Da Bomb

"Even though I belong here, I still stand out as different. Truth is I also worry sometimes about being alone."

- Walter

"Da Bomb" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of Scorpion, and the thirty seventh of the series overall. It aired January 25, 2016.

Synopsis
 Team Scorpion is tasked with helping NASA's top secret rocket launch, but they must sabotage their own mission when Walter's date from the previous night has a bomb strapped to her chest.

Plot
TeamScorpion starts with Walter fretting as he goes to meet a woman for a date. He’s upset because she’s late then tells the hostess he would like a table near the kitchen and says it means a more efficient dining experience then asks to pre-order off the menu.

Toby is talking in his ear and says no fish, you’ll stink. He goes for spicy tamales. Linda shows up and Walter goes to greet her awkwardly. Linda says nothing by the kitchen since it’s noisy and Walter agrees. He says he ordered an appetizer.

Linda says she has an allergy to corn and can’t eat them. She says go ahead and eat them then dumps a drink in his lap. She says she’s anxious – Linda is the speed dating organizer from the event he went to.

She says he was bad at speed dating and she’s awkward and thought it might work. Linda pays him a compliment and he doesn’t recognize it. Toby says compliment her. He says he likes how sharp her canines look and she’s freaked out. Toby says the date is over and walks away.

Toby is quizzing Sylvester on pop culture but he doesn’t want to answer. He’s trying out for Jeopardy. He says he’s only going on Jeopardy to practice for the real show he wants to go on – Price Is Right which he says is all about numbers and math.

Paige asks why he’s doing this. He says he wants to name a new pediatric ward after Megan so he’s trying to earn money on a game show. Toby plays host then asks him to tell him about himself. Sly tries to pull out cards.

Toby says be spontaneous and Sly says he spent a year without touching a doorknob. Walter comes in and says the date went well and he programmed some follow up texts with popular slang to check in with her.

Paige says she checked Linda’s Facebook page and she says she had an “interesting” date. Cabe comes in and says they have a NASA gig. Toby mentions his sneakers and he says his other shoes are at the cobbler.

Cabe says they are going to hear from Captain Ryan Jackson who is part of the NASA team sending up an unmanned rocket. He says they can’t postpone and need their help. Walter says it’s hardware or software.

Ryan says the server is secure but Walter is already there. Sly, Happy and Cabe go to the air base and Ryan says they’re easier to work with than their usual liaison. It’s Merrick! He says he’s not thrilled but Scorpion is a tech team.

He says he got a lot of interesting assignments after he got fired for not getting along with his nerd herd. He says he’s been at a bunch of crap assignments and says NASA is not what it used to be.

Walter and Toby work remotely. Linda shows up at the garage. Paige calls him over. He asks why she’s there. She holds out a flash drive in a shaking hand. Toby says she’s in shock – just plug it in. They hear a robotic voice saying they must sabotage the launch.

The person says they are watching them and gives some evidence. He says sabotage the launch or there will be consequences. Linda opens her coat and they see a bomb. Toby says the date didn’t go that well after all.

Walter puts Linda behind a thick glass wall just in case. She says she doesn’t remember much from last night. They wonder who could have watched them. Walter asks her to think and Linda says she got to her car after our date and she got out her keys then felt a pinch in her neck.

She says she woke up with the vest on, a bitter taste in her mouth, the drive and a note to come to Walter. Toby says the bitter taste is from a government source that uses it for interrogation. Sly asks what he got from the thumb drive.

Walter says the voice modulator is very advanced and he can’t unscramble it. Walter goes behind the wall to check out the vest. He says he can’t get it off then says it will go off via remote detonator. Paige tells him to think of her feelings.

Linda asks who are these people then says she thought he was an IT guy. He says he is but he works for Homeland Security. Toby says they must have thought she and Walter were GF/BF. She says she only called him because she watched The Notebook.

She says that made her lonely and she thought she could die and her cat would eat her. Walter says they can’t let her die and they will sabotage it. He says he can send it off course so NASA never knows.

