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Written by Kristin Newman & Chris Fedak
Directed by Patrick Norris
Acknowledging the shallowness of this statement I bow to the same device that other reviewers have knelt to:
Sarah belly-dancing!
Beyond that a detailed review of this episode seems superfluous. Especially for an episode that embraces the fun and silly with reckless abandon. Freed of the shackles of this season’s shaggy spy story arc, Chuck Vs The Seduction Impossible is a straight out Roan-led romp that lands in the upper tier of Chuck’s more fun episodes. The showrunners should seriously Get Smart and tailor Chuck to follow the tone of that show and steer clear of any further convoluted spy mythos based stories that sunk shows like Alias.
The hilarious incongruity of the image of a RPG’ed Beckman makes trips like this into comedy a hoot. It was really great to see Beckman from behind the desk and the show harken back to, and expand upon, the inferred history she shares with Roan Montgomery. Beckman in the 80s as a dirty blonde was another priceless moment – though I wish they had taken the opportunity to adorn her with a Farrah Fawcett styled mane of hair.
Roan returned with that smooth style still intact. His double seduction showed us, that while Roan may grumble at Adam West Batman style wall climbing these days, he has not lost a step in romantic subterfuge. His romance advice to Chuck and Sarah helped them to take that needed step back. Plus seeing his advice to Chuck about seducing Sarah into dropping her elopement request preemptively thwarted by Sarah using the very same tactic was niftily carried out. Her near total disarmament of Chuck was all the funnier because of that earlier setup. Did I mention Sarah belly-dancing?
Morgan, with the best of intentions, nearly caused a family incident by asking Casey to reconnect with Kathleen. The sadness felt by Casey when he steeled himself to visit Katherine, only to discover she is seeing someone else, was made even stronger by his unilateral stoic congratulations to her. (A microcosm of the pacing issues this season has had, imagine how much more powerful that beat would have been if the storyline of Casey re-uniting with Kathleen had been sprinkled throughout the first 13 episodes?) Beyond that everything else Casey was involved with was comedy gold. His attempted ‘seduction’ of the guard inter cut with the painful reaction shots of Chuck, Sarah, and Roan was well played.
Back to Morgan. He gave Chuck dubious relationship advice about not backing down to Sarah on the elopement idea, motivated more by Morgan’s desire for a big wedding best man opportunity rather than altruistic motives. This advice leads to some funny pieces of inter-play as Chuck starts saying no to Sarah over mundane issues until it leads up to Chuck giving a stunned Sarah an ill advised Woman declarative.
Episode Flashes: Add your own in the comments.
- Roan gets a Casablanca entrance. Sweet.
- Casey beats strategic retreat at first sign of trouble from baby Clara
- Casey doing a slowly building tower of menace when he believes Morgan is trying to tell him that Alex is pregnant.
- Chuck & Sarah face their greatest challenge – family marriage pressure
- Beckman and Roan’s Never Ending World Wide Love Tour
- Beckman belts from the bottle
- Roan – now a silver fox – is still sooo smooth
- ‘You always over pack for missions.’
- Morgan devastated by Sarah’s elopement plan
- ‘No to Sarah…’
- Chuck with a laser!
- Whoa! Casey using a tranq gun!?!?!?!
- ‘Naughty little turn coat.’ , ‘Naughty little turn on.’
- Alex invokes the Casey death stare
- ‘No… woman.’ versus ‘Mr. Sarah Walker.’ Hmmm… which was more awkward?
- Casey’s seduction of guard versus reaction shots from Roan, Chuck, and Sarah
- ‘Tranq and explode!’
- Roan as a Green Shirt suffers polyester stylessness chafing.
- Winds of Change – Berlin Wall Fall and dirty blonde Beckman
- Sarah strikes first in the seduction game against Chuck
- Belly-dancing!
- ‘Yeeeaaahhh…’
- Casey faces 127 Hours arm amputation scenario
- MamaB modifying spy missions for Clara baby stories
- Bazooka Beckman. DUCK!
- ‘Never go on a mission angry.’
