S02.E15: Da Bomb

[possibilities]

Team Scorpion is tasked with helping NASA's top secret rocket launch, but they must sabotage their own mission when Walter's date from the previous night has a bomb strapped to her chest.

 

 

Benzodiazapine is valium! Cabe talking about it like it was some kind of obscure government secret was my hilarious science joke of the week.

 

Also liked them referencing how fast they get places, with Happy justifying the show's time bending by saying she drives fast.

 

Clearly the show enjoys trolling us, and I'm willing to let them do so, for reasons I still don't understand.

[Artsda]

I loved all the Speed references. 

 

i liked the date girl. I want to see Walter with someone other than Paige.

[Noirprncess]

I think I may have to look up fermented fish. Lol

[mommalib]

Walter and Paige are inching closer and closer to romance. I guess we're supposed to see that what someone else may be put off by when it comes to Walter, Paige embraces those things about him.

[Driad]

If someone handed me a thumb drive that a bad guy had given them, it would not occur to me to stick it into my own multiply connected computer.  Guess I'm not a Souper Jeanyus.

[Artsda]

If someone handed me a thumb drive that a bad guy had given them, it would not occur to me to stick it into my own multiply connected computer.  Guess I'm not a Souper Jeanyus.

Seriously! Beyond stupid, especially since it was only a few episodes ago where Walters files were hacked when the girl drugged him and they got locked in the smart building.

[benteen]

The stupidity with the thumb drive aside, I really enjoyed this episode.  It was a lot of fun.  I laughed at Toby telling Sylvester that he'd do as well as Clubber Lang did at the end of Rocky 3.

[thuganomics85]

As soon as Toby said that the drug was government issued and whatnot, I knew Merrick was behind it.  It was almost funny how they just flat-out gave him no redeeming values.  I mean, sure, he was always anti-Scorpion, but now he is not only willing to let three people get killed to save his own ass, he admitted that he was in Beijing's "pocket", the entire time.  They just really piled it on, so it would be totally OK when finally gets killed.

 

Not surprised that the Walt/Linda date was a disaster, but I am surprised that she still didn't agree to a second one.  Usually, shows do the whole "give them a second chance after he/she opens up/saves their life" thing, but Linda seem to realize they still wouldn't work.  Make sense, but I will miss seeing Brooke Nevin.  She needs to get a solid gig.

 

I actually think Jeopardy would totally be down with Sly being his normal self.  Yeah, he might be different from the "masses", but I could see his antics bringing them buzz.  If nothing else, I'm sure any scene where he flummoxes Alex Trebek would net a few million views on YouTube.

[marketdoctor]

 

I loved all the Speed references.

 

Yes!  It was meta but it fit the plot well.

 

I liked how they actually set the bomb off instead of double-talking a way to stop it.  Somewhere in another universe there's a Mythbusters episode where they're covering this one.

 

I thought we were going to find out the woman with the bomb was actually in on it, but I liked how they gave her a graceful exit.  Also there were some great lines, like Happy's "Honestly, if I knew where Cabe was I'd tell you.  Oh, wait, he's right there." (THUMP!).

 

I enjoy this show more every week.

[Big Mother]

Again I was left scratching my head at the 80,000 plot holes in this one, but I really liked Walter's growth as a human. Big looming question though: HOW has he STILL not realized that Paige is the one for him?! Gosh! Didnt they just hold hands and whatnot a few episodes ago?

[theatremouse]

The Jeopardy Toby coaching bit annoyed me because Sly was on the ball with his index cards. It might've changed since I did it but you not only have to pass the test you have to provide three potential anecdotes in written blurb form. Yeah, you can't sound like you're index carding it when you're actually on and asked to state your anecdote, but Toby making it seem like they want you to just blurb live off the top of your head is not how it is.

Edited January 27, 2016 by theatremouse

[Emily Thrace]

Benzodiazapine is valium! Cabe talking about it like it was some kind of obscure government secret was my hilarious science joke of the week.

 

Also liked them referencing how fast they get places, with Happy justifying the show's time bending by saying she drives fast.

 

Clearly the show enjoys trolling us, and I'm willing to let them do so, for reasons I still don't understand.

 

I knew I heard that name somewhere before LOL. Although I also laughed out loud three times before the case of the week showed up so that probably has a big part of why I keep watching.

 

I also like the relationships. I really like the way Paige and Happy's relationship is being handled. There just friends, no drama, no stupid jokes about how "different" they are its just a nice naturally evolving friendship. I also like that they still speak to each other differently than the men but its still in character. Happy doesn't start speaking like a valley girl because shes talking to Paige and Paige isn't suddenly one of the guys. They just sound like two very different women discussing their relationships. It's refreshing actually and probably works so well because TPTB aren't really focusing on it or overthinking it too much. 

 

Also Brooke Nevin wasn't  bad in the episode I kept finding myself thinking who in the hell thought this mousy little thing would make a good Rachel "Xena Warrior Princess" Berenson? Its not fair I know and it was well more years than I actually want to count right now but its hard to forget one of the most disappointing aspects of a very disappointing show so its stuck with me.  

[bros402]

Benzodiazepenes only being developed in the last few years by the government was certainly an interesting... thing said by the show - can't the writers, you know, look at wikipedia?

 

I bet they thought of the ballistic gel after watching one of the many Mythbusters marathons done in the last year

[Big Mother]

It occurred to me last night, that the 'science' this show uses is 100% made up. The ingredients, methods, names of things, technology, what-have-you, are all 100% fiction. That's quite a relief, because now I can view the show as total entertainment instead of gnashing my teeth and shaking my head every five minutes. But logistical plot holes still bother me - such as, why didn't Mission Control wait for the all-clear from Merrick before launching the spaceship? He had been told that the launch couldn't happen as long as Scorpion was still on premises. He hadn't given the all clear yet, Merrick was nowhere to be seen on surveillance camera, yet they went ahead with the launch. Secondly, how was Merrick able to monitor Scorpion's-at-home goings-on , and call them in with his scrambled voice, while he was simultaneously working at the base? And i can't believe Cabe actually killed the man, instead of radioing for backup or something - is he not going to get in trouble for murder? Last but not least: WHY did Merrick leave his signature on the bomb? Did he WANT to get caught? I'm so confused.

[bros402]

It occurred to me last night, that the 'science' this show uses is 100% made up. The ingredients, methods, names of things, technology, what-have-you, are all 100% fiction. That's quite a relief, because now I can view the show as total entertainment instead of gnashing my teeth and shaking my head every five minutes. But logistical plot holes still bother me - such as, why didn't Mission Control wait for the all-clear from Merrick before launching the spaceship? He had been told that the launch couldn't happen as long as Scorpion was still on premises. He hadn't given the all clear yet, Merrick was nowhere to be seen on surveillance camera, yet they went ahead with the launch. Secondly, how was Merrick able to monitor Scorpion's-at-home goings-on , and call them in with his scrambled voice, while he was simultaneously working at the base? And i can't believe Cabe actually killed the man, instead of radioing for backup or something - is he not going to get in trouble for murder? Last but not least: WHY did Merrick leave his signature on the bomb? Did he WANT to get caught? I'm so confused.

 

1. Merrick must've cloned himself.

2. Merrick left the signature of a bomb maker he arrested on the bomb.

[theatremouse]

Hee! When I heard him say that, I yelled, "that's Xanax!" But at least he got the bitter taste part correct. I take mine sublingually and they taste nasty.

I can't really believe I'm saying something that lands on the defendy side of the fence of the logic of this show, since it has almost none. And I'm not even sure I completely believe what I'm about to say over the much more natural response of "writing here be dumb, yo", HOWEVER, I know at least partially on shows like this there is often an intentional fake-science and/or say an innocuous thing as if a horrible thing in cases where the show is intentionally avoiding saying something real, but that could qualify as "instructions for evil doings" (even if such things are probably googleable anyway). For example, they won't explain too much about bombs, or how to poison your wife and get away with it or whatever, and if they do seem to "explain" it's intentionally something you couldn't do diddly squat with, lest they "inspire" somebody. So it could be a case of that. Saying something that sounds sciencey enough that it doesn't really interrupt the plot, but intentionally doesn't actually make sense.

Then again why they bothered saying the name of a real drug instead of just plain calling it benzohandwavopene is beyond me.

[Free]

Not surprised that the Walt/Linda date was a disaster, but I am surprised that she still didn't agree to a second one.  Usually, shows do the whole "give them a second chance after he/she opens up/saves their life" thing, but Linda seem to realize they still wouldn't work.  Make sense, but I will miss seeing Brooke Nevin.  She needs to get a solid gig.

 

Having a bomb strapped to her was probably a deal breaker, that and probably seeing the Scorpion team constantly put themselves in dangerous situations was it for her.

[shapeshifter]

I can't really believe I'm saying something that lands on the defendy side of the fence of the logic of this show, since it has almost none. And I'm not even sure I completely believe what I'm about to say over the much more natural response of "writing here be dumb, yo", HOWEVER, I know at least partially on shows like this there is often an intentional fake-science and/or say an innocuous thing as if a horrible thing in cases where the show is intentionally avoiding saying something real, but that could qualify as "instructions for evil doings" (even if such things are probably googleable anyway). For example, they won't explain too much about bombs, or how to poison your wife and get away with it or whatever, and if they do seem to "explain" it's intentionally something you couldn't do diddly squat with, lest they "inspire" somebody. So it could be a case of that. Saying something that sounds sciencey enough that it doesn't really interrupt the plot, but intentionally doesn't actually make sense.Then again why they bothered saying the name of a real drug instead of just plain calling it benzohandwavopene is beyond me.

So you mean they didn't want to suggest using Xanax as a date rape drug, right? Would that even work? (I have 3 single daughters to worry about.) Anyway, when I skimmed the wiki articles on benzodiazapines, it did seem like there were a lot of variations, so having the government developing one to use for interrogation didn't seem too far fetched. But did Cabe say for "interrogation" or for "mind control"?

[theatremouse]

But did Cabe say for "interrogation" or for "mind control"?

You know, you make a good point. I don't recall exactly what Cabe said, but if it were some along the lines of "developing" as in, they're starting with Xanax and tweaking it, then it would much moreso fit the kind of intentionally fake science I was suggesting might be going on. That said, how they start with anti-anxiety and land on a result more like roofies, I do not know. Since my recollection of what was presented was she was not conscious and then woke up with a vest, not that she was brainwashed or even just...overly compliant or like...Kildare-ed or something.

But then we're back to the whole "they're not so good with the logic" issue. The question that remains with regard to this particular plot point is: was it intentional or accidental. The world may never know.

[marketdoctor]

 

Then again why they bothered saying the name of a real drug instead of just plain calling it benzohandwavopene is beyond me.

 

It's a great question, but I think it ties back into the issue of not giving evil instructions.  Sometimes they'll do what MacGyver did, and exaggerate an effect, partly for plot, partly to give people misleading directions if they try it at home.

[shapeshifter]

That said, how they start with anti-anxiety and land on a result more like roofies, I do not know.

If this wikipedia page info is correct, then rohypnol is a benzodiazepine: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_benzodiazepines

So maybe we're just so used to silly science on this show that we couldn't believe they might get something right. And maybe the writers are more well versed in psychoactive drugs than rocketry.

Edited January 31, 2016 by shapeshifter