Scorpion 'Shorthanded' Review: Casinos, Prisons and Daddy Issues

Scorpion is now four episodes into its run, and the latest installment, "Shorthanded," tried to do something a little different from the first three. We got some decent character development on a few fronts and a departure from the format of the first three episodes.

Walter and his team decided to take on a private contract to make some money and hone their skills as a unit after Cabe told them the government doesn't have any work for them at the moment. He also told Walter his team was not ready for a private job, but Walter disregarded his warnings and forged ahead.

He and his team solved the problem in just a few minutes of TV time, but the real trouble occurred when two robbers held up the casino and stole $10 million. At first, I thought we were headed for a hostage situation, but the robbers acted quickly and framed Walter for their actions. He promptly went to jail, and his team had to scramble to figure out how to fix this mess.

This was a gutsy approach for Scorpion to take in its fourth episode. We haven't spent quite enough time with these characters to fully appreciate the gravity of a situation like this. Yes, it was obviously serious that Walter was in jail, and he's clearly the driving force of the team, but the characters acted like his absence was the Jenga block that brought the whole tower crashing down. Paige even calls them out on this and tells them to get it together.

Admittedly, it was funny to see Walter act so smugly in court, only for the judge to completely shoot him down and toss him jail. His reaction was pretty damn funny, if not a bit out of character.

But what happened in jail exemplified one of Scorpion's biggest problems. Far too much implausible stuff happens on this show. I'll accept the coincidence that Walter gets tossed in the drunk tank with the casino dealer he had just gotten fired, but then Walter transforms into MacGyver and uses a shirt to break out of prison. A shirt. I'll have to remember that if I ever get unjustly locked up.

The absurdity continued when Happy and the rest of the team used what looked like a horribly unstable zip line to break into the casino to try to clear Walter's name. The action stunts on this show are cool, but they also feel out of place and largely unrealistic.

The true heart of the episode, though, occurred in the scenes between Walter and Toby. Walter had no confidence in Toby's ability to keep his gambling problem in check, and that confidence further eroded when Toby lost all the bail money they had won when he tried to go double or nothing on roulette. Walter claimed he could not trust Toby and made a mistake in depending on him. Toby fired back that Walter only took on this private job to try to impress Cabe, his father figure.

It seems that Scorpion will be a procedural show rather than a serialized one, but these character development moments will be key in keeping viewers interested in what happens to these people as they spout off technobabble and fight through an assortment of quirks, fears and other idiosyncrasies. Walter and Toby bonded at the end of the episode and they now understand each other better, so hopefully we see more of these interactions going forward rather than just bouncing from one plot point to the next.

What did you think of "Shorthanded"? Let us know in the comments section.