TMCnet News

'Big Bang' boom [Boston Herald]
[September 21, 2014]

'Big Bang' boom [Boston Herald]


(Boston Herald (MA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sept. 21--'The Big Bang Theory" is the No. 1 comedy on TV; the "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" franchise has run so long, it's piled up almost as many corpses as viewers.



At last, CBS mashes its two greatest hits into one show: "Scorpion," about a group of nerds who team to fight the greatest techno threats.

Allegedly inspired by a true story, the leads of "Scorpion", Elyes Gabel ("Body of Proof") and Katharine McPhee ("Smash"), even resemble "Big Bang" stars Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting. (Gabel is buffer; McPhee, brunette).


As the bland-sounding Walter O'Brien, Gabel leads a team of socially broken toys.

As a boy, he hacked into NASA, and his subsequent experiences with law enforcement -- specifically federal agent Cabe Gallo (Robert Patrick, best remembered as the unstoppable cyborg from "Terminator 2") -- left him smoldering with resentment over a number that edges out his 197 IQ -- a body count of 200 innocents.

But he and his pals -- Toby Curtis (Eddie Kaye Thomas, "American Pie"), a behavioral expert who can predict anyone's behavior, Happy Quinn (Jadyn Wong, "Being Erica"), an engineering buff, and Sylvester Dodd (Ari Stidham), a mathematical wizard -- are floundering.

Walter breaks up with a woman in a diner by referring to a "decision tree" he's scratched out on paper to help her with her feelings.

"You're so a million miles from normal," she says.

It's there he crosses paths with waitress Paige (McPhee), who has a gifted but uncommunicative son.

When Cabe barges back into his life, Walter isn't even ready to be Facebook friends.

The communications software at Los Angeles airport has become corrupted, and 56 flights are stranded overhead with no means of communicating with the landing tower.

Walter, still suspicious, agrees to take on the job: "You cross me, and I'll go online, and in less than one hour, I will erase you." Cabe isn't afraid of any brainiac: "Screw this up, brains and guts will erupt all over town." What follows is an extended Rube Goldberg caper, as the gang finds out that hacking into an international airport is complicated -- and involves a few races against the clock around the city -- and culminates with a plane flying a couple hundred feet over a speeding Ferrari in an attempt to share a Wi-Fi signal to email a programming file.

Complicated much? At his lowest point, when Walter is about to concede defeat, Paige is there to help him with an emotional reset: "Normal people save everybody," she says.

Walter recognizes she, just as Penny on "Big Bang," can act as their liaison to the rest of the world. He, in turn, can help her communicate with her son. This is a cute cast, and you can't help imagining it's Penny and Leonard taking down bad guys and viruses alike.

As unofficial spinoffs go, this is not a bad thing. "Scorpion" has some real sting.

"SCORPION" Series premiere tomorrow at 9 p.m. on WBZ (Ch. 4).

Grade: B ___ (c)2014 the Boston Herald Visit the Boston Herald at www.bostonherald.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]