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Can someone please bottle Timothy Dalton’s essence and sell it to all TV series for use as a guaranteed brauva turn as the guest star of the week?
Please.
Evil or good it matters not. When Dalton comes on the screen I am adamantly convinced that the image on the TV becomes sharper, the sound clearer, the story more entertaining, and the viewer’s enjoyment increases exponentially.
Volkoff’s convincing attempts at reforming and atoning for his former life of crime provided Dalton with some great moments to sink his razor sharp acting chops into. From his apologetic group therapy session to his being wheeled into the Castle like a humbled and happy Hannibal Lecter to his brief wrestling with his former ferocity to being willing to throw away his reformation to be evil with his daughter; it all gave Dalton quite the acting palette to playfully paint with. The storyline between Vivian and Papa Volkoff suffered in any form of payoff because the two characters only had one scene together. As did Vivian’s turn to the Dark Side.
Secretly, I think, Volkoff was proud of his daughter for using him, and Chuck, to procure an item only Volkoff could access.
In that Chuck way of writing, the issue of Sarah’s Prenup was wonky in origin and setup but at least this time the payoffs were worth it. The character reversal of having Chuck being cool and accepting of Sarah’s Prenup versus Sarah’s under the surface dismay at Chuck’s laconic behavior was well played. The other payoff was the parallel between Sarah and Casey. Sarah’s feeling of being trapped between her parents and choosing her father over her mother mirrors Casey’s dilemma of wanting to be part of Alex’s life without intruding in the life that Kathleen has built for herself.
How far these two spies have come since they have become teamed up with Chuck!
Episode ‘Flashes’: Add your own in the comments.
(Going to be light, going from memory based on a single viewing.)
- Chuck NOT freaking out about Sarah’s pre-nup
- Sarah, in her own Sarah way, freaking out that Chuck is not freaking out
- Morgan and Casey in synch at the breakfast table
- Volkoff apologizing in group therapy session
- Alex wanting Casey in her life
- Casey feeling caught in the middle like Sarah was with her parents
- Ellie and Devon aka Hot Mama and Six Pack – the Awesome Spy Couple
- Sarah has a new car!
- Chuck standing up for Vivian – yay! That’s the Chuck I remember!
- Sarah and Casey sharing family issues
- Chuck’s not cool Prenup turns out to be very cool and sweet too.
Any pretext that Chuck is a spy show is fully and clearly brought to an end in this episode. Even the most intriguing part of the storyline, the Ellie – Orion laptop – Agent X spy thread is intertwined with MamaB and Chuck and Orion. Its all about the Bartowski’s keeping secrets from one another and the continuing damage it is doing to all of them. This time Chuck is on the receiving end as Ellie tells hims a bald faced lie without blinking an eye. While that was a nice moment, the continuation of this dreary lying liturgy continues to trudge along, no doubt all the way to the final episode of this season.
I cannot wait for Chuck and Ellie to finally clear the air between them but it will be too little, too late.
As for Agent X, my money is still on it being Chuck, but it would not surprise if the scope of Agent X was expanded to include Ellie too.
All in all, an entertaining episode.
I’ve never thought of Chuck as a spy show; it’s show about people that happen to be spies so the spy story has never been the attraction for me. Maybe that’s why I’ve enjoyed this season more than some. I will say that I thought the moral of this weeks episode of seeing things through other peoples eyes was very well handled. It can sometimes be a bit ‘hammer over the head’ but this was well balanced and all the characters were used well to demonstrate it.
I’d say the same about Adam. The delicate nuances he brings to John Casey are delightful!
After several weak episodes Nicholas Wootton finally delivers a winner, albeit as a co-writer. If we get a season five, I hope this partnership continues.
Nice review, Lou. I too think Timothy Dalton is brilliant. He looks as though he is having the time of his life playing this character. What a huge talent!
You are correct regarding the “will Ellie find out” storyline. Yawn! She will and blah,blah,blah because Agent X is either Chuck or Ellie. 2nd yawn. It would be an awesome twist is it were Devon or Sarah!
Casey and Morgan are hilarious together. I am anxious to see what happens when Kathleen finds out Casey is alive. The writers should have a lot of fun things with that.
*Last sentence should read “The writers can do a lot of fun things with that”
Perhaps found the right combo for Wooten, be a co-writer, and have NPH directing Nice review and as pointed out before on other story lines the shows playing Ellie/Chuck for maximum drama effect all the way to the end.
This is the first episode in the four seasons where I really felt that Chuck was becoming a soap opera. Albeit a funny spy one, I don’t agree that the show is getting better, however. Maybe because I thought that it was great from the beginning. I do believe the team is melding together as one ensemble, (talking about all the actors) how this will end, I don’t know. It will be tragic if the series is not renewed because these people are beginning to hit their stride. Let’s hope that it continues.
Hey Lou Missed you on the nerdposium. I liked this episode alot, and hope the show can somehow put Timothy Dalton in it next season if they get season 5. I think they are setting it up great for next year with Ellie. They need to have some really bad guys nwxt season to make the show make sense having that many people involved in the spy life. That would be six people if you count “Six Pack”! You need some kidnappings,some shootings, etc. Nicholas Wooten shouldn’t write alone anymore.
Chuck playing Uno with the terrorist? Brilliant.