Team Scorpion kicked of the new year just as anyone would want to — almost freezing to death in the Antarctic tundra. Yes, Scorpion’s first episode of the year, “White Out”, was so named because in an attempt to help American troops in a dangerous battle on unauthorized territory, the team was caught in a blizzard and clinging to life.
The original mission stated that Homeland needed Team Scorpion to fix the feed that disabled communication between the soldiers and the Pentagon. Walter noted that the signal needed in order to fix the feed would be strongest as the satellite was moving over Antarctica because signals are strongest at the poles. Once the satellite was in range, Walter would be able to upload the new software and the drones could be sent in. But the team needs to move fast — the squad claims that the enemy is closing in on them quick, and if they didn’t receive backup soon, the whole squad would be eliminated.
But as usual, the episode doesn’t really focus on their original mission. The episode begins with Walter claiming he wanted to be more social (as Megan suggested he be), and so he attempts to do that by becoming a viral video sensation and studying the Kardashians. Ya, you read that right. It didn’t make a lot of sense to us either. Meanwhile, Happy has taken up her own New Year’s resolution to be “less mean and sarcastic”, to which I had to respond: awwww! But that’s part of Happy’s charm! That’s what makes her character so fun! But ok, ok, I get the point of her resolution. It’s nice that she wants to take responsibility and change her attitude. And how does she purpose to change her attitude? By reading a book on positivity written by Toby’s arch nemesis and the man who stole his fiancee from him, Quincy Berkstead! Ya, again you read that right. Nope, it doesn’t make any sense to us either. Oh well! On with the episode!
The team heads to Antarctica, where they find a hut to set up basecamp and get to work on setting up a very large receiver pole, but they quickly realize that the storm billowing outside is too strong and it’s blocking the satellite connection. They don’t have time to wait for the storm to pass, because the soldiers waiting for backup don’t have time to wait. So, against all warning, Walter tells them that they need to hike through the storm to higher ground.
Here you’ll have to excuse the fact that the snow is so obviously fake and this was clearly not filmed in Antarctica or anywhere remotely cold for that matter. But anyhow…
After reaching higher ground and attempting to stabilize the receiver pole, Walter realizes that they must go back to the hut (for some reason which is totally escaping me), and in the process a block of ice falls off a rock formation and while no one is hurt, the line connecting Cabe, Walter, Toby, and Happy is severed and Happy is lost in the storm.
So while the new mission in Antarctica is to rescue Happy, Ralph gets to play a crucial role when he helps Paige and Sylvester in the garage as they walk Agent Decker through the crucial hours as the soldiers wait for backup from the government. Ralph befriends Decker as he devises a solution to make the enemy think there are more soldiers than there really are, in hopes that the enemy will save their ammo and not attack all at once. He plays a Fall Out Boy song to help Decker relax, and my inner fangirl heart almost jumps out of my chest because all I wanted was a Fall Out Boy song to be used in Scorpion.
At this point the episode turns to a major Quintis fest, and there are no complaints from me. Happy yells for Toby through the storm, but ultimately decides to hike and look for shelter. Walter and Cabe tell Toby that he can’t go out and look for her because they have to finish the job first, but Toby is adamant about saving her and he asks Walter what he would do if it were Paige out in that storm and declares (for the millionth time) that Happy is love of his life. So Toby sets out to find her, and as the process drags out and his hope dwindles, he resorts to praying to God, saying that “there are no atheists in foxholes or blizzards”. Toby asks God to spare her soul and take hers instead.
While hiking, Happy falls into a crevasse. She tries multiple times to get out, but she is extremely weak and the cold is starting to take her. In a fit of anger and frustration, she throws Quincy Berkstead’s book up the crevasse and it lands outside in the snow. She sits down and begins to lose consciousness as the hypothermia begins to set in.
Just as Toby believes all hope is lost, he finds Quincy’s book, which leads him to the crevasse and Happy. HA! Irony! Good one, Scorpion… Anyways, Toby finds Happy alive, much to his relief and joy, and determines that the best way for him to transfer heat to her is through body heat, so he strips them both and wraps them together in a sleeping bag. How romantic.
As Walter and Cabe complete the real mission, they then go to look for Happy and Toby. Walter monitors sounds from underground to see if he can locate them, and he does find a heartbeat, but sadly only one.
Toby whispers to Happy with his last dying breaths that they aren’t going to make it, but he couldn’t believe how lucky he was to be going out that way — with her. AWW! And cue the waterworks because this was one heartbreaking scene! But of course, have no fear! Walter and Cabe are there to save the day! They find Happy and Toby right in the knick of time and pull them to safety.
Back at the garage, the video feed from the soldiers returns and Decker tells Ralph that because of him, the whole squad is saved. Decker then tells Ralph that he and his wife are having a baby and they want to name the baby after him because he saved them all. AWWWW!
When they return home, Happy’s father Patrick comes to see her, grateful that she didn’t die on their mission. She seems to be almost dead a lot. Happy asks her dad about a song that she had in her head in her dying moments. It turns out that this song was Shiny Happy People by R.E.M. and Patrick’s home video reveals that it was the song him and Happy’s mother used to dance to when she was pregnant with Happy. AWWWW!!! Happy declares that she has never been as carefree as Patrick and Grace appear to be in that video (in which they looked suspiciously like Happy and Toby), but she one day wants to be. Patrick tells her that she is ready for that life and she just has to decide what makes her Happy. The scene cuts to Happy looking over at Toby playing a card trick with Ralph. AWWWWWWWW!!!!!
And the episode ends with an incredibly adorable scene on the roof where Paige has put together a little campout with tents and s’mores and everything. Walter brought back snow from Antarctica and the team has an adorable genius snowball fight. And in an extremely awkward, yet totally adorable moment, Happy invites Toby to spend the night with her in her tent and maybe spoon her some more because she still needed warming up. AWWWWWWWWW!!!!!! Ya there was a lot of adorable in that last scene. And there were a lot of Quintis scenes, so we’ll see where that leads. That leads me to believe that the next episodes will be pretty Waige heavy, so it will be interesting to see what happens there.
Overall, I’d say not a bad episode. I LOVED all the Quintis scenes, but some of the plot decisions just didn’t really make a lot of sense to me. They were just trying to do too much. The episode did pull good ratings though, so hopefully the romance was enough to keep viewers around. This freezing episode surely warmed some hearts!
