And Your Place To Tell Us What You Thought!
Here’s what we know officially:
Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Sarah’s (Yvonne Strahovski) wedding prep includes one final detail: ensuring that the mother-of-the-groom (guest star Linda Hamilton) makes it to the ceremony alive. Meanwhile, Morgan’s (Joshua Gomez) responsibilities as Best Man include his most dangerous mission yet, as he faces Vivian Volkoff (guest star Lauren Cohan). Elsewhere, Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) tends to the last details of the rehearsal dinner and seeks help from an unlikely source.
Even this “official” synopsis leaves out a couple of important things. We know who Agent-X is, Vivian has a family too, and lastly, Orion is still calling the shots. He is, after all, a genius and a hero, and his being dead doesn’t change that!
But there’s something else going here that I think has been more-or-less forgotten (or, at least, under-appreciated).
Who’s The Bad Guy Here?
I’m guessing, hours before seeing the show (and being ignorant of anything but the synopsis) that Chuck is facing a baddie this week, someone who is not a Volkoff. In fact, I think it’s his biggest nemesis of all, the one who tried to kill him and the one his father warned him against. That would be the CIA/NSA.
If you read the synopsis closely, it’s not actually Chuck that’s going after Vivian. The “he” in “… he faces Vivian Volkoff…” is Morgan, and saving MamaB from her seems to be his mission, as much as Chuck’s. Well, we’ve seen from official spoilers that Mary can be a bit stubborn about doing things her way. And Chuck will be right in the middle of all that (but only if she lets him). Perhaps his toughest job this week will be keeping the about to be mother-in-law on the same side as the about-to-be daughter-in-law! 😉
Please let us know what you thought!
Oh, I’d like to thank everybody who put in comments (in the spoilers) links to the clips, promo’s, conjectures & reviews. The information is always appreciated.
– joe
amyabn
atcDave
Ernie Davis
Faith
joe
thinkling
Chuck This 
Talk about a company with a bad retirement plan!
Rodney is Riley’s first name! Way too alliterative.And he’s a very bad influence on Vivian. I don’t think she’s quite made it to evil b**ch completely yet.
Since when do you guys get a day off without being chased or something going wrong.
She said a destiny line! Doesn’t she know what that means!?
Ellie can be very very scary when she wants to be.
Morgan is a very brave man to kiss Alex in front of Casey.
Oh lord what footage could they possibly have.
I think Casey is ticked at Morgan for dating his daughter again.
I like the bus.
What the frilly heck are they being served? *shudder*
She really doesn’t get pop culture references , does she?
I love the whole speech about the wt/wt office romance they’ve had going.
*snicker*
She is a very strange mother.
Smart move Casey, he doesn’t want to get in between the two of them in a fight.
Vivian really isn’t that bright for someone with her education. She letting Riley turn her into a puppet.
I wonder why Chuck would think that his mother might need to be rescued from her mission that she went into without backup. Maybe it has something to do with the 20 years she was stuck on mission.
Oh this is where Morgan ends up facing Vivian.I was wondering about that part of the synopsis.
Sarah really is competitive about her missions.
OMG!!!!!
That looks like a crayon box of ammo.
Morgan. The littlest wiseguy.
Morgan just said a Destiny line.
Is that Star Wars music or maybe Bond?
Strange way to convince people you’re dangerous.
Okay , that’s a terrible way to conduct business unless you’re killing the competition.
Vivian looks a little sick.
Mi 6 . Too much bragging.
Morgan really doesn’t need an acid bath.
I love Breaking Bad.
Run Morgan Run!
Riley managed to get one last bit of manipulation out before he died.Crap!
Vivian really needs to think about why she was told that Agent X was her father’s worst enemy (possibly by Riley) . If Riley told her he might have wanted her to use the Norsemen on a sample of Agent X’s dna and effectively kill her father and maybe commit suicide.
They are so cute together.
Everyone is happy so naturally a disaster is coming.
Sarah –forgiving?!
Jeff’s a romantic at heart .Awww! I’ll bet he thinks his reward is worth it.
