Chuck Versus Sarah/Chuck Versus the Goodbye

Thanks for the memories. We wish a fond goodbye.

Photo Credit: NBC/TVFanatic.com

Well folks, that’s it. Last night saw the two-hour series finale of Chuck and it was everything we’d been promised. It was full of callbacks and emotion. Even a cold-hearted b*****d like me got a bit teary at times.

Even although it was the final two episodes, they functioned as one, to the point where they, again, dropped the opening credits for the second hour.

It was a trip down memory lane for both Sarah and us fans. From the assault on the D.A.R.P.A. lab, an homage to the very first scene of the pilot where Bryce Larkin steals the Intersect, right through to Chuck and Sarah’s dream house, it encapsulated the five amazing years we’ve had, without the need for flashbacks every few minutes.

The great thing about the finale is that it wasn’t just trying to remind Sarah why she fell in love with Chuck, it also served to remind us why we fell in love with the show.

It was funny, dramatic and touching in all the right quantities. What other spy drama wears its heart on its sleeve so openly?

The first hour, Chuck Versus Sarah, was certainly the darker of the two episodes, with Sarah manipulating those closest to her on Quinn’s orders and a lot of emotional pain for Chuck. At first we’re lead to believe that Sarah has killed Quinn, escaped, and still has enough of her memory to get home to those she loves.

Of course, she didn’t kill Quinn, but came pretty close to it, now he’s calling the shots pretending to be her handler. It’s quite amusing that Bizarro Sarah mistakes Chuck’s goofy good nature for a trap – one of the lighter moments of the episode.

Maybe it was just me, but Sarah seemed to soften slightly in deciding not to blow up the D.A.R.P.A. Intersect room. Could it have been that she didn’t see a need to kill Chuck, or perhaps it was just a disinclination to blow up a government facility.

Some of Sarah’s memory starts to come back once Chuck takes her to their dream home, although it’s not the house, or Chuck’s recounting of the dreams they had for the house, but the names she and he carved into a door frame.

Of course, once Quinn gets the Intersect glasses, Sarah is of no use to him, so he verifies Chuck’s story, that he’s been deceiving her and shoots at her. I think it was another step along the road that she was concerned about Chuck after he took the bullet for her.

Casey showed his gentler side by turning up at Sarah’s old room, telling her a bit about how they’d changed over the years and leaving the DVD of her mission logs. It was nice to see Sarah falling in love with Chuck via a series of small video diary entries.

Even although this all verified Chuck’s version of events, Sarah still didn’t feel that connection as she couldn’t remember going through all the things that made her fall in love with him.

The second episode saw Sarah back on the side of the good guys and gunning for Quinn. This allowed for more nostalgia and allowed this to be lighter as Chuck, and fate apparently, tried to take Sarah on a trip down memory lane.

The episode gave some of the usually mute Buy Morons a line or two of dialogue as Jeff and Lester were employed to help track down Sarah, using their network of contacts, or as Lester put it; “Unleash the perverts!”

We had references to Fulcrum, The Ring and Ted Roarke within the first few minutes of the episode, and the hits just kept on coming as Sarah, Chuck and Morgan went on a mission to find Renny Deutch in Berlin. First port of call was a restaurant that looked exactly like “El Compadre” in LA where Chuck and Sarah had their first cover date.

Next was a Russian consulate where we got a chance to see the pair dancing in eveningwear. This was followed by a trip to a Wienerlicious where it seemed that Sarah remembered a little more of her missing 5 years.

In an act that mirrored parts of “Chuck Versus the Ring” and his first mission in the pilot, Chuck once again put his personal desires aside in order to do what was right and took on the responsibility of the Intersect.

Thanks to Sarah, Chuck used the ‘Irene Demova’ virus from the pilot to defuse the bomb and save General Beckman, and likely a large part of the audience from being blown up.

However, the day could not have been saved by Chuck were it not for the intervention of a certain duo. One word: Jeffster!

Whereas in the season 2 finale, Jeffster played an unwitting part in helping, in this episode they were very much in on the plan. Despite turning up on their own initiative, they managed to save the day with a performance of A-ha’s ‘Take On Me’, earning them a standing ovation and the interest of a record producer from Germany.

In uploading the Intersect one last time, he was denied the opportunity to use the glasses to restore Sarah’s memory. As the team disbanded, with Casey leaving to go after Gertrude Verbanski, Sarah needed to take some time to find herself.

More pieces of her memory must have been resurfacing as she went to the beach where she had first told Chuck that he could trust her.

Taking advice from Morgan and following his heart, Chuck found her there and they started to reconnect. We got a montage of the couples important moments as Sarah asked Chuck to tell her their story and we fade to black as they share another first kiss.

