Sun of a Gun

"I swear to God. If you don't get into this, I'm gonna kill you myself."

- Paige to Walter

"Sun of a Gun" is the fourteenth episode of the second season of Scorpion, and the thirty sixth of the series overall. It aired on January 18, 2016.

Synopsis
Sylvester comes face to face with his estranged father, a retired general, who asks Team Scorpion for help when he believes that a dictator in Africa has uncovered a deadly World War II-era weapon of mass destruction and intends to use it.

Plot
Scorpion starts with Cabe and Toby coaching Walter before he heads into a bar for a speed dating event. Cabe is doing recon and Toby is watching human interactions. Toby insults Cabe’s cologne and asks if he’s trying to get a date too.

The hostess tries to send Cabe over to the “sunset circle” of older ladies. Walter talks too lofty for one chick and Cabe chats up a crazy cat lady. A weird girl does a bad Brit accent for Walter. Toby watches on his tablet and they freak him out. He gets a drink.

Toby ends up with the flu from the bartender sneezing in his drink and Happy asks if Paige is okay that Walter is branching out socially without her. Walter comes in and says he won’t speed date again since none of them were worthwhile.

Paige says he was insulting the women but he doesn’t get it. Walter takes a call from Cabe who asks if Sly is there – he is. Cabe comes in and tells the team to gather. He hands out files and says keep an open mind.

Sly is freaking about why Cabe asked about him then he sees inside the folder and plops down in a chair in shock and starts to hyperventilate. Sly says he can’t do it. The door opens and a man comes in – Cabe says he’s retired colonel Ken – Sly’s dad.

Cabe says he’s an expert on weapons of mass destruction and thinks a new WMD is being tested by a hostile country. Paige asks if Ken wants to catch up with Sly first – he doesn’t. He tells them about a WWII project called the Sun Gun.

He says it was to build a space station then install reflectors to create a concave mirror the size of 10 football fields to combust a whole city. Sly says he’s been looking for it since he was six. He shows them a video of something striking down. It was in Bahari in North Africa.

The leader of the country, Rahal, has made the weapon and the country had ties to Nazi Germany which is where they would have the gotten the plans. Scorpion has to search out the weapon. Happy and Walter talk about a device to track residual solar energy.

Cabe says Homeland told Rahal they have to comply with a spot inspection because of the possibility of atomic weapons. Sly tells Walter he can’t be around his father. The team touches down in Bahari and they head to the palace of Rahal.

BTWs, Sly’s dad is played by Jeff Fahey, a great character actor. President Rahal greets the team and he says a solar turbine is responsible for the radiation they observed. Sly tells Happy the Sun Gun is a myth his dad has been chasing forever.

Happy checks their rooms for bugs and Toby links in remotely since he’s back home. The team makes their plans and then a woman comes to say that Rahal wants to see Walter O’Brien urgently. They try to refuse but the woman says he insists.

Walter goes with her while the team leaves to start the inspection. Toby tells Walter that Rahal gets stabby when offended, so be careful. Ralph makes soup for Toby and tells him he looks awful. Walter goes to see Rahal who is feeding his fish.

He tells him they are both geniuses and tells Walter his IQ is 203. Toby tells Walter to let it go. He says he knows why Walter is there and says he knows he’s there for a challenge. He says he follows his work and wants to offer him a job as Chief of Technology.

He has a servant bring in a dish from Ireland – boiled potatoes and whiskey. Happy doesn’t get the readings indicated the Sun Gun. Cabe asks where you would fire a weapon like that from and points out a blimp tethered up on a hill.

They wonder if it floated the gun to test it. Ken, Sylvester and Paige look at a bank of solar panels. Sly says this is a waste of time and calls the weapon a unicorn. Toby says guards are sniffing around the hangar.

Sly makes a paper airplane and says he can prove him wrong now. He asks his dad for his lighter and says this will show the remnants they are looking for. He lights the paper airplane and sets it flying. They all three send ones.

Sure enough, what sly said would happen if the weapon was fired does. He’s stunned that his dad was right. Ken slides open a solar panel and finds the component of the Sun Gun. Looks like he hid it in plain sight.

Sly thinks Rahal must have found the prototypes in an old German bunker in North Africa. Toby says leave them there and let the US bomb the place. Ken says they have to take them and Sly says their bags will be checked and they’ll be killed.

Rahal tells Walter he knows people think he’s a warlord and killer. He says he’s trying to save his people and wants Walter to build him a rocket. Toby talks to the rest of the team and Happy explains they’re going to put the panels into the blimp and send it out of the country.

She says Rahal will have to start over and has no clue how to rebuild these. Ken worries the blimp will go to another nearby warlord. Cabe worries how to get to the blimp. Toby tells Walter to get the guards to move away from that quadrant.

Walter tells Rahal he saw someone jump a wall on the security cameras then Toby fritzes the feeds so they can’t check it. The blimp is smaller than Happy told Sly. That means Sly’s calculation are off.

Toby works some math and they aim the blimp then let it go. They hide from the trick of guards that are doing a circuit. The blimp picks up loft and moves away. Ken criticizes Sly for messing up the calculations.

Rahal tells Walter he doubled security then talks about all the security measures he has to take and says he sets security codes using his smart watch and mentions it’s hard to know who to trust. He talks more about Walter heading up his space program.

He shows Walter his plans for a rocket. Walter notes the place on the diagram for the solar panels that look like the weapon. Walter comes in and says they can’t leave. Happy says they sent the panels on the blimp to the Navy SEALS.

