Sarah is undercover, Chuck is flying solo, and Ellie wants to name her and Awesome’s kid “Grunka” (or something of that sort) in this week’s episode of “Chuck.” In short, all is running like usual in the world of Chuck.
Find out what I thought of this episode after the jump.
Synopsis: Sarah sets out on a perilous undercover mission by assisting Mary Bartowski in a bed to finally crush criminal mastermind Volkoff. Meanwhile, Ellie and Awesome bicker over baby names.
How Was It: With the next episode being what originally appeared to be the season (perhaps series) finale, we knew that the pieces had to get set up on the chess board and fast. Sarah had to get into Volkoff’s organization, distance had to be created between Chuck and Sarah, and assuredly there would be other surprises thrown in there to complicate matters.
In typical “Chuck” fashion though, they managed to pull off an episode that threw down plot point after plot point with a ton of charm and fun while also throwing in some truly touching moments.
In fact, the closing sequence set to Miike Snow’s “Silvia” was one of the best moments of this season to date, with Morgan assuring Alex as she stands over Casey in a coma, Frost assures Sarah as she pushes Chuck away, and Chuck just feeling lost all together. It’s a touching and thoughtful scene, and an example of just how damn good this show is.
While this episode did a lot well, the baby naming subplot featuring Ellie and Awesome really, really felt forced. Sure, they wanted to bring them back into the limelight before heading into the birth that is coming next week, but that storyline didn’t need as much screen time as it received. Still, any time you can get more Awesome and a baby name taken from Ikea cutlery, you’ve got to take it.
Even with that considered, thanks to a lot of really good performances, this episode works really well. Timothy Dalton continues to get A+ grades from yours truly, as he is hugely entertaining and evil as Volkoff. Linda Hamilton is decent, but is overshadowed by the greatness that is Dalton. The rest of the cast brings their standard quality work, with Joshua Gomez in particular bringing the quality from the regular cast here.
I can’t wait for the next episode, an episode that I’ve read promises to bring the best 10 minutes of the series yet. Given how much I love this show, that could be nothing short of spectacular.
