Scorpion Information

Scorpion (stylized as </SCORPION>) is an American drama television series loosely based on the life of self-proclaimed genius and computer expert Walter O'Brien. In the series, O'Brien recruits other geniuses to help solve complex, global problems. Scorpion airs on Mondays at 9:00 p.m. ET on CBS. It premiered on September 22, 2014, as part of the 2014-15 television season.

On October 27, 2014, CBS placed a full season episode order for the first season.

Synopsis

Walter O'Brien and a 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 smartest people in the world with a 197 IQ, 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 interaction with people translates the real world to them; they, in exchange, translate her young mentally gifted son, Ralph, to her.

Cast and characters

Main cast

• Elyes Gabel as Walter O'Brien, a genius with a 197 IQ who in the pilot is struggling to keep his small company Scorpion afloat. He leads the team. Agent Gallo was the person who brought him from Dublin, Ireland to America after O'Brien hacked into NASA computers and 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.
• Katharine McPhee as Paige Dineen, a single mother of a nine-year-old boy. She is a struggling waitress when she meets O'Brien and his team. 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.
• Robert Patrick as Agent Cabe Gallo. Gallo is a special agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He was the one who brought Walter over from Ireland and then worked with him for several years. They had a falling out when Walter was 16 over civilian casualties during an attack on Iraq. In the pilot, Gallo recruits Walter and his team to help the government fix a serious air traffic control problem and then asks Walter and his team to join him on a special government team to tackle difficult problems that arise, like stolen nuclear weapons and similar issues.
• Eddie Kaye Thomas as Dr. Tobias M. "Toby" Curtis, a genius behaviorist who can easily read people. He has a gambling problem that gets him into trouble.
• Jadyn Wong as Happy Quinn, a genius mechanical engineer who can fix anything. She is the sole female genius of the group.
• Ari Stidham as Sylvester Dodd, a genius statistician who also has OCD and anxiety.

Recurring cast

• Riley B. Smith as Ralph, 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 Walter, and Paige comments that Ralph previously has only talked to her.
• Camille Guaty as Megan O'Brien (Adult Megan). In her later years, Walter wants to help pay back the favor of his sister always being there throughout his childhood, and "fix" her medical condition multiple sclerosis.

• Emily Robinson as Young Megan. Megan is Walter's sister who is gifted in different ways, even though she is not a genius. She helps Walter get through school and protects him from anyone who wants to harm him.

• Daniel Zolghadri as Young Walter

• Robert Smythe as Teenage Walter

• David Fabrizio as Merrick, Director of Homeland Security.
• Brendan Hines as Drew, Ralph's father who is a struggling minor league baseball player.

Guest cast

• Ernie Hudson as Brooks, the head air traffic controller at LAX. ("Pilot")
• Corbin Bernsen as the owner of a casino ("Shorthanded")
• Mykelti Williamson as General Ned Walker, who is in charge of security at a nuclear power plant. ("Plutonium Is Forever")
• Linda Hunt as Hetty Lange, the Operations Manager of the NCIS Office of Special Projects who collaborates with the team on the art forgery case ("True Colors").
• Shohreh Aghdashloo as Dr. Cassandra Davis, a psychologist who was assigned to give the team a psych evaluation after the art forgery case ("True Colors").
• Raphael Sbarge as Paulson, curator at the Westside Museum of Art who hires the team to update the security system to protect the masterpieces ("True Colors").
• Keith David as the Warden of Hamilton Federal Penitentiary ("Father's Day")
• Scott Mescudi as Peyton Temple, a musical prodigy ("Risky Business")
• Clifford "Method Man" Smith as hip-hop producer, Lucky the King ("Risky Business")
• Lochlyn Munro as Detective Jim Archer, works for the LAPD in the Robbery Homicide division ("Risky Business")
• Jessica Tuck as Rebecca Burns, a lawyer for the Barnwright Group and Cabe Gallo's ex-wife ("Rogue Element")
• Jake McLaughlin as Lt. James Corbett, U.S. Navy SEAL ("Talismans")

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (millions)	Viewers = 13.83	ShortSummary = Special Agent Cabe Gallo hires former child prodigy Walter O'Brien to lead a team of his brilliant friends. They are assigned their first mission by the government to help land airplanes at LAX when the air to ground communication system is shut down by a bug in the new traffic control software. They instantly connect with a waitress named Paige, the mother of a genius child.	LineColor = C80815 }}	Viewers = 13.36	ShortSummary = Team Scorpion is called upon by the governor when his daughter is a victim of biohacking and has only 24 hours to live. The mission hits a raw nerve with Walter, who receives a letter regarding his sister Megan's worsening multiple sclerosis. Toby reaches out to his ex-fiance, Happy isn't so happy about people letting her down in her past, and Cabe is reminded of the loss of his own daughter while working this case.	LineColor = C80815 }}	Viewers = 12.05	ShortSummary = After failing a military training exercise ordered by Director Merrick, the team is determined to prove their worth. When Internet infrastructure is threatened by random bomb strikes around the city, they set up their own operation to find the bomber. Cabe takes them off the mission for violating orders, while Paige tries to find her place on the team.	LineColor = C80815 }}	Viewers = 11.51	ShortSummary = Wanting publicity on their last case, Scorpion takes on a private contract in spite of Cabe's objections. They travel to Las Vegas to help a casino that is losing money on their high-roller blackjack tables. Walter sees a heist about to happen, but he is accused of masterminding the robbery and is sent to jail. However, his team is able to crack the case and exonerate him, with Cabe's help.	LineColor = C80815 }}	Viewers = 10.75	ShortSummary = A nuclear reactor at a Los Angeles power plant with an out-of-date system nears a cataclysmic meltdown. Walter must enlist the help of genius Mark Collins, a former troubled team member who brought him "down the rabbit hole", what he calls a dissociative state of intelligent thought years ago that almost jeopardized Scorpion.	LineColor = C80815 }}	Viewers = 10.39	ShortSummary = After taking a security job at an art museum, Scorpion is accused of destroying a priceless piece of art which they think is a forgery. They must pass a mandated psych evaluation or be disbanded from all Homeland assignments. But Gallo has a connection, Hetty Lange, head of NCIS: L.A. who helps them track down the real painting. Paige tasks Walter with an experiment to gain emotional quotient so his team can get more work. She also asks the team for help when Ralph doesn't have anyone to go with to his school's Halloween party.	LineColor = C80815 }}	Viewers = 10.34	ShortSummary = When Ralph's absentee father Drew calls the Scorpion office to talk to Paige, it triggers the familial memories of everyone. The team tries to protect Ralph by running a background check on Drew, who is a struggling minor league baseball player. Meanwhile, the team is tasked with finding out how three convicts, including a high IQ hacktivist, escaped from a high-tech prison and as to what their plan really is.	LineColor = C80815 }}	Viewers = 10.08	ShortSummary = A musical prodigy, who created a controversial algorithm that generates the perfect hit pop song, helps Scorpion investigate the murder of his friend who was a music industry blogger. Meanwhile, Drew takes Ralph out to a baseball game and later visits the team's garage to seek Walter's advice to help him connect with his son. Also, Walter needs a distraction and takes on a new hobby"?street racing supercars around town at night.	LineColor = C80815 }}	Viewers = 10.06	ShortSummary =Scorpion tries to help Cabe after he is alerted by a distress code sent by his ex-wife Rebecca, who fears she is being targeted for stumbling upon a money trail linked to the assassination of a prominent congressman and special elections to be held thereafter. Meanwhile, Drew thanks Walter for the kinetic pitching diagnostic analysis improving his fastball speed; however, this lands him a tryout with a Double-A baseball team in Portland and doesn't know what to do with Ralph.	LineColor = C80815 }}	Viewers = 9.28	ShortSummary = When an F-120 Hawkwing carrying a classified cloaking radar device goes down over Bosnia, Scorpion must help a dis-approving Navy SEALs team locate the jet, recover the stealth technology and find the pilot's remains. Also, on a request from the pilot's wife, they have to retrieve his special necklace. Meanwhile, after a drunken run-in with the police in an attempt at temporary freedom from her MS and the hospital, Megan meets the team, who are taken aback that Walter would even bring his sister to the garage in the first place.	LineColor = C80815 }} </ref>	DirectedBy = Mel Damski	WrittenBy = Elizabeth Beall & David Foster	OriginalAirDate =	Viewers = TBA	ShortSummary =	LineColor = C80815 }} </ref>	DirectedBy = Omar Madha	WrittenBy = Rob Pearlstein & Nick Santora	OriginalAirDate =	Viewers = TBA	ShortSummary =	LineColor = C80815 }}

Reception

Scorpion has received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a rating of 38%, based on 45 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 demo 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 demo. It was also Monday's top new series in viewers and key demos.

Ratings

No.	Title	Air date	Ratings/Share (18-49)	Viewers (millions)	DVR 18-49	DVR Viewers (millions)	Total 18-49	Total Viewers (millions)
1	"Pilot"		3.2/9	13.83	1.8	5.32	5.0	19.22
2	"Single Point of Failure"		3.1/8	13.36	1.5	4.56	4.6	17.94
3	"A Cyclone"		2.6/7	12.05	1.3	4.49	3.9	16.54
4	"Shorthanded"		2.4/6	11.51	1.2	4.18	3.6	15.69
5	"Plutonium Is Forever"		2.4/6	10.75	1.4	4.24	3.8	14.99
6	"True Colors"		2.3/6	10.39	1.3	4.25	3.6	14.64
7	"Father's Day"		2.2/6	10.34	1.3	4.85	3.5	15.20
8	"Risky Business"		2.0/6	10.08	1.3	4.64	3.3	14.72
9	"Rogue Element"		2.0/5	10.06
10	"Talismans"		1.9/5	9.28
11	"Revenge"
12	"Dominoes"

International broadcast

Scorpion has been picked up in the UK by ITV2 for broadcast starting Thursday October 23. The series will air in fall on RT2 in Ireland. Australian network TEN began airing the show on September 28. In New Zealand, Prime shows the series at 7.30 pm on Fridays, starting on October 10. The show airs in Canada on the CITY network.