 

Whilst Chuck and Sarah may have had a slightly ambiguous ending, others got their own happy endings. Alex and Morgan moved in together, Casey off to find Verbanski, Ellie and Awesome moving out to Chicago, Jeff and Lester getting a record contract. Even Big Mike got a happy ending, with Subway moving in to the Buy More!

Photo Credit: ZacharyLeviFan.com

“If you ever want to save the world again…. You know where I am.” – Gen. Beckman.

It’s been a fun ride.

Josh Schwartz, Chris Fedak, Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin, Joshua Gomez, Sarah Lancaster, Ryan McPartlin, Scott Krinsky, Vik Sahay, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Bonita Friedericy, Julia Ling, a whole host of guest stars, all the writers, directors, producers and the rest of the crew. All of you are responsible for a show that captured the hearts and minds of people the world over, and for that we thank you from the bottom of our nerdy little hearts.

 

*fade to black*

Chuck Versus the Bullet Train

The Train Job and Jeffster! to the rescue!

Photo Credit: Byron Cohen/NBC

As we race towards the final two episodes, last night showed us that the stakes have never been higher. Like Shaw, Nicholas Quinn (Angus Mcfadyen) is a man obsessed with getting rid of Chuck Bartowski, but Quinn has had a lot longer to stew and a lot more failed attempts, given his client list.

Sarah revealed to Chuck that she had uploaded the dodgy Intersect, explaining that she’d had no other options. Considering the circumstances, Chuck did very well not to freak out.

There was a great moment between them, after an awkward silence, where they bond further over having the Intersect. It reminded me of the Smallville episodes where Lana/Lois get Clarks powers; it gives you a deeper understanding of how awesome it is to have superpowers, but there is always a catch. In this case, the Intersect is wiping Sarah’s memory, although 40 flashes in two days is a little excessive. Even a clean Intersect shouldn’t be such a crutch.

Chuck almost managed to hold his own in the fight against Quinn in the train carriage, considering that Quinn boasted that the only thing he couldn’t take down was the Intersect. As it was, he managed to make a getaway and captured Sarah, dropping her with a tranq dart and disconnecting their carriage from the train, leaving Chuck watching helplessly.

At a warehouse location Quinn used Intersect images to stimulate Sarah to flash, damaging her memory so that she could be his ‘soldier’. I liked that although Casey, Chuck and Morgan tracked her emergency beacon to the location, all that was waiting for them was the beacon and a note saying "Nice Try!" Things won't be wrapped up that easily.

Craftily taking Sarah back to her old hotel room, Quinn used the memory loss to create a new scenario with him as her handler. The new mission: kill Chuck Bartowski. So it seems that the next episode, Chuck Versus Sarah, is just that. It seems quite fitting that part of the drama of the finale will come not from a new villain, but as a threat from one of the very people at the heart of the show. Chuck will have to defeat his wife in order to save both their lives.

The secondary story brought Jeff and Lester back into the fold. With Alex being kidnapped by two of Quinn’s goons, one of whom was played by Farscape/Stargate SG-1’s Ben Browder, it was up to Morgan and Awesome to rescue her. Things didn’t go too well as they were spotted, although it probably didn’t help that Morgan was walking through the parking lot with a large sniper rifle.

It occurred to me when Morgan commented that he’d never sniped “wet or dry”(obviously he's never encountered the ‘wetworks’ euphemism) that while he’ll never have done it for real, surely he’s sniped in games, such as Call of Duty. It might not be the same, but at least it’s a slight advantage over a novice.

Anyway, with Awesome and Morgan captured as well, Lester picked up Morgan’s earpiece and hilarity followed. Casey told them to go to his Crown Vic and take a pistol each, but they broke out the heavy artillery. Cue Lester Rambo with the mini-gun, chewing on one of Casey’s cigars (and I don’t think he’d be happy with that!) and Jeff being a little scary with the flamethrower. I’d have surrendered; never mess with disturbed people with powerful toys!

Now Jeff and Lester have been officially let in on the secret of Carmichael Industries, will Big Mike find out in the final episodes? He is the last one of the principal characters not to know about it, so I think it would only be fair.

A couple of other points: As well as having Sarah’s old place feature, we had a nice callback to the Strip Kick from last season and, of course, Casey’s Crown Vic! I also loved the 80’s style train-track titles that were used in this episode.

I wonder if the warehouse that Quinn took Sarah to was actually a set-dressed workspace behind the normal sets for Chuck. It had a certain look to it, with the scaffolding at one side looking like there might be a set, possibly the train, behind it.

Next time: Chuck Versus Sarah/Chuck Versus the Goodbye

SARAH MUST KEEP A SECRET FROM CHUCK IN ORDER TO ACCOMPLISH A MISSION — ANGUS MACFADYEN GUEST STARS AS ‘NICHOLAS QUINN’ — After a harrowing mission, Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) returns to Chuck (Zachary Levi) with a huge secret. Meanwhile, Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) and Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) are presented with a new opportunity that could change their lives. Adam Baldwin and Joshua Gomez also star.

