‘Scorpion’ season 3, episode 11 review: Is Tim gone? Toby’s attempt a perfect Christmas
It’s the holiday season, and for “Scorpion,” that tends to be plans for a peaceful celebration that go awry in a matter of minutes — so of course, the same exact thing happened with Monday night’s new episode “Wreck the Halls.”
Everything began with the central premise of the story: The team heading out to a cabin in the woods to disconnect from technology and have a chance to sit back and relax a little bit. It’s something that they really didn’t get much of a chance to do through the craziness of this season, and on the surface, this looked like a golden opportunity.
Well, that didn’t last long. After Walter engaging in a peeing contest with Tim by giving him the most ridiculous desk back at headquarters, the two’s bro-time (where they tried to talk about their issues) was interrupted by seeing some dangerous people with guns. You knew that this wasn’t going to end well the moment that you saw them.
You can argue that the show dropped the ball somewhat in making the villains of this episode relatively run of the mill. Yet at the same time, this wasn’t really a reason to make them that developed since a big part of the fun of this episode was watching the team try to prepare in their cabin in order to take on the bad guys. Basically, this became a sequel to “Home Alone” where they used various contraptions to take them on. Unfortunately, there was a pretty massive problem in that one of the guys involved, an ATF Agent named Sam, wasn’t actually an agent at all. He tricked the team thanks to his past connections, and since Toby heard the information secondhand, there was nothing for him to read.
Oh, and Sam took Ralph. This was scary for a few minutes, but with Walter and Paige chasing him, there was a happy ending before long and everyone was able to celebrate
Toby’s plan for Happy – Basically, he is doing almost everything that he could in order to ensure that he can turn her opinion of Christmas around. He got her a toy robot she wanted as a child, he decorated like nobody’s business, and he recruited Paige to help at almost every turn. When Happy got done canvasing with Sylvester for his Alderman election, she didn’t seem altogether impressed with what Toby had put together — but at the same time, she also didn’t see the robot! We really think at this point that this will be what changes things for her.
While the robot got somewhat destroyed in the midst of everything that happened, the two still had a nice moment as she also gave him a chance to hear words of encouragement anytime he wants — just not directly from her.
The situation with Tim, Walter escalates – We knew that this was coming at some point, but it finally happened tonight once Tim saw the photo — one that featured Walter covering up his face in. If that wasn’t enough, there was also the laptop that Walt got Paige as a Secret Santa gift. (Basically, Walter treats Secret Santa much like Michael Scott does.) The two fought, but ultimately Tim decided to leave and take the job overseas. Paige encouraged him to take it, knowing that working for Scorpion wasn’t going to get him a chance to shine.
Ultimately, it seems like he’ll only be gone for a few months, and he wants to keep the relationship with Paige. We’ll see if that lasts, but it may things even more awkward given that Walter does still have his feelings. Walter actually felt bad about Tim leaving, but he reassured him that he wasn’t going because of their fight. Consider this further proof that both guys are good guys, and in that sense, Paige has a chance to be happy either way.
Overall – This was a pretty fun way to end the episode, and one that ends the year on a pretty good note. “Scorpion” does like to give you drama, but they wrap it in a way that makes it feel accessible and sentimental at the same time. There’s no conclusion to any of these stories just yet, but Toby warned Walter that Paige may blame him for Tim leaving. We shall see. Episode Grade: B+.