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| Photo Credit: NBC |
This week saw the inevitable murder mystery episode with Chuck and his team trapped in Castle with Bentley and four new recruits, knowing that someone in their midst was a killer. It had a lot of potential, but to me it felt a bit flat at times, which could be due to the fact that this episode was written by writers who were new to Chuck this season.
The whole thing with Chuck being assigned to lead the Intersect project and given his first leadership role was pretty good. As I tweeted, and no doubt many others have commented, there was the little hat tip to the series ‘Charles in Charge’ which was just one of a couple of pop culture references this week.
With things going from bad to worse, it was up to Chuck to take control and figure out who the killer was. Taking advice from Sarah and Casey helped him to take charge, despite his lack of confidence and he did eventually figure it out. The murder mystery itself wasn’t much of a mystery to me by the time the second bomb went off, I probably watch too many whodunits, but the reason behind it eluded me until Beckman explained the Volkoff connection. I’m half wondering if Damian’s mission was just to blow up Castle, sending Chuck a message, because there had to be easier ways of taking Chuck out of the equation.
This episode, like last week, showed just how unique Chuck is, and why that is a good thing. In the Director Bentley’s world someone would have to die in order to secure the bomb and save the rest. Chuck’s view of the world is a little different and nobody else needs to die. He might do things differently from a ‘real’ spy, but his abilities and nature mean that he is no less impressive in the role.
The Buy More sub-plot had a number of laughs in it, largely due to several ‘Number 2’ jokes, including the Big BM being left on fire on the Buy More’s doorstep. We also had the allusion that retail is like the mafia, with a meeting of the Buy More and Large Mart ‘families’ to negotiate a hostage exchange.
Ellie is starting to get drawn into the spy life again, having received her father’s laptop from Bentley at the end of last episode. She seems to be making headway with the problem, but how long will it be before she figures out that it has something to do with Chuck? Somehow she’s managed not to guess that he’s still in the spy game, but I’ll blame the stress of becoming a parent for at least some of that.
I felt that there was some character growth here for a few players. Chuck became more of a confident leader, showing that he can ultimately deliver, which I think helped to secure his position as the only Intersect. Bentley went from being rather cold and manipulative, to having Chuck’s back and getting along with him. Casey showed that he’s becoming more, well, domesticated, by hanging out at the end of the episode with Chuck and Sarah for some milk and cookies.
But by far the most character growth was Devon. Who knew that Captain Awesome could become such a convincing liar? He was useless not that long ago, but he lied to Chuck about switching the hard drive on the Orion laptop. I’m actually a little surprised he knew how to do that, although he didn’t actually do it.
Any of you familiar with Scottish detective drama Taggart will be familiar with it’s most quoted phrase “There’s been a murder” and that’s what this episode title reminded me of when I first heard it. It’s a common enough phrase, but it was nice to hear it used by the guy with the British accent, although I doubt that was an intentional reference!
I loved the little callback in this episode, with Brody’s ringtone being Journey’s ‘Any Way You Want It’ as Chuck’s was in the pilot (and, I have to admit, mine still is!)
The Agent X Files thing was amusing, a neat reference, and since 4.22 is called Chuck vs. Agent X, I’m wondering if we’re going to see one of Orion’s old partners. I think I recall seeing one of the boxes in the Orion Cave marked Agent X, but we’ll have to wait for a few weeks to find out.
*As I was writing this, the ratings came in, and they don’t look good. Chuck slipped to a series low with a 1.5 in the 18-49 demographic.
Next episode: Chuck Vs the Family Volkoff – Timothy Dalton returns as Alexei Volkoff as it seems daughter Vivian has truly embraced her fathers business. This episode will air on the 11th of April.
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