Scorpion recap: Dam Breakthrough

This season of Scorpion has been all about the cracks — a moment between Paige and Walter? Crack. A Toby and Happy dance? Crack. Watching Megan finally succumb to her MS. was the biggest crack of all, though, and ever since, it’s just been a waiting game. It makes sense that for the midseason finale, #TeamScorpion is tasked with taking on an actual dam on the brink of failing because everything came bursting out tonight. Let’s discuss.

The Backstory

Team Scorpion is busy with their most important work of the season: coming up with a mixture to make artificial snow that can last FOREVER, and by forever, I mean like seven or eight years. It sounds like the perfect way to spend Christmas Eve, except Toby is being a total Grinch.

And then there’s Walter, who is off on his own, muttering through his thoughts. He tells Paige that he’s just running calculations, but it’s more than that. Walter has been muttering to himself like that since Megan died, and as we saw last episode, Walter hasn’t quite tackled the fact that Megan is gone.

Toby rides with Walter and tries to address the muttering. He opens up Walter’s glove compartment to find Megan’s ashes in a coffee can. “The urn they gave me was black. Megan hated black.” Elsewhere, though he’s still hurting, Sylvester has come to peace with Megan’s death because he never stopped living while she was alive.

The Mission

The rain in Scorpion’s world has been coming down like crazy, and it’s hit the Augustine Power Station particularly hard. It’s been hit by a storm, and the storms have knocked down a tree and crushed a wall. They have to stop the flooding before the water makes it down to the power station and knocks out the electricity for 100,000 people.

The team gets to the site and quickly fixes the power station, but that suddenly becomes the least of their worries — the amount of rain that has hit the area is putting too much pressure on the dam, and it’s falling apart. Sylvester calculates that there’s 68 minutes until the dam collapses, which is great timing, because we have about an hour for them to save it. Game on, Scorpion.

The Execution

The immediate threat is a giant crack with water spewing out. The long-term threat is that there’s too much water being held back by the dam to begin with. And then Paige points out that there’s no plan to evacuate, which is just crazy. So Walter comes up with a plan to do an isolated freeze on the water behind the crack, which will allow for a crack repair with quick-drying concrete. Someone has to rappel down the dam to do the fix, though. Cabe loses his dashing blazer and volunteers. (Fact: Robert Patrick actually rappelled down a dam for this scene. Meanwhile, I almost called in sick today because my stomach hurt.)

The freeze works, but Cabe only has 90 seconds to fix the crack. He has to swing over to get to the final gap, and as he does, the wire holding him begins to break. That’s when he takes the quick-dry concrete, makes himself some stairs, and then CLIMBS THE DAM. We aren’t worthy of you, Cabe.

The immediate danger is taken care of, but Toby formulates a bigger plan for the dam — a colonoscopy, if you will. It involves a big snake that will flush out the clogged pipe with a battery and a motor. Happy and Cabe put the pipe into the water, and it immediately starts unclogging the drain, but the motor gets stuck on a pine (Christmas — let’s not lose the irony) tree. The team frees the snake, but it catches Happy’s foot and pulls her into the pipe. The team only has seconds to save Happy, so they cast a literal net that she’s able to grab onto. She’s pulled free, but the turbines are failing and the dam is still compromised.

NEXT: The legacy of Megan’s rocket

The Revised Mission

The team is about ready to give up, but Paige pulls them together by showing them a video. It has nothing to do with science or technology. It’s a video of a little girl with Santa Claus from the town’s Christmas parade the day before. I know I’ve been hard on Paige this season, but it’s only because I am a Paige. Truth be told, it’s Paige’s humanity that has kept Team Scorpion together, and you can quote me on that.

It inspires Walter, who has decided the solution to this turbine issue and the dam pressure is to use a bomb to cause a river tsunami that reverses the river. You read that right — reverse. the. river. I don’t question the science because they’ve saved the world so many times that you just have to trust them.

Meanwhile, Walter works with Ralph to hack the town’s communication system and send out a notice for everyone to turn off their lights, allowing the team to turn off the power supply and set this tsunami bomb off. Toby and Happy go to the top of the dam and throw the bomb. Clearly not an athlete, Toby’s throw is subpar at best, putting everyone’s life in danger, but in the end, the bomb’s delay works and causes the river tsunami, reversing the river and saving the town.

Paige and Walter step outside to look at the town, and Paige tells Walter that it would be okay if he opens up, but Walter is muttering again.

Walter Opens the Floodgates

After the mission, the team is surprised by a voicemail left by the people at the Kármán Prize, who called to let Walter know that he won the $15-million grant for his research on the rocket. It was the same grant that was going to fund Megan’s research for MS. It’s in that moment that Walter’s eyes well up with tears.

Walter starts panicking and yells for the team to find Ferret Bueller, who has escaped from his cage. Walter finds the ferret and asks who left the cage open. Paige tells Walter that everything is okay, but he yells out, “I could have lost her! I don’t want that.” His voice breaks as he begins to cry. He says, “I didn’t want to lose her. I didn’t want to lose my sister.” He locks eyes with Sylvester and says, “I miss her so much.” The team surrounds Walter as he turns around, looking at the rocket. He says, “I have a great idea.”

The Conclusion

Out on the beach, the team has set the $15-million rocket up on a launch pad Happy has put together. Cabe calls in a favor and gets clearance for an official launch. Cabe asks Walter if he’s ready to launch the rocket, but Walter tells Cabe that it was Megan’s rocket, not his.

Next to the bonfire (which seems way unsafe next to the rocket, but I’m hardly a genius, so who knows), Happy tells Toby that she’s happy to be alive, but last year, she kissed him and it didn’t work out, so she recommends reversing it. Toby says, “Your logic makes no sense,” before laying an amazing kiss on her. We’re officially back in business, Quintis fans. Right before the launch, Walter hands Sylvester Megan’s ashes and says, “The husband should do the honors.” Sly puts her ashes in the rocket and points out that they are brothers-in-law, but Walter suggests they just go with brothers.

They launch the rocket into the sky as the team looks on. Walter tells Paige that he heard what she said about opening up. She puts out her hand, and Walter grabs it, making it the happiest Christmas Eve of all.

Paige’s Feel Board

• Funniest moment of the season so far was watching Toby, Happy, and Cabe take hits from a helium tank and sing “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.”
• With Paige’s Pi Upsilon song last episode and this little quick ditty, I’m thinking it’s time for a musical episode. A revamp called “Let Me Be Your Genius?” I know… It needs some work.
• Paige: “Where is your sitter?”

  Ralph: “Downstairs on the phone. I gave her a soda.”

• I need us to revisit this fake snow business. I need that real bad.

So that’s half a season down and quite an emotional roller coaster as far as Team Scorpion is concerned. With a team full of almost-couples now (holding out for you Cabe and Sly!), will the team’s dynamic change? I guess we’ll see in a few weeks. Happy holidays, you crazy geniuses. See you in the New Year.