Chuck Vs The Wedding Planner

The Intersect who cried 'flash'!

Photo Credit: Mike Ansell/NBC

Last night’s episode of Chuck saw the welcome return of Gary Cole as Sarah’s con-man father Jack Burton.
The main story started off okay, but got silly, even by ‘Chuck’ standards, rather quickly. From Chuck’s fake flash, things spiralled out of control, but alas, they didn’t really have the budget to pull it off. It was sold short by the fact that the entire resources of the CIA, NSA and FBI amounted to eight guys with guns, a van, a couple of cars and a net.
I’m also going to assume that Chuck had no intel on Artur Novakov because, as well as having been busy with wedding planning and the like, it was too recent to be in the Intersect database.
One of the best parts was seeing Sarah try to imitate Chuck’s ‘flash’ face. Then Chuck had to fake a flash based on that, which must have been tricky for Zac since the flash face probably comes naturally for him these days.

Delving into Sarah’s back-story not only helped to give us the schmaltzy payoff at the end, but also drove home a lot of why the character has become who she is. From growing up pulling cons, to working in the CIA, it’s all been about putting on a mask and pretending to be whoever the con/mission requires you to be. Moving from place to place and having adventures whilst never revealing who you are has been part of her life for so long that she has only started to let herself be vulnerable since meeting Chuck.
That accounts for why she was conned, because she’s let her guard down and learned to trust someone, not as a partner in the spy sense, but in the emotional sense. She thought with her heart, rather than her head, which is ultimately what a good con artist hopes for. Remember, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

There’s also an interesting point if you consider that Bryce Larkin, being a natural spy, was essentially a younger version of her father. They both lived the life, being other people when they needed to be, so it could have been the case that she felt a connection with him because he reminded her of her father, and that made her feel safe.

It’s also worth pointing out that Matt Bomer who played Bryce then went on to star in White Collar as, you guessed it, a con man. Strangely coincidental, or possibly not.


When the con involving the Zephyr took off, then the episode really hit its stride. Taking over one of Daphne’s cons to perform another con for the good of national security was an interesting idea. The setup also gave us references to previous episodes, whether intentional or not. Of course, we had Jack calling Chuck ‘schnook’ and Casey ‘cop face’ which was a call back to ‘vs The Delorean’, but there was also Chuck performing as the DJ, trying to identify the mark, which reminded me of a similar situation in ‘vs The Cougars’
I’m sure that Yvonne had fun getting to do another accent, something that is undoubtedly going to be popular with some of the fans.
 
The other story, again with the theme of an estranged loved one, was the Casey/Kathleen/Alex storyline. I thought that Casey was going to tell Kathleen that he was alive, and it would be a big shock moment for her because she thought he was dead. What actually happened was that it seems she recognized him at the Buy More, and she questioned Alex about him and was told all about him.
Given these facts, it was natural for her to assume that Casey’s cover was his real life, part-time security guard with a job at the Buy More. Since Alex seems to have told her that Casey was a government agent, she was obviously suspicious, but fate/the writers stepped in and she found out the truth during the stand off in the parking garage.


Next episode: Chuck Vs Agent X - Chuck and Sarah put aside spy work to have a weekend of debauchery, but Awesome’s plans for Chuck’s big night don’t go quite as expected. Meanwhile, Ellie’s investigation into her father’s computer leads to a life-changing discovery.

This episode won’t air until the 2^nd of May; next week we have a repeat of Chuck vs The Honeymooners instead. Yep, another hiatus in the season, so no trailer for the new episode yet, but I’ll upload it here as soon as one appears.

*EDIT 26th April - promo for Chuck VS Agent X - take a look;



*I put off posting this until the ratings came in, but it seems we stayed steady with a series low of 1.3.
While being very not good, we have to take into account that the programmes following it on NBC; The Event and Law & Order: Los Angeles only managed to pull in a 1.1 each.

Staying positive, but ultimately I think that the chances of Chuck being picked up have decreased. Let's hope that the campaign targeting the advertisers has made enough of an impact.

Chuck Vs The Family Volkoff

Family ties and family lies? Cool, or not cool.

Photo Credit: Michael Yarish/NBC

Chuck Vs The Family Volkoff certainly had it’s moments, but a couple of the twists seemed rather obvious. This episode started to move all the pieces towards the endgame, but who will end up facing checkmate?

We had three children caught between their parents: Alex, Ellie and the mention of Sarah having been in that situation as a child.

Alex couldn’t invite Casey to her graduation because her mother believes he is dead, so she’s had to lie about him. After Sarah talked about her experience being in the middle, this didn’t sit well with Casey. Inevitably, Alex wants to tell her mother now, something that Casey is even more reluctant to have happen. Which is the lesser of two evils, or will there be a choice?

Ellie has been working on the Intersect problem at home, as her father wanted her to, but Mary isn’t happy about it. Add to the fact that Gen. Beckman seems to be continuing with Director Bentley’s plan to have Ellie crack the secrets for them, this puts Mama B in an uncomfortable position.
In both cases, it seems that the truth will come out, one, apparently next week, the other, most likely before the end of the season.

There was some nice screen time between Alexei and Vivian, the father trying to make amends with his daughter. Of course, she has fully embraced what it means to be a Volkoff, and has become evil and manipulative.
The only problem with this family reunion was that it showed how much better a villain Timothy Dalton is. He certainly didn’t disappoint in this episode, being both menacing and funny. His apparent act to turn over a new leaf seemed sincere at times, but you couldn’t help but wonder if he really meant it. I was in no doubt at the end of the chess game that he’d lured Team B, and specifically Chuck into a trap, but he really did seem to want to make amends with his daughter. Had Vivian been this seasons main villain, it might have worked, but when you consider that she’s the replacement for her father, it just feels a little flat.

The idea behind it is a good one, a Dark Side parallel of Chuck. He’s an accidental spy from a family of spies, and she’s an accidental second-gen villain. The fact that she seems to have embraced the family business so readily doesn’t really ring true for me. The woman we met in ‘Masquerade’ becoming the vengeful criminal mastermind just seems to have happened very quickly, although I’m not totally sure of the timeline on that.
I’m not sure if it’s the writing or the actress, but Lauren Cohen as Vivian Volkoff just doesn’t have the charisma to be a convincing threat. She certainly doesn’t come off as enjoyable as Dalton, with his moments of ice-cold villainy counter pointed with his fun loving nature. It’s like being fed steak and fine wine, then being switched to a burger and soda.

Unfortunately, it appears that the rest of the season will lean on Vivian being the big bad, assuming that we’ve seen the last of Alexei, with him being wheeled off back to prison.

*Apologies to any fans of Lauren Cohen, but she’s just not doing it for me as a villain.

More fun stuff, with Casey and Morgan turning into a married couple! Their co-habitation seems to have put them in sync with each other. Drinking their orange juice in unison and bickering over mouthfuls of cereal was a joy to see.

It was also nice to see the continuation of Ellie becoming more unwittingly involved in the spy world. She’s now turned the tables a little on her family, lying to her brother and spying on her mother, which is nothing if not returning the favour.

It also managed to tie Ellie to Vivian in a way, with both of them interested in the mysterious Agent X, a person that Mary Bartowski wasn’t even aware of until this episode.

What I took from the overall theme of this episode, is that families keep secrets, families lie, but ultimately, families are a blind spot or a weakness for people, no matter who they are.


Next episode: Chuck Vs the Wedding Planner – When Chuck and Sarah get conned out of their wedding money, there is only one man they can turn to for help — Sarah’s conman father, Jack Burton. Meanwhile, Morgan pressures Casey to face Alex’s mother.

Take a look: