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Hey A-Team,
Like many of the episodes so far in the ‘back 11’, this week’s installment had a different aesthetic and tone compared to the typical Chuck episode. Although based on the rather ludicrous idea that after the GRETAbots failed in such nearly explosive fashion the government would immediately start looking for new Intersect agents, the overall effect was entertaining.
It was amusing irony that after so many years of Casey and Beckman criticizing Chuck for all the things that make him Chuck, that they would assign him the task of finding new intersect agents just like him. Sarah’s curiosity and Casey’s chagrin as they introduced Chuck’s recruits as they entered the Buy More was quite in character. Their skill tests and interviews were fun and the whole process kind of reminded me of when a certain cranky doctor on a certain competing show picked his new team (don’t worry Chucksters, I stopped watching that show when it moved to Monday!).
Although Chuck started out pretty cocky, his confidence took a hit quickly after the muuurders started. Overall, though, I think we saw a calmer, more confident Chuck than we would have seen in similar situations last season, albeit with a little reassurance from Sarah and sometimes Casey. For the second episode in a row, he and Sarah worked as a well-functioning, angst-free team. I hope that their relationship will continue to head in this positive direction as their wedding date nears. It was also satisfying to have Chuck be the one to finally solve the crimes, although maybe he should have subdued Damien prior to going through the whole Sherlock Holmes whodunit routine that gave Damien time to arm his boombox bomb. Unlike the complaints from the CAT squad, where everyone seemed to think that Amy was too obviously the villain, no one in the Chuck Live Chat this week picked “The Greek†as the perpetrator.
The dynamic between Chuck and Agent Bentley really changed this episode as she came around to appreciate Chuck’s gifts, much as Casey and General Beckman have. I was surprised that she was going to sacrifice herself for the team, as I had assumed that her character was not that altruistic. Maybe Chuck rubbed off on her? Her comments to Chuck on whether he wanted to keep Ellie in the dark any longer were intriguing foreshadowing.
Although a few of the pig scenes were funny and I loved that it was named Kevin Bacon, I could have done without the Buy More subplot and especially all the “BM†jokes. While I’ve often been told that I have a similar sense of humor to a teenage boy, I just couldn’t get into the jokes – the first time was kind of funny, but afterward it seemed like the writers were just trying to see how many times they could use variations on the same joke without being creative enough to really keep the gag going.
The big reveals in this episode were saved for the last five minutes. The powers-that-be really got my attention with Ellie and Devon and the computer. What secret are they keeping from Chuck and why? I always assumed that the computer couldn’t just be a back-up of the Intersect with a few puzzles for Ellie, but now I’m not sure what it is. I’m also not clear if Ellie has ever been told about the Intersect. I have wondered for the last year whether Chuck told Ellie the whole story about the Intersect after Chuck vs the Subway, or just about him joining the CIA without the details of why. Various comments over the past season have made me think that she is still in the dark about the Intersect and her comment in this episode about Papa B learning how to put information in the brain without learning really made me think that she doesn’t know. Regardless of whether she does or doesn’t know, what the heck was going on with the green light at the end? Was that of Papa B’s design, or is that a government add-on meant for her (put there by Agent Bentley)? Who is Agent X?
The final reveal was that it was Vivian Volkoff that hired Damien. This would, on the surface, seem to place her on the “evil†list, but I’m not ready to render judgment yet. I wonder if Riley, Volkoff’s lawyer, or somehow Volkoff himself is actually the one pulling the strings and Vivian is oblivious or being held captive. I assume we’ll find out in a few weeks! I’m rooting for her to turn out to be good.
Alrighty, time to go find me some agents just like me for a new project….while I’m gone, it’s your turn to tell us your thoughts!
Quotes and other comments:
“I’ll be back in charge when you and your stupid pocket protector screw it up†– Bentley to Chuck
“I hate being a nemesis. Maybe I should take her out for coffee?†– Chuck
Jeffster should always be considered guilty until proven innocent
“If you love something, let it go. If it comes back, you can eat it†– Jeff
Numerous references to Chuck’s apple-juice-nuclear-bomb triumph from last week
“There’s no torture going on in here†– Chuck, kind of freaking out
“Although, there is no clear definition…†– Sarah, cold and calculating as usual
“Colonel Casey [and Sarah] wouldn’t kill anyone…who didn’t deserve it†– Chuck is reminded that his beloved teammates aren’t exactly angelic.
Lewis picking up a British accent from a semester abroad
Awesome work here, Cay!
Nice review and good points and intriguing questions indeed. Hope Ellie is brought in out of the cold so to speak as to Chuck involvement in CIA Thanks for sharing
Unfortunately, I wasn’t crazy about the episode. It merely seemed to be the conduit to get to last segment with all the reveals. The reveals at the end saved it for sure. One point I found interesting, didn’t realize Chuck could rewind with the intersect — very cool. Let’s hopenthere is more promotions ofnthe show and some kick-a– episodes to bring the show securely off the edge of the bubble.
Of all the episodes this season, this was my least favourite. Maybe I just had high expectations with Kristen Newman doing the writing. I guess every writer is entitled to one bad episode. Although on the whole it wasn’t that bad.
I still enjoyed a fair bit of it.
I know it wont happen, but I would be quite happy if the Buy More was No More. I agree with Cay on this, with the exception of a few jokes about the pig I found the Buy More stuff completely underwhelming.
I liked how Casey and Sarah were supporting Chuck throughout his leadership ordeal, but they shouldn’t have needed to do it at every turn.
Chuck did not really show any true leadership until near the end of the episode.
Personally, I thought the Ellie/Devon/Orion Laptop scenes were the best part of the episode. That and the reveal at the end that Vivian sent the hitman were the most interesting part of the episode.
All this being said, I might see some things on rewatch that I missed the first time that will alter my opinion.
One thing I would have loved to see was when Morgan asked the question about outside of Sean Connery who was the best Bond, someone should have answered Timothy Dalton, but we only got to see him ask that to Chuckalina who didn’t seem to have an opinion on it.
“One thing I would have loved to see was when Morgan asked the question about outside of Sean Connery who was the best Bond, someone should have answered Timothy Dalton”
THAT’S HILARIOUS! I never thought of that!
I don’t think that Chuck was rewinding with the Intersect (although that would be amazingly awesome). It was merely a device the editors used to illustrate Chuck remembering what had happened earlier.
Lewis picked up a dodgy English accent! As a Brit, just saying! Hire me instead [GGG]. Please?
Neither Ellie nor Devon knows about the Intersect. Even though they have seen Chuck displaying his Intersect abilities they still have no clue where it all comes from.
Other Quotes. Devon to Ellie: “It’s ok, you’re in THE ZONE”. Thanks again to the writers for putting in another “The Zone with Timm McCoy” podcast reference. I LOVE you people! Elsewhere, Ellie IS an intersect. There are too many times where she mentioned that she lost track of time, or putting Clara down to sleep. All Bartowski’s are part of the team since day one. “The Family that spies together…” I am sure Ell will know of Chuck’s brain problems very soon. Mark my word…what brought back Shaw?…Papa B too maybe?
I don’t think she is, or that the writers are keeping it ambiguous as possible. I think they’re just showing her getting sucked into her work again and maybe for the first time in awhile, she’s sort of blown away with an amazing project as well as learning more about her dad.
But then again, maybe Agent X will be the next evolution. I have to say, I’m deathly scared of how this will go. I commented elsewhere (I think) that if Ellie starts doing backflips and stuff, this is going to get way out of hand. If, however, she had her own “version” of the Intersect that fit her abilities, maybe it’ll work better. Maybe that’s why this has a different codename.
Then again, I thought I’d hate Chuck after he obtained his Intersect 2.0 abilities and I’m still here :).
Also, great review and pointing out the possibility that maybe Agent X wasn’t a Papa B creation but a Bentley one. I half expected when Bentley brought the bomb into the Intersect room, she’d somehow connect with Ellie through the laptop and she’d somehow would be able to disarm it or something or other in a way that would surprise everyone (including Ellie herself).
I keep bitching about the Handheld Device and Mama B’s comment before he de-Intersected Chuck and how it’s so not yet resolved what she meant. When they used the same video to simply de-Intersect the Gretas, I was so disappointed. I hope there’s more to that! I remember even doing some digging about what Euribya was (I’d have to look again… also that was the name on the box Mama B pulled the device out of in Orion’s Base) and it so sounded like a hint to something much much more.
Please guys, let’s resolve all of this! They’ve blown me away before, and the episodes, though still entertaining, seems to have been lacking a bit save a few amazing moments (Love the Viivan storyline and can’t wait to see what happens!). Let’s do it again!
The video Mama B used supressed the Intersect it didn’t remove it , the one Papa B used at the drive in in season 2 deleted it. So no telling where they got it from , though it’s possible Papa B gave them a way to remove the Intersect at the end of season 2 since he knew about the upgraded version even though they had messed with it.
Oh and the laptop ran something like when you reinstall software and it does a repair mode so it unlocked and fixed it.
If you rewatch the end of this ep it’s clear that the scans for Agent X are of a man not a woman so there’s no way it’s Ellie.
Love the new twist with Ellie, been waiting for that so she gets more evolved. Never liked the BuyMorons and can do without them.
Hey guys! I appreciate the love and really enjoy reading your comments.
Donovan – yeah, I guess you are right. I’m not sure why this plot point remains unclear to me with as many times as I’ve watched every episode, but it still does. I guess I assumed that Devon knew everything, but was unclear that Ellie did, but it makes more sense that neither of them know the whole story, although I’m not sure how Chuck explained their father coming back and what a hero he was without mentioning the Intersect. That said, if Ellie knew, she’d likely have made a really big deal about it, like she is with the info on the computer.
