ChuckTV.net The CHUCK archive
Written by Alex Katsnelson & Kristen Newman
Directed by Alan Kroeker
It is a true measure of affection for these characters that a small scene between Chuck, Sarah, and Casey decompressing together after their latest mission makes wading through a filler episode like this one still rewarding.
A bottle – meaning the episode was confined to standing sets such as the Castle, BuyMore etc – and filler episode; this one ran on three tracks. The A storyline had Chuck in charge of the Intersect Project which quickly became a locked Castle aka room mystery. The B storyline had the BuyMore battling it out with the LargeMart over stolen mascots. The C storyline had Ellie digging deeper into PapaB’s Intersect Research on the laptop.
The most intriguing and engaging storyline of the three for me was the C storyline, so you can use that as a barometer for the relative merits of the rest of the episode.
Ignoring Devon’s flip flopping on Ellie’s involvement in the spy world – and in the scheme of character irregularities in the ChuckVerse, Devon’s is the least egregious to date – the most likely candidate for the identity of the mysterious Agent X on the laptop is Chuck. What triggered the scan of the laptop at the end of the episode is most intriguing. Is it a security measure designed by PapaB to activate once Ellie reaches a certain breakthrough point? Or is it some long distance hacking by Vivian Volkoff as she seeks out all possible avenues of apparent revenge against Chuck? The ominous music suggests the latter but the more rewarding story possibilities lie with the former.
Most importantly is how will this all land for Ellie? And Chuck? Will Ellie finally be allowed to have the blinders removed from her and step through the story closet door into the light? The disappointment from Ellie’s deflection from the truth back during the Chuck de-Intersecting arc earlier in the season still stings deeply. So to say I am being cautiously anticipatory about the show finally taking this story line to the next step demonstrates that ‘Hope’ does indeed survive.
Episode ‘Flashes’: Add your own in the comments.
- Ellie in the zone with her dad’s research
- Chuck In Charge aka The Search for Chucks
- ‘Good Lord, four more Chucks!’
- Another ‘Rush’ shoutout!
- Intersect candidate evaluation scenes
- ‘I hate being a nemesis!’
- Journey ringtone!
- Prank Detente
- cute little Kevin Bacon
- swarthy, bearded guys = the new butler did it?
- Ellie figures out what her dad was going. Now will she figure how it was done to?
- Where is Kevin Bacon? In the ducts, of course!
- Chuck demonstrates the value of pocket protectors
- Devon has become a good liar!?!?! vis a vis Ellie and the laptop to Chuck??
- Chuck’s respite from being a Nemesis short-lived. Vivian Volkoff lays down the gauntlet.
- Ellie and Agent X. Any relation? Hmmm….
The last few episodes have pushed the product placement barriers more and more. Last week’s Toyota show-vertisement seems sublime to Big Mike’s near episode long Subway sandwich one. That Kevin Bacon piglet sure was cute though and he got to tour the now famous Castle duct work which turned into an explosive form of the Castle Slide.
The A storyline was nifty in concept but underwhelming in execution. Part of that is because the Castle has been compromised so many times the past two seasons you wonder why they bother to clean it up any more. Sifting through the storytelling debris there were some good beats. It was gratifying to see Casey and Sarah backing Chuck as the leader. It was also good to see the show not take the Given’s character down an obvious path and have her see Chuck’s worth in action instead. As for Chuck the oscillations between his fears and talents swung more than a tad too much for my sensibilities but what, at one time or another in their life proud plastic packeted and pocketed nerd, could not help but let out a fist pump when Chuck showed the multi-faceted purposes of a pocket protector to override the door lock on the Intersect Command Center?
Was it just me or did the potential female Intersect agent Chuck chose look a lot like Jill? Nah, probably just a coincidence….
Hm I was a bit dissapointed about this episode :(, the murder plot was badly executed, the buymore story was much more entertaining 😀 (Which is … kinda strange :P, a bad sign I think). Overall not a strong episode, the only thing I think stood out was the scene where Chuck, sarah and Casey sat down for a late night snack 🙂 that was really touching dispite the bad vivian news.
What about the murder plot was badly executed if I might be so bold as to ask?
The A storyline felt too much like vs. Cubic Z (though the concept of potential evil doers climbing through the Castle ductwork has finally reached the level of a pig) and the B storyline felt too much like the war with the Beverly Hills Buy More in vs. the Predator.
