Quintis: A Scorpion Love Story

P.S: Based on CBS’s Scorpion.

P.P.S: Brimming with spoilers.

P.P.P.S: Consider yourself warned!

Like soya and cincau.

Roti and dhal.

Chocolate and peanut butter.

Behaviourist and mechanical prodigy.

Toby and Happy.

Who knew romantic endeavours of the emotionally stunted could be so strangely entertaining.

“People only let you down,” says Happy. “You put a quarter-inch wrench on a quarter-inch bolt, it works. Tools don’t let you down.” Toby replies, “spending your life scared to connect to anyone isn’t any way to live.” (S1E2)

The couple go way back as friends. They regularly make bets, mostly at Slyvester’s expense; or exchange witty banter, at mutual expense.

Toby’s affection for Happy is painfully patent. When former colleague turned psychotic enemy- Mark Collins takes a swipe at Happy for a supposing mistake, Toby jumps in like the freaking Calvary in a fedora. “Hey, Collins, you lay off her or we have an issue.” Dayyuum, sister. (S1E5)

Towards the end of that episode, Walter (head genius) playfully tease her. “Toby going after Collins to protect your honour… what was that all about?” She shrug and responds. “The shrinks’ crazier than all of us. What a surprise.”

But her silent afterthought suggest more. She steals a peep across the room where Toby is reading two books simultaneously- because, genius, duh- and he catches her eye. They share a wordless tender moment, free of intellectual jargon and facetious insults.

Swoon-ville, guys!

The inappropriate wisecracks doesn’t stop though- “Dear Lord, thank you for this gift.” Gift: Happy’s ass. (S1E9)

Nor does his thoughtful yet arguably misguided tactics to please Happy- like hacking into social services for her family records, painful nerve that it is to her. (S1E7)

Will toby grow a pair and ask happy out?

Then he finally musters the courage to ask her out. He scores 2 tickets to a monster truck show, because where else would you take a machine-obsessed mechanical whizz?

But Freudian displacement, a.k.a. being a first class chicken render the dude a tad bit slow. As he turns away to retrieve the prized ducats, Happy is distracted by the shiny new musician- Peyton Temple.

“Can I ask you something crazy… you’ve got plans tonight?” Peyton fix Happy with hopeful eyes. An eavesdropping Toby is evidently dejected.

“Are you into drag races?” Happy ask cautiously. “… There’s a rally in Pomona…”

“Wanna go?” ask Peyton.

“Yeah, why not?”

You know what they say, Toby? Chics dig musicians. (S1E8)

Declaration of love

But ego maniac psychiatrists don’t give up.

-Because Season 1 Episode 10 brings Toby’s first vocal declaration of his feelings for Happy.

During a mission, they are separated from the group with no food, water, or idea where they are. Happy injures her leg during a tumble into strategically-located ravine.

Toby finally convince her to let him check out her injury, being a M.D. and all (note: psychiatrists, not to be confused with psychologist, ARE medical doctors).

He pulls off her boot and gives her feet a worried look. This is the realest we’ve seen Toby to date. He even ignores Happy’s foot fetish remark.

“…Why are you a shrink?” asked Happy.

“If you must know,  my mother was nuts. She was clinically bipolar. And I watched my dad struggle to manage her illness, so I became a shrink to try to help them both.” Toby replies quietly.

And then, because he’s Toby, adds, “Geez, Happy, you know that there are whole sections of the internet that would pay top dollar for a peek at those toes.”

Appalled, Happy spits, “Why do you do that? As soon as you become human, you switch to wise-ass.”

Eyes still focused on dressing her wound, Toby says, “it’s a textbook defence mechanism to hide how I feel.” He finally raises his gaze to meet hers, but only for a second. “…Especially around you… I say stupid things to hide feelings that you already know I have. And we got no food, water, or idea where we are, so if we’re gonna die, I might as well say some stuff, so there.”

My shipping heart is palpitating like crazy!

