Djibouti Call

"There was nothing more stunning than seeing perfection with a slight imperfection. It makes the perfection stand out even more."

- Tim

"Djibouti Call" is the twentieth episode of the second season of Scorpion, and the forty second of the series overall. It aired March 21, 2016.

Synopsis
''Scorpion is sent on a secret mission to Djibouti, Africa, to save Cabe after he is captured. While Walter has suspicions about the purpose of the mission and concerns over Paige's interest in new Homeland protégé, Tim Armstrong.''

Plot
Team Scorpion starts with a guy named Tim Armstrong wounded in a conflict. Now he’s fine and back in the US. He’s Cabe’s new trainee.

He asks Cabe what the genius team is like. Toby is dancing on a table with a coconut bra and says truth or dare is the closest he can get to gambling. Sly’s lawyer Heywood Jahelpme Morris is there and discussing the contracts for the game shows.

Sylvester says this is like Mensa all over again and says he’s been discriminated against for being a genius. Heywood says the ADA covers equal treatment because you’re different. Happy insults the lawyer and he says sticks and stones may break my bones but then I get to sue you.

Ralph isn’t sure he’s a good lawyer but Sly says at least he’s enthusiastic. The guys are not excited about the new Homeland trainee, Tim Armstrong who will be training with the team. The rest of the gang think he’s the kind of guy that bullied them in high school. Walter also pulled his college records.

Walter says the guy is just an intern and will move on in a couple of weeks. Cabe brings Tim in and he says he’s thrilled to be there. Paige has whipped cream on her lip and he tells her. She’s self-conscious. Tim compliments Happy’s micro jack device and she’s flustered.

Toby makes sure to say he’s her boyfriend. Cabe shows them the latest case set in Djibouti. They are to install an audio surveillance system to try and listen to terrorist chatter. Walter asks why them and Cabe says they want it fast and Happy checks out the payment and says they can go.

Toby asks why there’s a chunk missing from Tim’s history. He says he was a SEAL and did some top secret mission. He says he caught some shrapnel and was medically discharged. He says he’s appealing to try and get back in but Homeland is his fallback.

He says he read about their team and is very impressed with them even though they intimidate him. Toby says he’s telling the truth. Paige likes him and Walter says that was an act. Paige doesn’t like the smack talk. Toby says the guy is hot and that’s what’s bothering Walter.

Walter insists he’s wrong. Toby says he’s worried about Cabe  – that’s the jealousy and says Walter is worried that Daddy found a shiny new toy. Walter storms away as Toby says he’s messed up. The team touches down and a Major greets them.

Sly is worried about monkeys on the base because they throw poo. Tim asks Cabe if they’re always like this and Cabe says sometimes they’re weird. Toby is eating Saltines and says Cabe dared him he couldn’t eat eight boxes. Cabe reveals it was just to shut him up.

They go to set up and then Cabe blocks Sly from opening a box. Paige and Toby are on the roof and they listen to them to check the equipment. They listen and hear Toby talking like an idiot and making a “ja booty” joke.

Tim, Cabe and the Major leave. Walter notices that Tim turned the door knob a certain way since the knob doesn’t work right. Walter says that means Tim has been here before. Walter decides to snoop on them and Sly mentions the box Cabe wouldn’t let him open.

Walter tells him to open it anyway. Tim and Cabe leave the base in a jeep. Sly finds a high end 3D printer that’s government made. Walter looks up Tim and says he’s not who he’s pretending to be. Cabe and Tim pull off the road and Tim says walk behind me from here.

They sneak up on a little industrial area. Tim pulls out binoculars and they see armed men. Tim says Copley is in white and the rest are guards. Cabe looks and says it’s our chance. They head down towards the men. They sneak under a building and then slide some floorboards aside.

They climb up into a warehouse of artifacts. They’re looking for a 12×12 ox with a knot on the side. Cabe finds a box and they open it. Tim says this is what Jennings died for – looks like a black bowl. They scan it and Cabe says they need to get back and get the team working on it.

He scans it, Cabe puts it back on the box and they go out the way they came. Tim runs back to the jeep but Cabe is spooted by a guy coming out of a porta potty. Tim covers Cabe as he runs. They get back to the jeep and take off.

They get away but Cabe says they hit the gas tank. Cabe tells Tim to take the scanner back to base and finish the assignment. Tim says he won’t lose another man over this but Cabe says not your call and kicks him out so only he’s caught by the men.

Cabe says he works for a buyer and just wanted to confirm whether they had artifacts. The guard says tell it to my boss when you wake up and knocks him out. Walter says they need all the facts and Paige says he just doesn’t like Tim.

They review Tim’s service record and it looks impressive. Walter then sees a classified top secret plus file. They open it and read that in August of last year he and Jennings were in an IED attack in Djibouti and Jennings dies.

Tim is there and catches them red-handed. He says they went to try and take Shane Copley and says Cabe has him. He tells Walter to let him explain. He says terrorists are stealing antiquities to fund terrorist activities. Copley is their source.

Tim says Copley won’t kill Cabe without torturing him first. Tim says Cabe kicked him out of a jeep when Walter complains he left Cabe. Tim says the government assigned a mission and Cabe said yes. He says Cabe wanted to protect them.

Happy tells them to shut up so she can try and use the new eavesdropping program to find Cabe’s voice. Sly moves the antenna towards Copley’s stash house based on Tim’s coordinates. Tim says he carried Jennings’ body back four miles while he was wounded and under fire.

