Hard Knox

"The world needs to catch up to you because if it can, even a little, imagine what a place it would be."

- Walter

"Hard Knox" is the twenty-second episode of the second season of Scorpion, and the forty fourth of the series overall. It aired April 11, 2016.

Synopsis
Team Scorpion is hired by the Department of Defense to break into Fort Knox and "steal" a precious artifact in order to test their security, but they must break in a second time when they find something dangerous hidden inside the object.

Plot
TeamScorpion starts with Walter on a date at a flower opening with Linda who he’s been seeing for a few weeks now. She’s even learned to like his fermented fish. The plant opens and she gags and runs off. It’s called the corpse flower and smells awful.

Walter says Linda likes all their dates and Toby calls them field trips and says she’s not into him. Walter says she is and Toby says she has damsel syndrome and it’s all about the dopamine she gets from being around him. Walter doesn’t like this news.

Toby says Paige has been with Tim lately so Walter is blind to the truth. The team shows up to meet them and they head into the court case to do with Ralph’s patent. The professor is on the stand and Heywood bungles big and the judge cuts him off.

The professor’s attorney asks for a redirect and hands over some documents. The professor says it’s a print out of his work and has been doing this work for six months. Heywood asks to see the backup documents and the other lawyer slams him.

Heywood says Ralph has mental issues then says he has a genius which can be a handicap and says he needs a competency hearing. Heywood says he can have the kid evaluated. Heywood is thrilled when he wins the motion.

The team is going through Ralph’s old codes. Heywood leaves to go to the law library. Ralph wants to look for numerical bookmarks he left that are dates unique to him. Walter is annoyed that he doesn’t quite get the work Ralph has done and snaps at him.

Paige chews Walter out for barking at him and says he feels things and better apologize to her kid or she’s walking out. Cabe says Tim is on the way with Agent Cook from the DOD with a new case. Cook tells them about Fort Knox and how genuine documents are there as well as foreign valuables.

Agent Cook says they privatized security recently and the DOD is worries this compromises security so he wants to test them. He says he wants them to break in and says they need to get an ancient Prussian scepter that can’t be forged.

The team realizes that they have to face real guards who don’t know this is an exercise and if they’re caught, they’ll be denied. He tells them about the knockout gas and guards. Toby says off the books is off the table but then Agent Cook says the fee is tax free.

He opens up a bag of $1 million cash from the president. Walter says they are not lab rats and there are too many unknowns. Tim sets them up by prodding their egos and then says the security can’t be outsmarted. They fall for it and Walter says Ralph needs their help.

Sly volunteers to stay back and help Ralph and Paige comes over and tells Tim he just manipulated them and he says he knows how to handle the team from watching them. Walter says let’s break into Fort Knox. They ask Agent Cook about the security systems.

Happy suggests water pipes. She wants to use a submarine drone that Sly can guide under the depository. Happy plans to clog the pipes and will cause a water main. She says they’ll call maintenance and they pretend to be plumbers.

Cabe has some idea of how to get them onto the base. Happy, Toby and Walter are in Army uniforms and acting as military plumbers. They release the knockout gas through the vents to buy them 30 minutes to steal the scepter.

The general that Cabe meets mentions a new guard by the basement vault. We see the guy with a gas mask on holding them at gunpoint. Happy says not good. Paige alerted them but it was too late. The guard orders them against the wall and hit Toby.

Cabe tells them to do what he says. The guard calls for back up and Happy nods at the light switch. Walter flips the switch and the guy has night vision so they put flashlights on him. Happy pulls off his mask and he tries to hold his breath but then conks out.

They have less than half an hour. Sly breathes a sigh of relief and he and Paige get back to work on Ralph’s case. Walter tests the air and they pull off their masks and get to work on the vault. Happy goes to work on the vault and Linda calls Walter. Happy tells them both to shut up.

There is artillery practice on the base and that’s messing up Happy’s readings. Sly hacks in and sees what the testing is doing. Walter tells Cabe to stop the shelling and tells him what to do. Cabe groans and they head off.

Cabe and Tim drive on the road to the artillery range. Soldiers run up with rifles and Cabe says get your badge out so they can explain. Happy cracks the vault code. Inside are many rooms to search. Walter has a complicated idea but Toby finds a manifest and says cell eight.

Heywood paces while Paige shows up and says he has to buy more time. She says figure something out and says he’s a good lawyer. She says he cares about his clients and that’s more than most lawyers do. She asks why he was a lawyer.

He says his house was freezing and a repair man charged them $380 for a repair that didn’t work. He says his mom took them to small claims court and won and says their house was heat. The judge puts Heywood in contempt and he’s hauled away.

Heywood is scared since he lost a lot of cases to guys in county and yells at Paige to get Toby there to testify. The scepter is on a pressure plate. Sly looks at it and calculates a weight of six pounds four ounces. Happy unloads some stuff from her tool box to substitute it.

They make the swap and it seems okay. An alarm goes off and a door to the vault crashes down. They hear a scary noise and then water comes flooding in. Walter says it’s enough water to drown them and Toby says it must be one of the unknown traps.

They have to figure out how to get out. Ralph says let the water in then the door will be vulnerable. Walter explains to Toby about Fulcrum’s level. They need a crowbar. They search the room and Toby finds a steel sword. They get closer and apply the lever.

Sly says you can do it and they take one last breath and get ready to fight the door. Water leaks out around the door and they wedge it. The door moves a little and then more. They have to come up for air again. The door is compromised.