As you’ve said the C storyline was for me the most compelling. While I just assumed that Vivian Volkoff was the one who hacked into Papa B.’s computer to scan the room, the idea of Papa B. planting a security scan in the computer would be pretty cool. After all he has scanned Chuck before in the past. As for Devon it’s just a matter of time before he spills the rest of the beans to Chuck. It would be so out of character for him to suddenly be a rock in controlling his emotions.
I’m with you in that my favorite moment was the decompression beat at the end. Casey with milk and cookies is just funny to me. Adam Baldwin is genius when it comes to interesting bits of business with food (reference the sandwich and hot pocket in “Undercover Lover,” Thanksgiving dinner at Ellie’s in “Nemesis,” and milk and cookies in “Sandworm”).
I was disappointed with Bentley as a nemesis, however. Her lines about Chuck failing as a leader undermined her credibility as a Director with a long career in clandestine services; she came across less as a spy boss and more as a mean Cheerleader on Glee … only not as menacing.
I’m not complaining about Givens’ performance — she can seethe with the best of them — it’s just that her character was written without any manipulative finesse and without the ruthless intelligence that would be expected of someone who works in Intelligence. I was really hoping that she would be a force to be reckoned with and more of a challenge for Chuck to overcome. I like the way that they resolved it, that pocket protectors win out over courageous last stands, but that resolution felt less satisfying than it could have been if Bentley was written with more depth.
Actually, I loved this episode. It’s probably one of my favorites of the season so far. The Kevin Bacon Buy-More plot was hilarious, and I ROFL’d at the Subway product placement. That’s where I’m eating next time!
I was in this play called The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, and the plot sorta reminded me of this. Look it up!
I enjoyed this episode because it was a throwback to the story formula they used in Seasons 1 and 2. I’m glad they finally gave Jeff, Lester and Big Mike something to do. I’ve been scratching my head most of this season wondering why those three characters and the Buy More itself are still part of the show. Too often is seems as if the Buy Morons are arbitrarily tossed into an episode for some brief, random scene simply because the actors are still on the payroll. I think these three characters are hilarious. I just wish the writers could have figured out what to do with them!
Nice review being on the road I don’t have a chance to watch again but based on one viewing I agree with most said. I enjoyed Sarah and Casey support of Chuck but the wavering done one time to much perhaps. Bentley seeing Chuck worth was good touch.
Acknowledging Ellie worth to TB by Bentley was good to hear
I’m still wondering what the heck is up with the three u’s in the title…
Anyway, I suspect it’s Riley acting (or purporting to act) on Vivian’s behalf, not Vivian herself who hired Damian.
The Josie character was sorta annoying.
I really wish Chuck finally lets Ellie in the loop. If there’s a season five, I will not stand for yet another season of keeping secrets from Ellie.
And where the hell is Frost if it’s just Ellie and Clara in the Woodcomb home? And why wouldn’t Ellie have talked to Frost about finding Orion’s computer in the Mustang?
So… yeah. All the other Newman episodes (e.g. “Phase Three”) are great, but this… not so much.
Maybe she didn’t tell Frost because she still doesn’t quite trust her. After all, it was Frost’s actions that tore apart thier family.
I personally thought the episode was really fun, and it made me laugh quite a few times.
On first watch I must admit I was underwelmed with the episode I was disappointed with the repetition of the defusing bomb with apple juice thing it was shown/refferred to three times in this episode and thought that was OTT.
The rest of the epiosode just happened,it was not till the last mins or so that it got interesting with Chuck working out who the Killer was, I thought it was really good that it was not Bentley as she was the obvious choice and I liked how Chuck had some kind of flash to work it all out.
I understand Lou your ref to Devon Flipping in keeping Ellie out of the spy life but I saw it that he sees his wife and she looks so happy, glowing even, and thinks how can he take that feeling away from her. He is the only person that knows both sides of the lie, it is about time he took his wifes side in something and not Chucks.
I think that the PTB had a plan to get Ellie involved like this earlier with the intersect less ark but when they got the extra episodes, some things just got moved to later in the season and I have a feeling this is one of those things.
The fact that Ellie got her Epiphany when thinking about Clara and how quickly she is learning was cleverly done but that fact means that When Chuick told her about being a spy he must have never told her about the intersect and how it works otherwise she would have to know that some of the Data refers to him.
