Chuck Versus the Kept Man

Assignment: Miami Beach. Sun, sea, subterfuge and spiralling!

Photo Credit: NBC

The first Chuck episode of the New Year was one that followed the pattern of the last couple of episodes by giving a certain amount of closure to one of Team Bartowski. This time it was the turn of John Casey, the stoic military man who seems averse to warm fuzzy feelings.

Gertrude Verbanski made a return; not because she was no longer wanted for murder, but to come back to Casey. She’s a strong woman and once she sets her mind to getting something she wants, she is very persistent.

The expensive gift of the cashmere sweater was certainly not Casey’s style, something I thought she’d have known. Give him harsh conditions and gunplay and he’s happy as a pig in mud.

She had to resort to hiring Carmichael Industries for what was essentially a ruse to get Casey to Miami for a booty call. There was a mission, but it was largely time for a bit of private R&R and then time for some nefarious dealings.

He did succumb to her at one point during the ‘mission’ at the hotel in Miami, allowing her to exercise her dominant nature and play rough with him. It was probably one of the most unusual uses of a Casey grunt we’ve had in the series, although thankfully (for most of us) it was off screen.

Chuck, after Sarah walks in on Casey and Verbanski: “Sarah, what’s wrong?” 
Sarah: “Everything. It’s all wrong.”

It was quite a comedic episode for Yvonne Strahovski with her quizzical and disgusted looks and her meta reference complaining about how many skimpy outfits she’s had to wear for the missions.

We had Sarah’s pregnancy scare, leading Chuck to start ‘spiralling’ towards freaking out. Then of course Sarah started spiralling in their discussion before she went to aid Casey in rescuing Verbanski.

One of the neat little tricks I liked during the episode was Chuck and then Sarah tuning in to the dangers around them. It was in tune with the audience understanding that no matter what situation the find themselves in, they always manage to survive it.

I’m actually wondering if a major character will be killed off in these last few hours of the series, just to throw us a curveball.

In the Buy More sub-plot this time around, we had Jeff piecing together the puzzle of what goes on behind the scenes. Using a noteboard in the way that Chuck used the back of his Tron poster, he deduced that Sarah and Casey were spies and that Chuck was an asset. Okay, so he was a bit late with the info, but he was brain damaged up until recently.

It was fun to see Jeff and Lester tracking Awesome on the ‘drop’. They have done some “pretty decent spy work” before in ‘Versus the Best Friend’, but of course we knew that Awesome was acting as a decoy and knew he was being followed.

It certainly was, how should I put this, ‘interesting’ to see Lester embrace the feminine side everyone has talked about. He even got the wind machine!

I loved the fact that Morgan used Awesome to fake them out, but that Jeff, thanks to Lester, found out the truth and busted through the fake wall to see Chuck, Sarah and Morgan in Castle.

I’ll be interested to see if they try to use this newfound knowledge to wangle themselves positions in Carmichael Industries.

It seems that pretty much everything is wrapped up, although we didn’t get Casey’s reaction to Chuck and Sarah deciding not to rejoin the CIA, although the option is still open to him. Would he choose to go back, or do the roots he’s been putting down in Burbank have a stronger hold on him? Will we ever find out?

Next time: Chuck Versus Bo

MORGAN FACES THE CONSEQUENCES OF HIS TIME AS THE INTERSECT WHEN HE MUST PIECE TOGETHER A LOST WEEKEND IN VAIL — BO DEREK (“10″) AND ANGUS MACFADYEN (“BRAVEHEART”) GUEST STAR — As Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) try to realize a new, safer future, Morgan’s (Joshua Gomez) past as the Intersect sends them to Vail on one last mission, where they enlist the help of an unlikely source — the legendary Bo Derek (as herself). Elsewhere, Jeff (Scott Krinsky) and Lester (Vik Sahay) continue their own spy mission. Adam Baldwin, Sarah Lancaster and Mark Christopher Lawrence also star.

Here’s the trailer, take a look:

Chuck Versus the Frosted Tips

Thank you for pantsing me.

Photo credit: Jordin Althaus/NBC

So, this week had a few twists and turns. We knew from last week that the Intersect was changing Morgan, not for the better either, and him betraying the team to offer his services to Verbanski Corp. was a clear sign that all was not well.

I’d assumed that the Intersect was going haywire in Morgan because his neurological structure couldn’t handle the amount of information and was overwriting parts of his brain.

Of course this week we found out that Beckman did not send Chuck the Intersect glasses. We have to assume, as Team B did, that Decker planted them with the intent that Chuck be uploaded with the Trojan Horse laden programme. Although, what the plan was for Chuck having it isn’t clear to me.

The main theme of the episode seemed to be relationships; namely the ones between Chuck & Morgan and Casey & Verbanski with bits of Morgan & Alex and even Jeff & Lester thrown in.

