Chuck Vs The Masquerade

There is another Sky….sorry, Volkoff.

Photo Credit: Byron Cohen/NBC

The Valentine's episode of Chuck did not fail to delight. It would have been broadcast on Valentine's Day, but there was that slightly early hiatus. 
This was an amazing and packed episode; we had action, romance, bromance and comedy. Unsurprisingly, Rafe Judkins and Lauren LeFranc, who seem to both know the characters so well and know what the audience wants, wrote it.

Despite all the different sub-plots going on, it never felt as though it was too crowded. Big Mike had some screen time that, while not very long, was perfectly pitched. Jeff and Lester even played a small but crucial role in Ellie and Awesome’s sub-plot.

It was nice to see the Buy Morons back after them being absent for the last couple of episodes, however brief their appearance.

The opening scenes were very funny, with a bemused Chuck and Sarah trying to leave Morgan and Alex to their ‘exchanging of energy’ and Casey walking in and being baffled and looking ready to explode. I loved the rapid cutting between all the players in the last bit of that scene, as Casey looks like he’s stumbled into the madhouse of his nightmares.

We were treated to a great scene between Morgan and Sarah, with the latter obviously outside her comfort zone. Using the word ‘hang’ like a parent trying to be trendy with the kids was brilliant in showing that she’s still growing socially. Just to see Yvonne playing about with the Han and Chewbacca collectibles/toys and making silly dinosaur noises was a delight.

With Morgan doing some serious thinking after that slightly awkward moment and taking Casey’s words to heart. Believing himself to be getting in the way with Chuck and Sarah getting married in a few months, he decided to move out.

There was a subtle comparison with the Han and Chewy action figures. Chuck being Han, the smooth guy who ends up with Leia (remember the faked CIA photo of him and Sarah at Comic Con dressed as Han & Leia?) and Morgan as Chewbacca (although being hairy, he’s not quite tall enough).

The theme I sensed from this episode was that of moving on. Morgan and Alex were moving forward with their relationship, Morgan himself is moving on by even thinking about moving out to give Chuck and Sarah a place of their own. Casey has been given the opportunity to move on with his career, since the talents that he honed during his first years as an agent are being used very little these days (as was brilliantly played by him being bartender on a mission yet again).
Even Ellie and Awesome had a little to do with the theme, taking the step of moving Clara into the nursery, if only so they could get some sleep.

Casey also gave us something unexpectedly meta, referring to Chuck and Sarah as “Charah” – the shippers term for the couple. It did lead to it trending on Twitter for a while – that’s the power of The Home Depot Casey.

We were left with a couple of cliffhanger options at the end. Not only was Casey offered the position behind that enigmatic door in Castle, but we had Vivian finding something important in her father's office. Having been inspired to seek out Volkoff's HQ by an unwitting Chuck, she now has the option of using the resources of her father's evil empire for good, or following in his footsteps. Which will she choose?

Next episode: Chuck Vs the First Bank of Evil - Chuck pushes Vivian McArthur (guest star Lauren Cohan) to get in touch with her inner villain for a mission. Elsewhere, Sarah tries to get in touch with her inner bride as wedding plans ramp up. Meanwhile, Morgan’s search for a new roommate takes an unexpected turn.

Take a look: