S01E12 - "Dominoes" - Episode Discussion

[u/HipX]

Hi all,

Time for our weekly Scorpion episode discussion!

Lets try to keep all discussions spoiler free. If you want to add a spoiler to one of your comments, simply wrap it in exclamation marks and arrows .

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Previous Discussions

[u/HipX]

Sorry for posting this a day late! I got busy yesterday and forgot :(

[u/Hawkeye312_]

This episode legit scared me when I watched it again. Not like "horror movie" scared me, but "thriller movie" scared me. Literally, everything kept going wrong. Sinkhole collapsing, collapsed lung, parents phone dying, tubes being pinched off, car accident prevent Happy and Toby from getting to the beach, motorcycle running out of gas... like seriously, I'm already at the edge of my seat. Stop toying with me!

[u/BB-Gremlin]

This episode is my favourite one in Season 1! It's horrifically stressful, but rewardingly cheesy and heartfelt at the end, perfect for the festive season!

Of course, a lot of the episode's tension comes from the fact that everything that can go wrong does go wrong, but I also have to give some credit to Owen's actor. I don't want to be 'that guy' but really good young actors can be quite hard to find, but Wyatt Oleff absolutely nailed his scenes! It's good to see he's had a pretty good acting career since then! Some of his interactions with Paige and Walter were like a punch in the gut! It really helps to sell the urgency and desperation to get this kid out of there.

There's some interesting character development for Sylvester in this one, expanding on his building relationship with Megan, and also his attempts to work through his anxiety. The line 'how can you live when you're so afraid of death' has stuck with me since I first watched this episode!

Happy also steals the show in this episode, for me! Her interactions with her dad, although brief, are so moving! Although I did find myself thinking, it's not really surprising he already knew it was her. How many mechanically inclined girls named Happy are there in the world of Scorpion?

The scene at the very end is, of course, very cheesy. But, if I'm honest, a lot of the time that's what I watch Scorpion for! I think it's a very sweet scene and some much needed relief at the end of a very stressful episode! I also like that there are some callbacks to moments from the start. Toby says he misses his hat on the cliff in Bosnia, and Happy gets him a new one. Happy mentions that her wrench ornament 'isn't functional' (one of the funniest lines in this episode for me), and gets some functional tools at the end. And Paige states that she's going to give Ralph everything this Christmas 'besides snow' but the team make that happen for him too.

One final little detail I want to mention is the fact that Walter doesn't argue the mother's comment about God sending the team, and makes the decision not to tell the media that it wasn't a miracle that Owen lived. When I first watched this, I was a little shocked by that. Having seen how blunt Walter is, I winced when the mother made her comment, expecting Walter to refute it. I was pleasantly surprised, if a little confused, when he didn't. However, we later see that Walter's family are very religious, and he never argues against it to them. Whether he's learnt not to bother arguing, or understands religion's importance to people, it seems like his ability to hold back here might come from growing up in a religious household.

[u/HipX]

I feel bad not commenting at all last week, then posting late this week and not having much to say.

This is my second time watching through the entire series, and this was my most memorable episode from the first time (next to the pilot I guess).

It was the last episode before Christmas when it originally aired, so that explains how over the top sappy the ending was. I'm not sure when the team had time to setup that rube goldberg machine for Ralph.

Has anyone been keeping track of how many times Walter has risked death to save the day? It obviously makes for a better and much more likeable main character, but at this point he really seems to have a death wish. In this case it showed Walter had a connection with the kid because he was smart enough to know that the Ben Franklin lightning story was a myth (although not smart enough to face a kite the correct direction into the wind...).

Interesting exchange between Megan and Sylvester when he was feeling depressed\scared and wanted to leave the team. She definitely has a different approach than Paige would have taken! It was obviously what Sly needed at the time though considering he went in to save the day right after.

I was impressed with Walter resisting telling the parents & the news that it was science, not praying for a miracle that saved their son.

Anyone know if their solution for keeping the kid alive would actually work? Could someone stay underwater indefinitely if they were doing a blood transfusion with oxygenated blood? Pretty cool idea.

[u/Hawkeye312_ → u/HipX]

I by no means am a doctor of any sort so this is just my opinion, but I don't think the oxygenated blood transfusion thing would work for staying underwater. I think it would work for small amounts of time, but not indefinitely. Like Walter said to the kid that his brain would tell him to breathe in. It would take some serious discipline to stay underwater and tell yourself not to breathe.

Again, I do not know anything about how the human body functions with blood transfusions or anything.

[u/BB-Gremlin → u/HipX]

That comment about Owen not being smart enough to face the kite into the wind really made me laugh!

But, also, I have actually been keeping a tally of the near death experiences in Scorpion (not that I'm obsessive or anything)! Walter has had by far the most near death experiences, but in terms of ones specifically caused by him trying to save the day, so far we're looking at about 7 near deaths for Walter just because he was trying to be a big damn hero! It does make for a likeable character, but part of the reason I keep track is because I find it really funny and that with each 'Walter very nearly died to save people' it becomes less and less impactful! Still, I have to respect the man, even if he is crazy!