The Old College Try

"The Old College Try" is the eleventh episode of the second season of Scorpion, and the thirty third of the series overall. It aired December 7, 2015.

Synopsis
Team Scorpion goes undercover at a university in order to find a hacker who infiltrates the Federal Reserve and threatens to collapse the global economy.

Plot
Team Scorpion begins with Sly showing Ralph a Super Fun Guy comic that’s great for the time capsule he’s working on. Toby gives him a photo of him graduating high school as valedictorian. Happy says he was cute then asks what happened.

Happy gives him a large metal nut. They ask if Walter wants to contribute, and he calls it a waste of time capsule. Ralph leaves for school and Walter tells Paige the future is more important than the past. Happy has made a photo frame for Megan.

Sly says he misses her every day, but it’s been six weeks. He shows Walter a photo of he and Megan, and he says no thanks. Cabe shows up with an evidence box. Walter pulls out a tank. He’s working on Ray’s dead partner’s oxygen tank trying to prove Ray is innocent.

He wants Ray to stop living in the past and move forward efficiently. Paige prods Walter about grieving for Megan and he says her death has “put him off.” Walter says Ray has barely left the camper since the anniversary of his partner’s death is approaching.

Paige thinks Walter is avoiding pain. Cabe says Cooper is there and has a hot one. She tells the team that ransomeware has impact Homeland Security. She says the demand was only $20k. Toby says that was just a test run to see if it worked.

Cooper says they’re threatening to shut down the Federal Reserve if they don’t get a huge pile of Bitcoin. Toby says the Fed shutting down would screw the blackmailers as well. They talk about the dire consequences to our economy.

Cooper says get in the server and kill it. Walter says the code is constantly changing like it’s adapting. Cooper says the NSA found some emails and found a match to Terrance Cooley; a computer science professor who was recently found dead.

Sly finds a ghosted entry path uploaded from the school’s computer system. Cooley was teaching and the ransomware was uploaded in the student activities center. There were many groups meeting there at the time but Happy has an idea.

They plan to go to the university and look for the device that uploaded it. Cooper says agents can’t handle this and Sly says no way is he going back. Toby says he’s in and Paige says it sounds fun. Cabe says they have to infiltrate the campus groups.

Cabe shows Sly how to wrestle and Paige teaches Happy the sorority song. Happy walks out. Cabe shows Sly the tights he needs to wear. Paige makes her put on an outfit, but she rips the sweater in half. Cooper says Cabe is going to be with campus security, Walter is a guest professor in the drama department.

Toby has a job interview as a psych professor. Quincy is his nemesis, and he has to interview with it. Cabe says man up and do the job. Happy will be Suzy Lee who is rushing the sorority. Sly is the wrestling guy, Cabe is a security intern, and the others are all ready.

Paige says she now knows why they all had such a hard time in college. They head to campus, and they are all in a dorm room. Happy hands out scanners for them to detect the device they need. Paige is monitoring their comms.

Toby says he’s going to make the most of this college experience. Sly wants to go see vintage spacesuits. Paige reads off their assignments and sends them off. Sly is at the frat and he’s not happy. Paige says play the part.

They call Sly “Tyrannosaurus Sex” and welcome him warmly. But then they prank him by dropping jocks on him. They tell him they don’t take transfers. He says he thinks he just got hepatitis, and this is just like the last time he was in college.

Walter is out of place as a drama professor. They refer to him as a generation behind. Paige says they are all EQ and be patient. Paige says just get close and one girl tells Walter that’s a micro-aggression. He says if it’s micro, it shouldn’t be a problem then tells them to learn a trade since they will fail.

Happy is with the sorority sisters rushing out. They start a speed date event and are told the questions may be wacky. Happy gives serious answers and shows she’s clueless. One of the rush girls Mavis asks her why she’s there. She says everyone there is nice except for her and calls her mean and sarcastic.

Happy glares. Mavis asks wouldn’t it be nice to have a surrogate family and advises her to lower her shield. Toby complains about the interview and Paige says suck it up and go meet the psych department. Toby recognizes a Patriots player, Willie McGinest. Toby annoys him with math and science.

Toby is shown into the departmental interview. He sees Quincy there alone and Quincy says he told the board not to come and calls this a passive aggressive mood. Quincy says they’re both doctors and Toby says he’s a psychologist, Toby is a doctor.

Paige tells him to get close, cut the crap and scan. Toby says he did come to humiliate him and says he hated being bested by him. He holds out his hand for him to shake. Paige says get closer and he hugs him. Paige says he’s their guy.

Cabe is with a security guy who says he wanted to be a cop. Paige tells Cabe to get to the psych building and they kidnap and drug Quincy. Paige tells the others to stay in place until they confirm. Toby checks Quincy’s cell phone and says he doesn’t know about any ransom software.

Toby says he can do whatever he has to in order to get him to talk. He says he has acid and throws it on him. Quincy screams and Toby says his phone is clean. Happy asks herself why she can’t be normal and puts her comm back in – she hears an argument in another room.

Paige says she got a big ping. Happy makes a listening device from a hair dryer. She hears a guy and girl talking about Cooley’s death. Happy busts in and says she’s with Homeland and give her the laptop and come with her. The guy talks back, and she chops him in the throat.

