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Celebrating 1,000 NCIS-franchise episodes

S03.E16: Keep it in Check, Mate.

thewhiteowl

By thewhiteowl
in Scorpion [V]

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DrScottie

DrScottie

It was okay. At least it was more realistic than usual, no real conflict between Walter and Paige. The Sylvester / Walter feud was a little much, but it's understandable given their advanced abilities at chess. 

I actually liked their chess gambit escape plan. That was fun to see. 

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Rascotes

Rascotes

Pretty good episode.  Always happy to see Sylvester get to shine a little and it was a relief to get away from the relationship drama.  

The thing with Happy's father seemed sort of random and unnecessary.  The guy's not in many episodes so I'm not sure why it was necessary to send him away for years.  Seems like they could have accomplished the same emotional impact without being that drastic.  

I'm finding that I kind of miss the other agent, whose name I am forgetting.  Despite being the case for all the Walter and Paige nonsense, he brought certain seriousness to the team to balance out all the quirkiness.  

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madfortv

madfortv

2 hours ago, Rascotes said:

Pretty good episode.  Always happy to see Sylvester get to shine a little and it was a relief to get away from the relationship drama.  

The thing with Happy's father seemed sort of random and unnecessary.  The guy's not in many episodes so I'm not sure why it was necessary to send him away for years.  Seems like they could have accomplished the same emotional impact without being that drastic. 

I agree with this.  It is probably a plot device for upcoming episodes related to the wedding.  It didn't seem necessary.

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Scott

Scott

Not a bad episode, for Scorpion.

I did enjoy that the one time that they went to an overhead shot during the Sylvester and Walter tournament montage, so you could clearly see the gameplay, the opponent made an illegal move.

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illini1959

illini1959

22 hours ago, arieswriting said:

My guess is they need Happy to have Cabe walk her down the aisle, but why would he do that when she has a dad. Now the position is open!

I agree.

I that whole thing with Happy plotting her dad's escape was odd. How would he have been able to walk her down the aisle if he'd have taken her up on her plan? It's not like he'd be "free" to do so - people, not to mention Cabe - would be looking for him and sending him right back to prison. For a longer stretch, too.

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shapeshifter

shapeshifter

(edited)
On February 14, 2017 at 1:55 AM, DrScottie said:

It was okay. At least it was more realistic than usual, no real conflict between Walter and Paige. The Sylvester / Walter feud was a little much, but it's understandable given their advanced abilities at chess. . . . 

It was way too much for me, given that they both knew there was very little time before the genius chess champion/damsel in distress was going to get found out, captured, and tortured for her espionage secrets. Oh. Wait. Nope. They were just planning to quickly kill her in the dumpster. As much as I appreciated the absence of Walter-Paige fighting, the Walter-Sly stuff felt worse to me, I guess in part because I expect them to get along. The writers tried to excuse it with the explanation for why they don't play chess anymore, but it didn't work for me.

8 hours ago, illini1959 said:

I agree.

I that whole thing with Happy plotting her dad's escape was odd. How would he have been able to walk her down the aisle if he'd have taken her up on her plan? It's not like he'd be "free" to do so - people, not to mention Cabe - would be looking for him and sending him right back to prison. For a longer stretch, too.

I was puzzling over that too. 

Edited by shapeshifter
typo
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theatremouse

theatremouse

Walter's beahviour shocked me in zero ways. That Sylvester is also that petty, did. It didn't quite ring true to me that he'd get so distracted by his own ego that he'd bash the board. Besides being boorish, it's such an imprecise thing to do. Even if I buy that he dug the nickname, and that he'd get that mad at Walter, and/or that this grudge would last that long, Sly was the one who was all "time's running out, that woman's gonna die if we don't end this now". The one minute transition from having that awareness to doing anything that would toss the board...I mean I get that humans aren't robots so a real human could blow his top in that surprising way, but it still felt forced based on how that character's been developed.

Also, really bothered me: he brought a glove so if Walt tried the sneeze move again he wouldn't have to let it touch his hands. Then he gleefully removes the glove with his other hand afterward. NOPE. You reach into your bag, get out some wet wipes, disinfect the glove first (whilst other hand is behind said wet wipe), then and only then do you remove the glove. The way he took it off completely defeated the purpose of having worn it. That above all other things was behaviour I do not believe from Sylvester.

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HawaiiTVGuy

HawaiiTVGuy

1 hour ago, theatremouse said:

Walter's beahviour shocked me in zero ways. That Sylvester is also that petty, did. It didn't quite ring true to me that he'd get so distracted by his own ego that he'd bash the board. Besides being boorish, it's such an imprecise thing to do. Even if I buy that he dug the nickname, and that he'd get that mad at Walter, and/or that this grudge would last that long, Sly was the one who was all "time's running out, that woman's gonna die if we don't end this now". The one minute transition from having that awareness to doing anything that would toss the board...I mean I get that humans aren't robots so a real human could blow his top in that surprising way, but it still felt forced based on how that character's been developed.