They go back down and push on it. Happy says the weight was right and says the scepter feels light. She says there’s a problem and then the elevator dings. Soldiers show up and open fire. Walter shuts the vault door trapping them.

Happy jams the gears with a bar of gold. They look at the vial that Happy found in the scepter. They wonder what it is and Walter say she thinks it’s polonium. It’s toxic and can kill millions of people. It’s enough to wipe out one-fourth of the world’s population.

They wonder who Agent Cook is and if he’s legitimate. Cabe explains to the guards that he took a wrong turn and the soldiers tell them to go. Cabe puts his comms back in and Sly says there’s a problem. Happy and the gang have an idea how to break out as the soldiers try to break in.

The team crawls out but they find they are in a tank a few feet underground. Walter says that three feet is meaningful and says he needs Cabe to get a mortar launcher. Cabe says no way and Tim says the artillery field is automated and Sly can hack one and shoot a mortar at the tank.

Walter tells Sly to fire because the guards are coming through. Linda calls Walter again as the artillery hits while they hide in the pipe. The team worries when they don’t hear from them for a moment but then they poke their heads up like meerkats and Walter says they’re okay.

Tim says they’re insane and Cabe says he’s going to have a heart attack. They scramble out of the hole and Walter sees a Humvee coming. They run as Sly says they need to see this info on Cook. Sly says the guy was a spy who worked with East Germany.

Sly says the black market for Polonium must be huge and Cook took advantage. They see Cook’s car coming and Cabe says that’s a problem. Walter says he has a plan. They wait for him in the road. Cook asks what they did back there and says they got the scepter.

She hands it over. Cook says good job and says now get lost. Toby says he forgot a diamond that’s a little smudged because they used it to cut through steel. Cook takes the scepter and goes then Cabe pulls up and he and Tim get out.

Cabe asks how they sent the guy off with Polonium. Looks like Walter and the gang make up some gunpowder stuff with pine cones. The guards close in on Cabe’s running car. Cabe and Tim punch the guards out.

Tim says it’s clear you can go. There are guards outside the hole. Walter, Toby and Happy lurk nearby. Walter lights a pinecone and throws it then another. The seeds make popping sounds like gunfire and run away. Walter runs for the hole and lowers himself back into it.

Walter sticks out his head from the hole then drops something on the ground. The guard goes to pick up the badge. Cook can’t get out of the gate without his badge and then the guard shack gets a call. They surround Cook and tell him his ID was found in the vault.

They find the scepter on him and he says – those bastards. Back at the courthouse, Paige says she had her son evaluated for competency. Toby says he’s competent and then Heywood is brought in still in an orange jumpsuit in cuffs.

Heywood puts Ralph on the stand and mentions his bookmark codes with specific dates. The professor’s lawyer objects and says the bookmarks are used by the professor too. Ralph says he uses his birthday and Heywood shows that.

Then Ralph says he uses his mother’s birthdate. Then he has the date for the first day he met Walter and says it was the day he realized he wasn’t alone. Walter says he has an invoice to verify the date he met them. The judge says sit.

Walter says it was important to him too. Heywood says that’s it. The defense attorney has nothing and the judge rules against the professor and says he should be ashamed of himself. Heywood won his first case and is jubilant.

Back at the garage, they throw a celebration party. Heywood tells Paige they’re a great group of people and thanks her for the help believing in himself. Heywood gets a call from his mom and he tells her he won his first case.

Walter comes to sit by Ralph and says that date means a lot to him that he used and says he’s sorry for being short with him before and says it won’t happen again. Walter says he didn’t understand the code Ralph uses and says he’s smarter than he is.

Ralph asks if that’s why he was upset. Walter says that what upset him was that he was willing to slow down for him and says never slow down for anyone else. He says if you have to slow down for us, imagine how it will be in the world.

He tells Ralph the world needs to catch up to him. Linda shows up to see Walter and he asks if she’s ready. She says they can stay at the party. He recommends the jalapeno popper and she goes to try it but he stops her since she’s allergic to corn.

He wonders why she would eat something she’s allergic to. Walter asks if she really likes him or if she just enjoys the sense memory of when he saved her. She says that’s crazy. Walter asks if she likes smelly flowers and fermented fish and the guy who likes those things.

Linda says she’s not sure. She says that would explain how she sat through the bee documentary. Walter says it’s okay that she doesn’t really like him. Linda says this moment makes her like him but he says not romantically then says it’s okay.

He says they can be friends and Linda says always. She hugs him and seems to soak up one last thrill. Linda says goodbye and calls him smarty pants. Tim goes to talk to Paige and says he’s leaving for Seattle to see a specialist about his back so he can be cleared for duty.

Tim asks if they can go out to dinner when he comes back. Paige looks at Walter talking to Linda and says yes. Toby tells Happy those two are morons. Toby spills some beer on her hand then puts a napkin on her to wipe it up but he’s measuring her ring size. Toby’s getting serious.

Original recap from celebdirtylaundry.com

Main

 * Elyes Gabel as Walter O'Brien
 * Katharine McPhee as Paige Dineen
 * Robert Patrick as Cabe Gallo
 * Eddie Kaye Thomas as Toby Curtis
 * Jadyn Wong as Happy Quinn
 * Ari Stidham as Sylvester Dodd

Recurring

 * Riley B. Smith as Ralph Dineen

Guest Stars

 * Brooke Nevin as Linda
 * Scott Porter as Tim Armstrong
 * Leslie David Baker as Judge Tanniston
 * Mark Rolston as Agent Cooke
 * Horatio Sanz as Heywood Morris

Trivia
TBA

Einbruch in Fort Knox