MamaB and Ellie had some nice bonding moments but the swift abruptness that Ellie arrived at the decision to give MamaB her blessing to go back into the spy world was jarring to the extreme. Especially since the show has spent the past four seasons making an unrepentant stance of saying how it important it was to have Ellie keep the show rooted in the real world. How much longer will the show keep up the unaware Ellie storyline about Chuck? It would not surprise if it played out that Ellie finding out about Chuck being a spy concluded with all the explosiveness of a soggy fire cracker.
Chuck and Sarah played off of each other well this episode. Their dual reactions of wanting to escape family marriage pressures via a mission was expected and still funny. It was disconcerting for the show to have the two of them come so far together and yet have Sarah still not reveal anything about her family background to Chuck. No doubt this will turn into one of the story threads going forward. We all look forward to such revelations and the hopeful return of Gary Cole. Who knows, maybe even Mama Walker too? Let the casting speculations about her resume.
Last, but certainly not least, it was most awesome to see Team Bartowski back together again!
A totally delightful episode, one of the best of the season.
Thank the maker, Chuck is back. This episode capture so many of the elements that brought me to Chuck in the first place. Well played.
It seems there is so much more to be done with missions than what Patrick appropriately calls the “shaggy spy story.” Whatever the reason for the long arc, I am so glad to see the return to missions. It would be fun to see Chuck also return to some of the Nerd Herd cover missions too!
I think Alex’s moms name is Kathleen. Great review, loved the ep.
Fixed – thanks.
I think I speak for quite a number of the male fanbase (and probably some of the gals as well) when *that* scene got me mesmerized for those minutes. I’m amazed Chuck was relatively quick with the realization that he’d been out-seduced by Sarah.
It was in any event a completely fun episode. Kristin Newman really knows how to write for Sarah’s character. Bravo!
I also flashed on Frost’s remark that she handled babies the same way as live explosives, and Devon’s “…I’ll edit that one out.” Funny stuff.
P.S. I’m also interested now more than ever in an Orion-Frost flashback…
Despite the show moving steadily forward with the Chuck/Sarah relationship (& not doing what series usually try to do by playing keep-away), there are still so many wrinkles to explore, one (and possibly two) more seasons would still be very interesting…
Sarah’s mom (& the return of her dad?), the wedding then pregnancy (presumably in that order), Morgan & Alex going forward, and now maybe even Casey pining for his long-lost (and currently unattainable) love…
Plus, that SLUT and VIXEN, Diane Beckman.
You know, Chuck has the oddest fanbase I’ve ever seen, especially for one so small. Those of us who visit sites like this LOVE the show, but with such completely different feelings for different seasons and characters.
I was reading another review of this show that really disliked the episode. Most of the comments that followed agreed. Here, the reviewer was quite positive. I’m betting most of the comments will be, too. And it’s amazing to see the divide among viewers’ favorite shows and seasons. I LOVED season 3, as much as any TV show I’ve ever watched. I had really, really liked seasons 1 & 2, but from the last few episodes of season 2 on, it went to another level. This season’s been inconsistent, with some clunkers thrown in, but I’m still enraptured. Yet, many fans seemed to have season 3 as their least favorite, and some seem to LOVE this season. Go figure!
Oh, and as long as I seem to be writing a thesis here, I might as well throw in a comment about the last episode… really liked it, the last 10 minutes WERE great, but they weren’t the best ten minutes ever… that would be the segment spanning the two episodes that ended season 3, from when Chuck is led out of the CIA headquarters in chains after his dad’s been killed, through when Ellie and Chuck reunite after Morgan and Awesome save them.
I LOVE Season 3 too, it’s my favorite! 🙂 Like you, I started to really love this show with the last few episodes of season 2. I think it was Dream Job that really got to me.
Also, I haven’t really liked this season either, just too sloppy and full of plot holes, but this ep was really funny.
I loved the whole episode. THIS is the ‘Chuck’ I fell in love with!
However, Casey’s been through the mill these last three weeks, both emotionally [yes, he has ’em!] and especially physically. First the terrible fall off the Tower building [it’s a mercy he didn’t fracture…well, anything], then the coma and recovery and now what has to be a bitter-sweet moment seeing the woman he loved and almost married with another man. PLEASE can he get some TLC/romance/pay off soon? Thanks!
I think Casey did get fractured somewhat last week; he was after all in a neck brace, and for somebody with a high threshold for pain, he winced when Devon tapped him on the back in “Push Mix”.
But yeah, I feel a bit sorry for “Colonel Shoot-Em-Up” myself. He did have a badass moment in this episode, though, with shooting five enemies through a bullet hole, all while his other arm was pinned. From this we have “your other left, moron!” (which makes you wonder, since both him and Chuck were facing the same way. 😛 )
I agree! Casey has been criminally underused! Please less Chuck/Sarah relationship drama and more Casey/Alex/etc drama. And better written episodes that actually make sense!
I agree. No need to give a serious review here, this was simply a silly and fun episode. So many great moments: opening scene (Sarah sweating), Chuck referring to Sarah as “woman” (very gutsy on Chuck’s part), ball-and-chain gag, etc. (Did I mention the belly dancing.)
With all of the fun stuff going on there was a small serious moment in the end. I think Sarah is worried that Chuck might not like what he finds out about her past, but I’m sure this will not stand in way of a wedding.
I have not laughed so hard for a while chuckled some but laughing not for awhile. It was a episode geared for laughs and it provided many I thought.
Interesting Morgan view of Chuck compromise is to examine Sarah view and his view as to what Sarah and Morgan want. Beckmen was wooo It was good to have her out from behind the TV screen.
I had feeling that Ellie giving her blessing for Mary to get back into spy game would remind you that Ellie is still oblivious to Chuck involvement. She did omit she was being selfish do to fear for safety I thinking it mat come out if we get another Sarah/Ellie moment about turning over protection to Sarah But hope they still don’t keep her appearing to be clueless for much longer.
Sarah reluctance to still not talk to Chuck about her family is probable setup for events want to do in later episodes. She may not be all that proud overall family compared to Bartowski’s
Good review Lou and some sold points provided Thanks for sharing
The big problem with the story-arcs seems to be the elaborate contortions the episode plot lines need to perform in order to service the requirements of the arc. Things come off feeling forced and contrived. But the minute the show is freed from the shackles of the seasonal arc, things get very fun very fast. It happened last year with the “Honeymooners” and this year with “Seduction Impossible”. It was good to see Fedak pick up a pen once again. I always enjoy his episodes. And he co-wrote it with Kristin Newman, my fave among the herd of otherwise bland writers that came aboard this season. I could do with more of that.
Great job. Thanks. One typo. 127 days should be hours.
Thanks.
I agree that this episode was fun and silly. It was probably the most purely enjoyable episode of Chuck since Honeymooners. I disagree with your conclusion that these aspects make it unsuitable for a deeper review. This episode worked while other Chuck episodes over the last two seasons have not. That wasn’t an accident. Funny and silly take effort and skill to achieve. It would have been interesting to see you explore that in your review.
Of course, I’m just picking nits. Your review was excellent and thought provoking as always.
Casting speculation…I would love to see Jewel Staite show up as Sarah’s little sister she never knew about! Come on, another Firefly reunion!
Good review, this episode was a lot of fun. This is what Chuck should be, although I would disagree with having it aspire to the level of Get Smart. Zach Levi is too good looking to be Don Adams. And the rest of the cast are too talented to play something that was over the top silly.
Having said that, I do have a quibble with Morgan. The bit about him being upset with Sarah’s wish to elope was just too gay. Not meant to be a homophobic slur, I mean it made him sound gay.
Guys, don’t talk like this to their friends unless they’re gay. I’m from the Bay Area, I know this. This is the problem I have with Morgan, that and he can’t act. Other than that, I have enjoyed the last two episodes of Chuck a great deal. I hope that they keep it up.
Chuck and Get Smart are my 2 favorite shows of all time and I agree with Lou.Sometimes Chuck is shackled by story arc’s and it is nice to have fun silly episodes which this season Chuck has done well at like Cubit Z,Couch Lock,First Fight and this episode.
Now to you The Prisoner, Get Smart during the 5 years it was on won 2 emmies for best comedy 3 for Don Adams as best actor in a comedy 1 for best written episode and 1 for best directed episode.So it does have several awards and critical acclaim as well.
What does comparing Don and Zachary Levi’s looks have to do with anything?
Barbara Feldon and Ed Platt were great straight men to balance out Max’s silliness yet they could be very funny.
