Chuck Versus the Baby

Anybody Seen My Baby?

Photo Credit: NBC

With last night’s Chuck being written by the wonder-twins Lauren LeFranc and Rafe Judkins, we knew that it was going to be a cracker of an episode. Although the chronology of Sarah’s past has always been a bit of a muddle, there were a couple of errors that I found a little glaring, but they weren’t striking enough to detract from my enjoyment of the episode as a whole.

The episode treaded both familiar and unfamiliar ground, showing Sarah’s journey from loner spy to someone with friends and family who are there for her. As with last season’s Phase Three, we got to see Sarah kicking some ass, some in flashback in a Matrix style, with some stylised gymnastics, but we also got to see her vulnerable side. When handling ‘the package’ she was clearly out of her comfort zone, allowing for a couple of tender scenes with her mother.

After Chuck reverted back to making bad decisions based on family in ‘Versus the Curse’, so it seemed that Sarah became very sloppy around this mission because it was to do with family.

First of all, she never even considered that Ryker would have heard the news about Shaw being recaptured and imprisoned. She also fell for the same trick that she’d pulled on her old handler back in Hungary, having a decoy prop and a recording of a baby, despite the fact that five years had passed and the child would no longer be a baby.

 

Guest star Tim DeKay made a great villain as Ryker and it was easily believable that he could be linked to Shaw, both of them having a sadistic streak.

The fight scene between Ryker and Sarah in the house was one of the most brutal that I think I’ve ever seen her involved in. It certainly was a rather, if you’ll excuse the pun, sharp end for Ryker, being run through with a kitchen knife.

Of course, had she been as single minded as she set out to be and taken the tactical advantage, we’d never have got to see that knockdown fight.

The sub-plot this time was Ellie and Awesome giving Alex and Morgan relationship advice, setting the scene for the eventual reconciliation. Morgan did seem a little surprised when Alex kissed him, considering he’d been edging for them to get back together and dropping all sorts of less than subtle hints earlier.

We had some great comedy moments in the episode including Chuck taking down the waiter and proclaiming that he doesn’t need the Intersect, then finding that it would be very useful when the waiter speaks to them in Hungarian. This was immediately followed by a Pythonesque moment (“My hovercraft is full of eels”) where Casey is trying to use the phrase book and ends up saying, “Were… we weeping… curd cheesecake.”

The scene towards the end with the reunion of Sarah and her mother and adopted sister were very heartwarming. I thinkit was very fitting that the safe-house that Sarah sent them to was Casa Bartowski, making sure that they were with people that she trusts, the friends and family that she’s gained since the last time she saw her mother. It wrapped up the two plots of the episode nicely and gave us a very happy note; they could almost have ended the series on that.

So, Chuck and Sarah are splashing out on a new home, hoping that they can make the down payment now that they’ve vandalised the place by carving their names into a doorframe.

But wait, what is this conveniently forgotten plot point from the beginning of the season? I’m sure that a lot of you are wondering, like I am, where the Volkoff fortune that Chuck and Sarah had before Decker froze their assets went to. Surely the CIA would have allowed them access to their own money?

Right, I mentioned earlier about glaring errors. For me the biggest one(s) came at the end with the flashback to Sarah in Director Graham’s office. Firstly, if this was her assignment to Burbank straight after Chuck had been sent the Intersect, why was there no mention of Bryce; he was supposed to be her partner after all.

Secondly, Graham says to her he thinks it’s time for her to become a handler. Initially, her mission involving Chuck was just to grab the intel from his computer, but she decided to stick around to see if he had a backup anywhere and find out how much he knew. She was never supposed to be his handler; it was only after it became clear that he had the Intersect in his head that she and Casey were assigned to be his handlers.

As a bit of a film reference nerd, I literally laughed out loud at the inclusion of a “Wilhelm scream” in the episode. You can catch it at the point when Ryker pushes the waiter down the stairs - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj1nuOl3WVc

Next time: Chuck Versus the Kept Man

GERTRUDE VERBANSKI RETURNS WITH A MISSION FOR CHUCK AND A PROPOSITION FOR CASEY — CARRIE-ANNE MOSS GUEST STARS — While Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) contemplate the next step for Carmichael Industries, Casey’s (Adam Baldwin) forbidden love, Gertrude Verbanski (guest star Carrie-Anne Moss, “The Matrix”), walks back into his life with a questionable mission in South Beach. Meanwhile, Jeff’s (Scott Krinsky) enhanced intelligence leads he and Lester (Vik Sahay) to suspect that something unusual may be happening at the Buy More. Joshua Gomez, Ryan McPartlin and Mark Christopher Lawrence also star.

Here’s the trailer, take a look: