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Written by Henry Alonso Meyers & Craig DiGregorio
Directed by Frederick E.O. Toye
If nothing else this season, Chuck has provided the premium answer as to what the mystery numbers from Lost – 4-8-15-16-23-42 – stood for. Volkoff’s bank card!
Predictability in a TV show is a two edged sword. On the positive side viewers know they will revisit characters that have become part of their extended family. It is comforting to know that each week one can tune into a series and find a familiar family of characters they can spend time with. And that those characters live and operate in a setting that has become a second home.
It is also pleasurable to tune in each week knowing that the uniformly excellent cast of Chuck will do wonderful work. This week was no exception. The individual component pieces of Sarah’s scenes of dealing with the impending wedding were perfectly played by Yvonne Strahovski. Her moment of connection when she found the right wedding dress is another example in a seemingly endless line of stellar Sarah moments. Too bad a storyline with no subtlety, with its extremely opposing start and end points, for Sarah was another recycled character development arc that has played continuously for her this season ever since Role Models and the empty closet scenario.
That is the bad side of predictability; recycled plot and story elements. Do we really need to hear about Big Mike and Bolognia’s nocturnal activities again? Throw in another less than funny Jeff & Lester appearance, another Morgan looking for a place to live plot, and there was a lot of finger tapping moments to wade through in this episode. Lest we forget, General Beckman was once again relegated to the plot device pulpit, setting up Vivian’s identity crisis, by rescinding the implied visitation for Vivian with her father.
It was refreshing to see Sarah and Chuck mixing personal issues in a mission without those moments being an encumbrance. Plus who could not like Chuck and Sarah’s Matrixed Bonnie and Clyde bank heist even foregoing the fallacy that a bad mustache would provide sufficient cover? coverage? – for Chuck to mask his second trip to the bank? Also a big plus this episode was the return of the often MIA Man this season, Chuck Bartowski. He procured a bank security pass in that funny, painful Chuck Bartowski way, was more than competent on his missions, invoked superior asset management skills, and displayed the oft Morgan Grimes appropriated empathy and sensitivity from earlier seasons in his scenes with Vivian.
Episode Flashes: Add your own in the comments.
- Volkoff bank card = Lost mystery numbers!
- Reaper’s very own Devil himself, Ray Wise, as Riley. A lawyer. Volkoff’s lawyer.
- Vivian shows again she is not adverse to violence
- Sarah and Ellie making wedding plans
- Sarah totally out to sea about said plans
- Girlie stuff outside of Sarah’s playing field
- Ellie telling Sarah she will have her marriage epiphany at some point
- Sarah’s cynical look in response
- Morgan acting taller
- Chuck flashes in front of Vivian? Hmmmm
- Vivian is an asset used to access her father’s assets
- great moments with Chuck and Vivian comparing family backgrounds
- J. Crews for spies Castle clothing facility + a nifty full make over feature
- Casey is working his own mission
- Chuck working the bad ‘tasche again
- Lost’s own Dr. Chang has a new gig as a Bank Manager
- Chuck gets the security guard the Chuck way- ouch!
- Vivian is a quick thinker under pressure
- Sarah has her marriage epiphany when she tries out wedding dresses
- Chuck and Sarah, Matrixing, Pulp Fictioning, and Bonnie & Clyding their way through a bank robbery while discussing wedding plans
- Sarah feels like a princess while threatening to blow someone’s freaking head off
- Vivian denied visit with her father
- Ellie has created a marriage monster as Sarah runs rampant with wedding plans
- Morgan leverages Casey into becoming a room mate
- Vivian taking first steps onto the dark path?
What intrigued me about this episode was the continuing character journey of Vivian and the appearance of the Devil himself from Reaper, the most appropriately cast as Volkoff’s lawyer, Ray Wise. Since I enjoyed the previous work of these actors from other shows there is no doubt a predisposed inclination on my part to be easily re-engaged by them. Ray Wise brings a slippery, manipulative persona to the screen with ease and he adds a lot of color to a colorless character. Laura Cohen brings that same sense of vulnerability to Vivian that echoes earlier seasons of Zac Levi’s, Chuck. But Vivian displays a sharpness of character that Chuck never has. As Chuck commented to Sarah, Vivian is getting pretty good at this spy stuff.
Too bad Vivian and Chuck had not met in an earlier season when both of them would have been on this journey concurrently. The cross dynamic between the two of them would have been much stronger back then. Now Vivian is at the cross roads of her journey while Chuck has already completed this one and come out the other side.
