Scorpion (TV series)

"/scorpion" redirects here. For other uses, see Scorpion (disambiguation).

Scorpion
The series title "Scorpion" in white letters on a black background
Genre	Action Drama
Developed by	Nick Santora
Starring	Elyes Gabel Katharine McPhee Eddie Kaye Thomas Jadyn Wong Ari Stidham Robert Patrick Riley B. Smith
Composer(s)	Brian Tyler Tony Morales
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	46 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Danielle Woodrow Danny Rose Scooter Braun Walter O'Brien Heather Kadin Justin Lin Nicholas Wootton Nick Santora Alex Kurtzman Roberto Orci
Producer(s)	Scott Manson Troy Craig Poon Clayton Townsend Marco Black Don Tardino Rob Pearlstein
Cinematography	Gyula Pados Ken Glassing David J. Miller
Editor(s)	Dylan Highsmith Steven Sprung Rosanne Tan Eric Seaburn J.J. Geiger Heather McDougall Peter Forslund Anthony Miller Christopher Petrus
Running time	40–44 minutes
Production company(s)	CBS Television Studios K/O Paper Products Black Jack Films Perfect Storm SB Projects
Distributor	CBS Television Distribution
Release
Original network	CBS
Picture format	16:9 HDTV
Original release	September 22, 2014 (2014-09-22) – present
External links
Website

Scorpion (stylized as </SCORPION>) is an American action drama television series loosely based on the life of computer expert Walter O'Brien. In the series, O'Brien and his friends help each other to solve complex global problems and save lives. The series premiered on September 22, 2014 and airs in the United States on Mondays at 9:00 p.m. ET on CBS. On October 27, 2014, CBS placed a full season episode order for the first season. In January 2015, the show was renewed for a second season. The second season began airing on September 21, 2015. On March 25, 2016, CBS renewed Scorpion for a third season.

Synopsis

Further information: List of Scorpion episodes

Walter O'Brien and his team of outcasts are recruited by federal agent Cabe Gallo of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to form Scorpion, said to be the last line of defense against complex, high-tech threats around the globe. The team includes O'Brien, one of the most intelligent people in the world with an IQ of 197, and his friends Sylvester Dodd, a "human calculator" dealing in statistics; Happy Quinn, a "mechanical prodigy"; and Toby Curtis, a "world-class shrink" (a Harvard-trained behaviorist). Paige Dineen is a former waitress whose intuitive interaction with people translates the real world to the team, and they, in exchange, translate her young mentally gifted son, Ralph, to her.

Season		Episodes	Originally aired		Nielsen ratings
			First aired	Last aired	Rank	Average viewership (in millions)
	1	22	September 22, 2014 (2014-09-22)	April 20, 2015 (2015-04-20)	15	13.63
	2	24	September 21, 2015 (2015-09-21)	April 25, 2016 (2016-04-25)	17	12.05

Cast and characters

Main

• Elyes Gabel as Walter O'Brien, leader of Team Scorpion

Walter is a genius with a 197 IQ. Agent Gallo was the person who brought him from Dublin, Ireland to America after O'Brien hacked into NASA computers to get a set of blueprints for his wall. While they worked together for several years, O'Brien split with Gallo around age 16 when 2,000 civilians were killed after the U.S. bombed Iraq using software O'Brien provided for what he had originally thought would be used for humanitarian purposes.

• Katharine McPhee as Paige Dineen, a single mother of nine-year-old Ralph

She is a struggling waitress when she meets O'Brien and his team in the pilot episode. She works to help the team interact with normal people and learns from O'Brien that her son is not challenged but really a genius. She also seems to have feelings for O'Brien, but has trouble dealing with them due to O'Brien's not believing that love and emotion are real.

• Robert Patrick as Agent Cabe Gallo, a special agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

He was the one who brought O'Brien over from Ireland and then worked with him for several years. They had a falling out when O'Brien was 16 over civilian casualties during an attack on Baghdad, Iraq using a computer program that O'Brien had created for humanitarian purposes. In the pilot, Gallo recruits O'Brien and his team to help the government fix a serious air traffic control problem and then asks them to become a liaison team to tackle difficult missions that arise that the main government organizations do not have the manpower or technological prowess to handle, like stolen nuclear weapons and similar issues. Cabe was a Marine and an FBI agent before he transferred to Homeland. He grew up in Brooklyn.

• Eddie Kaye Thomas as Tobias "Toby" M. Curtis, MD, a behavioral psychiatrist

Toby can easily read people. He gets annoyed when people call him a psychologist, when he is in fact a psychiatrist. He has a gambling addiction that gets him into trouble. He is shown to have feelings for Happy Quinn, and the two become romantically involved in "Fractured".

• Jadyn Wong as Happy Quinn, a mechanical engineer

She is the sole female of the original team. She has feelings for Toby, but is afraid to act on them because he is one of her best friends; the two become romantically involved in "Fractured". Happy was put in foster care as a toddler by her father because her mother died in childbirth and he could not cope. As a result, she is very hostile.

