Following last week’s episode of Chuck, which ended with a bang, the unknown agents working against Chuck must pick up the pieces that Decker left behind to continue the grand scheme against our main man. Chuck deals with some family issues when he believes he is cursed to repeat the actions of his father, Morgan finally gets some one-on-one time with Alex, and Ellie and Awesome are forced back into the spy life thanks to their decision to act out the set-up of Date Night.
Project Eagle
“Ellie and Awesome are not spies, they’re civilians.” Think again, Sarah. The beginning of this Ellie and Awesome heavy episode starts a little rough, and slightly awkward as well, with how these two are worked into the story. The couple goes out for a nice romantic night that gets a little weird when they decide to throw in some role-playing at the dinner table. We’re talking code names, safe words, signals, all that. The one problem is that their surgeon minds must have been downgraded when the car pulls up to collect the two “agents” for Project Eagle. How did one of them seriously not question how the other could have planned this all out before they had even decided to act as other people?
Though this was a little lame, they eventually become a strong part of the episode when they finally realize that something isn’t right and they start thinking like geniuses again. At least Ellie does anyway; Awesome is more the shirtless muscle as they work like a spy team to avoid dying. Their plan encounters plenty of snags that pretty much ends their spy careers before they can begin, but it was a nice side for the couple to show during their scenes.
The Family Curse
I don’t know about you, but if this family curse was mentioned one more time I was going to kick Chuck so hard that there would be no possibility of him passing it on. Obviously Chuck has some scars when it comes to his past and has to live with the knowledge that both of his parents left the family for work and/or to protect them, but I think it would have to go back at least one or two more generations before it’s time to start panicking about inheriting a family curse.
However, Chuck doesn’t see it this way, and his need to protect his family from his life leads to some old school Chuck decisions. You remember, like back in the day when he was always running off on his own to save someone else, like Jill. Blegh. Going against Sarah was a big no-no on this one as well, especially considering how willing she was to help him, so I don’t think anyone would have blamed her if she had given Robin Cunnings (Rebecca Romijn) a couple more seconds to inch closer to Chuck with her favorite toy. Needles? Not allowed. Electricity? We’ll allow it.
P.A.N.T.S.
While Sarah and Chuck hide out at his father’s cabin and Casey goes to meet up with General Beckman, Morgan is sent on a solo mission to wipe Casey’s computer. Whether or not he actually does this is debatable (though it would probably be a good thing if he never got around to it considering the team is in the clear now), but he has good reason to be sidetracked.
Ok, so technically the P.A.N.T.S. (Private Artifacts Never To Share) mission from Chuck (brought on my his overreacting to the family curse) is just something to keep us going back to Morgan during the episode, but nothing ever actually comes from Morgan being tasked with retrieving the box. It is a little disappointing that the content of Chuck’s box is never revealed after all that, but this does bring about some partial reconciliation between Alex and Morgan that makes the hopeless romantic side of me forget all about this story being a run-around for Morgan. Don’t worry, I won’t judge you if you fell in love with him a little bit when he handed his most prized possessions over to Alex, which just so happened to include a picture of the two of them together. There’s no way she isn’t going back to him after that.
The Omen
I don’t know about you, but something that is named The Omen doesn’t really sound like a threat that can be fought with a shoulder shrug. “Chuck gave the virus to Cunnings? Well that was stupid, but what can ya do? You say Cunnings uploaded it? I doubt it could really be that bad. My computer people will find it.” Oh really, General Beckman!? I don’t think so. Now it is running rampant on the Internet, and no one messes with my Internet!
Final Thoughts
With The Omen unleashed, our spy team definitely has some repair work to do thanks to Chuck handing the virus over to the bad guys (which he doesn’t seem to even get a disappointed gaze from Beckman for). And clearly it isn’t going to be easy as Daniel Shaw comes back into play. I don’t know about you, but I am already starting to worry about Sarah thanks to those previews.
But enough about the next episode, what did you guys think of tonight’s episode? Were you surprised that it only took a night to clear their names after being charged with treason against the United States? Wondering how our spies can still leave their windows open for people to just climb through? Did Alex not have to own up to the call with the police? Any thoughts about what is in Chuck’s P.A.N.T.S.? Already preparing yourself for some crying on Sarah’s part next week? Be sure to bring your game face.