But because this is clever television, the heartstring-manipulation ends there, but not before the episode finale:

And Toby always has a felicitous reply:

How does happy feel about toby?

As the series progress, we note that Toby’s feelings are finally requited, or is it? When Slyvester gets seriously injured during a case, Toby is unfocused and distracted. He rushes out the garage in a flush of frustration… with Happy on his heels. (S1E11)

She is genuinely concerned… But no romantic development…

… Until Season 1 Episode 16. While offering Ralph romantic advice (because 10 year olds need those), Toby says “… some girls don’t know a good thing when it’s right in front of them, no matter how many times it has been offered.” How convenient that Happy happens to be working right there.

She shoots him a sidewards glance, holding some form of handheld metal structure over a bunsen burner. A burst of flame, followed by a cloud of smoke shoots up.

“Maybe she doesn’t want to jeopardise your friendship. Maybe she’s never had a best friend like you before and that probably means a lot to her… You just have to be patient.” She delivers another look in Toby’s direction.

Obviously we’re not talking about Ralph anymore. Poor Ralph.

They decide to seal the deal for Ralph in the romance department by displaying a radiant show of fireworks for his special lady. And as we all know, when there is pyrotechnics, there is brewing love.

Yup, that happened! Oooooooo…

Followed by…

Just as Toby leans in to steal a smooch from his special lady, they are interrupted by upset lady teacher screaming about the danger of fireworks on school grounds. Rude!

But then 2 episodes, later…

“Doc! Come here a minute,” calls Happy.

He saunters over. “What’s up?”…

… She grabs him…

… THEN PLANTS ON HIM A GINORMOUS SNOG!!

Oh, be still my fluttering heart! (S1E18)

Ask her out already, will you?

So what do you do after a beautiful woman kisses you?

Ask her out, abuden.

Happy bets she can fly her paper airplane “down the telephone wires, straight at ground level, across the street, and through a window.” (S1E19)

So the gambling addict (Toby) says, “you’re on. If I win, dinner date. If you win, I’ll do your laundry for a  month.” Win-win for you, huh, Toby?

Happy will win. I can see it in her eyes. The paper plane drifts down the balcony, rides the breeze, across the street…

… Where a truck materialises out of nowhere and giveth her flight path an abrupt end.

“… We be dating…” Toby says with raised eyebrows.

But the end of the episode brings a new wager. Toby says,”If I win, you take me to dinner. And if (you win), I take you.”

Happy toss the paper airplane across the road, and neither of them even looked.

Imma dying!

So the dinner date is set in stone. Dream come true for Toby, right?

Then he HAD to oversleep and miss the date. (S1E20)

To do list after standing up a girl with abandonment issues:

1. Bring her “wrench” bouquet and box of “nuts”
2. Grovel
3. Grovel on repeat

Things to expect after standing up a girl with abandonment issues:

1. Forgiveness Eternal rage

Well, hell hath no furry like a woman’s wrath.

But love stricken shrinks don’t give up, do they?

No, they don’t. They persist through snarky swipes and blatant rejection.

And then in Season 2, we hear a name drop- Chet.

Happy chatting on the phone with Chet.

Happy going to the club to meet with Chet.

Happy ridding into the garage on the back of a motorcycle with Chet.

Happy sure is spending a chunky amount of time with Chet.

Toby drown his pain in bouts of physically punishing boxing routines. That is, punishing to watch.

OOOfff….

To be fair, he’s not that bad. Yours truly has been on the receiving end of numerous jabs. That ringing that last for ages, the inability to open one’s mouth past a conservative 30 degrees, the inner lip cuts from, you know, boxing with teeth braces.

I learnt my lessons- keep hands up. Toby learnt his lesson too…

… that the “more manly, less academic” strategy doesn’t work with Happy?

But first, he is determined to trail her to a club. Because “I just needs to see Happy happy with Chet, and then… I can move on.” (S2E8)

I’m gearing myself up for another boxing match. This time, Toby vs. Chet, when they (Toby, Walter, Sylvester and Cabe) walk into… a comedy club? And this…

What?! That was actually more painful to watch than Toby’s boxing match.

