Scorpion 'Plutonium Is Forever' Review: The Secret Life of Walter O'Brien

Scorpion delivered perhaps its best episode to date this week with "Plutonium Is Forever," an episode that featured a suspenseful plot and a deeply personal conflict for Walter O'Brien. But unlike the previous episodes that have tried to give us a glimpse into Walter's psyche, this one actually worked.

I said in previous reviews that the show tried too hard to make us feel invested in Walter and his team. In the second episode, when Walter punches a man in the face, it was supposed to be this shocking moment because "Walter never loses control like that." Except we had known Walter for about an hour at that point, so the shock didn't feel earned.

Now, we've spent a handful of episodes with Walter, so we've gotten to know him a little more. And there are some good qualities in there, but he can also be kind of a jerk. So the show played on that by introducing Mark Collins, a former member of the Scorpion team whose life Walter had ruined, at least in his mind.

Firstly, let's get this out of the way. Walter was right to have this guy committed to an asylum. He orchestrated this entire plan and risked a nuclear meltdown just to prove to Walter that he could still be valuable to the team! You see, Walter and Mark used to get so deep into thought together that they would enter this mental state where nothing existed but thought, so they would forget to do simple things like eat.

This was an opportunity for the show to really explore the burden of genius, because it is absolutely a burden. Walter and Mark, and to a lesser extent the rest of the Scorpion team (minus Paige), are blessed with superior intellects, but this also leaves them largely cut off from the rest of society. So when they would work together, they had another like-minded person with whom to interact, and it felt like a drug.

Scorpion touched on this idea throughout the episode but never delved into it too deeply. We got a few stories about Happy pulling Walter out of the rabbit hole and Mark having profound effects on Walter's mental state, but ultimately the show fell victim to its greatest problem. It tells rather than shows.

The plot only moves forward via technobabble and exposition, and the same was true in this episode with the backstory between Walter and Mark. The show just dumped the information on us but never took the time to explore the deeper emotional and mental weight behind Walter's actions. Yes, he clearly sent Mark further over the deep end, but it still felt like something was missing.

However, let's give credit where credit is due. This was by far the best and most personal story the show has tried to tell thus far, and it worked to a degree, even if it didn't totally hit the mark. It also caused an eye roll when Walter told Mark at the end of the episode that his team is his family and that Paige is the one who binds them all together.

Again, show, don't tell. Walter has said repeatedly that he cares deeply for his team, but it doesn't feel earned yet for the audience. To once again draw the comparison to Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., it's not enough to just have the characters say "We're a family." They need to show us why.

"Plutonium Is Forever" did address the Paige problem head on when Mark told her that Walter would discard her once he was finished with her as an experiment. Paige continues to simply serve as Normal People Translator for Walter, which is already starting to get a bit old. She confronted Walter at the end about her role on the team, and he assured her that she is vital to what they do. But they at least planted the seed of doubt that this could all explode in the future.

Notes:

-       Walter's "OK" response to Cabe's heartfelt words when he thought he was about to die was actually pretty awesome, as was Toby and Sylvester's reaction. Cabe's wash up on the beach with the two lovely ladies was equally smooth. In fact, this whole sequence was quite entertaining.

-       The episode teased a romance between Toby and Happy, which would be a bit out of left field but also probably pretty entertaining because Toby is a goofball screwup and Happy is possibly the angriest woman alive.

What did you think of "Plutonium Is Forever"? Let us know in the comments section.