She tells them to come with her if they want to live. They see an SUV pull up and run the other way. Happy has the laptop in a backpack. They hop a wall and run into some gardens. They are chased by a gunman. Happy points them to a shed. They hide inside. Happy tells them to shut up so she can think.

Happy has them hide and she looks around. They make some noise, and the guy gets closer. He opens the door and Happy uses large nuts and a chainsaw to injure him and take him down. The kids tell the team that Cooley told them about a friend named Ryder who wanted them to write code.

She says they never met the guy, and they just wrote the code then Cooley wound up dead. She says they uploaded it to the Quantum. Walter says they can’t go up against a Quantum like this and Sly explains they are rare and highly precise computers.

Walter says no human can outthink a Quantum. Sly says the lasers can malfunction. Cabe gets a call from Cooper with a lead. Ryder sent another email saying there’s an hour left. Walter leaves Paige with the kids and says they need to get to the Quantum.

Quincy is still tied up and he says Toby is the reason Amy left because he was chronically gambling and blew all their savings. He calls him an ego maniac and narcissist who is wrongly blaming him for their relationship issues. Roby glares and walks out.

Cabe warns Quincy to keep his mouth shut about this. Walter, Cabe, Sly, Happy and Toby go to the Quantum and Walter says they need to insert a mirror to reflect part of the power. The problem is the room is negative 100 degrees Celsius. Toby says she’ll die in there.

Happy says if she drills too fast, the gas in the cube will spark. They discuss all the ways they could die doing this. They go get the vintage spacesuits Sly mentioned before. They do a “Right Stuff” walk across campus. They head inside to try and make this work.

Toby monitors their vitals and says they have 12 minutes left. Sly almost falls on it but Happy catches his suit. Happy starts drilling into the containment box. Sly goes next with a foldable mirror to reflect the laser. A bass amp from the room above starts shaking the room.

Cabe sees the dance party going on. He knocks the deejay out of the way and says show’s over. They call him old man and e flashes his badge and says he’s DEA and wants to see their backpacks. They all go running off. Sly’s temperature is getting too high, and Paige talks him down.

He’s able to deploy the mirror and Walter drops the drive and can’t pick it up because of the big space gloves. He finally gets it and plugs it in. They take the ransomware down and it’s safe. Walter apologizes to Paige who says they have a problem.

Ryder is with Paige and has a gun on her. He says give up the money or she dies and tells them to bring the Bitcoin wallet. He asks where the kids are, and Paige lies and says they took off since they were scared and tells him to search the apartment if he wants.

Her bluff works and he doesn’t which is good since the kids are hiding in a closet. Ryder tells Walter to meet them at the fountain or she dies. Walter talks about how the fountain is a good drop off spot. Cabe has an idea, and they head out.

Ryder is at the fountain with Paige when the security guy comes up and says the concert got busted up. Ryder asks him to go away, and the security guy offers to take a picture since Ryder lied and says it’s their anniversary. They get their location from the snap.

Cabe sneaks up and tackles him and Cabe gets the gun. He lets the security guy slap the cuffs on Ryder. The Fed is safe and Cabe says no Mad Max sequel and the two kids are arrested too for their illegal hacking. Toby says college still sucks.

Sly says they’re in Scorpion House now, a great fraternity. The gang splits up – Happy gives Toby a lift and Paige gives Walter a ride. She says she couldn’t have imagined in college working with a team like them. He makes a joke, and she tells him she appreciates it.

The drama kids get snarky with Walter who takes one of the scripts from them. He does a few lines from Romeo and Juliet. Paige is stunned by his tearful performance. The drama kids are wowed. Walter says it’s not difficult then walks away. Paige says it was amazing.

She asks why not fake emotions all the time and he says he watched some Shakespeare videos for this assignment. He says she’s his Cliff notes. She says his pain and loss was real, but Walter says they need to get back for the experiment.

Toby is glum and Happy turns on the lights and the radio. She says he can check one thing off his college bucket list. He asks if they’re streaking but she lets him lead her in a slow dance. He asks what she’s doing, and she says letting down her shield and lays her head on his chest.

Back at the garage, Walter finds Ray sitting in front of the experiment with the tank. He says the alarm went off and he opened the curtains. He asks why his partner’s oxygen tank is there. Walter says he was checking it for defects.

Ray asks why he would do that, and Walter says he was worried about him. Ray says he’s been there for a while watching. He asks what if it was defective, what would happen. He says there would be bubble trails. There are none. Ray walks away sadly.

But then Paige calls him back as they see bubble trails form. Walter says it’s not his fault that Danny died. Ray hugs him and says he never thought he’d have another friend like Danny. Paige smiles. Ray says he’s been hiding out in his Gremlin for 10 years for something he didn’t do.

Ray says it’s time to say hi to the world. He tells Walter he’s like a cold sore and you never know when he’ll be back. Paige hugs Ray who whispers that she needs to go to Walter since he can’t come to her on his own. Ray says tell the others bye and he heads out.

Walter says he was just getting used to that weirdo and Paige says he hugged him back and he wasn’t faking that. She promises to get the time capsule out of there by Friday. He looks at a picture of he and Megan from years ago then adds it to the time capsule.

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

 * Kevin Weisman as Ray Spiewack
 * Peri Gilpin as Katherine Cooper

Trivia

 * An 'old college try' can mean to either try something with a small chance of success, or to give something that you aren't sure how to do your best shot.

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