Then

CHUCK’S FINAL MISSION BRINGS HIM BACK TO HIS ROOTS AS HE FIGHTS TO SAVE HIS FUTURE – ANGUS MACFADYEN AND LINDA HAMILTON GUEST STAR — Chuck (Zachary Levi) enlists his family, friends and some unexpected allies as he races to stop Nicholas Quinn (guest star Angus Macfadyen, “Braveheart”) from destroying everything Chuck has built over the past five years. Yvonne Strahovski, Joshua Gomez, Adam Baldwin, Sarah Lancaster, Scott Krinsky, Vik Sahay and Mark Christopher Lawrence also star.

Here’s the trailer, take a look:

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:

Chuck Versus the Santa Suit

The Grinch who (almost) stole Christmas!

Photo Credit: Mike Ansell/NBC

What a Christmas treat we got with last night’s Chuck! This is certainly my favourite episode of the season so far and one of my favourites of the series. It just goes to show how good an episode it was when the colossal spoiler in the promo that NBC aired two weeks ago had little impact on the enjoyment of it.

That being said, there is a bit of a large plot hole, so let’s get it out of the way quickly. Surely the CIA would have de-Intersected Shaw when they took him into custody, knowing how dangerous he and it can be. Since they apparently didn’t, the question arises; how did he survive for two years without a Governor?

Right, gripe out of the way, now I can get to the rest of the episode.

This episode was fantastically done, blending pretty much all of the elements that make for a really good hour of Chuck. It also featured the entire ensemble with Team B, Ellie and Awesome and the Buy Morons all getting to play their part.

For a change, Jeff and Lester proved instrumental in the payoff without it being dumb luck thanks to one of their schemes having wider repercussions. You could say that, for a while, they were an unofficial part of the Carmichael Industries team. Plus it was a great chance to have a Subway promotional plug (one of two – the second being a more subtle one at the CIA Christmas party) with Jeff doing a Big Mike and describing the ingredients of his delicious Subway sandwich.

Adam Baldwin got a little comedy, a little action and a lot of heart with this episode. His reaction to Chuck and Morgan finding out about his present for Alex was brilliant, and the scene where he begins to record his ‘final’ message for her on the bear was very moving. Of course he got to tell Alex in person and, caught up in his ‘lady feelings’, even gave her a nudge in Morgan’s direction – “You know, that.. that Grimes kid, he’s not that bad. You should maybe give him another chance.”

Shaw was unpopular during Season 3, even before he did his heel turn. Quite a bit of it was to do with him getting between Chuck and Sarah, and some of it was to do with the fact that he seemed so wooden. When he returned last night, there was a great desire form the fans to see him get his ass kicked up and down the Buy More. We weren’t disappointed, although I’m sure some of us would have liked to have seen him put down permanently.

After he regressed to the old Chuck last week, it was a relief to see Chuck back on form. He had a plan; he utilized everyone at his disposal, used his nerd skills and his physical training to win the day and save the world from Daniel Shaw.

I have to admit that from last week’s promo, I thought that maybe Chuck got the Intersect back, courtesy of Gen. Beckman. When we found out that Jeff and Lester had cracked the Omen code, I figured that Chuck would use it against Shaw. It was quite amusing and ironic that he used the bluff from Superman II, where Superman makes Zod think he has the upper hand when in fact he’s removed his powers.

I felt that the fight scene in the Buy More this time around was better than when both Shaw and Chuck had the Intersect. This fight was not between two guys with near superpowers, it was between two guys who hated each other. Plus we had Ellie get in on the action by clocking Shaw on the back of the head, bringing the fight to an end!

Now that Shaw is locked away you would have thought that his villainy could no longer affect our heroes, but then you get that final scene between Shaw and Sarah. Oh boy, that is a cliffhanger to ponder over Christmas! Whose baby do you think Shaw is referring to? Post your theories in the comments section.

Of course, now that the vendetta against Chuck has come to a close as far as the CIA are concerned, he should be getting back all of the assets that were frozen by Decker, meaning that Carmichael Industries should be rich once again. Having been offered open positions at the CIA means that there are a few options open to each of them.

Where will the story go after next episode? Few people know, but I am very interested to see how it all plays out.

 

Next time: Chuck Versus the Baby

SARAH’S PAST COMES BACK TO HAUNT HER AND THREATENS THOSE CLOSEST TO HER — CHERYL LADD AND TIM DEKAY GUEST STAR — Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) is forced to confront a secret from her past and feels she must do so alone, while Chuck (Zachary Levi) urges her to let him help. When Sarah encounters her original handler, Kieran Ryker (guest star Tim Dekay, “White Collar”), she fears that he will harm those closest to her, including her mom (guest star Cheryl Ladd, “Las Vegas”). Adam Baldwin, Joshua Gomez, Sarah Lancaster and Ryan McPartlin also star. 

