Chuck Vs The Family Volkoff

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

Photo Credit: Michael Yarish/NBC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Take a look:

Chuck Vs The Muuurder

Duct and Cover? What's shakin' Bacon?

Photo Credit: NBC

This week saw the inevitable murder mystery episode with Chuck and his team trapped in Castle with Bentley and four new recruits, knowing that someone in their midst was a killer. It had a lot of potential, but to me it felt a bit flat at times, which could be due to the fact that this episode was written by writers who were new to Chuck this season.

The whole thing with Chuck being assigned to lead the Intersect project and given his first leadership role was pretty good. As I tweeted, and no doubt many others have commented, there was the little hat tip to the series ‘Charles in Charge’ which was just one of a couple of pop culture references this week.

With things going from bad to worse, it was up to Chuck to take control and figure out who the killer was. Taking advice from Sarah and Casey helped him to take charge, despite his lack of confidence and he did eventually figure it out. The murder mystery itself wasn’t much of a mystery to me by the time the second bomb went off, I probably watch too many whodunits, but the reason behind it eluded me until Beckman explained the Volkoff connection. I’m half wondering if Damian’s mission was just to blow up Castle, sending Chuck a message, because there had to be easier ways of taking Chuck out of the equation.

This episode, like last week, showed just how unique Chuck is, and why that is a good thing. In the Director Bentley’s world someone would have to die in order to secure the bomb and save the rest. Chuck’s view of the world is a little different and nobody else needs to die. He might do things differently from a ‘real’ spy, but his abilities and nature mean that he is no less impressive in the role.

The Buy More sub-plot had a number of laughs in it, largely due to several ‘Number 2’ jokes, including the Big BM being left on fire on the Buy More’s doorstep. We also had the allusion that retail is like the mafia, with a meeting of the Buy More and Large Mart ‘families’ to negotiate a hostage exchange.

Ellie is starting to get drawn into the spy life again, having received her father’s laptop from Bentley at the end of last episode. She seems to be making headway with the problem, but how long will it be before she figures out that it has something to do with Chuck? Somehow she’s managed not to guess that he’s still in the spy game, but I’ll blame the stress of becoming a parent for at least some of that.

I felt that there was some character growth here for a few players. Chuck became more of a confident leader, showing that he can ultimately deliver, which I think helped to secure his position as the only Intersect. Bentley went from being rather cold and manipulative, to having Chuck’s back and getting along with him. Casey showed that he’s becoming more, well, domesticated, by hanging out at the end of the episode with Chuck and Sarah for some milk and cookies.
But by far the most character growth was Devon. Who knew that Captain Awesome could become such a convincing liar? He was useless not that long ago, but he lied to Chuck about switching the hard drive on the Orion laptop. I’m actually a little surprised he knew how to do that, although he didn’t actually do it.

Any of you familiar with Scottish detective drama Taggart will be familiar with it’s most quoted phrase “There’s been a murder” and that’s what this episode title reminded me of when I first heard it. It’s a common enough phrase, but it was nice to hear it used by the guy with the British accent, although I doubt that was an intentional reference!

I loved the little callback in this episode, with Brody’s ringtone being Journey’s ‘Any Way You Want It’ as Chuck’s was in the pilot (and, I have to admit, mine still is!)
The Agent X Files thing was amusing, a neat reference, and since 4.22 is called Chuck vs. Agent X, I’m wondering if we’re going to see one of Orion’s old partners. I think I recall seeing one of the boxes in the Orion Cave marked Agent X, but we’ll have to wait for a few weeks to find out.

*As I was writing this, the ratings came in, and they don’t look good. Chuck slipped to a series low with a 1.5 in the 18-49 demographic.


Next episode: Chuck Vs the Family Volkoff – Timothy Dalton returns as Alexei Volkoff as it seems daughter Vivian has truly embraced her fathers business. This episode will air on the 11th of April.

Take a look:

Chuck Vs The A-Team

Bomb diffusing? How d’you like them apples?

Photo Credit: NBC

This episode saw Chuck sidelined by the two top Greta’s – the best of the new Intersect candidates. It was good to see them go back to the Greta thread that was introduced earlier this season, and then swept aside by the Volkoff arc. Also picked back up was the whole deal with the Orion laptop, which I’d hoped would be more than just a tool to get the Intersect working again. Seems I’m going to get my wish with Robin Givens shady character returning the laptop to Ellie in an underhanded move.

It also brought back something that we haven’t touched on for a while, that the CIA/NSA are still looking for people other than Chuck to become Intersect spies. I don’t think that’s been mentioned since the start of season 2.

We had an almost paternal moment between Chuck and Casey, with the latter making sure that Chuck could get to his juice box easily, even making sure it was his favourite! The fact that he no longer felt like a third wheel probably helped Casey focus more on his duty, but ultimately he realised that he missed Chuck and Sarah.

