‘Scorpion’ season 3, episode 9 review: Paige’s mother wants to help out Walter — but how?
The moment that we learned that Monday night’s new episode of “Scorpion” was entitled “Mother Load,” it was pretty easy to understand why. Not only did we get a chance to see the character of Paige’s mother Veronica on the show for the first time, but at the same exact time, we learned precisely how she was a constant problem in Paige’s life.
This was a woman who spent most of Paige’s childhood trying to trick people, getting them in near-constant trouble and taking their money. In turn, this led to her spending several months in prison — as a matter of fact, she spent the six years prior to her meeting Paige this week in prison in Arizona.
She first entered the picture tonight after seeking out Team Scorpion’s health after stumbling upon a nuclear reactor in grave danger during one of her latest business ventures. She heard about them on TV, and realizing that her daughter had accomplished something so much more than she ever thought. This was a chance for her to bond with her … but she had to figure out a way to earn her trust first, and as you would imagine, this was an easier-said-than-done sort of situation given that there was more or less no reason at all for her to believe her. This is especially true when she realized that she continued to lie about everything from who the people were who were chasing her to also where she’d been for the past several years.
As for some “super-fun” moments of the episode, kudos to the show for finding a way to incorporate a giant Super Fun Guy balloon into much of the action tonight. Specifically, we saw Cabe and company shoot the poor balloon in the butt in order to ensure that they got precisely what they needed in order to further stop a nuclear disaster … one that Paige blamed her mother for starting up in the first place. (Did anyone else appreciate the callback to the Chernobyl episode?)
Meanwhile, we enjoyed Toby regretting taking $20 to hear Paige’s life story about her mother the moment that he realized that it was going to take longer than a few minutes to get through all of it. Maybe this wasn’t as fun as Cabe finding himself a new love interest in the form of a campaign manager fighting against Sylvester, but it was entertaining nonetheless.
As we neared the end of the episode, things did take a slightly more serious turn again as Paige’s Thanksgiving, which included a burnt turkey, led to Veronica bringing over some Chinese food as a way to try to make things right. At first, Paige wouldn’t relent with her sentiment that this was a woman she didn’t want to have around; however, Cabe convinced her to allow her to stick around, at least for one dinner. It was at this point that she met Ralph.
In the end, we do think Veronica has a heart in there, but she clearly has an addiction that comes with causing problems and messing with other people’s lives. Therefore, having her around is rather dangerous and we hope that Paige continues to tread lightly around her.
Your weekly Walter and Paige update – Hey, Veronica seems to approve of him! Heck, she wants to help her win Paige over, which is probably a tricky proposition of its own.
In the end, it was great having Lea Thompson on the show tonight, given that she brought a lot of energy and layers to Veronica, a character we’d certainly love to see as a part of a recurring carousel of “Scorpion” guests. The nuclear case started slow, but it had an exciting end courtesy of the balloon. Episode Grade: B+.