[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n this week’s episode of Scorpion, the team must help the governor when his daughter becomes the victim of a mysterious virus.
The show opens with a further look into Walter O’Brian’s past with a flashback. We see a young Walter about to get his hand beaten by the teacher because he has answered a mathematical question in a way that embarrasses the teacher. Just when he is about to get his beating, his older sister pulls the fire alarm and saves him.
With that we come back to the present as we see Walter reading a letter he received from a hospital, informing him of the progression of his sister Megan’s illness (she has MS). He is visibly upset about his sister’s declining health.
Paige walks in with Ralph by her side. She explains that Ralph is sick which is why she is running late. Walter gives everyone their paychecks, and then tells Paige that Ralph hacked the thermometer because like all of them, he hates school. He mentions how his sister suggested he create mathematical proficiency formulas based on the clocks hands. This surprises the team because he never talks about his sister.
It is back to work when Cabe calls on the team asking for their help. They arrive at a house where Sylvester notices the van for disease control. This freaks him out. He and Toby have to wait in the van, while Walter enters the house with Paige. There they find a young girl, ill in a bed. Walter has a memory of his own sister like that.
Walter wants to know what is going on, so Cabe explains that they are on a need to know basis. However, this doesn’t work with Walter, who wants to know everything in order to help. Governor Land introduces himself and fills them in on the sudden virus infecting his daughter Helena, and her computer as well. She was tested for all sorts of viruses, but the tests showed she was only positive for the common cold. We find out Helena has less than 24 hours to live. The assumption is that someone made the Governor’s daughter sick. Yet no one else is sick in the house. Walter tells them it is Bio-hacking, a computer virus made just for the daughter.
Wanting to find out more about this, Walter decides to leave but not before Cabe tries to stop him as he feels Walter is most needed there. But Walter argues that he should not interfere with his job, and warns him not to do anything stupid because he had to do his job.
The team is having trouble looking for clues. Happy tells them they need to find a signature. They research the Governor’s list of people who have threatened him. It turns out none on the list have any knowledge of biophysics.
Walter explains to Cabe how a human can be hacked. He tells him that by getting DNA from anything like a coffee cup or even a piece of gum, they can study the genetics— the deficiencies like lung disease, etc.—and form a cold virus which can get blown in the air or in a person’s face.
Toby traces a computer virus code, while the rest continues their search. Walter seems upset and breaks a cup. Paige is concerned and goes to talk to him. He tells her about his sister and how he can’t help her. When Walter leaves, Paige notices the letter he has received about his sister illness and care.
Meanwhile, the team has mirrored the infected laptop and are able to trace the email stuck in an endless loop to a place where hackers hangout. The team pays a visit to the place. There, Cabe flashes his Homeland Security Badge. Toby uses his behaviorist knowledge to pick out a young man. The guy tries to run but Walter stops him. The guy tells them he was hired through Craig’s List, and was told to send out 4 emails. The emails read “It’s your fault she’s sick”. So now they realize they have 3 more victims, all whose parents had been employed by Vlaxco Pharmaceuticals in 2008.
Governor Lane knows them all, as he also worked at Vlaxco for one year before he went into politics. But there’s more. Turns out Vlaxco Pharmaceuticals had trials on a drug called Trexicane, which was for Spinal Muscular Atrophy. The clinical trial was going well, until Vlaxco pulled the plug on the company. They decided to redevelop for Asthma because it made more money. Of course! Just like a Pharmaceutical company to prefer the money making drug.
Now the team is forced to look for a person who not only has suffered psychological pain but who is also very angry at Vlaxco. They have to convince Vlaxco to hand over the records of the people in the clinical trial and find someone who has access to genetic sequences. Getting their hands on those records isn’t easy due to patient confidentiality and the 12 hours it takes to get the records. Unfortunately, the kids don’t have 12 hours to spare.
Happy can’t hack into Vlaxco as it has an air gaped system, meaning it’s not connected to the web. Walter tells Cabe that they are going to have to break into Vlaxco. Happy and Toby will be the distraction, while Sylvester will be the one to go in to memorize the files. While sitting in front of Vlaxco, the team gets to work. Walter puts a Trojan shell in the PDF menu on Earl’s lunch menu—a two for one sale coupon for a sub sandwich. The minute someone downloads the coupon, they’ll be able to get past the company’s firewall. By lunchtime, Walter is in. Now they just need to get a security badge for Sylvester. They decide on middle management man named Jed. Walter makes the badge for Sylvester, and waits for Happy and Toby to crash the employee’s car. As Jed is called to look at his car, Sylvester uses the badge, and security clears him. He then goes off to find the files.
Unfortunately, Happy and Toby can’t hold Jed for too long. Although Jed is angry about his car, he has to go back to the building. Yet inside, he has trouble with his badge since it shows that he’s already in the building. Security is then called in. Sylvester is able to get the files. Walter then guides him through a side door in order to avoid security. When Sylvester comes to a biohazard section, he panics. (He is a germaphobe). He can’t touch the doorknob but Paige patiently tells him to use his shirt and grab the knob with it, which he does. With everyone back, the team then drives away.
Back at their base, they look through the names. One name pops out at Cabe, a Robert Richter, whose daughter was in the clinical trial. The daughter died when the trial was pulled. Richter is a microbiologist at a college. They go off to the college and search his office, finding evidence of his research in spray patterns. They need the CDC to reverse engineer the blueprint of the killer genes. They can have an antidote within two hours to save the kids.
The team is celebrating until Walter realizes there is a fifth target. It is the governor; only in his case the virus is engineered to kill him instantly. They find out governor Lane received a phone call from Richter. He thinks he’ll be meeting Richter for the antidote.
The geniuses discover where both men will be. They run to a big hotel, they spot the Governor as he is about to get sprayed by Richter. They are able pull him away, although the virus has be dispelled in the air. Walter then lights a fire and aims it at the sprinklers, causing them to turn on and wash the virus away.
The team manages to save the kids and the Governor. They also learn Cabe lost his own child. With that in mind Paige tells Cabe to watch Ralph as she is trying to include him. It is a heartwarming ending to the episode.
If you are still enjoying the misfit geniuses, join us on Monday at 9/8c on CBS for another episode of Scorpion.
[photo credit: CBS]
