Scorpion New Episode Review: 'Dominoes' Brings Christmas Nightmares for Walter and Friends

Scorpion aired its final episode of 2014, entitled "Dominoes," on Monday night, and the Christmas-themed episode brought some true horrors for Walter O'Brien and his team when a little boy got trapped under some collapsed rocks at the beach. The tense plot brought bubbling emotions to the surface and transformed several of the characters.

The plot of the episode was thrilling and terrifying, as a 10-year-old boy, Noah, got trapped in a cave-in at the beach and was only minutes away from drowning. Walter and the team raced into action, but each step they took presented a new series of problems. They would clear out one rock, but another would collapse. They'd get the child a breathing apparatus, but a rock would pinch the tube and stop it from working. Walter would go down into the hole to get him out, but the rocks would start to cave in again. Every scene left you to wonder if and how the team of geniuses would solve this problem.

At some point, the Scorpion team is going to have to fail to make this show believable. They're geniuses, but they're not infallible. We've seen them make mistakes, but never actually blow a mission completely. But killing a child in a Christmas episode wasn't the way to go, even if the episode consistently made you wonder if the show was about to take a very dark turn.

Instead, the plot brought out some true changes in the team members. Walter showed more emotion in his episode than he has in most of the series. It started when he tried to get his sister to enroll in an experimental treatment program for MS, but it intensified with each failure to save Noah until we had Walter screaming on the beach when he thought the child had died. And Walter even admitted he was scared the final time he went into the hole to save Noah. For a man who can't feel fear, this was a big moment.

The show also followed through on Sylvester's ordeal from the previous episode (a few weeks in the show's time). He was still terrified and his fear led him to make miscalculations, which earned him Walter's anger. But the true root of his fear this week was Noah, who was living out many of Sylvester's worst phobias. Sylvester tried to run away, but Megan snapped him out of it by reminding him that a life was in the balance and he can't go through life scared.

Happy, too, took a lesson from Noah's life-or-death situation. She has been working with her father without telling him her identity, but she decided to tell him the truth after Noah nearly died and Toby convinced her to make the move. Except, she couldn't bring herself to do it and tried to bail out again. Her father, however, revealed he knew who she was from the moment she walked in the door, and the two had a joyful reunion.

In fact, everyone received a happy ending in this episode. Happy got to be with her dad. Ralph got to see an amazing display of science with the dominoes and the snow. Paige got to see her son happy. Walter convinced his sister to join the trial after she decided she wants to keep living.

But of course, we got the hook of Walter staring longingly at Paige, as if he realized he was seeing her in a new light and now wants to forge ahead. Walter's feelings have always been there underneath, but "Dominoes" brought them to the forefront. And if he is capable of such change, who knows what can happen with the rest of the team?

Notes:

- Sylvester turned into the Hulk holding up that rock. That was awesome.

- The scene of Walter crawling through the hole with Noah's body was terrifying.

- Paige became quite useful in this episode in keeping Noah calm. The Skype from inside a rock formation, however, was a bit much.

What did you think of "Dominoes"? Let us know in the comments section.