• Ari Stidham as Sylvester Dodd, a mathematician and statistician

He is a highly sensitive person and struggles with OCD and anxiety. He is a grandmaster at chess. Sylvester has a severe fear of germs, air transportation, boats and open water. He ran away from home as a teenager, and his father, Ken (Jeff Fahey), is a retired United States Army colonel. He has feelings for Megan, O'Brien's sister, who has multiple sclerosis. In the episode "Going South" (1x19), it is revealed that Sylvester and Megan have indeed started dating; they got married in "US vs. UN vs. UK". He is shown on many occasions to be a fan of the Super Fun Guy comic books. In "The Fast and the Nerdiest", Sylvester wins big on The Price Is Right.

• Riley B. Smith as Ralph Dineen (recurring in season 1, regular in season 2), Paige's son

In the pilot, he is nine years old and appears to be a troubled, mostly silent child. Paige learns from Walter that he is actually a genius. At the end of the pilot, he talks to O'Brien, and Paige comments that Ralph previously has only talked to her. Since then, it has been shown that he has opened up, such as making friends in school. Since "Fish Filet", Ralph has simultaneously been taking classes at CalTech and attending elementary school.

Robert Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Robert Patrick, Katharine McPhee, Elyes Gabel, Nick Santora, Walter O'Brien, Nicholas Wootton, actors and producers, San Diego Comic Con 2014

Recurring

• Camille Guaty as Megan O'Brien, Walter's sister and Sylvester's wife who suffered from multiple sclerosis, a condition that Walter sought to "fix" in order to repay the favor of her always being there throughout his childhood. She died in the episode "Arrivals and Departures" after suffering complications due to her disease.
• Brendan Hines as Drew Baker, Ralph's biological father who is a struggling minor league baseball player.
• Daniel Zolghadri as Young Walter
• David Fabrizio as Merrick (season 1, guest in season 2), Director of Homeland Security. After the events of season 1, Merrick was demoted and reassigned as Homeland Security's liaison to NASA.
• Andy Buckley as Richard Elia, billionaire tech mogul who wants Walter to work for his company
• Alana de la Garza as Adriana Molina (season 2), the new Director of Homeland Security who is Merrick's successor, eventually as of "Fish Fillet" she is no longer interacting with team Scorpion since Cabe told her off for offering to leave Sylvester in a prison to die.
• Kevin Weisman as Ray Spiewack (season 2), Walter's new buddy from community service, Ray is a former firefighter who is suffering from post-traumatic stress after losing his best friend in a fire 10 years ago.
• Peri Gilpin as Katherine Cooper (season 2), the Deputy Homeland Security Director who takes over for Molina as Scorpion's Homeland liaison; prior to working with Scorpion, Cooper had never served in the field.
• Pete Giovine as Chet (season 2), Happy's "date", a comedian who is her comedy coach.
• Brooke Nevin as Linda (season 2), a matchmaker in speed dating that Walter ends up briefly dating in an attempt to try and connect emotionally with others.
• Scott Porter as Tim Armstrong (season 2), Homeland Security trainee and former military that Cabe brings in to work with Scorpion.
• Horatio Sanz as Heywood "Jahelpme" Morris, (season 2), lawyer with his own TV commercial who first takes on Sylvester's game show contract case, then eventually becoming the team's personal attorney.

Reception

Ratings

Season	Timeslot (ET)	Episodes	First aired		Last aired		TV season	Rank	Avg. viewers (millions)
			Date	Viewers (millions)	Date	Viewers (millions)
1	Monday 9:00 pm	22	September 22, 2014 (2014-09-22)	13.83	April 20, 2015 (2015-04-20)	10.71	2014–15	15	13.63
2		24	September 21, 2015 (2015-09-21)	11.09	April 25, 2016 (2016-04-25)	8.98	2015–16	TBD	TBD

Critical reception

Scorpion has received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a rating of 40%, based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The site's consensus reads, "Typical procedural plot lines and boring characters using a distracting amount of geek-speak make Scorpion a forgettable show without sting." On Metacritic, the show has a score of 48 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

The show premiered on September 22, 2014, earning a 3.2 rating in the 18–49 demographic and 13.83 million total viewers. This improved CBS' Monday 9 p.m. time slot from the previous season by 66% in total viewers and 22% in the 18–49 demographic. It was also Monday's top new series in viewers and key demographics. The number of viewers during the first season across all platforms was 26 million.

Broadcast

Scorpion was picked up in thirteen countries, including in the UK by ITV2 for broadcast starting on October 23, 2014. The series premiered in fall on RTÉ2 in Ireland. Australian Network Ten began airing the show on September 28. In New Zealand, Prime began airing the show on October 10. The show airs in Canada on City simultaneous to CBS.

A special 63-minute episode, "Tech, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll", was originally aired as a single episode in season two, but shown in Britain and its overseas territories in two parts.

External links

• Official website
• Scorpion at IMDb
• Scorpion at TV Guide
• Walter O'Brien