I liked how supportive Sarah particularly was of Chuck and I can appreciate your views about him not being as confident as he should perhaps have been but I would say he has not had much experience in being the Boss and the problem was he wants to be liked and sometimes you cant be.
As you say the last couple of scenes were the highlights for me Team B relaxing over Milka and Cookies, I loved that Chuck was rubbing Sarahs foot, the reveal as Vivian as big bad, and then the Face scan and Agent X files. It is really setting up to be the best episodes of the series. Two baddies Alexi and Vivian who know all Chucks weeknesses plus everything to do with Ellie, the intersect and Agent X.
Buy more was OK but disapointed in a way that either a) they did not take the war to Large Mart, or b) Big Mike was the Large mart mole and it was all a setup.
It was much better for me on rewatch but still one of my least favourites overall but the last 10 mins were a great stepping off point for the last 5 episoodes.
I had that same conversation with my husband. They all do not know that Chuck has the intersect except Morgan.
Another review spot on with my opinion Lou. We should watch the show together in a sports bar. However, I don’t think Vivian Volkoff had anything to do with the Laptop scanning Ellie and accessing the Agent X files for her. I’m thinking it’s an Orion program or perhaps Bentley continuing to try to back door Chuck. She had remote access to the laptop in Castle afterall.
Yes Bentley is a possibility but I suspect we have seen the last of her.
Could be. The swarthy bearded guy was in the new Intersect Room. Maybe he had a chance to inspect and/or tamper with the remote link set up to the ORION laptop while he was stuffing bodies in the rafters–giving Vivian access.
The scan was strictly an Orion thing . Probably an extra security measure to make sure it was back in Ellie’s hands before releasing the Agent X files after being messed with by Bentley (she attached some kind of remote transmitter) and Devon’s sttempt to open and change the hard drive. It’d be interesting to see if the laptop blocked the transmission of files to Bentley after it unlocked the Agent X files.
Loved Kevin Bacon, but way too many BM jokes. Robin Givens has not aged well, and she can’t act. The murder mystery was clunky at best. Yvonne was underused, we get it, she now loves the guy but every other line was ‘Chuck, you can do it.’ Ellie becoming the intersect will not add another layer but only make things more confusing. Everyone is complaining that the show is losing it continuity and that will just make things more diluted. This show is rounding third and limping home, and that will be a horrible way for it to be remembered.
Ellie will not be an Intersect, those scans were of a male form.
I thought there were broad hints thrown that Clare is going to become an intersect. That would be an interesting season ender cliffhanger.
I thought this episode wasn’t that bad. In fact it was okay. I liked the whodunit story. We finally get to see Chuck in charge, and he does a great job. As he said it was four years in the making. I like the way they have finally gotten to this point. And the scene at the end, I loved them all three together, Chuck saying that the intersect works best with the three of them-as a team!!That’s always what’s worked! It seems some are getting tired of the show and are putting it down, but no series is perfect and I’m willing to put up with some clunkers if I could have a season 5!! Also, I don’t think the ending would be Vivian hacking into the computer because I think Papa B. would have so many failsafes on it. It seemed to recognize Ellie because Papa B. had her in there. I was glad that Bentley was good, and recognized Chuck for being a good spy.
My problem with this season is the hit-or-miss nature of the episodes. I know different fans have different favorite seasons and parts of the show (I happened to LOVE season 3), but by reading the comments on this mostly-positive fansite I think many fans will agree that while there have been some gems this season, there’s been a higher percentage of “meh” episodes than any other season.
I don’t think that’s necessarily an indication that there are no fresh ideas to explore– even after the additional character growth this season there’s Charah’s marriage/parenting, the same for Morgan/Alex with the added joy of Grandpa Casey, Ellie entering the spy world, Sarah’s mom, etc. — I just think the new writers have been inferior to the people they replaced.
Hopefully, some agreement for a full-season pickup can be made and next season can be better planned and paced.
The episode was underwhelming. Think the series has hit a low since Phase 3, and my biggest comment is that there is no chemistry between Chuck and Sarah anymore. Are the actors bored? They should look back at the best of Seasons 1,2,3 and th efirst half of 4. Hope there is a season five, but it is not looking good in the ratings.