After one viewing I will give Scorpion credit for having clarity of vision. The concept will at least be able to be replicated on a weekly basis, even if that replication follows the most predictable of paths with nerds see crisis, nerds avert crisis, and nerds learn something new about living life outside the library or computer lab. A simplicity of set-up or concept need not imply that the creators are taking the easy way out, though. For example, look at Person of Interest, another CBS drama that started simply with a rogue CIA operative and a reclusive billionaire saving people with the help of a computer program that knows when trouble is coming. By the end of its third season though, POI has become an adroit and prescient commentator on the surveillance state, privacy, and artificial intelligence while being unafraid to shake up its characters or its circumstances. Does Scorpion have that vision, or will it be merely happy to just go on with its mission-of-the-week and its “nerds are so socially inept” humour?
Right now, characterization is the key weakness of Scorpion. It’s a show that constantly has to prove how smart its characters are by forcing situations where they have to state their IQ or be compared to better known geniuses like Albert Einstein for context. There’s an old screenwriting rule, “Show, don’t tell,” meaning that you show your super-smart characters doing super-smart things rather than simply having people note that Walter has a higher IQ than Einstein, ergo he’s smarter than Einstein. You also get Sylvester spending the episode spouting off the team’s dwindling chances of success, because he’s a math genius you see, with every new development for good or ill he can crunch the numbers in his head in no time flat. At the same time though, I don’t know how you have a show about nerds, one of whom is constantly proctoring their chances, and no one says, “Never tell me the odds.” That seems like a big oversight to me.
In spite of the issues though, I can see how Scorpion might become a hit, but I also saw how Intelligence, last season’s new CBS series about a Special Forces guy with a computer in his head, could have been a hit, too. Keeping the entertainment value high is good for the short term, but what will separate Scorpion from being its own thing and not just Big Bang with big bangs is having a plan. I don’t think it was explained why or how the software was corrupted in the first place, so it this there a bigger scheme a foot? Is that why Gallo wants to hold on to Walter and his team, because they’ve proved able to beat this adversary, a kind of nerdy Moriarty if you will?
Or perhaps I’m over-thinking it. Perhaps with only one episode in the bank, we can just appreciate it for being a relatively good time, light and breezy and (ironically) without too many demands on the higher brain functions. But you can only write dumb for smart characters for so long before even the entertainment value isn’t enough anymore. Will Scorpion learn that lesson before its hand is forced? We’ll tune in next week to see…