Television: Scorpion, "Fish Filet" & "Robots"

Been trying to catch up with my DVR, so last night was a double dose of Scorpion. Which is getting its mojo back. Really, the show does better with less Walter and more everybody else. Though I'll admit I'm getting tired of the Toby-Happy thing.

In "Fish Filet" they send Sylvester into prison to try and determine the three judges who are being targeted for murder by an incarcerated mob boss. Why Sylvester? Because there's a code involved and they need Sly's particular skill set. And then, of course, the warden who set Sylvester up ends up attacked and in a coma—this reminded me of that Alfred Hitchcock where the man is breaking out of prison in a coffin and someone is supposed to dig him up, but then the escapee discovers the man who was supposed to help him is the dead guy in the coffin with him. Was that an Alfred Hitchcock or a Twilight Zone? It was something. Maybe I just made it up, but I don't think so.

Anyway, of course they manage to get the info and get Sylvester out. With Scorpion there's never really a question of whether they'll succeed. There wasn't with MacGyver, either. It's more about how they do it.

And then "Robots" was about being stuck in a nuclear submarine at the bottom of the ocean floor with limited oxygen. Although one has to wonder whether they ever fixed that undersea cable? Did we just drop that part?

Additions to the series include Kevin Weisman as Ray, but I'm probably just going to call him Marshall (his character on Alias). Sorry. Marshall Ray is a weirdo that Walter has to do community service with (after a reckless driving conviction from last season's finale). Paige made the mistake of encouraging Walter to become friends with Ray, and now Ray hangs around a lot. He's been helpful, though, in that he had a connection in the prison where Sly was doing time.

And Peri Gilpin (you'll remember her as Roz on Frasier) is a new handler for the Scorpion team. She stepped in when Cabe and Molina had a falling out.

Both episodes were relatively solid, and as I mentioned, they benefitted from less Walter angst. The show does best when spreading things around over the characters.