Walter tells them about the rocket plans and he thinks that Rahal has the capacity to produce them. He says they can’t leave until they destroy his ability to mass produce the weapon components.

The team tries to figure out how to find the stockpile. Walter says Rahal can’t risk the panels being exposed to sunlight because it would blow up the compound. It has to be underground. They wonder where the factory is.

Paige says to dangle his brain in front of Rahal and get the info. Happy says go wiggle your money maker. Walter and Rahal go hang out in the steam room and Walter tells him to play it cool.

Walter asks Rahal about the weight of the payload it could carry. Rahal says he thinks he can make it out of this world. Toby says not to treat this like speed dating. Toby says play to his ego and butter him up.

Ralph brings Toby a tablet playing his favorite cartoon. Toby says he’s the best babysitter ever. Walter says he’s flattered to work for such an intellect and accepts the job. Rahal says he can have the best equipment from Germany then at night they can party.

Walter says they have an Olympic sized pool which Rahal just told him about. They decide the factory is under the pool. Happy says to find it, walk like an Egyptian. She says they can fill up the room with lime and water and mess the whole thing up.

Toby says there are no guards there to make it look like no one is there. Cabe says they have an hour before the dinner party to get this done. Walter goes into Rahal’s office with Happy and they look for lime for his aquarium. They find it.

Cabe tells Ken he needs to use the velvet glove with his son, not an iron fist. Sly says one of the pool pump takes must release chlorine gas and says they can corrode everything. Ken warns them about the dangers of chlorine gas.

Sly says water and chlorine gas make hydrochloric acid which will eat the lock. Rahal storms in and finds the doors to his aquarium cabinet open. He rants then says he’s trying to impress these stupid Americans. His assistant runs back out in a panic.

They find 236 panels in the storage area. Sylvester says this is an abandoned German lab and points out a symbol that told him. Ken says this machinery is old so if they destroy this, Rahal can’t make more.

Happy brings the lime to the storage and says Paige and Walter went to the party. He tells Happy to go join the party too. Sly, Ken and Cabe get to work pouring the lime into the water. Ken asks Sly how he knew how to do the gas thing and he says her read it when he was six.

They end up locked in the pool room when Ken’s backpack gets disturbed and the ray hits the seal. Ken says he didn’t send them all because he can’t trust him and barely knows him. Sly says thanks to him, they’re stuck in there.

Ken says he may have been a terrible dad but he was trying to keep the country safe. Sly says he was at work all the time by choice. Sly says just tell him he’s not the son he wants. He says he pulled away when he saw he was a genius.

Ken says they are stuck and says the mortar is set. They can’t move their feet. Looks like they could drown soon since the water is still gushing in. At the party, Rahal makes the rounds and Paige wonders how they can get Rahal’s watch to evade security.

Cabe hotwires a vehicle to get them out of there. Walter asks the time and Happy checks out his watch and says she’s a tech geek. Sabina, Rahal’s companion comes over and says hi. Toby says Rahal is about to take Sabina to get naughty.

Toby says stall him and get the watch. Paige runs over and says Walter appreciates the job offer and prepared a surprise. Paige drags Walter over and then has the band play a song and she and Walter sing Don’t Go Breaking My Heart. Toby records it.

Paige tells him to sing better or she’ll kill him herself. Sly and Ken are relieved that the water has stopped so they won’t drown. But Sly says the guards will kill them soon. Ken admits that he had the Pentagon choose Scorpion for this so he could be with him.

Ken says he loves him but never knew how to show him. They hug awkwardly. Toby says the singing is terrible. Toby tells Happy to get in there and dance and steal the watch. Happy cuts in and says he has to lead because she has two left feet.

Happy stumbles and says he’s strong and the spin made her dizzy – she goes to get water and signals Paige and Walter she has the watch. Rahal notices his watch is gone and looks around. He tells the guards to get them.

Ken tells Sly that he’s sorry for a lot of things and wishes he could undo things. Sly says they can undo the hatch. He says they need to use the panel. Sly says they need to do this carefully. He tells his dad to throw it a precise way and angle to catch the light he triggers.

Sly pops the seal then uses it to crack the lime so they can get out. The team is running as Cabe pulls up. They all pile into the stolen truck as guards start firing on them. Walter is connecting to the gate’s WiFi. He gets it and the gate opens.

The gate guards fire on them but they keep going. Rahal runs out but it’s too late. They get back to the garage and Ken says he has to hit the road. He says his mom gets lonely. Ken says his mom would like to see him and Sly says maybe then says sure.

Ken says he’s sorry that they weren’t the right family for him. He says he’s glad to see he found the right family for him now. He touches his shoulder then takes off. He thanks his dad but he’s gone.

Happy thanks Ralph and gives him $50 for taking such good care of Toby and giving him all his favorites. He asks why she did it and Happy tells Ralph she’s falling for him. Ralph says that’s gross.

Walter says he’s confused by why honesty failed at speed dating and lies worked with Rahal. He says he’s going to go eat then says her singing was lovely. Then she asks if that was a real compliment or he was faking it.

Paige says they’re going to go eat with him so she can get the truth out of him. He says he has a question then asks who’s Elton John.

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

 * Jeff Fahey as Kenneth Dodd
 * Hakeem Kae-Kazim as Desta Rahal

Trivia

 * The episode title references the "Sun Gun" in the episode, as well as the phrase "Son of a gun!" which is commonly used in the place of another expletive.

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