Pilot Review: Scorpion

</scorpion> is a disaster-fighting drama based on a real-life genius, Walter O’Brien, who helped catch the Boston bombers. In this show, he builds a team of like-minded geniuses who will work together to assist the country in surviving various crises.

First Impressions

“A tactile team made of of the smartest people on the planet.” This looks pretty cool! I’m such a nerd!

I feel like this guy is SUPER smart which usually means SUPER awkward and socially inept but nope, not this guy. (Actually, none of them. Wut?)

So even though the love interest and the genius kid are pretty standard/typical/boring, I’m totally sold on this show. It looks cute, and funny, and high intensity! (At least until the end when the plane almost hits the control tower… that was just cheesy.)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU_hJscvdXU]

This Concept Was Not Done Justice

Dude, this is based on a real life genius, who employs real life geniuses, to solve real life, large scale security problems, for not just super rich people, but whole countries!

So why was it given such a stale pilot?

We have flat characters, over-exaggerated scenes, and a horribly unlikable love interest. What’s to like?? At least we can say the show is fast paced. And has episodic, disaster-based episodes, which is my favorite format.

My personal rant:

“Oh look, the normal girl gets to have a job with all the geniuses. ‘CAUSE THAT’S REAL LIFE. NO. I CANT GET ANY JOB. THAT IS REAL LIFE.” (Anyone else job hunting this summer?)

Can Anyone Cite This Style of Show Succeeding?

I can’t cite anything concrete, but my first thought was “I already know this is going to get cancelled.” When has the “group of talented individuals who are the only people capable of saving the situation” series lasted that long?

Best example I can cite would probably be Alphas. (So I cheated and looked up a list of possibilities: would Breakout Kings or Leverage count? I didn’t watch either.)(Leverage might actually count as a success, though, with 5 seasons!)

I Just Didn’t Enjoy the Pilot

I mostly felt annoyed during the show. With the characters, with the situations, with whatever. It comes off a bit elitist, portrays women as usual: nagging/bossy, and will probably use the heavy-set guy as comedic relief.

Kristofer says “I like it. I’ll watch it. It has the boyfriend watch of approval.”

I say “No.” (“What I usually say all the time,” Kristofer mimes my voice.)

Kristofer suggests this show is sort-of like Numbers, only neither of us watched that series either, so we don’t really know for sure what similarities and differences there are between the two shows. I suspect the only similarity is a genius helping solve security issues.