Volkoff is the type of Villian Chuck should have of more over the top a funny like Get Smarts most famous Villian Siegfried.
Comedic taste have changed over the years. I can tell that you probably did not watch Get Smart when it was current. Its competition was the Beverly Hillbillies, the Monkees, and Green Acres. It was over the top silly, one episode ended with 3 captured agents all being from the USA, different spy agencies, and Maxwell Smart just looking silly. It was good because it was an ironic twist to the Cold War. We are not experiencing that now, a whole different mindset. As for looks, Don Adams is a short, funny voiced comedian; Zachary Levi is a tall, good looking comedic actor. There is a difference. And Zach’s good looks, don’t lend themselves to Maxwell Smart more to Dick Van Dyke’s style of comedy.
When will Chuck stop taking relationship advice from Morgan?
And when will Sarah do another bellydance?
I understand no engagement ring on a mission but we didn’t get to see it on Sarah’s hand at either the family gathering at Ellie and Awesome’s place at the beginning of the episode or at the end when Chuck and Sarah were at home alone in their bedroom. Yet we did see a ring on Morgan’s left hand when he was in Castle talking to Casey. What gives?
As for the future it does seem rather likely that Casey will eventually meet Kathleen (how can Morgan with the loose lips not say something about Casey being alive?), Mama B. will join Team Bartowski for a mission or two, Volkoff will escape and return, and at some point we will meet the rest of Sarah’s family (Italian restaurant owners with mob connections?). It should be a fun rest of the season!
She’s wearing her engagement ring. If you watch when she’s in the Castle after she’s giving Chuck a belly dancing, you will notice that. Yeah, you are right, she’s not wearing it on a mission and in their bedroom. I think she’s not wearing it on a mission because she’s afraid that enemy agents will use it against her, thats what I thought. last but not least, I’m totally enjoy this episode, worth to rewatch.
LOVED IT!!
-Loved Beckman and Roan…the love story continues
-Sarah “I’m actually sweating, the last time I sweat, there was gunfire involved!”
-Casey as soon as baby Clara started to cry “I’m outta here!”
-RPG Beckman “DUCK”
-Casey “I might have to cut my arm off”
-Casey’s seduction and Roan’s “Tranq and Explode!”
-Beckman caught drinking
-Yes guys,even I as a girl will admit-Sarah belly-dancing was WOW..As some girl said on another blog..”Thanks Sarah for making me question my heterosexuality”..lol
-CASEY WAS MAJOR PART OF THE TEAM AGAIN AND TEAM B TOGETHER< AS IT SHOULD BE
-Casey and his proclivity for spying in walls..lol
-God I love John Laroquette
Anyone else notice after C&S go to Castle right after the duel seductions, Sarah is wearing a turtle neck…lol
I have only one part I did not like.When Chuck says "I said no..woman!" I found that condesending. Sarah should have said to Chuck that she does hear what he is saying, but if he calls her that again, they are going to have a big problem. I know if was done all in fun , but I did not find that funny and I have a very good sense of humor.But whatever…it was a great episode and I one of my favorites now.
LONG LIVE DROAN…..(Diane and Roan)!
“I have only one part I did not like.When Chuck says “I said no..woman!” I found that condesending”
– Probably it was intentional. You did see the aghast look on Sarah’s face, didn’t you?
Besides, everybody knows who really wears the pants in their relationship; Chuck didn’t call himself “future Mr. Sarah Walker” for nothing…
Donovan,
I was thinking the same thing.Thats Sarah’s family may have mob ties (maybe on mom’s side of the family). That or the whole family is like a gypsy clan of grifters. All that would be funny.As long as they do not go the redneck family route, I will be happy
Great work by Tim Jones on the score, with “Wind of Change” seguing into the orchestra theme. I loved it, I loved the episode, and I cannot wait for more. “Push Mix” was a hard act to follow, and they did a good job. Couldn’t Chuck ask for some space when the family was overwhelming them? I’d do that. So it finally happened. Congrats, Chuck & Sarah.
