‘Scorpion’ First Look: Walter Takes Dancing With the Stars Literally
Walter is stranded in space, and that still might not be his biggest problem. In one of Scorpion’s most ambitious episodes to date, the team’s leader not only finds himself dozens of miles above the earth, but also lacking oxygen, which leads to some pretty exotic — and embarrassing — hallucinations. There’s dancing, wooing, and a little bit of bragging, and romantic rival Tim gets shot off into deep space. What more could a genius ask for?
“We feel like we’ve just danced our socks off,” says Elyes Gabel when we spoke to him and co-star Katharine McPhee about the episode. The pair were glad for the change of pace. “Any time we can play something different than what we play weekly is really enjoyable,” says McPhee. Occasionally, the actors will get to make use of other skills when the characters go undercover; Gabel hopes to show off his guitar skills at some point.
Related: ‘Scorpion’ Star Eddie Kaye Thomas Previews Season 3: ‘Insane Has Become Normal’
Dancing is the easy part. Shooting the weightlessness requires a harness that places a particular kind of strain on the body. Gabel struggles to find a genteel way of saying it: “The … the man products? In between our legs? It was very, very uncomfortable.” McPhee laughs. “Zero gravity looks cooler than it feels is what you’re saying?” But Gabel welcomes the pain. “Believe me, I’m not knocking it,” he says. Even though it’d be easier for someone without “man products” in the harness, Walter has to be the guy who ends up in the craziest situations. “I know that’s the convention of the show and I like it. Job security!”
McPhee has some ominous words for Paige and Tim. Though Walter clearly views him as a romantic rival, she says it “seems not to be an overly passionate relationship. I think they’ve just found some sort of companionship with each other.” So will she let him down easy to be with Walter? She says no.
“I don’t think that that’s how it’s going to play out. I don’t think it’s going to be a matter of Paige letting Tim down easily. From what I understand, the end of their relationship will fall apart in a different way.” That could mean a lot of things, but the two most likely scenarios are that Tim dumps her or he dies. The latter might actually be worse for Walter since Tim’s the kind of guy to die nobly sacrificing himself for the team.
Walter’s hallucinations offer an interesting glimpse into his psyche. “This is what is different from Walter,” says Gabel. “This is what he sees as being attractive.” The smooth(ish)-talking guy in the tux cutting a rug, “That’s the best version of who he is.” The question is, will we ever see that version of him in anything but a dream sequence?
#Waige has been through a lot of ups and downs, and McPhee says she likes both ends of that spectrum. “I particularly enjoy playing the sexy romance, the anger, frustration,” says the actress. “Paige is at both extremes, which is incredibly mad and frustrated, to scared, worried about him and incredibly in love with somebody who she feels she can’t be in love with.”
Look forward to more of that coming up. “This season, they’re finding more opportunities for Paige to be a little bit more seductive,” says McPhee. “She goes to this fancy ball with Tim and wears this gorgeous sexy dress and makes all the geniuses’ heads turn. That really wasn’t Paige’s thing in the last two seasons.”
Scorpion airs Mondays at 10 p.m. on CBS.