Chuck’s friendship with Morgan seemed to blind him to why he was becoming such an egotistical ass, having seen that sort of behaviour in him before. It took Sarah talking with both Ellie and Beckman for him to realise that it wasn’t all Morgan, but the Intersect amplifying his egomania.

I did like the little scene between them at Verbanski Corp. Having taken out all the other trainees, Chuck takes on Morgan and, despite not having the Intersect, hold his own (although it was short and tailored not to be a stunt heavy fight to accommodate the actors) before revealing his identity.

Talking of fights and Verbanski, I see what they meant about ‘erotically charged’ when it came to the fight between Casey and Verbanski! I’d say it was probably more overtly sexual than the ‘gun cleaning’ scene between Casey and Alex Forrest in “Versus the Broken Heart”. I had to laugh at Casey’s face when Gertrude reversed the hold and had him bent over the desk; surprise, annoyance and confusion all manifested there. Priceless!

It was nice to see that Casey can be just as hopelessly awkward with a love interest in a non-violent situation as the rest of us. That being said, he used Sarah as his wingman in a non-traditional form, and then planted a bug on Verbanski so that he could monitor her covertly. Jeff would be proud of you Casey!

Of course, Casey’s lack of social smarts when it comes to the opposite sex stem largely from not being used to opening himself up to emotional vulnerability, which is a good thing for a spy; one less thing that can be used against you, one less thing to get in the way of the job. The thing is, Casey is not just a ruthless assassin/spy any more, he’s also a friend and, more importantly, a father.

The scene between Alex and Casey showed that he’s both protective of his daughter and still unused to the role. I don’t think many fathers would suggest ‘working over’ the guy who dumped their daughter!

The B-story this week gave us Awesome left looking after baby Clara and realising that being a stay-at-home dad was not as easy as he thought. He quickly lost himself, taking advice from himself via the Buy More advert, which lead us to the Buy More part of the story.

It seems that whilst Chuck and Morgan are away, the Buy Morons are nowhere to be found. Well, all except Lester, who was taking a nap whilst Jeff was almost killing himself with carbon monoxide poisoning trying to customise his van.

We got a little humour from Lester looking after Clara for the few minutes it took for Awesome to drag Jeff out of the auto shop. That man can barely look after his friend, but since there seemed to be no other staff available, it was a decision made out of necessity.

By the end of the day, despite being on paternity leave, Dr Woodcomb had given check-ups to both Jeff and Morgan (making both of them wear gowns – does he just carry them around?) and dispensed a little advice to both.

It was quite amusing hearing him say to Morgan that he had ‘lost his identity’ becoming a stay-at-home dad. Come on dude, you’d been at it all of one day!

Since their mission for Gen. Beckman has been stolen from under them by Morgan and taken to Verbanski, the team decide to try and reclaim it. At the same time, Chuck decides to try and appeal to Morgan, saving him from himself in essence.

I initially heard the targets name incorrectly. During my first watch of the episode, I was convinced the guy with the whistle-blowing website was called Max Zorin, which is of course the name of the baddie played by Christopher Walken in the James Bond film ‘A View to a Kill’. Turns out that his name is actually Matt Zorn, note the difference and yet how easy it would be to mishear it.

As Morgan goes all mission fixated, Chuck reminds him of his 7^th grade pantsing and the ham & moustache sandwich revenge and gets through to the old Morgan, but not before he shoots a hole in the helicopter fuel tank. It does give us some hero time as Chuck and Casey rescue Morgan and Verbanski from the flames, allowing Casey to get some, ahem, face time, with Gertrude.

It seemed like a pretty easy fix, reminding Morgan of his pantsing incident to cut through ‘the fog’ of the Trojan Intersect. Jeff being cured by Awesome paralleled this; the easy fix of not spending the night sleeping in his van.

Given the 13 episode run, I suppose certain things will have to be quick fixes in order to push the narrative along.

Regarding Morgan’s pantsing; I have to say, kudos to the hairy one for being able to grow a full moustache in the 7^th Grade – I wasn’t even shaving until the equivalent of the early 9^th grade!

Also, is anyone else finding Jeff as a normal functioning human being freakier than him being a burnt out weirdo? How long will this version of the character last and what does this mean for the future of ‘Jeffster!’?

So the tampered with Intersect is being dealt with, but there’s a kill order out on the little bearded one and it goes way above Beckman. Who is behind it and how far does the conspiracy against Chuck stretch?

Next week: Chuck Versus the Business Trip

Chuck and Sarah must stop an assassin after the Intersect at a Buy More convention. Jeff shows a new side to himself.

Here’s the trailer, take a look:

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 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.

 

Chuck Vs The Balcony

I’ll have a bottle of the one with the stork on the cork and the stable on the label, please.