He says he doesn’t leave men behind. They hear Cabe being questioned and beaten. They ask who he works for and he says he was doing recon for a client. Copley tells them he’ll wait for the Sampsons and says find out if he was trying to steal the bowl for himself or others.

Tim gives them the info on the bowl and says they were going to replace it with a forgery to crush his operation. Toby says it’s a good idea. Tim says the plan was to sneak in, scan it, then make a new one. Sly says the incredible 3D printer may help.

He says they need them to figure out how to make the printer work with organic materials. Happy says what kind of organic material. Tim says it’s a local clay. Sly starts working on the software and Happy on the hardware.

Tim has an idea and says he needs to intercept the buyers from New York – the Sampsons. The team gets to work. Cabe’s beating continues. Copley threatens him with a knife but then he’s interrupted and told the buyers are here early.

He tells his men to spread some plastic under Cabe and says he’ll be back soon. Paige and Tim are posing as the buyers and Walter and Toby are under the vehicle. They scramble out and go to hide. Sly and Happy are nearby as well. They sneak to the warehouse.

Happy says they’re in and Paige compliments Copley’s coffee. Copley tells them the price on the bowl has gone up based on demand. He says an IED killed one and the other left like a hurt dog. Paige says price as quoted or we walk. She says no talk of violence, they’re there for art.

Happy and Sly swap the bowls and Sly screams when a monkey is at the window. He breaks the bowl and Happy has to remedy it quickly. Paige stops Copley and asks him about another piece. Copley asks how they met and Tim says they met at a Paris café and she had foam on her lip.

He says the imperfection made the perfection stand out more. Happy and Sly are scrambling to make the bowl work while Toby and Walter work on taking out guards. Toby found some berries and they improvised a blow gun. The guard gets groggy then Walter hits him again.

They try to run past the dizzy guard to get to Cabe. Happy tells Sly to take the real bowl and go. They hit the guy with more darts and stagger into the room where Cabe is being held. The other guard pulls a gun on them and Cabe says the cavalry’s here.

Sly crawls out from under the building and then the monkey jumps onto his shoulder and licks his face. Sly is freaking. Cabe knocks the other guard out with his feet and Toby and Walter free him. Happy says she’s not ready and Paige asks Copley about another piece.

Happy is done and Copley says he doesn’t know why she’s focusing on salad when the steak is in the other room. Tim says his wife likes to window shop. They go into the store room and Tim sees Happy under a loose floorboard. He kicks it into place.

Copley pulls out the bowl and says it’s of museum quality because that’s where it was a year ago. Walter says they have to talk their way out of there. Sly comes in and says there are monkeys everywhere. Paige looks at the bowl and then Tim points out a chip and criticizes the glaze.

He says it doesn’t live up to the museum photographs and says this underwhelms him. Copley gets handsy and says they have a deal. The guard comes and says a couple is outside claiming to be the Sampsons. Paige says that’s ridiculous.

Copley asks what they tried to steal. Copley pulls a gun and tells Tim to hand over the bag. He does. Happy is still under the building. They see there are boxes of Saltines in there. Copley tells his henchman to take them out back and kill them in the desert.

Tim says he was trying to steal but his wife had nothing to do with it. Happy tells Paige to take one step closer to Tim. She does and Happy tips a shelf over on the bad guys by moving a board under a shelf. Paige’s jacket gets stuck and Tim yanks her out of the jacket.

Paige and Tim run to the SUV while the team covers them. Paige takes a bullet to her shoulder and Walter calls out to her. They spot a pursuit vehicle and Walter says put it in reverse and tells him to go back to the compound’s gas tank.

The bad guys pepper them with automatic fire. Paige is in shock and Walter shoots a bullet at the gas tank to start a leak and then Tim shoots with a flare gun to make it explode which takes out the pursuit vehicle. They stop to pick up Happy and Toby yells get “ja booty” in the car.

Turns out Paige wasn’t shot because Tim had thrown his jacket over her and it had a bullet proof lining. She just has a nasty bruise and a lot of pain. The team makes it back to the garage and Toby says he didn’t lose the dare since the Saltines were taken by the criminals.

Happy pulls Toby aside and says truth or dare has to stop. He says it’s mental methadone. She kisses him hard and she asks if it’s as good as that. He says no more dares. Tim brings Paige a field remedy. He says it’s butter, honey and salt. He rubs it on her bruise and she thanks him.

He says he should be thanking her and says if she didn’t calm him down when Copley was talking about Jennings, they might have died there. She says that’s her job. He compliments her. The lawyer shows up and asks Sly where he’s been.

Sly says he was in Africa and the lawyer says don’t lie. He says he went to the game shows and security threw him out and says he should hire a real lawyer that has won a case. Sly says no one would take his case. The guy says he’s sorry he let him down.

Sly tells Heywood to wait then says this building is full of people who felt rudderless and got a chance. Heywood says he’s no genius. Sly says he wants to keep him on as his lawyer and says he promises he’ll win his first case.

Cabe tells Walter he did important work today and asks what he thinks about Tim. Cabe says the guy was competent but says Walter has set the bar so high… Walter asks if Toby told him his jealousy theory and Cabe says he did. Walter says no jealousy.

Cabe says good because Tim could be around for a bit. Walter sees Tim taking care of Paige’s bruise and does not look pleased.

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
 * Scott Porter as Tim Armstrong

Trivia

 * First appearance of Tim Armstrong.
 * The title of this episode is a play on the slang term "booty call".

Mutprobe in Dschibouti