My wife recently got hooked on one of CBS’s new shows, Scorpion. By extension, I have watched every episode thus far. Let me rephrase that. I have been present in the room while she has watched every episode. You see, she is a huge fan of the The Big Bang Theory, and Scorpion was touted as a must watch for any Big Bang fans.
Scorpion is a “fast paced” “action/drama/comedy” (acdramedy?) that is loosely “based” on a real life genius, Walter O’Brien. He, along with a group of “genius outcasts” join forces with Homeland Security to “fight crime” and “save lives”. Oh, and there is obviously a “lady person” who is “normal”. She doesn’t really do much other than tell all the smart people how to “interact” with the “common folk”. But she’s easy on the eyes, so she’s ok in my “book”.
Now, you may have noticed my generous use of quotation marks in that previous paragraph up there. I’m not quoting anyone in particular. Mostly just being sarcastic and ironic. For anyone that has already watched an episode of the new show Scorpion, you probably know where this is going. For the rest of you, let me explain. Scorpion is a ridiculous show. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thrown my hands up and said “That’s it! I’m done with this show!” And they’re only three or four episodes in! I’m going to give you a few examples of the ridiculous situations that have ridiculous solutions, so like, spoiler alert and junk.
First, in the series premier, the team is confronted with a situation where they need to break into a building that is accessed via electronic keypad. How do they defeat the locking mechanism? Go ahead and guess. Nope. No. Shut up. You’re wrong. Here’s how it all goes down. They locate a transformer on the lines that supply power to the building, and being geniuses, calculate the exact amount of amperage or wattage or whatever that the system can handle before it overloads that particular keypad lock. Obviously. Or something like that. I don’t remember the specifics, but that’s basically what happened.
The second even more mind boggling situation occurred at the end of the same episode, and it actually would have gone unnoticed by myself if my wife hadn’t pointed this out. In the episode, a software update is installed on the computers that handle all ground to air communications at LAX. The update is corrupted, bringing down all communications between air traffic controllers and the planes trying to land. The original file is deleted before they can reinstall it, and now the only place it exists is on the planes still in the air that haven’t received the update yet. Through a series of entirely plausible events, the team gets through to one of the jets, and concocts a plan to have the pilot fly the length of the runway, just feet off the ground, while the copilot dangles an ethernet cable out of the open landing gear door. Why is the copilot dangling an ethernet cable out of the open landing gear door you ask? Because there is a Porsche driving along under the plane with a laptop ready to plug the cable in and download the old file. Now I thought this was a bit far fetched. I mean, flying as slow as it possibly could without falling out of the air that jet would still be screaming, right? Could a Porsche keep up? And then as I’m questioning the science of the whole thing, my wife says “Why didn’t they just land the plane? I mean, they flew the entire length of the runway just a few feet off the ground. All they had to do was touch down, right?” And there it was. The simple answer. By golly, I think she just outsmarted everyone on the show.
And that is why I will probably not be watching the rest of Scorpion on CBS. I mean, I’ll probably watch it, but only because I like to watch ridiculous movies and TV shows, and crack jokes the whole time MST3K style. I predict it won’t last very long on TV mostly because I feel like it’s trying to appeal to fans of The Big Bang Theory, but it has more of a CSI feel to it. Without all the murder and dead folks though. So I say check out at least on episode and see if it appeals to you in some way.