You know we're going to be getting a good episode of "Chuck" when Scott Bakula shows up. He was great in the second half of last season, and he continued to win people over this time around.
Chuck's father was at the center of both of the main plots this week. He showed up originally thanks to Ellie, who was convinced by Justin to reach out and get his "help" for their CIA mission. (Of course, as we all know, Justin is secretly a Ring operative looking to cause plenty of trouble.)
Unfortunately for Ellie and Justin, there was one person standing in their way -- Casey. Chuck told him to keep an eye out on her, and after initially thinking that she was merely cheating on Captain Awesome they started to realize there was something far more sinister at play. She ended up knocking Adam Baldwin in the face with a pan when she found him sneaking through the house, which spells some very bad things happening to our beloved Colonel moving forward.
The hunt for the dead
As for Chuck, he spent the early portion of this episode trying to track down Shaw, which seemed meaningless in some ways since everyone actually believed him to be dead. After finally coming clean with Sarah about having the dream about the guy still being alive, the two went on a mission to his penthouse in order to recover whatever was hidden inside his safe. As it turned out, there was a briefcase inside containing what ultimately was Shaw's "spy will," but it took some battling with Justin to get it. The major revelation here? Justin told the group that Shaw was in fact dead, and that Chuck's dreams were merely just that.
The unfortunate twist for Chuck here is that his dad ultimately had to save him on the mission, which meant coming clean about having the Intersect still in his body. Steve quickly used this as an excuse to take off, but upon finding them he came across quite a shocker -- while seeing Ellie off, she planted a tracking device on him.
So what was The Ring after with Chuck's father? As it turns out, he had a way to handle the Intersect and keep it from "overheating" -- in other words, he can stop Chuck from having some of his "sanity problems" he's been forced into dealing with over much of the past few weeks. They escaped The Ring this time, but there were clearly still some major problems coming.
Jeffster's sideplot
Did you really think I could not mention Jeffster is here somewhere? Granted, the two Buy More guys may not have been a major part of the story this week, but we got some good humor out of seeing them break up over Big Mike's offer to "manage" them.
In the end, Mike was only trying to help -- he saw his dream of being in Earth, Wind, & Fire vanish, and he doesn't want to see that happen for them.
What lies ahead
What really made this episode work was how it ultimately felt like just the first part of a movie. We had the construction of many great future plots (including Ellie figuring out the truth about Justin), and "Chuck" so eloquently teased them for next week.
We also learned that Shaw is in fact still alive, and that Justin was merely trying to get some sort of "insurance policy" out of Steve before letting Shaw download it. So in other words, we have a situation here where the main villain is about to become far stronger -- think Super Shredder in "Ninja Turtles II" (okay, there are probably better comparisons out there than that).
Are you looking forward to the finale? Feel free to share your thoughts and stay tuned for more TV news.
"Chuck" central -- recaps, news, and more
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Comments
Why can't NBC just give people what they want?! Just type, "Chuck Comic Con 09" on Youtube and scroll in about 1:25.
Great episode. I'm so looking forward to the finale!
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