This week on Chuck, we’ve got the follow-up to the last second capture of Chuck’s mother by…Chuck’s girlfriend. This episode finds the wake of that taking place in “Chuck Versus the First Fight.” Does it live up to the revival of the show over the past two episodes?
Find out after the jump.
Synopsis: In the wake of his first fight with Sarah, Chuck embarks on a rogue mission, ultimately colliding with his mother’s spy handler and an enigmatic Russian agent. Meanwhile, Ellie digs into her family’s secretive past.
What Was Good: This week, the guest stars shined and then some. Linda Hamilton was very solid as Chuck and Ellie’s mom once again, and she and the writers are doing a phenomenal job of making Frost a character that is impossible to pinpoint. While she doesn’t have the natural charisma that their father (as played by Scott Bakula) had, she has done a good job.
The true star, however, was Timothy Dalton. As Frost’s MI6 handler (and perhaps more), he did a remarkable job of playing a role with dualing personalities and pulling off a bumbling one that existed in juxtaposition of his standard smooth operator style. He was a real highlight in terms of pure entertainment, and his character is thankfully going to be back for more throughout this season.
Chuck and Sarah were back to having some tension in their relationship, and it worked here mostly because it wasn’t forced and it fit into the scheme of the story. In fact, one of the best scenes of the whole episode was where they escaped the bank they were in by taking out all of the Volkoff operatives while going through their “first” fight (if that was their first fight, what have all of their other spats been?). Both Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahvoski handled these scenes really well, and the scene where Chuck simply asked Sarah to believe in him…well, it was handled remarkably well.
With all of the rest happening, there was basically no Buymoria, and even Casey and Morgan were relegated to second banana roles more so. But that’s okay – it worked in the scheme of the story.
Props once again to Sarah Lancaster for her handling of Ellie and the drama involving her and her mother. The way they’ve integrated Ellie into this season with the pregnancy and her relationship with both her mother and father has been superb, and the scenes with her and her mother as well as the the red convertible were highlights of the whole episode.
I love what happened in this episode. From a plotting standpoint, it was very exciting and the direction it took the season is remarkably interesting. Not only that, but we’re given an even more exciting character to deal with now that Dalton’s character stands revealed. I can’t wait to see where it goes from here. With Volkoff thinking he’s killed Chuck and Sarah and Chuck Intersect-less, our hero is at the biggest disadvantage of his history. Where we go from here is unknown, but I’m perhaps excited more now than I have been all season.
As per usual, Chuck brought it on the music front. Frightened Rabbit, Nico Stai and Florence and the Machine? Not bad Josh Schwartz.
What Was Bad: Very little to complain about, save perhaps the fact that the beginning was a little slow. In fact, the episode dragged until Timothy Dalton came on the screen, and as soon as he appeared it was a breeze. With that said, it still dragged and I was kind of groaning early on.
Overall: This episode did a brilliant job of setting up the remainder of the season, with all kinds of status quo changes, character bait and switches, and betrayals for our viewing pleasure this week. With the Intersect gone but a possible savior existing in Ellie’s new car, with Volkoff standing revealed, with Sarah and Chuck reinvigorated…there are a lot of directions for this season to take. I for one can’t wait to see where it goes from here. Nice work once again to the Chuck crew.
