Television: Scorpion, "Arrivals and Departures"

Must be set in an airport, right?

What if I told you it was set in a hospital?

Ooooh.

Like that song by Live, you know, where the one person dies as the other is born? Yeah, this is that episode.

(Is that what the song is about? I don't actually listen to Live.)

ANYway. Everyone has gathered at the hospital because Megan is nearing her end. This includes Walter and Megan's parents, and we discover Walter naturally comes by being kind of a jerk because his dad is one, too. The big difference being Walter is a genius jerk, I guess.

Meanwhile, the hospital then gets locked down because of a quarantine situation. Happy and Toby end up trapped in a cafeteria area with rapidly spreading fungus and a woman in labor. Walter and Paige also end up separated from Megan, the O'Brien parents, and Sylvester. So then we must go through the cliché concern that Walter won't make it to Megan's bedside in time to say goodbye.

And Toby helps deliver a baby.

The one thing that rings really true to me in this episode is Walter's response to his perceived failure in saving his sister. He goes back to the Scorpion office and begins unplugging things, just reducing it to nothing. It's exactly the reaction I have when I also feel I've failed at something. I want to just toss it out a window. People with high IQs tend to be all-or-nothing, somewhat extreme. And we're used to succeeding, so we don't deal well with even a little resistance. In any case, when I saw that scene, I thought, "Ah. I know that feeling."

I was sorry to see Megan go. She was a good character, and she and Sylvester were a nice element to the show. The show itself is pretty solid, though not appointment viewing. I find I don't need to give it all of my attention, but that it's good for "background entertainment" where I listen to what's going on more than watch. If there were more things on television at the moment that engaged me fully, Scorpion would probably eventually fall off my list, if only because I feel like they beat me over the head with Walter and his "emotional development." The show lacks subtlety and nuance, two things I very much enjoy. But it does tell a few good stories.