But his black eye from earlier that day gives him clarity, because he says “Chet isn’t her boyfriend. He’s her comedy coach… You know, all this time, Happy and I were doing the same thing. We were subconsciously replacing the risk our relationship represented. I got into a ring, where I had no business being. And Happy, the world’s unfunniest person, tried to make strangers laugh. We were replacing what we lost when we lost each other. That excitement of risk. This means that deep inside her there is a seedling of regret”.

And give her space, he does. Finally. Imagine my surprise.

But the feelings game is still strong

In Season 2 Episode 12, they share a dance so sweet, my heart melted, and I had to gather the liquified remains in a glass jar.

During an assignment, the team returns to college, where Toby is determined to have the ultimate college experience this time. But, as usual, events go south, leaving him disappointed.

So Happy beefs up some tunes from her car, and tells him, “you can check one thing off your college bucket list… the dance.” They link hands, and after a couple of awkward-ish steps, she leans against his shoulders.

“What are you doing?” He’s pleasantly surprised.

“Letting my guard down.”

Screams!

Things are really starting to pick up pace here. In the very next episode (S2E13), Happy nearly drowns. Toby wants to jump in after her, but Cabe “don’t be an idiot” him. When they finally pull her suffocated and shivering body from the water, Toby is stricken with worry. There, soaking wet, they share wordless-tender-moment 2.0.

But the best is yet to come, guys, because after 17 whole episodes, they finally share steamy kiss, part 2!

“plausible deniability” ends now

The team is roped into a mission in the heart of Antartica (S2E14). Fix antenna, connect to satellite and get out of there in 2 minutes, right? Wrong.

And the wrong turns wrong-er when Happy is separated from the group in the mother of blizzards.

Guess what did Toby do? Correct- he advanced like a mad man into the -40 degrees cold and dancing ice in search for the love of his life.

“Happy!” he calls. “Happy!”

“Toby! Doc!” she screams. No answer. But yes- ravine that she tumbles into like a snooker ball into billiard table hole.

Not good.

In a fit of rage, she throws her “saying yes to life” book by Quincy Berkstead (Toby’s nemesis) out of the hole. As probability have it, Toby stumbles upon the strangely dry reading material, which lead him to the popsicle-equivalent happy, sitting there unconscious and motionless.

He jumps down the ravine like bat man minus the grace.

In an attempt to warm her up, he makes history- by getting naked with Happy Quinn in a sleeping bag.

Oooolalahh..

so what do we know so far?

We know that Toby is head over heels in love with Happy. No points for that answer.

We know that he will do anything for her, which includes, but is not limited to, defending her against a crazy lunatic, voluntarily getting sucked into a turbine despite the 100% chance of being cut to pieces, and freezing to death in Antartica.

We also know that Happy is falling for Toby. Wait… what?

Yup, right out of the horse’s mouth. (S2E15)

We know that he launched into a series of petty fights with Walter, which landed the duo in “couples therapy” (S2E17).

We know that Walter showed up at Toby’s doorstep to apologise.

We know Toby admitted to his tendency to self-destruct when the going is smooth for him. “… I’ve never been happier in my life, I don’t know how to handle that, so I become a pain in the tuchas.”

We know the two made up.

We know Toby turned down Walter’s offer to hang out at Kovelsky’s on account of needing rest.

We know that as he closed the door of his apartment, a feminine voice said, “Really doc? You’ve really never been happier?”- Happy! Actually, Happy in a bathrobe, in what is clearly post coitus bliss.

He walks over to her, huge smile plastered across his face. “God as my witness, I’m not gonna do anything to ruin this.”

Gentle acoustic melody plays as they wrap their arms around each other and engage in a sweet lip-lock.

We know that IT finally happened.

We know that Quintis (Quinn and Curtis) has come to pass!