Happy says they can dilute the fuel before it takes off so it will crash into the ocean instead. Happy says they’re going to tell the Captain they found the glitch. She says she needs to take a look at the fuel tanks.

Merrick insists on going along and says he won’t let them screw this up so he ends up at border patrol. Walter tells Toby he needs to do an x-ray of the vest. He sends Toby out to get some satellite dishes. Linda’s phone rings from a blocked number.

Walter answers. He lies and tells them how he needs the satellite dishes Toby went to get to disrupt the signal. He says the rocket will not reach its destination. Walter tells Linda it will be fine. Paige tries to be kind to her.

Sly and Happy try to figure out how to sabotage the tanks without Merrick noticing. Happy says Sly needs to distract Merrick. Happy threatens to tell NASA he’s the problem and he caves. He goes off with Sly to check the oxygen tanks.

Toby runs in with the satellite dishes. Walter sets up the dishes to make an x-ray image of the bomb. Linda’s phone rings and Paige says she doesn’t want to see this. Walter tells her to hand it over. It’s a text from Walter saying – hope you’re having a blast today.

She asks if that’s funny to him and he says he preprogrammed the texts and is sorry. He says he was trying to be efficient. She says the date didn’t go well. She says no one with half a brain would think that was a good dinner.

She says Walter is a weird guy who says weird things and has a weird job and now there’s a bomb on her. Walter says thanks for the feedback. He says don’t worry about yelling at me because things like that don’t affect me and says he’s still save her.

Merrick goes to walk away from Sly and Happy says stall him. Sly starts talking to him about Super Fun Guy and says it’s relevant to this. Merrick is forced to listen. Walter scans the bomb and says good news, bad news.

He says there is a strange type of wiring that’s twisted and Toby says it could be a signature. Walter says the vest has too many fail safes and he can’t disarm it. Toby starts searching the FBI database for the bomber.

Cabe says the rocket is sabotaged. Happy spots some nitrogen tanks and they realize that the rocket must be manned and NASA lied to them. Sly says they will murder the astronauts if they let the rocket launch.

Walter says they have to save the astronauts and Linda. Walter suggests a strategy to keep the rocket on course and Sly says there is but they can’t do it remotely. Linda says she doesn’t want to die. Walter says he can’t disarm it but they’re going to let the bomb go off. She’s shocked.

Toby says he learned in medical school that blowing people up is bad. Walter says they can put her in ballistic gel and she could possible survive. Toby says they need 200 pounds of the gel and he says there’s just a half pound of C4 in it and sends Paige off to the market.

Walter says he’s going to build a tank for the gel while Toby keeps on researching. Happy points out the hatch she needs to get into to correct the fuel. She says she needs to fix the security cameras and Toby says it’s like Speed and they can do a loop spoof.

Cabe says someone spotted the loop in Speed. Toby says only because the passengers moved in repetitious ways – the rocket doesn’t move. Happy says the launch pad is a mile away and she takes off at a run after telling him to take care of the cameras.

Linda’s phone chimes with another Walter text and he says it’s worse than the first. She asks if he wants to read it to her. He sighs and says he knows she had a miserable time last night and says he’s sorry he did everything wrong.

Linda says he didn’t do everything wrong and the texts were surely a mistake. He says he told his friends it went well because he was embarrassed. He tells her he can’t solve basic human interaction but was solving impossible equations at age 9. He says it’s disappointing.

Sly gets the security feed in a loop and Happy gets there and goes to the tanks. She opens a tank and recalibrates the turbines to make up for the diluted fuel. Sly says she has just a couple of minutes because he has to put the live feed back before the rocket starts to smoke.

Merrick gets a call and says they need to lock down the base and the Scorpion team hasn’t left yet. He runs off. Paige starts to mix up the ballistics gel. Toby finds the bomber – Jeffrey Evans, the DNA bomber.

