S03.E04: Little Boy Lost

[thewhiteowl]

Team Scorpion must find a boy from Ralph's class when he goes missing on a field trip after he accidentally has a run-in with a dangerous criminal. Also, Toby gets closer to finding out the identity of Happy's husband.

[Emily Thrace]

Okay now it feels like my show is back. Watching Toby figure out who Happy was married to is funny and kinda sad since we all knew the answer. Still the moment worked. Happy's new is going to be fun for the whole team. The show needed something like this. An emotional storyline that can help carry the show forward.

[Willowsmom]

I hate Walter more every scene, and the actor even more.

[Artsda]

That episode was 100x better than last week because it had no Walter/Paige melodrama.

Happy being pregnant was predictable at the start when she was so interested in mothering from Paige.

[Zahdii]

I started watching, but the show started to drag and I thought, "I didn't realize this was a two hour episode.  This has got to have been on for an hour already and they still haven't come close to finding the missing boy."  I was truly surprised to find it was only half an hour into the show, and changed the channel.  Sounds like I should have stayed with it.

So Ralph was a brat at first.  I took it to be Walter's influence.  Paige's new beau was pretty understanding about it, though, and that was good.

I wasn't thrilled with the autistic child story line, though.  It seems to be getting a pretty common thing for shows to do these days.  I have no problems with the actors portrayal, or the concept of an autistic child who communicates only through his tablet.  Before these new fangled electrical devices became common, non verbal children were often taught sign language, but the tablets are easier for people in general to deal with.  I did think it was odd and even neglectful of the school to take such a child on a field trip and not have a teachers aid or a parent along to watch the boy.  Especially when the place was large and noisy, and the boy didn't like being in crowds and couldn't tolerate loud noises.

Happy's preggers, then?  Not a surprise, her sudden craving for finding out what it was like to have a kid was pretty obvious.  I take it that she's decided to carry on with the pregnancy and dare I hope that Toby's happy, too?  He's the dad, right?  If the showrunners don't spend too much time on the pregnancy, I think it could be funny to watch Happy and Toby navigate the path to parenthood.  Oh, and showrunners?  Don't do the thing where Happy goes into labor during a case and has to use her knowledge to help out via phone, text, etc between contractions.  And don't have her go into labor out in the sticks with no way to get to a hospital, forcing Toby to deliver the baby in a barn.  Bones did both of those scenarios, and it was awful!

And why did Walter and Happy get married, anyway?  What's going to happen with that?  If it was just a citizenship thing, I'm sure the government will give Walter whatever he needs to stay, now that he's being so helpful to them and all.

Edited October 18, 2016 by Zahdii
Missed a word. Or two.

[Willowsmom]

Isn't it rather un liberated of Happy  to neeed to marry Toby before the baby comes? The way things are now what woukd it hurt to wait?

[3girlsforus]

2 hours ago, Willowsmom said:

Isn't it rather un liberated of Happy  to neeed to marry Toby before the baby comes? The way things are now what woukd it hurt to wait?

There isn't anything wrong or 'unliberated' about Happy wanting to be marry Toby before she has the baby. She isn't being forced to do it. It's what she wants. 

[Willowsmom]

23 minutes ago, 3girlsforus said:

There isn't anything wrong or 'unliberated' about Happy wanting to be marry Toby before she has the baby. She isn't being forced to do it. It's what she wants. 

Because by refusing to wait she's jeopardizing  her friend being deported and  both her  and Toby's livelihood .

[Ms Lark]

With the exception of the Happy reveals, I found this to be one of the worst episodes yet. Others didn't. To each their own. Well, it'll be interesting to see where it goes with Toby and Happy as parents.

[Maverick]

 At least they didn't drag the Walter reveal out very long since it was relatively obvious that's where they were going.  Also obvious?   Happy will divorce Walter, be threatened with deportation, Paige will marry him but stay involved with Tim, relationship drama and escalation of petty bullshit ensues.   

[Willowsmom]

I kinda hope they do deport and the others carry on without him :P

[theatremouse]

Holy fuck was the exposition in this episode condescending.

[Emily Thrace]

Isn't it rather un liberated of Happy  to neeed to marry Toby before the baby comes? The way things are now what woukd it hurt to wait?

