Scorpion: Episode 1- "Pilot" Review

Scorpion: Episode 1- "Pilot"

The basis for the pilot episode is that there is a bug in the software upgrade at the LAX airport which shuts down the entire communications systems between the tower and all the planes. They need to fix the software before the planes start crashing down. Paige (McPhee) is a waitress at the diner that they needed to take over in order to try and restore the original software. She thinks that her child Ralph is "different" but has no idea that he's a mentally gifted genius until Sylvester loses to him at a game of chess made of salt and pepper shakers and little milk containers. 

There are quite a few recognizable cast members in this pilot episode which is one of my favorite things about this series. Katherine McPhee (American Idol), Robert Patrick (Terminator), Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters) and Eddie Kaye Thomas (American Pie). I really enjoyed seeing everyone that I already knew and all the fresh faces. They blended really well together making the cast one of the strong points for the series. Katherine was perfectly suited for this role and I can see her character really developing from just a waitress into a strong female character. It was also a treat to see Eddie Kaye Thomas in something other than the American Pie series. I couldn't figure out if I knew who he was in the trailers but once he was introduced in the episode, it was obvious who he was (even with the facial hair).

Like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory a few of the characters have their own personal quirks. Walter (Elyes Gabel) understand facts and numbers so he tends to lack emotions because he doesn't understand what feelings are and can come across as a snobby know-it-all and Sylvester (Ari Stidham) needs to have everything in order before he can get anything done. Since the characters are all geniuses ("smartest person in the world", "a human calculator", a "mechanical prodigy" and a "world class shrink") there is a lot of technical jargon used that I didn't understand but I didn't felt like it took away from the episode.  

This pilot is a very fast paced, high intensified and mostly unbelievable episode. In the last scenes with the airplane flying over the car I highly doubt that the assistant captain would be able to climb down the airplane to sit on top of the wheels and pass down a laptop cable at 200 miles an hour. I'm also skeptical if a plane could even fly 10 feet over a car without serious injuries to the people in the car. I also find it highly unbelievable that Paige nor anyone else has ever noticed her son was a genius until now. 

The main question I have about this series is what will every episode be like? All the series promotion trailers only featured scenes from this one episode, which makes me a little worried about the upcoming ones. Will it be individual episode plot lines? Will there be a season long plot line? Will they have to save the world in every single episode? So many questions that can't be answered just yet. 

Based on the pilot episode, I will be continuing on with the series to see where it ends up. It has a fantastic cast, decent funny moments and fast paced action scenes. If you want to watch a pilot episode that will keep your adrenaline running, this ones for you!

Grade: B


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