Here’s the trailer, take a look:

Chuck Versus the Curse

Being a spy can be torture. Who wants a martini?

Photo Credit: Byron Cohen/NBC

The Buy Morons got the week off as Devon and Ellie got unwittingly involved in the spy game again in last night’s episode. We could all see that pretending to be spies whilst out on a date using Chuck’s OpenTable account would end up causing trouble.

Both thinking that each other set up ‘Operation Eagle’, they stumbled into what turned out to be a bluff for us fans. Being transported to a safe location on the orders of Beckman, they assumed, as we initially did, that it was the bad guys who had captured them. I have to say I quite liked the ‘tuck and roll’ exit from the car as it slowed down. Obviously the doors we saw locking when they got in weren’t childproof!

Team Awesome did pretty well for themselves. Despite not being real spies, they certainly worked well as a spy team. I mentioned on Twitter that Ellie is both a Bartowski and Mrs Awesome, and both aspects certainly showed in this episode.

In fact, there were a couple of other pairings that worked well together; Casey and Beckman for one, and the other non-spy couple Morgan and Alex.

It was nice to see General Beckman out of the office and involved with Team Bartowski again. Like she said, “It was a bit like old times, wasn’t it?”

It was also nice to have Ellie not playing second fiddle to Sarah in the glamour stakes, even giving her the sexy ‘getting ready’ montage. Since they’ve had Sarah Lancaster in either scrubs or plain looking clothes for a lot of the series, it’s good when someone decides to put her in a slinky dress, such as in ‘Versus the Coup d’Etat’ and remind us how hot she actually is.

This whole episode was very much a showcase of the strong females, Ellie, Sarah, Alex and General Beckman. Each of them was responsible for the success of the respective missions.

Meanwhile, the guys were not being quite so clever. Chuck went back to his old self; having his feelings for his family get in the way of making the right decision, Morgan was ready to attempt something overly complicated and, whilst Awesome came up with some good ideas, he ultimately got into deeper trouble.

I liked the B-plot in this, with Morgan having to complete a mission for Casey and retrieve Chuck’s P.A.N.T.S. It was a good excuse to have him working with Alex and they certainly worked well together.

Do we think that Morgan and Alex will have a reconciliation before the end of the series? I think so; all of the signs are there, just look at her face when she opens his box of personal artifacts.

I note that Morgan said that he and Chuck went through an acronym phase when they were younger. When they were younger? Come on, Morgan is still in that phase, you just have to look at T.I.T.S. (yes, I know! :D)

My one problem with the close of the episode is that the whole storyline with the government hunting Team B was wrapped up in an incredibly easy way. Sure, from the look on Robin Cunnings’ face, she would rather give up everything than get a taste of her own medicine, but it was very much a quick fix.

I understand that there are time constraints, given the fast approaching end of the series, but it just felt a little too neat.

We had Casey being broken out of prison at the end of the last episode, and it seems we've got another happening at the end of this one. Because of the spoilers that we’ve seen, we know that Shaw must be prisoner 1647. So it seems that releasing the Omen virus was just part of the plan in order to facilitate his escape. Essentially, the whole episode was about getting to that part.

Next time: Chuck Versus the Santa Suit

Chuck and Sarah learn who is trying to destroy Carmichael Industries; Ellie's Christmas plans come undone; a computer virus threatens to ruin Christmas at Buy More. Stan Lee guest stars.

Here’s the trailer, take a look:

From his comment to Shaw, it seems like Chuck might be getting the Intersect back! Exciting stuff ahead :)

Chuck Versus the Business Trip

Missile Command is a part of our process.

Photo Credit: NBC

What a fun episode it was this week with most of the elements that make Chuck great being used. It brought the Morgan-sect storyline to a close and re-affirmed just how much of a snake Decker is. To me it felt, in places, like an episode from late in the first season; a fun mission with a little bit of danger and no Intersect kung-fu to help them.

Even before the opening credits, Morgan has the Intersect removed, but not before having one last ‘zoom’ and what a fun way to go out. Chuck and Sarah were having a lot of fun throwing shuriken, or ‘ninja stars’, at Morgan, who himself was having fun catching them in various ways. Casey and Beckman, however, were less than impressed by the shenanigans; just the look on their faces was priceless!

The mission to draw out The Viper gave us some good relationship moments between Chuck and Sarah. A couple of points reminded me of ‘Versus the Suburbs’ where, despite it being a mission, they were trying to blend in as a normal couple and wondering what that would be like.

