For the first time in a while, I can say that an episode of Scorpion genuinely caught me off guard. Since there’s only so much that can be written into and developed in an episode, it’s not surprising that most episodes this season have been a little predictable. And while a majority of this episode does fit that mold, the ending was attention-grabbing because it surprised everyone, including Team Scorpion.
A brief recap of the plot in “Crime Every Mountain”:
The team is desperate for funds, so they can’t turn down a job to help clear debris from a rock slide in the mountains. But what would this team’s lives be if not filled with epic plot twists? Their simple mission gets flipped upside down when a plane crashes nearby and they help the father/daughter duo who, miraculously, survive. The duo ends up being criminals heading for Mexico with three duffel bags full of cash, and Paige and Walter get themselves stuck in the hollow of a cliff after a rockslide. Toby saves the day by using Happy’s debris-clearing invention to not only save Walt and Paige but also trick the father and daughter and get everyone out of their precarious situation alive.
Meanwhile, Cabe and Sly hunt down clues to find Mark Collins. But Collins beat them at their own game, leading them on a goose chase and framing Cabe with false bribe money. The cherry on top of the situation is a “gift” from Collins left inside the garage with a snarky note. And by cherry on top, I mean the straw that breaks the camel’s back. The spark that lights the fuse. Our favorite former Fed is officially and irrevocably fed up.
Photo Source: CBS
And this, my nerds, is what caught me off guard. Cabe’s pure rage in this moment—or “raw, unfiltered emotion”, as Sly puts it—is completely justified and understandable, and I’m glad we finally got to see it. I just honestly expected to wait for at least one more episode before this outburst came to fruition. Cabe has been repressing emotions in every episode this season, and I thought he’d wait until the absolute last second to truly let his walls down. And that could very well have happened had Collins not made his presence known and acted as a catalyst for Cabe’s emotional disturbance.
Something that really struck me was the interaction between Cabe and Sly in this episode. Sly, the man who always has his nose in a comic book or magical novel, actually told Cabe to get rid of all the fantasies in his head. Mind you, Sly is living out his own fantasy of sorts right now by acting as Cabe’s lawyer despite having no experience as an attorney. So, to see him confront Cabe’s fantasies (like undergoing interrogation during court) was a change of pace. The irony of it all was phenomenal.
“Collins can take my family, he can take my freedom, my friends, he can take everything—but I refuse to let him take my name!”
Cabe really lets loose in this monologue, but this line is haunting. At the end of the day, he knows that he has his friends and family to support him, even if he is stripped of his freedom to see them each day. He can lose those things because he knows that he won’t truly lose the love and support of those who care for him. The one thing he can’t lose right now is his name. His entire identity is being shattered by the actions of a selfish sociopath he never wanted to let free in the first place. And in this moment, I think Cabe realized that he can’t fight just to support his team anymore. He must fight for himself and everything he has worked to become.
And on that happy note, what did you all think of “Crime Every Mountain”? Do you think Cabe will wiggle his way out of Collins’s set up? Let me know!
