SCORPION Producers Tease Walter/Paige’s Evolution, Juxtaposing Action with Emotion in Season 2

As SCORPION’s Walter found his life in danger at the end of the first season, he set about saying goodbye — in his own way — to the people he cared most about. But he was distraught when he thought Paige — who was set to leave town — was MIA, and he wouldn’t get to tell her the truth of how he felt about her.

Thankfully, Walter survived. And after Paige rushed to his side once she found out what was going on, she gave a kiss to her unconscious friend.

“I think [Walter’s] emotional changes are going to be the drive of the whole series,” SCORPION executive producer Heather Kadin shared. “That’s obviously the purpose of Paige and her character: to teach the world to him, while he translates the world for her son. The more we can hold on to that emotional core, the more relatable the show is. Because you’re rooting for him to be a little more human each day.

“I think that the one thing we’re trying to acknowledge [is] we had a lot of tease last year, and what we’d like to do is acknowledge the gorilla in the room and then see how it complicates their lives,” Nicholas Wootton added. “I think to say they were going to have a perfect, loving relationship that is going to last [starting immediately], that’s not going to happen. I think given his level of emotional maturity, even the concept of admitting, ‘I even like you’ is a long jump for him. But I think we both know how they feel, let’s admit how they feel, and see how it reverberates though the team.”

As the Walter/Paige relationship goes through its own shifts, one thing won’t change: the incredible action sequences the show put forth in season 1.

“We have an amazing production crew and amazing special effects people who make us look fantastic,” Wootton gushed. “All of that stuff we do…[CBS] has been fabulous, we’ve been given budgetary and creative [room], but it’s not even a matter of money, it’s a matter of time [to get in done in a television schedule]. Those things, there were some cuts they delivered day of airing in order to air that night because of how tight the turnaround was on those things. They just do a fantastic job.”

“I think what you [saw] pattern-wise [will continue] — there were some episodes that were absolutely huge and some that played more along the heart line,” he continued. “I think we’ll definitely do that more. I think some of the bigger episodes may not be the ones you remember as much as you do for the ones that were more emotional. I think now that we know what it takes to do those big ones, we’ll be able to spot them, refine them, and do them better this year, so we’ll be able to balance them.”

And, of course, the emotional connection to the bigger action sequences will continue as well.

“I think what the guys have done so well is we’ve had those big stakes juxtaposed against the characters — again, we all talk about 1×12…and obviously those are big stakes, and obviously production-wise, it’s so challenging, and it’s so emotional what’s going on there,” Kadin said, referencing the hour where the team rescued a young boy trapped in a beach cave (that was quickly filling up with ocean water). “So I think that’s where the show really lives. But the conversations we’ve had haven’t been, ‘Oh, we have to outdo ourselves!’ It’s really been about the micro; about Paige and Walter and Ralph and the team, and the emotional stories, which I think people respond to.”

“There’s always another element involved,” Wootton added. “There’s always some sort of emotional element we put into those things and we generally give them a decision to make in those action sequences, and it makes those action sequences not just action sequences. It’s not just about running around fighting the thing. It’s about making a right or wrong decision at a right or wrong time. And also, these are not action stars. These are not the people who should be doing [these things]…Robert Patrick notwithstanding. Robert Patrick is amazing. that’s who should be doing it!”

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SCORPION returns Monday, September 21st at 9 PM.

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