There are legal reasons for Happy to rather be married to Toby. In some states parental right are automatically conveyed to the mothers husband for one. Not to mention medical issues that can pop up and power of attorney.  Although I think Happy just wants to do things "right". She has no context for a normal family I think creating one with Toby makes sense for her character.  That's what I like about this show its more about damaged people trying to help each other heal than anything else.

15 hours ago, Zahdii said:

Happy's preggers, then?  Not a surprise, her sudden craving for finding out what it was like to have a kid was pretty obvious.  I take it that she's decided to carry on with the pregnancy and dare I hope that Toby's happy, too?  He's the dad, right?  If the showrunners don't spend too much time on the pregnancy, I think it could be funny to watch Happy and Toby navigate the path to parenthood.  Oh, and showrunners?  Don't do the thing where Happy goes into labor during a case and has to use her knowledge to help out via phone, text, etc between contractions.  And don't have her go into labor out in the sticks with no way to get to a hospital, forcing Toby to deliver the baby in a barn.  Bones did both of those scenarios, and it was awful!

That's totally what will happen. Except Happy will be stuck in elevator with only Cabe and Toby will end coaching over the earpiece. Or Toby will be in Uzbekistan for a case when Happy goes into labour and we will a get a subplot of wacky hijinks as he makes his way home by unicycle.

That is Scorpion the show about geniuses that is clearly not written by geniuses.

[Willowsmom]

Toby is a doctor there's no reason for him to freak. Sly on the other hand.,,

[theatremouse]

They telegraphed both "twists" a million miles away, which is super annoying, but it also makes no sense that he'd have a citizenship issue and choose to solve it that way AND that no one else would know. It's not like he and Happy were especially close over anyone else on the team. They never established some deep dark time when those two were the only ones on speaking terms such that the others wouldn't know. It just makes no sense that he'd have the issue, only Happy would know, and they'd get married to solve it. Plus they should've had visits or whatnot to check on the realness of their marriage and somehow he and Happy never pretended to have the same address, etc. This annoys me more than the ethernet cable from the airplane in the first episode ever. They want to be preposterous with the mechanical/physical/chemical everything puzzles of the plots, great, have at it, that's the show's bag. But if they're going to bother with interpersonal relationship bullshit, the same logical gymnastics do not fly.

Also makes me wonder why Walter's sister seemed to have no problem being in the country for an extended period. Was she on some kind of medical visa? She married Sly five minutes before she died so she clearly had no greencard husband. Super genuis working for the government (I know, I know, there was a gap when he wasn't) doesn't have permission to be in the country, but his sister's just chillin'?

I think I'd like this show better if it turned into the Ralph, Cabe, Sylvester, Happy show. The rest of them can fuck off.

[Emily Thrace]

Maybe Megan had a work visa and they didn't deport her when she got sick. There are plenty of people who are in the US illegally who live normal lives everyday. They never said what Megan did for a living its possible she had a career that got her a fast tracked visa (Maybe Walter wasn't the only techie in the family. Or like a lot of people with a chronic illness she was drawn to a career in healthcare). Or since she was older she moved to the US first and was already a citizen.

Walter was probably on a work visa that Homeland pulled when he quit.

Toby was the last to join the group so I would assume the greencard marriage just happened before he showed up.

Although I fully expect Cabe to show up with a greencard for Walter in the next episode. Or even just tell him his citzenship swearing in is on Tuesday.

[Perkie]

I thought Walter was American.  What nationality is he and how long does it take to get citizenship 

[Artsda]

Wasn't he a child and already living in the US when Cage showed up to get him for hacking Nasa?

[Aliconehead]

No he is Irish and was living in Ireland when Cabe found him, If i recall correctly

[Emma9]

I kinda hope they do deport and the others carry on without him :P

Sing it. Then again, I didn't bother to get my hopes up when they threw him out of a space ship, so.

 

I think what bugged me most about this episode was: would it have been that hard for Cabe to make a call and get a K9 unit over there? The boy's mind might work in unfamiliar ways, but his scent trail wouldn't.

[bros402]

Slightly better than last weeks episode, I guess?

