Season 5 Episode 8: Chuck Vs The Baby

[chu54ster]

This was good episode back to back great episodes fun to have sad to think 5 more left.  sob. I don't usually nick pick events to much and great having Graham back the last scene introduces Sarah to her first handler assignment with Bryce broken e-mail device. She was shown a picture of Chuck in his file. The closing scene in 3.06 had Chuck picture show up on her phone so she could see who her "Piece of Cake" assignment was just saying no means is it a big deal the scenes from both this episode and 3.06 were great emotional moment.

[dude029]

Instant classic, and a great episode all around, especially for those of us who have been with this show since the beginning.  Touched on past, present, and future.

One thing though. .I'm starting to wonder if the "Samantha" thing has been totally forgotten.  Even her mom called her Sarah.

Sarahs mom knew she worked for the CIA and that "Sarah Walker" was her cover name. Once it was established that Sarah had been in contact with her mother within her career, the need to call her Samantha conveniently  disappears.  Enjoyed the episode immensely , although it looks like Larkin timeline wise and some of the events of Pilot have been retconned out. Another excellent baddie in Ryker and let's hope it's the end of the let's punch Sarah Bartowski around arc.

[CaptMediocre]

I liked it.

The final scene makes no sense whatsoever if you've watched the show for 4.5 seasons, and can actually ruin the first couple of seasons if you want think about it hard enough.

But I liked it.

[Srh_Brtwski]

Sarahs mom knew she worked for the CIA and that "Sarah Walker" was her cover name. Once it was established that Sarah had been in contact with her mother within her career, the need to call her Samantha conveniently  disappears.  Enjoyed the episode immensely , although it looks like Larkin timeline wise and some of the events of Pilot have been retconned out. Another excellent baddie in Ryker and let's hope it's the end of the let's punch Sarah Bartowski around arc.

Sam is not her real name...Sarah, under duress from seeing Chuck turn into a spy in season 3, combined with the effects of the poison gas of vs the Mask, became afflicted with short term schizophrenia, which caused her to enter into a sexual relationship with Shaw and imagine she really was a little girl named Samantha..

If you can't remember who you really are anymore, it's a sure sign of split personality disorder.

Chuck kissing her in vs the American Hero helped cure the effects of the poison gas and schizophrenia.

[Kevan]

I liked it.

The final scene makes no sense whatsoever if you've watched the show for 4.5 seasons, and can actually ruin the first couple of seasons if you want think about it hard enough.

But I liked it.

I liked it too.  A lot.  One of the most satisfying episodes of the entire run (note the key word there).  But with regard to the timeline, they curiously say "Five Years Ago" multiple times, whereas in every other flashback they've given a year.  If we assume that it's 2011 during the episode, then the flashback is possibly dated in late 2006.  The Bryce/Sarah stuff in Columbia and Cabo was all in '05 and '06, so it's conceivable that Sarah went to Hungary in late '06 and returned Stateside in early '07, which would match up with the timeline of her going to Burbank (and didn't they film the pilot in early '07?). 

But yeah...we're not supposed to think about it that much.  Like how it doesn't make sense that Sarah would be a full-fledged spy in '04 (red test) and have a spy partnership with Bryce in '05, but suddenly need a handler in '06.

So best not to think about it. 

[Nick_Scryer]

Enjoyed it a lot. So Sarah was telling the truth in season 1, she does have a sister. Great seeing Graham again.

[armynurseboy]

Enjoyed it a lot. So Sarah was telling the truth in season 1, she does have a sister.

Kinda.  Molly would have been all of 1 or 2 in S1.  So that story she told for the game was made up.

[osced]

I liked it too.  A lot.  One of the most satisfying episodes of the entire run (note the key word there).  But with regard to the timeline, they curiously say "Five Years Ago" multiple times, whereas in every other flashback they've given a year.  If we assume that it's 2011 during the episode, then the flashback is possibly dated in late 2006.  The Bryce/Sarah stuff in Columbia and Cabo was all in '05 and '06, so it's conceivable that Sarah went to Hungary in late '06 and returned Stateside in early '07, which would match up with the timeline of her going to Burbank (and didn't they film the pilot in early '07?). 

But yeah...we're not supposed to think about it that much.  Like how it doesn't make sense that Sarah would be a full-fledged spy in '04 (red test) and have a spy partnership with Bryce in '05, but suddenly need a handler in '06.

So best not to think about it. 

The timeline is a bit hard to understand sometime, but with the end scene the whole five years ago make more sense, but the fact that she had an handler doesn't make it weird. He only did tell her about the mission, he wasn't there to protect her or something. But why can't we assume that CIA in Chuck usually gives their new agents handlers for the beginning? We doesn't know if Sarah had a handler during her time with Bryce. We can neither say she had one nor hadn't one. But from what we learned in this ep, we might assume that she did have an handler. And it also makes more sense why Sarah was alone in this mission, Bryce was working with FULCRUM at that time. I can't really see any real plot holes in this story.

[osced]

A great ep, lots of great scenes..the whole Sarah wanting to do everything by herself was interesting when Chuck did the exact same some episodes ago. Chuck and Sarah are really starting to think the same in some situation. I loved how Chuck told Sarah that what she did was wrong, but he also admitted that he usually doesn't say that..admitting that he pply would do the same stuff as Sarah.

Not sure what I think about the no joining CIA situation, will they till use Carmichael industry or will they quit everything?

[armynurseboy]

A great ep, lots of great scenes..the whole Sarah wanting to do everything by herself was interesting when Chuck did the exact same some episodes ago. Chuck and Sarah are really starting to think the same in some situation. I loved how Chuck told Sarah that what she did was wrong, but he also admitted that he usually doesn't say that..admitting that he pply would do the same stuff as Sarah.

Not sure what I think about the no joining CIA situation, will they till use Carmichael industry or will they quit everything?

I think the writers have scripted a nice exit for them. ..but this is the wrong forum to discuss that.

[Nick_Scryer]

Kinda.  Molly would have been all of 1 or 2 in S1.  So that story she told for the game was made up.

Yup, forgot my smiley face

[Srh_Brtwski]

But why can't we assume that CIA in Chuck usually gives their new agents handlers for the beginning? We doesn't know if Sarah had a handler during her time with Bryce.

You're right.  The CIA after all is a government agency and we know how the government loves beurocracy. 

[FrankieRider2]

Just now watched for the first time and. .wow.  Can this guy direct all the rest of the episodes?  Excellent stuff.  Loved learning more about Sarahs backstory and well. .pretty much everything else.

[stathis]

very heartwarming episode.loved the scenes with Sarah's mom.
the ending was beautiful.so sad that there are 5 more left.
I am going to miss Chuck. .

[--deb]

Loved it, and I can watch the last 10 minutes over and over  .

I do wonder how Ryker knew where to find Sarah's mom, though. I mean, she told Chuck her mom had the baby and that because of all the moves and name changes, the CIA didn't know about her. And I'll believe that Ryker had enough spy skills to track down Sarah's real name, who her mother was, and where she lived  . but HOW did he do it so quickly??

And yeah, the last bit with Graham sending Sarah  to be Chuck's handler completely disagrees with the Pilot where she was sent to track down who Bryce sent the intersect to. Her being his handler didn't come up until after she'd found him and they'd disabled the bomb.

And...would Sarah, sent on an urgent mission, really have stopped to get her hair cut? That flashback in Graham's office had her with much longer hair than she had when she walked into the Buy More the first time!