Even more sting to 'SCORPION'

IF YOU FIND the TV series “Scorpion” exciting, your blood must be pumping harder with the second season underway. Fans dying to see what Walter and Paige would get up to next after Season 1 are getting surprises at every turn amid more nail-biting scenes as the Scorpion team undertakes its “missions impossible”.
“Scorpion” is loosely based on the actual “missions” of Irish computer whiz Walter O’Brien, who claims to have hacked into Nasa’s cyber network at age 13. In the series, O’Brien and his Scorpion team of “genius outcasts” are recruited by the US Department of Homeland Security to protect America and the world from the hi-tech threats of evil-doers.
Playing O’Brien in the CBS TV series is British actor Elyes Gabel, who previously portrayed a biology expert in the Brad Pitt movie “World War Z” and was Queen Khaleesi’s bodyguard in “Game of Thrones”. Imagine getting THIS guy on the phone!

SO WHAT DO YOU AND THE REST OF THE SCORPION TEAM HAVE IN STORE FOR US THIS SEASON?
Well, they’re still writing the script, and we don’t really get told a lot about what’s going to happen in the future. The production is an audaciously fast drive, but I can tell you about what’s already happened. We’ve shot over a third of the new season, and they’ve definitely heightened the urgency.
Every episode is nail-biting, not necessarily in the “will they or won’t they survive” way, but what will happen to what they’re trying to protect.
There are a lot more vehicles – in the first episode we go up nearly into space in this old hot-air balloon, and we’ve got these trains as well. We were jumping on a train in one episode.
One of our characters, Sylvester, goes to jail. There are a lot of stand-alone funny bits as well. The show is a lot funnier this year, which is great.

BIGGER AND BETTER ACTION SCENES?
Sometimes the budget is just enough to do the things we want to do, in the scope we want to do it, but most of the time we achieve it. It’s a great thing to have a lot of people working hard on these scripts that seem impossible to shoot with the time allotted. We have this billion-dollar building that gets set on fire. We have people jumping off the solar panels on the roof. The scope is a lot bigger.

HOW IS WALTER EVOLVING?
We really don’t have a huge amount of knowledge about where this bunch of characters is going, but that makes it interesting. I think Walter wants to understand his human side more, and that there’s a deeper connection with somebody who might understand him more than he thinks anyone else could, which is Paige.
You see a lot more emotional situations this season. Walter’s becoming a much more rounded character emotionally, but there are still huge pockets where he just doesn’t know how to deal with his emotions, and you’ll still see that happening and probably having bigger ripples that you’d expect.

SO WALTER AND PAIGE’S RELATIONSHIP WILL DEVELOP FURTHER, OR WILL THERE BE SETBACKS?
I think there should be setbacks, because you’re learning about different directions you want to take. In a couple episodes Walter talks to Paige about what makes someone more human, and how do you know if being human is a good thing. She says being human allows you to express and feel the emotions, so Walter acknowledges that he’s human because of the feelings he’s experiencing.

THE REAL WALTER O’BRIEN IS ALSO EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF THE SHOW. HAS HIS PRESENCE HELPED YOU IN PORTRAYING HIM?
Having Walter on set is good for the show because it gives it more grounding in the honesty of what we’re trying to do. He’s the foundation for our semi-fictitious version of his exploits. The great thing is that we have these storylines that form an absolute bible of the different possibilities, storylines that he’s been very enthusiastic about sharing with us.
I don’t really feel any pressure, usually. It’s not like he “comes down from the mountain”. He’s just wandering around on the set with a lot of producers. He’s there to make it better, and he’s been very wise about accepting the differences in my characterisation.

WHY DO YOU THINK “SCORPION” CONNECTS WITH THE AUDIENCE SO WELL?
It’s a lot of reasons, really, but mostly it’s a story about a bunch of very vulnerable heroes being able to save the world. They’re people who can save millions of people, but deep down inside they still have issues with finding a connection point with other people. That’s something I think everybody can appreciate. They’re superheroes with huge walls that everybody can shelter behind, but really they have these areas where they wish they were better.
I think the family part of it is really interesting. Plus, there’s a lot of comedy, as well as moments of high danger that people really enjoy. There are a lot of reasons why I think this show is great, but it’s really in the people and the characters.
 
WHAT DREW YOU PERSONALLY TO THE SERIES?
It’s an interesting dichotomy, where we use the medium of television through these characters to show the dynamics of human behaviour. It means, like, if you’re sad, they’re going to show real fresh colours. You have somebody else who wasn’t like that but who’s supposed to be like that, and I thought that that was interesting.
I only read the script after I’d signed up, but I thought it was funny and the show had really good people attached to it, so you know, better jump in than not!

DO YOU HAVE TRAITS SIMILAR TO YOUR CHARACTER?
I would say that I’m very different from Walter, but that’s what makes for great interpretation – the fact that I’m definitely much more emotional. I utilise the right part of my brain more – I’m more creative. The real Walter has harvested a lot of information. We’re very different people.

HOW GOOD ARE YOU WITH COMPUTERS IN REAL LIFE?
I’m pretty damn decent at using the Mac – I know how to do Ctrl-Alt-Delete! I don’t know what happens when you do it, but I know how to do it! I know how to push the “on” button. I can open Safari. I know what megahertz is.
Actually my computer has been wiped clean to restore my original settings, so at the moment I am computer-less.

MISSION RESUMED
“Scorpion” airs at 8pm on Tuesdays on RTL CBS Entertainment HD (TrueVisions 337).
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