Chuck Review: All In The Family

Things began to normalize for our favorite CIA operatives and the friends and family whom they hold dear. Last week’s “Chuck versus Phase Three” felt like a very different kind of episode and show for many reasons, but this week’s “Chuck versus the Leftovers” was about tying up loose ends and getting back to our regularly scheduled program. I think all that stabilizing is what lent to the rushed feeling of the episode, which brought back both Linda Hamilton and Timothy Dalton. The funny may not have suffered due to these rushed storylines, but the drama did, and I appreciate Chuck above many other shows because it treads that line between hilarity and emotion so well. And when it focuses purely on the funny, the writers and actors often knock it out of the park, but this semi-Thanksgiving-centric episode appeared to want to tread the line but never fully commit to the dramatic side of things (i.e., the reunion of Ellie and her mom Mary).

Volkoff wasn’t too happy to find out that Agent Carmichael had survived his last kill attempt, but he had no clue that his right-hand lady aided and abetted in their escape. He charged her with putting his top assassins on the job and making sure it was completed. Speaking of Agent Carmichael, Chuck and Morgan sparred, and it was pretty adorable, well, until Morgan basically took Chuck to a defense class for strippers! Their pole spins/kick combos were pretty good, actually. And it would come in handy a little later when Chuck and Sarah took a stroll. The two discussed the fact that Ellie and Awesome had to cancel Thanksgiving Dinner, but Chuck assured her that it’s all about Leftover Dinner. The two were ambushed outside of a jewelry store offering tons of shiny engagement rings (serious foreshadowing), but Chuck’s mom Mary turned up, took out the baddies and offered “come with me if you want to live.”

Back at Castle, Mary cautioned the team to leave as soon as possible because Volkoff would surely try to find her. Chuck ranted and raved about not being able to trust a single thing she said. Sarah separated the two and told Chuck to let Casey and her handle the interrogating. Mary claimed protecting Chuck has always come first and that by subduing the Intersect, she hoped she would stop Chuck from attempting to follow her directly to Volkoff again. All the while, Big Mike gave Morgan a delicious Subway sandwich in honor of his first Black Friday as manager. (Most product placement kills me, but Subway is definitely part of the family at this point.) A hot lady tried to sexy her way into the store after hours for the new 7G phone, but Morgan was having none of it. He screamed it loud and proud. He’s taken, lady. Lester and Jeff, on the other hand, played right into her pretty palms, and Volkoff was not far behind. The henchlady dosed Jeffster and stealthily took over the always unmanned CIA base, letting Volkoff and his minions in. (Tell me the CIA can’t spring for a night watchman or something.) Over at the hospital, Awesome found Ellie working on the laptop. She’d discovered that her dad was working on solving another Intersect versus Brain problem, but couldn’t get past the last prompt, “1 or 11?” Awesome figured Chuck could help, but Ellie still wanted to keep him as far from the spy game as possible. If only she knew…

Morgan, barefoot and wearing a wifebeater, called Chuck and warned everyone of the takeover. Casey showed faith in Castle, but then Volkoff called and gave an ultimatum. Give over Frost or “the fat man and the Indian” die. Oh, and he was not leaving without her, even calling her his love. Hold the phone! Yes, Volkoff is in love…with Chuck’s mom?!  Of course, she wasn’t in love with him. It was all for the CIA. Use that psychopathic love and take down not just the man, but the whole network. It dawned on Sarah that they really could have been all wrong about Frost. They realized they could also use this to their advantage. At this time, Morgan took to the ventilation system (The Die Hard references slayed!), as did Casey who thought he could regain control of Castle with a manual override. They bumped into each other in the awkward crawl position, caught each other up, and Casey handed him a gun. Casey continued on his way, and Morgan went to save Jeffster. He was foiled by some spilled tacks on the floor. (Again, loving the continued pop culture reference. It’s like an episode of Community!) He was almost captured, but Casey stepped in to save him. He shoved Morgan in a closet to hide and, in turn, was caught by Volkoff’s hot henchwoman. At this point, Sarah and Chuck decided to threaten Volkoff with Mary’s harm, but it only forced Volkoff to get even crazier, offering to blow the whole place up if he and Mary couldn’t be together. So they made the trade, but of course, it wasn’t a fair one. Volkoff lied and never intended to let anyone live. A sucker punch to Chuck’s gut proved that much. His mother finally stepped in once Volkoff pointed a gun at his head, spilling all the beans. It was at that exact, inopportune moment that Ellie called baby bro, and because of Volkoff’s undying love, he believed it to be the perfect time for a Leftover Dinner reunion. (Especially since kids love him!)

Back at Ellie’s, everything was awkward. Chuck and Sarah were steely and on edge. Casey and Jeffster were still captured. Ellie and Awesome were totally into Volkoff. Well, Awesome was until Chuck told him everything while urging him not to panic. This all happened during a game of charades. Awesome handled things pretty well and followed Chuck’s orders to feign a phone call from their job and get them both out of there. Volkoff kept up the ruse until they left, but then everyone pulled the big guns out. Chuck was flabbergasted that his mom still stood behind “her man” and not her son, but shortly after, Mary turned the gun on Volkoff. She threatened that she could never love him if he wouldn’t promise to back off of her family and their friends. In response, Volkoff said, “See, Chuck? That is a real threat.” And with that, Volkoff left with Mary in tow. She hoped that Chuck would be able to trust her one day, but he confirmed that he already did. Back at the Buy More, Morgan attempted to save his friends by taping a gun to his back, popping out, yelling “Yippee ki-yay!” and supposedly removing the gun from his back. That last integral part never happened and provided the audience with another fantastic reference and some more funny Morgan time. But by that point, the henchwoman had been called off by Volkoff, and she let them go.

At the apartment complex, Awesome gave Chuck a piece of his mind. Chuck should have never involved Ellie in something so dangerous, and he was not happy about it. He also gave Chuck the computer and asked him to promise to keep his spy life as far away from Ellie at all costs. Chuck, then, headed to Castle where he, Casey and Sarah opened the computer. The final question was easy for Chuck to figure out. It was a saying his dad always said to him. And unsurprisingly, it returned the Intersect to him. In Chuck’s words, ”I know kung fu…again!” And while I’m happy to see the old Chuck back, I was sad for Ellie who appeared to have found something for herself from her absent dad and once again, it was really for Chuck. Poor, Ellie. Hopefully, Sarah Lancaster will get more screentime, possibly helping to solve the problems the Intersect creates for the human brain and having her baby. While I didn’t anticipate (but did appreciate) the return of the Intersect, I did expect it to be something other than a retread of the found computer/computer file method. I truly hoped for something a little bigger in that thing.

Overall, the episode was fun and light, but I would have liked to see a little more depth with the return of Mama Bartowski and the idea of Thanksgiving in the background. I was especially thankful this Chuck season for Timothy Dalton, who has hit it out of the park in all his scenes, whether he is being funny, silly, dashing or crazy scary. It appears that we’ll get back to our missions of the week now that Chuck’s mom has been vindicated, her family is safe from Volkoff, and Chuck has the intersect back. But Volkoff will still be out there, and I can’t wait to see him again. (I hope that to be somewhere around finale time.) Here’s to hoping Timothy Dalton had so much fun on the Chuck set that he’s itching to come back.

For another opinion on this episode, read Mallory Elis’ review here.

Season 4, Episode 10: Chuck vs. the Leftovers (originally aired November 29, 2010)

For more on Chuck, click here.

Mondays at 8/7C on NBC

Images courtesy of NBC Universal.