SCORPION Recap: True Colors

First things first, in case you missed it – Scorpion was picked up for a full season. Yay Team Scorpion!

Oh and secondly, now that they have been picked up for a whole season I have to admit I’m not sure how much longer I can listen to that opening sequence. It’s all very redundant and reminds me of Burn Notice.

Now, what you are actually here for – the recap: We start with the team looking disheveled, standing next to car on fire and being hollered at by some government guy. They have caused so much damage during this mission that they are all mandated to take a psych eval. That can’t end well. Case in point Walter tells the psychiatrist he could have gotten into her alma mater at age 7 while Toby tells her maybe he should “shrink” her instead.

We rewind back to the beginning, 24 hours earlier. Gallo shows up with a job for them – upgrade the security system at the museum where a highly sought after painting will be on display. While on the way to the museum Walter wonders how $32 in canvas and paint can be worth $100 million. Paige rolls her eyes.

At the museum the team checks out the painting and all is going fine until Walter walks up to the painting and cuts it from its frame. Off to a stellar start. Turns out the painting is a fake. Of course they could have mentioned that before slicing it. The FBI shows up and confirms what Walter has just said. Not surprisingly the team is asked to leave. Back at the team’s headquarters Walter, the genius he is, can’t think of any other way he could have told them the painting was a fake. Toby quips Walter could have just said, “The painting is a fake.” Where’s the fun in that?

Gallo shows up and miraculously the FBI still wants the teams help. Walter and company are certain the painting was done on a machine and the FBI knows of no such machine that could produce such an almost perfect replica. The team has to prove it and find the forger. Gallo knows who they can turn to for help…

Enter Hetty from NCIS: Los Angeles. Team Scorpion meets with her at the Boat House. If you watch NCIS LA you know what I’m talking about. They look up the providence of the painting. It was bought by a Jewish man from the artist and then the Nazi’s took it from him. The painting ended up in a museum and the family of the Jewish man, the original owner, have been trying, unsuccessfully, to get it back ever since. Sylvester does some digging and finds out someone from Galactic Toys checked out a high res image of the paining. That company has the 3D printers and scanners it would take to replicate the painting. Sylvester can’t wait to check the company out; he is a huge fan of their work.

On the way over to the toy company they narrow down a suspect. Gallo goes in to get the man but the team, ordered to stay in the van, see him jump out of a window. Walter gives chase. He can run just fine but he has a few hiccups in the form of jumping a fence. He rolls out of it though and would have caught him if Gallo hadn’t have clotheslined the guy first. As Gallo cuffs the suspect Sylvester shows up, having stopped to get a t-shirt from the toy company and Happy pulls up in the van which is now covered in chicken feathers. I do not even want to know.

I need to take a moment here to say that while we get to see how they ended up having a mandated psych eval we get to also see the team talking to a psychiatrist. It’s pretty amusing but the recurring theme is without Walter they would be aimless. He saved Toby; he keeps Sylvester focused, etc…

Back to the case – the team has the suspect at headquarters and he isn’t talking. Toby says he can get him to talk. He sits down with the suspect and sure enough gets the name of the man who paid the toy company guy to forge the painting. Labow (and I honestly have no idea if that is how his name is spelled but I’m going with it) is a real-estate tycoon and friend of the mayor. They find out that Labow has a temperature controlled room that would be perfect for storing art. Gallo is going to work on getting a wiretap so they can get more evidence to get a warrant. He tells the team to hang tight. Guesses on whether they listen? Anyone?

Sylvester finds out Labow will be at a charity event that evening. It’s a huge event and Walter says they must go. Paige tries to warn him that this isn’t a good idea but he doesn’t listen. You know, because he is smart and knows best. Happy and Toby will try to find the painting while Walter and Paige mingle with Labow at the event to see if they can glean anything from him. Sylvester will run the computers from the van.

Paige isn’t sold on this idea and besides, she has nothing to wear to such an event. Toby has an idea, they go see Hetty again. She is happy to help them. Toby and Happy get dressed up as wait staff and Paige looks so good in her dress that Walter is stunned into momentary silence. Hetty gives them secure coms and sends them on their way.

At the party Walter and Paige go right to work. They let Toby and Happy in and then they need to find a way to stand near Labow for three minutes to download his data from his phone. Labow is dancing so Paige pulls a reluctant Walter onto the dance floor. While this is going on Happy and Toby find out the room they thought could be a room for art is a wine cellar. That is actually something Happy said earlier but they didn’t listen to her. Toby thinks the wine cellar is a front for whatever Labow is really keeping in there.

I should also mention that Labow asks to dance with Paige and Walter is now reluctant to let her go. He asks Sylvester every 10 seconds how much longer they need to be near Labow. He really wants Paige out of Labow’s arms. Jealousy from a man who has very little emotions…hmmm. The second and I mean second times up Walter cuts back in.

In an attempt to prove it isn’t just a wine cellar Toby accidentally knocks over an entire shelf of wine. They hear voices and Sylvester cuts the power so they can sneak out. They all make it out to the van safely.

Back at headquarters they download the information they hacked while at the party. They find emails from the curator of the museum to Labow with banking information. Looks like an inside job. The team heads out, they will call Gallo from the car. Paige meanwhile is going to go visit Hetty with a note from Walter, something that can’t be discussed on the phone. He tells Paige she can read it and then she will understand.

The team, in Paige’s car, are following the museum curator. He has the painting and is heading towards the docks. Using the Wi-Fi in Paige’s car the team cuts engine power to the museum curator’s car. Gallo pulls up and puts him under arrest. Just as Gallo is congratulating the team the car blows up. Happy may have raised the engine temp too far. The painting goes up in flames.

And now we are up to date. After all of them have met with the shrink they gather at headquarters. Gallo shows up to let them know they passed. She passed them because Walter has created a family, a safe haven where the rest of the team can reach their potential.

While Gallo is talking to Walter about how odd it is that the car would explode when they are usually so good with technology we see Walter and Toby switching out the real painting for the fake in the trunk while Happy planted a device under the hood. Then we see Hetty watching Walter and Paige give the original painting to the family who owned it before the Nazi’s. The rightful owner. Hetty thinks it is Paige that made Walter finally want to do the right thing, the emotional thing. She’s not wrong.

One more thing: Ralph has a school Halloween Party that he doesn’t want to attend because he is going alone. Walter and the team get dressed up at the end of the episode and offer to go with Ralph and Paige. Sylvester is Super Fun Guy (he’s an action hero) Toby is Freud, Happy is a cat and Walter is Agent Gallo. They also have an outfit for Ralph, a human brain. It’s adorable.

Scorpion airs 9/8c on CBS