This was another setup episode for Vivian, who is getting a surprising amount of it. Especially in the Chuckverse where such things are invariably dispensed with in brisk fashion. The additional episodes in the back order, eleven instead of nine, are no doubt are part of this development. It is a welcome one and making Vivian a more fully realized character can only auger well for better payoff down the road.
Overall my reaction for First Bank Of Evil is on par with last week’s episode. No surprise as both are setup episodes.
What exactly is Casey up to in the Castle anyways?
A quick note – the last Lost number is 42 not 32. 🙂
Fixed. Thanks!
Yep, the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything. Provokes deep thought, doesn’t it?
There was a teeny-tiny continuity error in the scene where Chuck was being led by the bank guards to Sarah (the first Macau bank visit). It starts with Chuck and the guards approaching Sarah, then cuts to Chuck being by Sarah’s side, and then in the next cut where the bank director was talking to Vivian, we’re back to Chuck being led towards Sarah. Oh well.
Still, a fun episode, this one. Sarah’s look of sheer teary-eyed delight is a joy to behold. Too bad that dress Sarah settled on was “used” (must’ve been really rough for the last agent who used it). I also laughed at Sarah telling off Chuck that he’s ruining her pantyhose. 😀
I swear, they have Robin West locked up in that Castle room… at least we know now where Sarah’s getting her kickass wardrobe.
Riley’s line about practicing his “Volkoff accent” for weeks was a hoot. Ray Wise was well-cast here, yes.
Why is nobody still thinking of asking Frost all about these last few developments? Even a throwaway line would be good.
And really, GB… can’t you at least set up a video conference for Alexei and Vivian? You suck. Oh yes, Jeffster! should have been punished by Morgan or something.
Like you say kon, Mama B. has all but dropped off the radar after Ellie gave her permission to continue being a spy. Are we to believe she is on a mission for the CIA, looking for a place to live, taking some personal time, or simply out of sight out of mind? As you say, a line of dialog would have helped to at least give some explanation of why she wasn’t involved in the handling of Vivian.
2 more subtle jokes in Chinese – kudos to the whoever is doing the props:
– in the middle of the logo of the First Bank of Macau are the Chinese words for “Evil”.
– the words on the truck they were using in Macau reads “underpants etc laundry service”.
The Chuck way of Chuck getting the security card was done on a 1st season episode of The Wild Wild West were Artemis Gordon let a villian beat him up so that he could get a knife to give to Jim West to help them escape later.Speaking of Artemis Gordon he was a master of disguise on the show but you could always tell it was him because the producers wanted the viewer to be in on it.Not that,that has anything to do with Chucks bad mustashe disguise.
Speaking of plot holes,my 10 year old son pointed one out to me one I did’nt think of.Why would Vivian believe the lawyer who at the beggining of the episode threatened to kill her if she did’nt agree to take control of Volkoff industries?Hopefully it will be adressed in 2 weeks.
Vivian does resemble her father. Remember he doesn’t take disappointment very well either!…I was thoroughly entertained. Yvonne casts a spell when she’s on screen alone – either dressed in white as a bride-to-be or in black leather as a baddie.
did anyone notice another possible continuity error? Ellie said she “picked up her wedding bands” but wasn’t that explicitly Chuck’s job in Chuck vs. the Ring? Its just something silly I remembered. But what a great episode! My favorite part was actually the pantyhose part, partially because I didn’t even realize it was pantyhose until the second time I watched it, and also because it was a cute little look into their relationship dynamic outside the spy life. what cute banter!
I think it was Ellie picking her wedding bands.
Or picking them up from the jeweller’s after they had been re-sized?
“That is the bad side of predictability; recycled plot and story elements. Do we really need to hear about Big Mike and Bolognia’s nocturnal activities again? Throw in another less than funny Jeff & Lester appearance, another Morgan looking for a place to live plot, and there was a lot of finger tapping moments to wade through in this episode. Lest we forget, General Beckman was once again relegated to the plot device pulpit, setting up Vivian’s identity crisis, by rescinding the implied visitation for Vivian with her father.”
Thanks for your candor, here, Lou. For me this was, by and large, a dull and recycled episode. I was heartwarmed once (Sarah’s wedding dress moment) and laughed once (Chuck with pantyhose on head). The rest of the time I was waiting for something interesting or funny to happen, but for me it never really did.
Also, while I like the work that LC is doing as Vivian, I’m not sure why I’m supposed to care about her, or why she needs to be the emotional centerpiece of this or any episode.