Also, really bothered me: he brought a glove so if Walt tried the sneeze move again he wouldn't have to let it touch his hands. Then he gleefully removes the glove with his other hand afterward. NOPE. You reach into your bag, get out some wet wipes, disinfect the glove first (whilst other hand is behind said wet wipe), then and only then do you remove the glove. The way he took it off completely defeated the purpose of having worn it. That above all other things was behaviour I do not believe from Sylvester.

I don't disagree with Sylvester acting the way he did as being out of character, but the fact he threw a rook into a pole because of Walter sneezing the last time they played shows a prior pattern of over-competitiveness.  It isn't too surprising considering they are constantly reminded all the freaking time what a genius Walter is, and how THIS is HIS group, being able to be demonstrably better than him at something that Walter cares that much about must be damn satisfying.  In regards to taking off the glove, Sylvester did carefully only pinch the very tips of each finger to take it off, at least he has some control over the contact area of the glove with the contaminated piece so maybe he had confidence he wouldn't get contact transfer on him. 

In terms of the time issue, it really wasn't a problem because I think Talia was still playing when their match concluded right?  I guess his actions were disturbing and would have caused the other match to delay a little bit, but I think that once their match was finished, the issues with time were alleviated.

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theatremouse

theatremouse

From my perspective, the tips of the gloves are what most likely came in contact with the contaminated piece. That's why it read so wrong to me. If he'd carefully pulled the glove off from the opening near the wrist, I'd buy it. Very little chance that part touched the piece. 

Timewise the whole argument started because it was clear Talia was about to win in just a few moves (I forget now whether it was Sly looked over and realized it or if one of the announcers said it?). That's why Sly first commented that one of them needed to hurry up and win, because they knew her match was about to end within  a few moves. So the shenanigans made the time issue worse.

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raven

raven

I admit I don't watch this show super closely but Cabe insists on taking Happy's dad to prison but was able to let Paige's mother go with a new identity?  Maybe because the feds or whoever were already on Happy's dad's trail?  That annoyed me.  I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, that Cabe helped Happy's dad somehow and that the Happy/Cabe arguments were for show, because the guys running the stolen car ring were eavesdropping or something. 

Sly's chess vulture dance made me laugh.  I wish the show had let Sly play Talia in the match, they just HAVE to have Walter do it.

The escape via dumpster was fun to watch though. 

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theatremouse

theatremouse

I think the difference was Paige's mom was not currently charged with anything, and it was implied her new identity was a trade for her help in catching the dudes who were chasing her. Whereas Happy's dad did not get such a sweet deal. (Possibly the dude's Paige's mom caused to be caught were bigger fish?) I'm not saying I liked the Paige's mom spiel. I did not and I thought it was preposterous, but they did at least kinda sorta give in show reasons for why both plots with the parents went the way they did.

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raven

raven

Thanks theatremouse, I was thinking along those same lines, it just seemed that what Happy's dad did (getting rid of VIN numbers) was way less than the cons that Paige's mom did.  I know I can't try too hard to make sense of Scorpion, I just hope it wasn't a way to get Cabe to walk Happy down the aisle or something. 

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Maverick

Maverick

 Like everything else on the show, the plot with Happy's dad was contrived to fit the plot du jour.  This is how it's going to play out:  Happy and Cabe will be awkward for a few episodes but ultimately they'll make up,  culminating with Happy asking him to walk her down the aisle.  But, as a wedding day surprise, Cabe will get dad out of prison (only question is if permanently or for the wedding) and step aside, but Happy will ask both of them to walk her down the aisle.  

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lh25

lh25

On 2/15/2017 at 8:18 PM, Maverick said:

 But, as a wedding day surprise, Cabe will get dad out of prison (only question is if permanently or for the wedding) and step aside, but Happy will ask both of them to walk her down the aisle.  

I like that!

I've gotten used to hand-waving a lot on this show, but am hung up on the fact the two women looked just fine after they got out of the dumpster full of foamy goo.  Paige even mentioned how it was going to ruin her shoes, but all looked clean.

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bros402

bros402

On 2/19/2017 at 11:43 AM, zoey1996 said:

It bothered me when it was said that Happy doesn't have a dad now.  Yes, she does, and she can visit him from time to time.  Cabe can still be a "father figure" but he is not her dad.

He's incarcerated in another state under a fake name

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