Sarah seemed so excited that she’d made a ‘normal’ friend. It was really sweet the way she said “I think that she just really likes me” in such a hopeful way. Made me go ‘awwww’ anyway. She really wants to have a normal life and hanging out with normal people reinforces that for her.

Not everyone there is normal though. Apart for the assassin and the decoy assassin there is the worrying furry-fetishist. It certainly explains why Yvonne was beating up a guy in a rabbit suit (an went for the nuts straight off!) on the Coco-Cam that we’ve all seen.*

*If you’ve somehow missed it – here ‘s a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFzzqQDfnDc

Whilst the mission at the Buy More convention is going on, Casey is left babysitting Morgan. His re-nerd-ucation starts with watching Star Wars, but Casey tricks him into watching Episode 1 first by telling him “everyone loves Phantom Menace”. The cruel man, although he obviously has picked up some nerd knowledge along the way.

Morgan, of course, starts watching it and voices the opinion of a large number of nerds everywhere: “I would rather scratch out my eyeballs than to listen to that Jar-Jar Binks any more.” We’re with you buddy.

Casey then tells him he lied and to start with the original trilogy. Then he goes and gives away the twists about Darth Vader and Leia, robbing Morgan of the revelations. He’s still mad that Morgan broke up with Alex and hurt her.

Casey makes up for it eventually by getting Morgan the Indiana Jones trilogy. Morgan is wary, asking if there are only 3, and that Casey isn’t keeping the best one from him. In his own way, he’s helping Morgan because I think a number of us wish we could unsee the mess that was ‘Crystal Skull’.

This week had, in my opinion, the best use of the Buy More for a while. As well as it being the reason for the convention, it gave us more on the Jeff/Lester relationship. Now that Jeff has become a functioning human being, Lester has become rather bitter about it. The fact that Jeff has turned into a company man, inspiring the rest of the staff to vow to work harder for the next year, has brought out that dark side of Lester. He was willing to pump carbon monoxide into the break room to get Jeff back to his brain damaged self, and in the process could have killed Big Mike.

This gave us the return of the word that will forever be code in the Chuck fandom. Whilst being wheeled out of the Buy More in a wheelbarrow by Jeff, Big Mike shouts the word that must not be spoken; “Pineapple!”

Not since the first season have we heard the word, so that was a nice little call back to the roots of the show.
Again, going back to how it felt very season 1, there was a parallel with the very same episode in which we discovered 'pineapple'. In 'Chuck Versus the Nemesis' the store was evacuated, leaving the Fulcrum assassins alone in the store with Chuck and Casey. Sarah and Bryce come in to help rescue them. In this episode, the store is evacuated leaving Morgan and Alex alone with The Viper after them. Chuck and Sarah come in to help rescue them.

The new and improved Jeff was even able to help out Captain Awesome. With the fresh air helping his intuition, he could see that Ellie wasn’t happy being at work and that she wanted to be at home with baby Clara. Devon decided to go back to work to give Ellie time at home, lying that all the house-husbandry and mother and baby classes were driving him nuts so that Ellie could be happy and spend time with her daughter.

Casey proved that he’s still a badass. Following The Viper, he found out that although Decker officially rescinded the kill order on Morgan, he was unofficially approving The Viper kill everyone in Chuck’s life who knew about her, with the exception of Chuck and Sarah. With Alex, Morgan and Casey all in danger, he took out The Viper and her team of six men because it was necessary. I have to say that he manage to shoot five guys and The Viper in an impressive three seconds; that’s why you don’t mess with the Casey.

During the week, we were all submitting how our lives have changed due to the show using the hashtag #BecauseOfChuck. It was another fun coincidence (remember the baseball dig in the first episode) that we got to hear Sarah’s #BecauseOfChuck;

"I've been having a hard time with the fact that I have no real friends, but I look around here at all of you today and I realize that because of Chuck, I do."

We ended up with two characters being arrested, with Lester having pumped exhaust fumes into the Buy More break room, he was taken away for attempted homicide. Decker came to arrest Casey for the murder of the Viper and her team and since he’s no longer working for the government; he has no license to kill. Actions have consequences, so it will be interesting to see how everything is resolved.

 

Next episode airs December 9th: Chuck Versus the Hack Off

A mission to track down a computer super virus leads Chuck (Zachary Levi) to return to his roots as a hacker — and to call on his biggest competition, Gertrude Verbanksi (guest star Carrie-Anne Moss), for help. Elsewhere, a new Buy More employee (guest star Danny Pudi) complicates Jeff (Scott Krinsky) and Lester’s (Vik Sahay) friendship. Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin, and Joshua Gomez also star.

Here's the trailer, take a look:


Thanks to Chuck & Sarah Media at chucksarahmedia.com for the trailer.

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 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:

Chuck Vs The Cat Squad

He called, He texted, He emailed. Why didn’t he try Twitter?

Photo Credit: Adam Rose/NBC

 

Sarah Walker’s past comes back with a bang in the form of her old team The CAT Squad. Cue the opening sequence pastiche of Charlie’s Angels, similar to last season’s homage to ‘Hart To Hart’. Morgan really loves those old shows, doesn’t he?

Despite this being a fun action-y episode, there were a lot of good emotional character moments. I know I’m not alone in loving the interaction between Sarah and Ellie; the whole scene at the end was wonderfully done, with Sarah truly embracing an almost sisterly relationship with Ellie.

I’m hoping that this relationship between the two will add something to the show, especially with imminent Mr & Mrs Smith comparisons once Chuck and Sarah do get married, assuming that the wedding isn’t hijacked and we have to wait and pray for a 5^th season to get there.

Chuck and Sarah were arguing and making up again, both realizing each other’s needs and managing to come to a compromise. Chuck wanted Sarah to embrace her past and have the things that he took for granted, but it doesn’t always work out like that, especially for a spy.

The mission was simple enough, get into a party, capture Lou Diamond Phillips and learn the identity of the mole.

My initial thought was that it was going to be a bust right from the moment they planned it. You suspect one of the CAT Squad of being a mole, so you plan the entire mission with all of them in the room. Can you see a flaw here?

I think a number of us guessed pretty early on that ditzy party loving Amy would be the mole. We’d already seen Carina be untrustworthy but ultimately come good in the first season, and so much suspicion was heaped on Zondra that it couldn’t have been her. I’m surprised that Casey let any of them in on his interrogation of Gaez.

Anyway, during the mission Chuck managed to maintain form and fumble at a crucial moment, falling through the skylight and dangling there like a covert piñata. Luckily his easily accessible intersect skills kicked in and he was able to tranq the dozen guards! Casey managed to provide backup and provide extraction by fist.

Meanwhile, Morgan had a mission of his own: to save his relationship with Alex. With Carina back in the picture, obviously still toying with ‘Martin’, it was always going to be awkward. Since she only became interested in him after he spurned her, it was inevitable that she would be interested in him now that he’s unavailable. However, she did spur Morgan into making a commitment and saying those three important words to Alex.

I’ve said before that Morgan seems to be a microcosmic version of Chuck these days; he’s grown from a bumbling nerd into a pretty competent spy, has a relationship with a beautiful woman, and has managed to tell her he loves her and had affirmation that she feels the same way about him (although it took less than 3 seasons for that to happen).

If, during the first season, you’d been told that Morgan would have two women fighting for his affection, I doubt you would have believed them. I certainly wouldn’t have, yet here we are.

A couple of random notes to finish; I wish that I were as perky as Sarah when I have a hangover. After a night of parties, she still manages to be as gorgeous as ever and completely coherent!

Also, despite the Buy More featuring in several scenes, this was the second episode in a row without Big Mike, Jeff and Lester. Hopefully they’ll be back soon to provide some Buy Moron shenanigans.

Finally, anyone who Googled CAT Squad will have found that there was an awful TV movie directed by William Friedkin called The C.A.T. Squad.

IMDB synopsis here - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090783/

Next episode: Chuck Vs The Masquerade – Valentine’s Day is interrupted when Chuck and the team are sent on a mission to England to protect a reclusive young heiress, Vivian McArthur (guest star Lauren Cohan). Meanwhile, Casey gets an offer from the mysterious Jane Bentley (guest star Robin Givens). Back at home, Ellie and Awesome find an unlikely solution to a parenting problem, as Morgan ponders a big move.
From certain lines in the promo for next week, it could also have been called Chuck Vs Eyes Wide Shut! Take a look:

Chuck Vs The Seduction Impossible

Just for the record, I will not be dressing as a belly dancer at any point either.

Photo Credit: Chris Haston/NBC

 John Larroquette made a welcome return to Chuck in the latest episode as suave spy Roan Montgomery. The spy to whom generations of the finest agents owe their seduction skills was in a bit of hot water in Marrakech, or at least he was after Team Bartowski showed up!

This being the first episode after the Volkoff arc, was a chance to slow the pace down a bit, but there were a number of things going on. We had all the relationships that were either featured or touched on; pretty much everyone from the main cast had a little bit of relationship story, be it large, like Chuck and Sarah, Beckman and Roan, or small, like touching upon the relationship between Alex and her mom, who is moving on with her life.

Sarah’s relationship with her family was brought up, signposting the way for the next set of stories.

We also had the relationship between Ellie and Mary. Both of them are making great strides in rebuilding their relationship to one another, in no small part due to the birth of baby Clara.

Interestingly, Ellie seems to have no problem with Mary going off and being a spy once again, rather than settling down with the family. Does this mean she’s accepting the fact that the spy business runs in her family?

