Scorpion is a series loosely based on the life of real-life genius Walter O'Brien and his think tank of prodigies. The 22-episode first season aired during the 2014/2015 TV season and starred Elyes Gabel, Katherine McPhee, Jadyn Wong, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Ari Stidham, Robert Patrick, and Riley B. Smith.
At its core, the show is a case-of-the-week procedural that includes elements similar to many other procedural crime dramas. In many ways, however, it is a very unique show. It is action-heavy, but it is based around a group of people whose minds are their skill set. The cast, for the most part, is made up of relatively unknown actors, with Robert Patrick and Eddie Kaye Thomas being the most recognizable, followed by Katherine McPhee. Patrick plays Homeland Security agent Cabe Gallo, who has a history with Walter (played by Gabel) from when Walter was a child. The government hires Walter's company, Scorpion, to help with cases only they can figure out. The other characters are a Psychologist, Toby (played by Eddie Kaye Thomas), a Mathematical prodigy with OCD named Sylvester (played by Stidham), and an engineering marvel named Happy (played by Wong), who is anything but Happy. Through a series of events set up in the pilot, they are joined by a waitress (McPhee) who is raising a genius son (Smith). She helps the group interact with normal people, and they help her understand her son.
The DVD extras include commentary tracks on a couple episodes, deleted scenes for a handful of episodes, numerous behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes, a gag reel, and a short "thank you" message from the cast members to the fans for supporting the show. All in all, the DVD includes a good couple of hour's worth of extras if you like going through the material.
The show prides itself on being scientifically accurate while taking some liberties to make it exciting. The real Walter O'Brien is a producer on the show, and if you watch the DVD extras, the showrunners detail how they lean on him and other experts to get as much of the science and engineering concepts as right as they can. Of course, some of the elements get embellished because some of the topics in the show could make the show way too boring if not done right. Thankfully, the writers toe that line well, and the actors do a great job in their respective roles. The larger story arcs of the season deal with character development and character relationships. The show does well balancing the larger arcs with the story-of-the-week aspects to keep it from getting too formulaic. If you are generally a fan of procedural shows, especially procedural crime dramas such as Bones, Hawaii Five-0, NCIS, etc., this is definitely worth checking out.
