Monday 19 December 2016

A Cyclone of Scorpions

My Young Man has been to stay, and we watched many DVDs. I introduced him to The Librarians (he loved the Christmas episode, and the film involving vampires) and he introduced me to Scorpion, which he told me was kind of like The Librarians but solving real world problems instead of magic.
I really enjoyed the pilot episode (I've seen three so far, and it's all good), because it is incredibly clever people solving problems by thinking rather than shooting at stuff. It's even more impressive that the pilot episode is based on a true event in the life of the real Walter O'Brien (the leader of the Scorpion company). There was a day when the computers at LAX airport went down, with over 50 planes in the air needing to land, and they fixed it.
I'm not entirely sure that it involved a jet airliner flying very low over an airfield while a Ferrari sped underneath it, but it was a thrilling sequence!
I also like the way that the four geniuses - Walter, Sylvester, Toby and Happy - take 9 year old Ralph under their wings, because he's growing up a genius too, and having trouble adapting to the world. They're not just brilliant at what they do - they are also kind enough to take time to play chess with a lonely kid, and tell him that the collective noun for scorpions is a cyclone, and now he's part of the cyclone.
Ralph's mother, Paige, becomes their liason with the outside world, because they have trouble dealing with ordinary people, too. The group is being "handled" by Homeland Security agent Cabe Gallo, who gets their cases for them.
It's kind of on the edge of SF, bordering on real life, and I think I'm going to enjoy the rest of the series.

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