There is an interesting parallel in the very first scene; we open with everyone crowded around Clara, freaking her out, quite frankly. Clara registers her displeasure at this by doing what babies do; she starts crying. The next minute, the Bartowski/Woodcomb alliance turns to Sarah and Chuck and starts doing the same thing, crowding them with plans for the wedding and who to get for this, what to do for that. Team B escape from that situation, not by crying, but by bugging out to Castle and begging Beckman for a mission.

This episode brilliantly brought to the fore a gag from the previous Larroquette episode, Season 2’s ‘Chuck Vs The Seduction’ in which General Beckman and Montgomery have a ‘thing’.

As Beckman is usually the character that shows how things should be done in the spy world, it was nice to see her swap sides of the table and be emotionally invested in the mission. I loved that the general got to be a part of the action this time, something I think we’ve been waiting to see for a while. Rather than being on a monitor, or even interacting with Team B, she actually got to be in the thick of it, making this the first episode with a proper Beckman story line.

I’m sure that many of you cheered or clapped or made some sort of celebratory gesture when she whipped out that rocket launcher. Go get ‘em G’Becks!

Also, what about that flashback to Berlin, 1989? For the first time in the series, Diane Beckman got her some sugar!

*Thanks to whoever chose classic cheesy ’89 anthem ‘Wind Of Change’ to represent that time, rather than the terrible cheese that was David Hasslehoff’s ‘Looking For Freedom’

After spending a great deal of time in a hospital bed last episode, Casey was back doing what he loves – hiding in walls! It’ll be a tough time for him when they come across a villain who has cavity wall insulation.

We got to see Casey attempt to seduce the most macho female guard and fail quite impressively. Maybe Roan lied to him about why he failed the seduction class twice, or perhaps he’s just lost it after years of embracing his angry centre.

He did manage to take out those three guards by shooting through the hole in the wall, although in that scene, they did use the clichéd “take one step to the left. The other left, idiot.” which I’m sure most of us saw coming a mile off.

Next episode: Chuck Vs The Cat Squad – Chuck surprises Sarah with her old spy team, The C.A.T. Squad, leading to a mission in Rio. As The C.A.T. Squad works to settle a score with Augusto Gaez (guest star Lou Diamond Phillips), old secrets and grudges come to light. Back at the Buy More, Morgan fends off the advances of Carina, a former flame and frisky member of The C.A.T Squad.

Chuck Vs The Push Mix

I’m at my peak, mentally and physically. I’ve been doing yoga. Bring on the lasers!

Photo Credit: Jordin Althaus/NBC

When NBC originally commissioned the fourth season, this episode was meant to be the season finale, if not series finale. However, with the addition of a further 11 episodes, this just became number 13 of 24.

 It had all the feel of a finale; the plot points we’ve been building to were resolved and each of our protagonists got a happy ending. Volkoff was taken down, ending not only his evil empire, but also the separation of the Bartowski family as Mama B finally came home after two decades; Ellie and Awesome now have their own little Awesome, and Chuck finally managed to propose to Sarah.

 However, unlike other season finales, no other elements were brought in. At the end of Season 2 in ‘Chuck vs The Ring’ we had the introduction of The Ring and the cliffhanger of “guys, I know kung-fu!” In ‘Chuck vs The Ring Part II’ we had Orion’s secret base uncovered and the mission to find Mama B was introduced.

As a spy, Chuck has never been more competent or devious than in this episode. Fans will note that the Intersect was barely used the whole time, and when it was used, Chuck was flashing on intel rather than an ability; something we’ve not seen for a while.

In the execution of the plan to bring down Volkoff and rescue his mother, Chuck showed that he was an equal to Sarah. Not only did he do the mission without relying on the Intersect, but also, despite the danger, he was willing to risk everything for the people he loved.

 As Alexei Volkoff, Timothy Dalton has proved himself as the best ‘big bad’ of the series. Fulcrum were a little sporadic, The Ring were a little weak at times, Shaw was ….. well, best not to go there, but Volkoff was both menacing and fun, evil yet entertaining.

 The writers did a spectacular job in creating this character, and Dalton absolutely nailed the performance every single time. Sure, the show is genre spanning, but the scenes between Dalton and Linda Hamilton showed that, when they want it to be, ‘Chuck’ can be a brilliantly compelling a spy drama.

As mentioned at the start, Chuck managed to propose to Sarah. Taking Casey’s advice, he didn’t need a romantic setting, so he proposed to her in that hospital corridor. We didn’t need any dialogue to know how he asked, or what the answer was, as the body language in that scene said it all. Cleverly, the floor buffing machine served two purposes in the scene; firstly to show how unromantic the setting was, and secondly to understate the scene – there was no dialogue, no music, just the sound of the buffer and a slow fade to black as Sarah gives the answer we’ve all been waiting for.