Felt like an old school Chuck episode with Team B. going back out like they never had stopped. Roan Montgomery… need we say more… 🙂
Well done show runners! Was a FUN episode for sure! Sarah looking at Chuck and saying “If you sneeze… we are officially the worst spies in the WORLD!” lol
My thoughts on the whole “Sarah not revealing herself yet” goes back to a previous episode where Chuck said he only cared about who Sarah Walker is now, or something of that nature. I figured that basically gave her a free pass to dodge the ‘who’s your real family, what’s your real name, etc etc” talk. Then again, it looks like we’ll be heading that way anyway.. which is totally cool with me. Really looking forward to that stuff.
Awesome review once again. Keep up the great work!
Great review Lou, and I to definatley enjoy, “an episode that embraces the fun and silly with reckless abandon.” I’m glad you gave me the adjective to discribe the Ellie / MamaB scene as “jarring.” You could hear my jaw hit the floor in disbelief that Ellie would somehow be ok with her mom going back after being missing for 2/3 of her life. I understand that they seem to be setting up Ellie’s eventual rediscovery and acceptance of Chuck’s spy life, but I think they missed the perfect oppurtunity for her rediscovery during the spy computer storyline. Still a great episode, but keep the unbelievable and fantastic to the spy storys and the touching and realistic (at least somewhat) to the relationship storys. Thanks again Lou.
On another note, I’m convinced they missed out on an opportunity for comedy in this episode, as good as this episode was: they should have had Roan teach Morgan some basics on seduction (that would probably have been better “punishment” than making Roan a Buy More trainee). On the other hand, if Chuck didn’t get to have that conversation with Roan on seduction technique in the Buy More break room, he’d probably have been completely in Sarah’s hips, I mean, clutches.
Great Great episode!! One of my all time favorites!! Roan Montgomery is such a great character and I’m glad they brought him back. If they go into a fifth and/or sixth season I hope we see him again!! He fits well into the show. Great mention of Get Smart!! I mentioned that back a couple weeks ago. love that show. It was great to see the old team back together again-all three wanting a mission “so badly” as Chuck said. I thought it was hilarious when Chuck said “No,woman” especially thinking of the country they were in where women are supposed to be submissive. That was hilarious!! The ball and chain reference went over so funny! Zsch played that very well. I loved Roan counselling them! As far as SArah not sharing a lot with Chuck I agree with whoever said that Chuck was interested in Sarah now. But,if it’s a hurtful past, it may take her time to tell him. Think that for the first two and a half seasons she couldn’t share anything with Chuck as his handler. It’s only been since he’s become a spy that she could share if she wanted to. Just off hand do you realize that her name is Sam Lisa? In the first season she whispered her middle name when Chuck asked her if she could at least tell him her middle name and he walked away and she said Lisa. ! It should be some great episodes coming up!! Thanks Lou for your review.
One of my very favorite things about this show, is the lines that just make me laugh out loud every time I hear them.
In this episode, it was when Casey shot a tranq into the back of Roan and Roan says “Really” as he is keeling over, as if he was saying,”you guys are taking this mission way too seriously”. Perfectly done, John Laroquette.
Also the line Chuck says (in his whiney voice) when Sarah leaves the room to change out of her belly dancer outfit. “I’m not saying I want to change, I just want you to stay in red and always, always be in whatever you’re wearing right now”. Zachary’s delivery was so well done.
And of course Roan’s “Tranq and explode” to Casey.
My favorite line? Chuck: “I’m trying to seduce you too,…but clearly not as well!”
After the belly dance scene, I loved the exchange (paraphrased) where Chuck says “I’ve been an idiot, this hasn’t been about my family, it’s been about yours—I should have figured that out” followed by Sarah’s “I should have told you”. I’m so glad they didn’t have Sarah get angry that Chuck couldn’t figure out why she was so dead-set against a big wedding. Good job writers.
Since “Get Smart” has been brought up a couple of times (along with Chuck easily in my top 5 favorite shows of all time), there is a great parallel with the whole “real name” of the girl spy thing. In one Get Smart mission 99 tells her boy friend/fiance, who is actually a bad guy KAOS agent (ring any Chuck season 3 bells anyone?) is “Susan”. Later in the episode, the bad guys true nature is revealed, and 99 tells Max that Susan is not her real name. Max has no curiosity of her real name, and continues to call her 99. I would love to have it revealed that “Sam” is not Sarah’s real name, and I wouldn’t need to know what her real name is either. It would show that Fedak and Schwartz have really done their homework.