solution. They receive an email video attachment with the estranged daughter reading the latest demands. Sylvester spots a rare bird in the shot and uses that information to deduce what kind of natural marsh they should be looking for.
At the location, it all seems too easy. The building/barn is empty. The moment after Walter asks out loud, “Why would they lure us here if it wasn’t an ambush”, automatic machine guns on track move and open fire in the team’s general direction. The guns are set on tracks and have motion sensor activated cameras. The entire team are pinned behind stationary objects. Walter takes a crate of oranges and sends them away from where they are to attract the attention of the motion sensors long enough to allow Paige to get out of her compromised stationary object.
Happy has a plan that Walter rejects. She sees similarities in this small Mexican town to the American one she grew up in. Using what she knows of the gun rigs, she believes she can get answers from the locals. Despite Walter’s strong objection. She’s getting the cold shoulder. Walking through an alley, the unsuspecting Happy gets knocked out, bagged, and taken.
Happy has been kidnapped by a child, hoping to improve his station in life, like the Cartel. His big misstep is assuming that an Americans come from wealthy families willing to pay obscene ransoms. Walter is getting owned by the recycling encryption code he’s been trying to beat. Then Toby starts to worry about Happy. On cue she appears.
Toby: Where have you been?
Happy: I…got kidnapped.
Toby: Kidnapped by who?
Happy: This guy (she pulls him into view). He wasn’t very good at it.
They argue over the risk of bringing a petty criminal into the fold. Walter insists that the kid doesn’t know anything and based on his criminal intent has no intention of pointing them in the right direction. Toby observes the kid’s body language and disagrees. Toby offers the kid what equates to a Price is Right Showcase for males 14-25 (video games, flat screen, etc). As a show of ‘trust’ Toby leaves the room. The idea is that the kid will accept and take them to the Cartel. Instead, Toby left temptations in the room. Namely wallets with cash and the tablet device he used to show the prize the kid was set to get. Instead of agreeing to the deal, the kid bounces. With the cash but more importantly the tablet. Which they can track.
Upon a basic Bing search of the tenement they believe is the location, many speed bumps reveal themselves. There are lasers and guards. Walter uses a diode from a coo-coo clock and connects it to the internal part of his tablet. The idea being that on site, the diode will send a series of signals out then bounce back with information leading to a rough idea of what (namely a guard) might be around the corner. Feasible plan in theory made more difficult by the constant bickering between the team. Toby and Happy are still upset about the TV interview.
The first attempt at using the diode to identify people they can’t see through the wall seems to work. They split up for more coverage. Paige knocks on a door and identifies herself as Sophie in need of fluids for her baby. In perfect Spanish. Once the door is opened, Paige gives the real story quickly, again in Spanish. The woman behind the door invites them in.
Cabe yells out “hey scumbags!” and unloads a clip from a machine gun. The Cartel lackeys, grab their guns and all head out. With the gunman looking for Cabe, Toby helps Happy scale the side of the building from floor 2 to floor 3. Cabe calls out again. A firefight ensues. Cabe employs the figurative ‘rope-a-dope’ positioning himself under a cement staircase.
Apparently not all of the gunmen left. Happy gets hit after telling the daughter they were here to get her out. He kicks her in the head then grabs her to pull her up. Then he says something that is utterly stupid. I love how the criminals in these shows act like cats. Whatever they ‘mark’ or steal, now belongs to them and is to be protected as their own possession.
Criminal: You come into our home and try to take what’s ours?
In the last possible moment before the gunman pulls the trigger to end Happy’s life, the kid that grabbed her the first time knocks out the gunman he seems to look up to so much. While Cabe is under some significant gunfire, Happy is lowering Zoe (the daughter) by a bed sheet to the second floor. They convene and depart together. Just to wind up facing 5 gunman with guns drawn. “You messed with the wrong people, my friends”. Let me say again how stupid this is. Not what the show is doing, but the criminal mentality. Criminals kidnap the daughter of an American billionaire. American Billionaire gives them essentially four million dollars and doesn’t get his daughter back. Billionaire sends a team to retrieve her. Criminals get indignant at the prospect of someone retrieving their family member that was illegally stolen and held for ransom. Where’s the logic? She was never yours, so why get so offended when the victim attempts to steal back what you already stole? It’s not a Scorpion thing, it’s merely a reflection of an actual mentality that exists.
A backup plan was put in place that is just now revealed. Happy and Walter reconfigured the motion sensor machine gun on the roof of the building. This one is set to only the area to the right of the door. The side the bad guys are on. They move any closer, and the machine gun will cut them down. One guy calls Happy a derogatory word in Spanish and steps forward. And subsequently get shot. Then we have a lovely back and forth, mostly from Scorpion members.
Happy: I improved your gun. You so much as move a trigger finger, you’re dead.
Walter: I can see that you’re all scared, that’s good it means you won’t do anything stupid.
Toby: Like move again.
Cabe: This is how this is going to go down. My friends and I are going to walk Zoe right out that door. And none of you are going to do a damn thing about it. You try to intervene, it’ll be the last thing you ever do.
Walter: I put a 24-hour battery on the motion sensor, so for your sake, I hope that you and your men…are disciplined.
Toby: Now remember. Your nose. Does. Not. Itch.
They find the young man from earlier walking down the same dirt road. Happy insists they stop. She then asks for Cabe’s watch. He mentions its value, both monetary and sentimental. She insists again, citing that he saved her life. “Sell the watch, get a train ticket and move far away from here”.
The emotional reunion between father and daughter may just grease the skids on what’s to come. Walter apologized to the group and after a short silence, everyone seemed alright again. With the exception of Sylvester. Walter gave Sylvester the cold shoulder throughout the entire mission. Which in some manner of speaking came after Walter gave him permission to date ‘any woman’, then insisted Sylvester just say what he wanted to say.
Sylvester: Why aren’t I good enough for your sister. I know the obvious. My stress, my anxiety, but I’m a good person. Which should count for something. It hurts me.
Walter: Sylvester, you are kind and generous and a better human being than I will ever be. But I have spent a very long time preparing myself for the fact that Megan will very likely die. My research is not going as quickly as I had hoped for. And I don’t know if I can save her, now I can handle the fallout. But you are not designed to process the pain that you’re going to feel. Getting close to her is dangerous, for you.
Sylvester: She calms me Walter. She makes me feel good about myself. And I know there is a risk. But if there’s one thing that’s worth the risk, its her.
Walter: I’m glad she’s found such a good guy.
(man hug)
Sylvester then shows up to visit Megan unannounced. He’s brought with him the coo-coo clock as a gift and music. Megan was told she’d never dance again. So Sylvester is going dance with her. She resists, but eventually obliges. Putting her feet on his, Sylvester is able to “Support Her” which he actually says to her in one of the great awkward but successful romantic moments one can see.
Mr. Elliot, the billionaire, comes back to thank Walter again. In doing so, asks about the rocket. Mr. Elliot is on the board with the gentleman who has put up the 15 million dollar prize for Aerospace Advancement. Walter’s goal of course being that a 15 million dollar check cut to MS research would fast track help for Megan. Mr. Elliot offers Walter a job to work at his think tank. Walter gazes over to his remaining team dancing. Toby specifically who is grooving with a colander on his head and declines.