Whoever decided to have the proposal in the background with the buffer drowing out the dialogue is a genius. After having the whole big romantic gesture going on in ‘Chuck vs The Balcony’, the subdued nature of the scene just made it that more powerful for me.

Finally, we got another performance from Jeffster! which recalled classic Jeff and Lester; entirely inappropriate and almost cringe worthy at times. I liked how it seemed to split the ‘audience’ in the hospital, we had those who were shocked and appalled, and those who were actually enjoying the performance and even dancing with the boys! Ellie’s face when she heard them over the intercom was priceless. As well as the choice of song and her general dislike of them, she was no doubt recalling their impromptu performance that ended up ruining her first attempt at a wedding.
Speaking of the creepy duo, I’m hoping that they were out of earshot when Chuck was discussing the CIA undercover protection team for Ellie and Awesome. He wasn’t really speaking in hushed tones and neither Jeff nor Lester seemed to be that far away from the Nerd Herd station!

Hopefully, now that we’ve zipped through 13 episodes, the final 11 will have a bit more breathing space. With a story that most shows would take 2 seasons to tell, everything was building to last night in a very short time. Now they have room to play about a bit, Josh Schwartz said that the next episode will be a “launching pad” for a new story-arc, although where it will go from there is anyone’s guess.

Next episode: Chuck Vs The Seduction Impossible – Team Bartowski travel to Morocco to rescue suave spy Roan Montgomery and Sarah dresses as a belly dancer. Miss it at your peril!
 
 

Chuck Vs The Gobbler

Back in black – is it Sarah Walker or Miranda Lawson?

 

Credit: NBC

 After setting up Sarah’s mission to infiltrate Volkoff Industries last week, no time was wasted in getting straight to it. Of course, since the initial run was supposed to be 13 episodes, the next one would have been the finale. This means that in order to move the story along quickly, certain elements felt a little rushed.

 The reunion in Castle where Sarah reveals her new look felt a little off. We don’t know how much time has passed between the end of last episode and this one, but it seems that Sarah has had time to do a number of rogue missions to attract the attention of Volkoff. As it was, it seemed like Sarah had barely been gone a week, meaning that I wasn’t getting the relationship anxiety that our hero couple were feeling over their separation.

 Talking of missions, the whole part with Sarah breaking Yuri “The Gobbler” out of prison was amusing enough, but is so full of plot-holes that you’d have difficulty telling it apart from Swiss cheese.

 It shows what kind of man Casey still is when Team B are presented with pictures of Yuri’s victims. Both Morgan and Chuck are slightly disgusted by them; Casey’s remark is “impressive.”

 As a whole, the episode was very enjoyable, and certainly a far cry from the light, romantic fare that we had last week. Everything was mapped out in colours during the show; the shadier world of Volkoff was very much in dark colours, best illustrated by the fact Sarah was all in black, even her hair colour, whereas we had the light colours of the Buy More, the apartments, and even the hospital at the end.

 The inclusion of Ellie and Awesome and their indecision over what to name the baby felt a little weak, almost as if it had been shoehorned in to show that a) the writers hadn’t forgotten they were there and b) somehow we needed to be reminded that there was a baby on the way as we haven’t seen them for a while.

 It was nice to see them, and it did give an excuse to work the Buy Morons into the story, because I really don’t think they would have had any part in this episode otherwise.

 I’m also not sure how our favourite ‘employee of the month’ rejects will fit into next weeks not-a-finale finale

* A little side-note – if you want to be as stylish as the Woodcombs, then you can get the Grunka set from Ikea. It may have been one of the most unusual, but subtle product placements in the show, because it does exist. It’s a 4-piece utensil set with a spoon, a ladle, a spatula and a spaghetti server.

 I liked the visual metaphor at the end for how the characters were feeling. Whilst Alex was by Casey’s bedside with Morgan, showing the love that they felt for one another, both Chuck and Sarah were sitting alone, feeling isolated.

 Sarah’s isolation is a choice that she made, but she can’t help feeling lonely without Chuck. I suppose her consolation is that she’ll be with him again once this is all over.

 Chuck, on the other hand, isn’t sure where Sarah’s loyalties lie, now that she appears to have tried to kill Casey. Without Casey to reassure him, and explain that side of the plan, he feels lost and alone.

 It was nice that Morgan and Casey’s discussion about expressing love had a payoff, like a metaphysical “Chekhov’s Gun”.

Next episode: Chuck Vs The Push Mix – and from the promo, it looks like an epic end to the Volkoff storyline. Add to that the fact that the last 10 minutes are “the best 10 minutes of Chuck ever” according to Schwartz & Fedak, and you have NO reason to miss it.

 Oh and finally, Easter egg that everyone got – Chuck’s inmate number – 092980 – which is Zac’s birthday.