I’m not sure she is an Intersect – Papa B never meant for Chuck to be one and it seems a bit unlikely that she also sneaked into his office/lab as a kid and got intersected without him knowing about it.
Wonder if we’re going to get Mama B back anytime soon – I want to get her take on this whole thing. She already tried to suppress Chuck’s intersect. What would she do if she found out Ellie was involved, too?
I don´t think Devon and Ellie know about the IS. Devon wanted to know as less as possible and I doubt Morgan told them that.
When Devon was mixed up for Carmichael in S3 (not sure which episode anymore), he said “is it your spytraining?” with Chuck replying “Duckhunt”. Also, when Chuck used his abilities before them, they obviously thought it was Chuck himself, not IS.
To the review – I pretty much agree. It was nice to see a confident Chuck for a change and I just loved, loved, loved Chuck/Sarah/Casey team working together without overenthusiastic Morgan around (I am glad he didn´t stay down there). Their non-verbal communication works perfectly, and how they kept supporting him, *that* is what Chuck is about and he also said it by himself – they three are the Team Bartowski.
I am also glad that they didn´t highlight Chuck/Sarah relationship this time and just *were together* as a normal couple, without arguing or dealing with non-sensical problems.
The only thing that I found a bit ridiculous is Chuck´s habit to carry a tranq gun. It is in character, somehow, but a bit pointless when everybody around him are armed with real guns. For the psychological effect “I didn´t kill him” in case they all would be forced to fire, is it a really thin line and it is just for an effect. I am sure Chuck is ready and perfectly capable of carrying a real gun (he got a CIA service gun after all, what happened to it?) and maybe even use it. I would like to see him deal with the killing again, but with someone who would stay dead this time.
Chuck’s habit to carry a tranq gun may seem pointless since he is surrounded by plenty of firepower. Yet Chuck told Volkoff that he has a thing with bullets. It is one of the principles that defines who Chuck is.
Even in the bank robbery Sarah never killed anyone with her automatic gun while Chuck was taking everyone out with his tranq gun. A little unbelievable? Perhaps, but even Sarah’s use of lethal force has dropped significantly since she first met Chuck. After all it was the difference between her and Captain Vicky in arming the nuclear bomb.
I noticed that Sarah doesn´t use a deadly power as much as she used to. I am glad. I think it is nice to see that they are influencing each other – she took over something from Chuck, and he took something from her 🙂
But still, he is a real CIA agent now (I love the “agent Bartowski” :-)) and it would be interesting to see him deal with some killing. I don´t think it would have such an impact now for him (he has seen and done some “not too nice” stuff himself) but it still would be interesting to see.
Agree that Kevin Bacon was cute and the BM jokes were overused. I would have like to have seen Sarah used a little more, she is wasted as Chuck’s cheerleader (although… never mind). I believe that this episode was a waste, which it too bad.
I thought it was funny that Casey actually grunted back at the pig. Maybe they went with the BM jokes as a counterbalance to the relative darkness of the murder plot.
Plus some people might not have heard the term BM used and won’t get it until it’s explained to them.
That would be me.
And I’m hoping this comment is long enough.
You honestly don’t know what a BM is? Google it, just don’t choose the images option.
Are we sure Vivian’s attorney is not the real culprit?
That’s what I was thinking – Riley paid Damien, but made it look like Vivian was behind the deal. He’s a sneaky one, that Riley.
That’s certainly my going theory!
I think it’s the lawyer either acting on his own or on orders. If they can frame her and cut her off from people that can help than she has nowhere to turn to and they might be able to force her into taking over or doing thier dirty work.
I was diappointed that the murder plot was not either particularly funny or suspenseful. I’d have enjoyed either way, but not half & half.
The Buy More plot was basically a few funny ideas stretched way too thin.
I’m also intrigued by Ellie, though I’d have to question the analytical potential of anyone who has been as dense as Ellie’s been this year. Her not noticing Chuck’s occasional absences or unsual behavior in season 1-3 were understandable, but THIS year? No way. Even with the distractions of pregnancy, then a new baby, she lives across the courtyard from him… and he’s traveing all over the world (seemingly on an almost daily basis at times this year– with no apparent jet lag)… and she doesn’t notice? Some potential spy!
That didn’t quite read write… I know she’s always lived with him or across from him. It’s just that she never had reason to notice or suspect anything was unusual before. NOW she knows about the spy world.
And now THAT did’nt quite “write” “right”! They need an edit feature on this board! 😉
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! DIDN’T (not did’nt) 🙁
Its okay, take a deep breath. Breathe, now out, breathe in, now out. Just don’t do it around the big, flaming BM.
Might be a case of “you only see what you want to see”. Even very intelligent people can be pretty dumb when they want something to be a certain way.
Nobody mentioned Sarah casually putting her feet on Chuck’s lap and him just massaging them 🙂 after all the teamwork they still get those cute parts in there i loved this ending!!! 😀 and the part of Casey stuffing his face with cookies as telling Chuck don’t forget that they are a team! LOL 😀