A dopey show about geniuses who fix restaurant wifi connections until the U.S. government puts them to work saving thousands from violent crash-landings, “Scorpion” comes to us from “Breakout Kings” creator Nick Santora.
The pilot claims “Scorpion” is based on a true story, but I’ll bet you a dollar that one part – the part where a co-pilot hangs out of a low-flying jetliner to feed Ethernet cable to the fast-moving sports car a few feet below the plane – is something Santora made up. And probably made up in a hurry.
The new series stars former Dothraki Elyes Gabel (“World War Z”) as the lead genius, “Smash” refugee Katherine “Fly Me With Ballons” McPhee as a non-genius waitress and former T-1000 Robert Patrick (“True Blood,” El Rey’s “From Dusk Till Dawn”) as the cop who puts them all to work.
Even though the team already has its own expert on human behavior, its leader decides it needs to hire also the local diner waitress because she’s good at communicating with her preteen son, who coincidentally turns out to be another super-genius. They’re just everywhere on this show!
Director Justin Lin, who helmed the “Scorpion” pilot and four of Vin Diesel’s most recent Fast/Furious movies, can’t disguise the fact that this is 12 pounds of ridiculous in a 2-pound bag.
... Is the pilot worth a look? Not particularly. I like nonsense, but this is not diverting or interesting nonsense. …
... the pilot — where the team has to prevent every plane circling LAX from crashing due to a software glitch — is remarkably dumb, larded with weird contrivances and stupid mistakes made by the team to push the solution back into the climactic moments. But it's a dumb pilot directed by "Fast & Furious" franchise caretaker Justin Lin, which means there are multiple car chases that kick ass, including one near the end that's as fun as it is completely ridiculous. …
... the opening case quickly spirals into improbability, or at least what seems so to an ordinary viewer. That’s one problem with a lot of these high-tech shows: Most viewers have no way of knowing whether what they’re seeing is technologically possible or just made up. The other problem is that old-fashioned acting is too often replaced by the never-exciting sight of someone poking urgently at a computer. “Scorpion” tries to compensate for this with a high-adrenaline pace, but that can lead to its own kind of weariness. …
... It’s a show about geniuses that gets stupider and stupider until it explodes. …
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
... The show isn’t terribly believable, first when O’Brien’s nerds and the Homeland Security thugs take over a diner, then when O’Brien pauses trying to keep all those planes from crashing in order to offer parenting advice to single-mom/waitress Paige Dineen (Katharine McPhee, “Smash”), and finally when Paige doffs her apron and joins Walter in an over-the-top stunt to keep the planes flying in the finale. …
... 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.
... just another case-of-the-week procedural …
... They may be absurd, but they're enjoyable as long as you don't think about them too deeply. (Or, in the case of a final stunt with a car and an airplane, at all.) …
... mildy fun yet wholly disposable …
9 p.m. Monday. CBS.
