Scorpion’s second episode, “Single Point of Failure,†gives us a glimpse of what it was like for Walter O’Brien during his childhood. In school, young Walter answers a math question logically, but in his teacher’s eyes, he’s being disobedient. Before he can get a literal slap on the knuckles (with a ruler nonetheless), his sister pulls a fire alarm. This is the first that we’ve heard that Walter has any family. Flashing to the present, Walter is reading a letter about Megan, his sister. Megan has MS and is getting worse.
Agent Gallo, portrayed by Robert Patrick, takes the Scorpion team to the Governor’s home. Unfortunately, they are there to investigate the Governor’s daughter’s mysterious illness. Seeing the girl lying sick in her bed brings back terrible memories for Walter of his sister. The constant reminder of his dying sister causes Walter to become emotional, or as he says “impatient.†It’s good to see that Walter isn’t completely insusceptible to emotions. His character has become one step closer to being relatable to an audience who won’t completely understand how it is to live with an IQ of 197.
After learning that there are three other sick children, the team works to find a way to cure the children before it is too late. In order to get information on who might be making these children sick and how to get a cure, the Scorpion team must break into Vlaxco Pharmaceuticals. Toby and Happy provide a distraction for the team to get the needed information. While the actual heist plays out like any procedural, getting to hear small snippets of the team’s lives is the real treat here. Both Toby and Happy share about their unresolved relationships. Toby is trying to reach his ex-fiancée; from his phone message, he feels that he owes her money. Happy talks about the day that her father left her at a hospital asking a nurse to take care of her. Even though she was only two years old at the time, Happy remembers every second; that’s just the way that her brain works. In telling the short story, Happy tells Toby, “tools don’t let you down, only people do.â€
While we all know how procedural episodes often end, the Scorpion team does it with flare. Pun intended for those who were watching.
We learned that, to Sylvester, having money makes him uncomfortable, so he donates his paycheck to the children. He hopes that they can have a lab of some kind, “something fun†he says. Walter sees his sister and lets her know that he is going to fix her.
Paige reminds Walter of something that is important for everyone, genius or not, to remember about their lives: “Sometimes, it’s okay to admit you don’t have all the answers.†Scorpion is shaping up to be a successful new procedural with interesting characters in which I am willing to invest my time.
 The Verdict
+ More background on the Scorpion team
+ Better humanization of the geniuses
+ Better interaction with all team members
-The case wasn’t the most creative