Cabe says he died in prison three years ago. Cabe says the agent who tracked him down and knows all about how his bombs are assembled is Merrick. They know Merrick is behind all this and then Sly spots Merrick heading to where Happy is.

Sly calls Happy and alerts her about Merrick. She says she can’t leave til she has it fixed but he’s there. Happy tells Merrick that he was her favorite Homeland director. He threatens to detonate the bomb and asks where Cabe and the comic book kid are.

Paige and Walter are feeding the gel into the tank where Linda is. Her mom calls and she asks for the phone. Paige puts it on speaker. Her mom says she’s sorry her date was so awful. Linda says she was wrong about him and says she’s like him, he’s really smart and a good person.

Her mom asks if everything is okay and Linda says she’s just watching The Notebook again to explain the tears. They end the call. Happy tells Cabe that Merrick wants them there. Merrick says the rocket has to go down.

Cabe is there and pounces on him – he drops the detonator. Cabe tells Happy to keep working on the rocket. Cabe and Merrick brawl. Merrick goes for the detonator. Happy says they all have to go or they’ll all die.

Merrick says he can’t let the rocket go and says he’s been on Beijing’s payroll for years and now has to pay back in other ways so they don’t kill him. Cabe attacks him again and throws him off the platform.

Happy says they have to go or they’re barbecued. Merrick looks dead. Walter hears them running. Sly says drive, drive. Happy floors it. Sly says the rocket is good and they say it’s all okay. Linda is neck deep in ballistics gel.

Paige says they can call the bomb squad now. They hear a beeping and Walter looks at the vest. He says the heat from the rocket must have set off the failsafe timer. He says he can’t see through the gel and doesn’t know how much time there is.

Walter hands Linda a sheet of metal to slide under the vest. She dropped it and struggles to get it there. Walter jumps into the tank and slides it into her vest. He moves behind her and says they’re holding it in place.

Walter tells Paige and Toby to take cover. They get behind a door. Linda tells Walter she’s scared. He says he likes to calculate the odds and says it has a 48% chance of working. He tells her this is not the worst date he’s ever been… the bomb blows and the tank shatters. Paige runs to Walter who coughs back to life. He and Linda both survived.

Walter says that was a strange experience. Toby checks her and says it’s just a couple of broken ribs but otherwise not bad. Linda asks to speak to Walter before the EMTs take her away. Linda says she’s so sorry for how rude she was.

She says he didn’t deserve it. She says blind dates aren’t scary after C4 blows up. He asks her out for dinner again and she says no. He asks if it’s because of the bomb and she says that’s part of it then says he’s a great guy and will make someone very happy one day.

She says it’s normal to save face and tell your friends the date went okay. He gets closer and says Sly found his sister and Toby and Happy have a connection. He says he belongs here, he still stands out as different. He says he worries about being alone too.

He says in his case his ferret would eat him instead of a cat. Linda says that’s closer to normal than he thinks. The EMTs take her away. Toby gets Sly dressed for his game show appearance. Happy has advice too.

Cabe comes in and says he has to go Homeland to brief them on Merrick. Sly says he’s going to crush the audition and Cabe gives him a lift. Toby says no way will he get on the show. Toby says let’s grab the dishes and take them back to the bar.

Walter thanks Paige for today. Paige tells Walter that his date went badly because he tried to control everything. He says he can’t act how he normally acts on a date and can’t even eat what he eats if he wants people to be okay around him.

Paige says he’s weird but great. She offers to help clean the gel and he says he’s going to make paper-mâché with it and talks about how it changes color when it’s heated to 200F. Ralph wants to stay and play so Paige calls for take-out. She orders Walter the fermented fish he likes.

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

Guest

 * David Fabrizio as Merrick
 * Brooke Nevin as Linda

Trivia

 * The episode title refernces the slang phrase "Da Bomb" meaning something is awesome, as well as the literal bomb in the episode.
 * Last appearance of Merrick and Titanic

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