Since the introduction of Alex, he’s been becoming more of a family man, softening a little around the edges. Not much, but a little. This is Casey we’re talking about!

The storyline also served to show us how special Chuck is. He may be just one of many people who are capable of housing the Intersect, but he’s one of a kind.

The two agents, Greta and other Greta, or Vicky and Rick, were glad to be de-Intersected, with Rick even referring to Chuck as ‘that poor bastard’ for having to live with the Intersect constantly.

Vicky seemed to let the Intersect take charge, and in doing so killed the man and armed the bomb. Rick wasn’t thinking outside the box, relying too much on all the information he needed being in the Intersect.

Personally, I think the Terminator quip would have been far funnier and more meta if they’d managed to bring back Summer Glau, but Stacy Keibler worked well.

A small issue with the logic of this episode: if the whole idea was to keep the two teams separate, why did they build the second Castle base inside the first?

The non-spy story was pretty good, it didn’t feel as if the Awesome’s had been shoehorned in to give them screen time. As I mentioned previously, it brought the Orion laptop back to Ellie, as I think Papa B had intended.

Jeff and Lester managed an homage to Ghostbusters with the whole ESP test. The amusing thing, of course, is that Jeff does have some degree of psychic power when he really tries, but Lester dismissed it, reading CIA as a name, not as the initials. Idiot.

One final point, regarding the product placement: I thought that Awesome’s extolling the virtues of the Toyota Sienna was less than subtle. With this episode we got not just a product placement, but pretty much a complete commercial for it.

*The ratings came in whist I was writing this – not brilliant news. Chuck hit a low of 1.6, which isn’t great, but it could have been worse, considering that it wasn’t promoted terribly well, and the fact that Daylight Savings always screws with the ratings.

Next episode: Chuck Vs The Muuurder - Chuck is put in charge of a top-priority mission, but his leadership skills are pushed to the limit when there is a murder in Castle. Meanwhile, Awesome takes on a mission of his own when Ellie finds an alarming new hobby. Elsewhere, Morgan’s leadership is also tested when his Buy More troops wage war against Large Mart.

Take a look:

 

Chuck Vs the First Bank of Evil

Chuck and Sarah get Lost in The Matrix!

Photo Credit: Greg Gayne/NBC

See what I did there? Never mind.

This week we had two transformations: that of Vivian McArthur into Vivian Volkoff and Sarah from indecisive wedding newbie into OTT Bridezilla.

It was the subtle parallel between Chuck and Ellie’s storylines. Both trying to coax someone into being what’s needed, and both ending up creating a monster!

The idea of Chuck inadvertently creating ‘Darth Vivian’ is an interesting one, although I’m not sure how well she’ll be received as a villain when following in the footsteps of Timothy Dalton. We shall have to wait and see if they have an evil father/daughter dénouement in store for us.

I have to admit that I’m more interested in Volkoff’s lawyer, played by Ray Wise. It would be lovely to see some of the smirking, playful villainy that he brought to ‘Reaper’, it would fit more alongside Dalton’s brand of bad guy. As it is, Vivian is still a little bland. I hope they do go down the dark-side route, Darth Vader was always more interesting than Anakin Skywalker.

Sarah’s wedding dress montage was a well-executed parody of others we’ve seen in so many romantic comedies before. The comedy gave way to a lovely emotional scene where she finally realises that she’s getting married.

Minor plot hole this week in the fact that nobody noticed the two bank robbers looked suspiciously like Vivian’s security team from the previous visit.

I loved the whole scene though, as Chuck and Sarah discuss wedding things while holding up the bank. It was reminiscent of the fight scene in the bank during the very first episode in which Alexei Volkoff was introduced.

The start of the bank heist scene was an obvious reference to the lobby fight scene in ‘The Matrix’. In fact, I’ve uploaded a badly done vid of that whole scene with the music from The Matrix over it. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6jKjSmDVNg

There were two ‘Lost’ references that I noticed during the episode. Not only was Volkoff’s bankcard number 4815162342, but also François Chau (Lost’s Dr. Pierre Chang) guest starred as the bank manager.

Morgan’s roommate plotline gave us a few moments of amusement, but over all, it felt slightly like filler. Getting to the point where he knows about Casey’s secret room and using that as leverage (even though he didn’t realise it at first) seemed like an excuse to have Jeff, Lester and to a lesser degree, Big Mike, in the episode.

Next episode: Chuck Vs The A-Team - Chuck and Sarah investigate when they suspect that Casey is carrying out private missions. Meanwhile, Chuck fears that the CIA’s seemingly-perfect new operatives (guest stars Isaiah Mustafa and Stacy Keibler) will render him obsolete. Elsewhere, Morgan settles in with a new roommate, and Awesome panics when Ellie embarks on a potentially dangerous line of research.

Since NBC are re-launching The Event with a 2-hour premiere next week, this episode of Chuck will not air until March 17^th

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.