Lastly, I am downright annoyed by the repeated character resets that are happening this season to serve individual episodes. This week it was Casey’s interactions with Morgan that had me groaning. Casey hasn’t been that distant with Morgan for a long time, especially since Morgan started dating Alex, but now this week we’re back to grunts and intimidation?! For the long-time Chuck fan, the character yo-yo’ing this season has been a major buzzkill.
Agreed. The Sarah-doesn’t-know-how-to-be-a-‘real girl’ issue of the week is just getting silly now. And there was no real threat in the entire episode (the Bank of Evil hardly even managed to be the Bank of being a bit naughty).
The action was minimal, as has become a common theme this season, and like last week, the only real highpoint was Vivian. And even her character arc is being played out with all the subtlety of a concrete elephant.
Seriously, does the CIA have pyschologists? Or if not, haven’t they even watched pretty much any TV show or film? Ever? Cos the whole, we-promised-you-something-and-then-went-back-on-it-so-now-you-don’t-trust-us thing’s been done before. A lot. And the outcome is always the same.
“Seriously, does the CIA have psychologists?”
– They do, but they’re nuts. Look at how Jim Rye turned out, for instance.
Casey’s distance from Morgan in this episode makes sense to me because he is trying to hide what he is doing from Team B.
Nice review I not as bothered by subtlety as long as in my eyes it provides positive movement.It the most likely tool for new writers to discover the shows characters. Sarah trying to learn to be more normal and what different this time is she seeking out Ellie support which is a welcome development we all be waiting for.
I wasn’t bothered by the Buy More crowd this episode to much. I wasn’t expecting a half man half horse to show up. That even freaked out Morgan which shows he still growing up.
It was only natural to expect something was going to happen to cast doubt in Vivian eyes about Chuck and the CIA to draw her to the dark side. What I find interesting is that Weaver knew Vivian wouldn’t be allowed to talk to her father. Well versed in the tactics of using assets?
I thinking NCA and Casey new mission are tied to the Vivian story line as it unfolds. Thanks Lou for providing the review
Lou, I think many of us have embraced the fun, lighter stand-alone episodes of Chuck as well as the well executed pay-off episodes. Many of us have even come to expect that a stellar episode is usually followed by a less than stellar episode. So should we just expect less with these set-up episodes?
I’ve been a Chuck fan since the beginning and I usually find something positive that I like in each episode, even if it is just for a few minutes. Still most Chuck fans are quite devoted and even passionate about character development and show mythology. Chuck episodes that take these qualities seriously while still having fun without being formulaic are usually the ones that rise to the top for me.
Sarah’s trying on the wedding dresses was great. She is a very talented actress who can play a myriad of parts. The rest of the episode was poor at best. Okay, the bank job was cool but everything else has me convinced that Chuck has lost its magic. They must know that they are not coming back and are just phoning it in. Not good.
What do you mean by “sharpness of character”, Lou?
Vivian has no qualms about dishing out violence. Even that of a fatal nature.
Well, I liked it. I enjoyed seeing Sarah in a wedding dress (dreams crushed), and her finding out it had bullet holes in the back. The pantyhose joke was funny, and I didn’t even notice the Lost Numbers on Volkoff’s credit card. The bank robbery scene with Chuck and Sarah’s banter is hilarious as well. Was I the only one laughing about Jeff and Lester’s Renaissance Faire in the Buy-More? I’m scared to live with them…… I can’t wait for more!
I was laughing. Jeff & Lester should have been fired.
That should read, “I wasn’t laughing.”
Overall I liked the ep, but there was another plot irregularity: If the vault level is so high security that even super-spy Chuck got caught, how’d Volkoff’ lawyer get up there to meet Vivian?
I’m thinking the bank knows him.
if you ask me, sarah (yvonne ;-)) was so breathtaking beautiful when she was trying on the wedding dresses… and specially when she found the one she loved and became all emotional! the dress is perfect because it is so simple, yvonne s. is soooo rediculous beautiful that she doesn`t need any fancy dress, so she`s gonna make chuck very happy on their wedding day!
I’m wondering if Frost might end up being her mother! The way Vivian hugged Chuck, it was like there was a connection they don’t know about. She even looks like Frost and a little like Chuck. That would be a major surprise. This episode wasn’t too bad. Of course when you get into later seasons there might be things revisited again so maybe we can give it a break. Chcuk and Sarah are so cute to watch now. I’m thinking the last episode is the wedding, don’t you think? It is playing out just like season 2 as far as timing goes. They have the dress, groom’s tux, flowers, bridesmaids, maid of honor, cake. I’m hoping we make it to season 5 with a great ending to another season. All of the last episodes of the seasons have been great. Glad to hear GAry Cole will be back too!!!