Credit: NBC

 Chuck returned triumphantly last night after what seemed like an age, well, it was several weeks anyway. For me it was a strong episode; just the right amount of funny, goofy, action-packed, heart-warming and heart breaking that is sure to make this one of the season favourites for most.

 Chuck was back to being far more like the Chuck we grew to love in the first couple of seasons. Of course, he was still able to kick ass with style, especially when fighting whilst holding the wine glass.

 Chuck aiming for the perfect proposal was the main plot of this episode and even Casey got to put in his two cents on proposing, words which cut right to the heart of it and put into perspective all of Chuck’s obsessing over the mythical ‘perfect proposal’.

Morgan played quite a big role in this episode, co-ordinating the sub-mission(s) with some amount of efficiency. He has morphed into quite the go-to guy, having had his skills as ‘The Magnet’ used in Phase Three, and now his planning and strategizing (undoubtedly gleaned from his hours of Call of Duty experience) put to use.

 If I were going on a mission, I’d want Morgan to be involved. When he plans for everything, he really does plan for Everything! – Tide to Go sticks?

 I loved the fact that Casey had as much investment in the proposal as Morgan did. Put those two together and fun always happens.

 Actually, it seems you can put Morgan with pretty much any character and it will be a great scene.

 The pace really picked up when Sarah took control of the proposal sub-mission. She knew how important it was to Chuck, and it being important to him, made it important to her. I doubt that she knew, when she said that she would do anything to bring down Volkoff, how quickly General Beckman would put the ‘double agent’ plan into motion.

 I can imagine there were a few moist eyes at the end of the episode when Sarah revealed that she was following in Mama B’s footsteps and had to leave to take down Volkoff from inside his organization. That makes, by my count, 4 attempts that Chuck made to propose, and a grand total of zero actual proposals made.

 Rewinding a bit from that, Sarah used her ingenuity to play the role of ‘silly drunk blonde’ in order to help Casey out of a fix in the wine cellar. It’s nice to see that the writers are more open to giving Yvonne more humourous scenes now that Sarah has grown as a character and let her hair down, so to speak.

 Another highlight of the episode was the first Jeffster performance of the season. After initially not wanting to meet his arranged bride, he quickly changed his tune and tried to impress her with his ‘Saskatchewan Hinjew’ parlour, hastily rigged up in the HTR. When that backfired he had a moment with Ginsana (sp?) that came across as quite sweet and told her he would reveal his true self. Alas, his at times manic and wild eyed, rendition of ‘Is This Love’ by Whitesnake inevitably scared her off. Can we blame her?

Next episode: Chuck Vs The Gobbler – Sarah gets a new look as she infiltrates Volkoff Industries and Ellie and Awesome talk baby names!

Chuck Vs The Coup D'Etat

You say you want a revolution, well you know, we all want to change the world.

Photo by: Chris Haston/NBC

 First off, apologies for the lateness of this week’s blog; I haven’t been shot recently, but I have been ill.

 This Monday’s Chuck saw the return of the enthusiastic Generalissimo Goya and our first visit to the wonderful (just see his promotional video) island of Costa Gravas.

 I think many of us were assuming that Awesome and Ellie would feature more heavily in this episode, given the promo pictures of Awesome and his giant statue. As it was, they had some comedy moments, such as Awesome patting his own statue on the ass, but largely they just provided a conduit for the story.

 We had some awkward moments with Chuck and Sarah stemming from their inability to discuss emotional issues properly. They are crap communicators, and it didn’t help the fact that Chuck used Morgan as an excuse to hide behind when trying to bring up the fact that they weren’t communicating on that level. Man up, Bartowski!

 Of course, they weren’t the only couple to have awkward moments. We saw the fledgling relationship between Morgan and Casey’s daughter Alex stumble, but ultimately move forward. It also gave us a great scene between Morgan and Casey, as well as some wonderful dialogue between Morgan and Big Mike.

 All in all, Coup D’Etat was a story about relationships, one starting out, one taking awkward faltering steps to the next level, and one brought back from the brink of collapse. The spy story was very much a secondary consideration.

 Hands up all those who liked the scene with Sarah trying on the bikinis. *counts* That’s a lot of hands!  If that wasn’t used as a promo already, it should have been. Just that scene with a little ‘Chuck, Mon 8/7c on NBC’ at the end would have done well I think, especially during the football.

  As always, I recommend checking out the latest ChuckYouTuesday podcast – just click the link to the Chuckgasmic blog in the side bar, but please remember, it contains strong language.

 Next week: Chuck Vs The Couch Lock which I’m assuming has nothing to do with the common definition of ‘couch lock’ (Google it if you need to) and guest stars Joel David Moore, Eric Roberts and Batista.