Though I have absolutely no idea why Walter isn't in the US on an Exceptional Talent visa - https://www.uscis.gov/eir/visa-guide/eb-2-employment-based-second-preference/understanding-eb-2-requirements-exceptional-ability - He certainly meets the requirements.

[theatremouse]

Also the guy hacked records to delete his own marriage record (so do they actually still need a divorce?) but he didn't just...hack himself a new expiration date on his visa at the time instead of entering into a fake marriage?

Edited October 21, 2016 by theatremouse

[bros402]

15 hours ago, theatremouse said:

Also the guy hacked records to delete his own marriage record (so do they actually still need a divorce?) but he didn't just...hack himself a new expiration date on his visa at the time instead of entering into a fake marriage?

Homeland would look at it and notice a discrepancy - I think with Cabe, he would make sure to keep paper copies of records, knowing what Walter can do

[vavera4ka]

it doesn't take that long.

I know people who have done the same thing - helping a friend in need.

You can get divorced after the legal alien gets permanent green card, which is about 3 years. Yes there will be questions, but now it's even easier: her "going off and getting pregnant with another man's baby" is a valid and normal ground for divorce... Walt can file for it, make her the "bad guy" in the eyes of immigration law and nothing else will be asked. He keeps his green card and gets citizenship when it's his time (usually you can apply for citizenship 6 years and 9 months after getting your first green card)

[bros402]

5 hours ago, vavera4ka said:

it doesn't take that long.

I know people who have done the same thing - helping a friend in need.

You can get divorced after the legal alien gets permanent green card, which is about 3 years. Yes there will be questions, but now it's even easier: her "going off and getting pregnant with another man's baby" is a valid and normal ground for divorce... Walt can file for it, make her the "bad guy" in the eyes of immigration law and nothing else will be asked. He keeps his green card and gets citizenship when it's his time (usually you can apply for citizenship 6 years and 9 months after getting your first green card)

Yeah.

[Emily Thrace]

On 2016-10-20 at 6:42 PM, Emma9 said:

 

Sing it. Then again, I didn't bother to get my hopes up when they threw him out of a space ship, so.

 

I think what bugged me most about this episode was: would it have been that hard for Cabe to make a call and get a K9 unit over there? The boy's mind might work in unfamiliar ways, but his scent trail wouldn't.

Once he went into the sewer though the dogs probably would have lost the scent. Its also a crapshoot getting dogs to focus on a scent for a particular person when there are as many people around as in a train station. That's why you see dogs used more when kids are lost in the woods or a riverbank.

Something I liked about this episode is they showed that this kid has a different brain like the team does. A lot of shows focus on the tragic aspects of kids like this and how hard it is for the parents. This was mostly just a kid in trouble. Like Scorpion this little boy is different and that has issues but he is still has value for his mother and as Ralph's friend.  In fact Walter actually probably would test on the autism spectrum. He shuts down his emotions because the overwhelm him and a lot of his negativity about things seem like he finds them overwhelming. I've always seen his emotional issues as him not knowing how to deal with them not that he doesn't want to. For someone with his rapid fire brain emotions are very intense and overwhelming so he shuts them down. Although his father seemed to do the same thing so its probably not all his unique brain chemistry.

[LadyMustang65]

May I just say how completely over I am of the fact that apparently no one in the world has ever heard of birth control?  Let alone actually uses it?  The unexpected pregnancy is so overdone.  Birth control these days is very effective; there is absolutely no good reason why Happy should be pregnant unless she decided she wanted to become pregnant and stopped using birth control.  And I'd like to think that if that were the case, she would have told Toby she wanted to get pregnant, since he would be financially responsible as the father and so should have had a say in it.  This whole "surprise!" pregnancy just infuriates me.

I also find it incomprehensible that the government didn't give Walter either citizenship or an extended visa given that he seems to be essential personnel.  And even though they didn't, you'd think Cabe could get him one in a heartbeat now.  If they end up Walter marry Paige now . . . .  ugh.

I enjoy the heck out of the show and usually things don't bother me, but these two storylines just pushed the boundaries of my ability to ignore.

[John Potts]

There a simple solution to the relationship drama: Paige could marry Toby while Happy stays married to Walter. This creates an endless source of Three's Company style misunderstandings & relationship dramas... because that's why everyone watches the show, right?