Ok, Vivian has decided to be an evil b**ch all on her own.
Now if this ep was called the cliffhanger, I’d have to kill someone.
I think I know what they were being served. It was Klingon Gokkh. 😉
Did you get the Terminator 2 reference? It was visual. Laughed out loud!
knew that part was coming. they did an interview and explained how they had to hire someone to do pull ups for that scene.
Overall, excellent episode. I actually liked Jeff and Lester in this one, and I’m not one to say that often. Some of it was “predictable,” but let’s be honest, that’s to be expected. And Morgan was used I thought the best he’s been used in a long time. I had some gut busting “laugh out loud” moments with Morgan in this episode. The Star Wars theme with Sarah looking on like “what the ……” was outstanding – as was the earlier part where she has no idea who “Chewie” is. Those are the cute moments that the writers slide in that help remind us who Sarah is – and who she isn’t.
As for next week, the bottom line I think is going to be that “all’s well that ends’ well.”
I’m just hoping, hoping, hoping that I’ll be watching next Monday after having heard NBC announce that CHUCK will be back in some form for a 5th Season!! Interesting that Morgan talks about getting out of the spy business. Perhaps no more Morgan next year (and no more other cast members as well)? Maybe a 5th season – if we get it – will look considerably different than the CHUCK we’re presently used to.
Either way, doesn’t matter to me – let’s just get that 5th season!!
I think Jeffster through Morgan was the unlikely source Ellie sought Help from.
Darn it that was me. I uncookied.
All the Star Wars refs were great. Best one goes to Casey:
“I have a really bad feeling about this.”
Awesome-sauce.
On rewatch. I just realized something I missed. I think in Terminator 2 (it’s been a while since I watched) Sarah Connor was excercising with the bed the same way Mama B was after being captured..
Absolutely right! Caught that, too. Another nice touch.
That was so funny! My wife just noticed they couldn’t see her face on the monitor and says “I bet that isn’t mom!” I just laughed and said “no one else would be using a cot that way!” I loved it.
Lots of forshadowing in this one, how many times did the phrases “protect you”, “save you” and “saved me” pop up, also twice they had someone say how nothing could spoil things now and instant karma for the mistake.
Biggest laugh, a toss up between Morgan’s “shoot the puppy…kill the puppy” Beckman’s “thanks for the invite” and Ellie kissing Jeff.
So many movie references, all the Star Wars ones from Chuck, Casey and Morgan, Bond (Morgan’s suit), Terminator (cell bed chin ups by Mama B) and The Godfather (Morgan’s Ettore the barber, even though the real quote is Ettore the Baker).
A real fun episode, I know that I’ve been saying that a lot but this season 4.5 has been really fun and I’m looking forward to the season finale next week.
Yeah I totally agree. That “Chewy” reference and Chuck and Morgan’s humming of the “Imperial March” right before Morgan went into the arms deal were gold. A really good episode, loved all the references they threw in.
Oh I’m not sure where to put this but there was a commercial for Subaru Forester that used the Pogues “If I should fall from grace with God”, Shane McGowan must need a new liver or at least a new set of teeth.
Heh! Sorry! You got it! 😉
That method of excercising was also used in a cartoon called American Dragon a few years back by the bad guy/love interest Huntsgirl/Rose.
Loved this episode. Lots of great callbacks. Lots of great references and I have to admit I was very touched that Jeff came through for Chuck and Sarah. Vivian is very tentative but seems to have made her final turn to the dark side with the death of the lawyer. I loved Mary’s tribute to Sarah as no one knows better the life Sarah has led and how much they are similar. It was a very touching moment.
Lots of great stuff in the promo but that is probably for another thread discussion.
Yeah Jeff saving the day was quite funny, just when you think he’s completely worthless he does something right.
I think Vivian will be the funeral we’ve heard is in the finale. I wonder if she’ll have a moment of regret or die as a pure baddie?
Either that or they’ll fake Sarah’s death in order to draw her in to make sure Sarah is dead or to do a bad guy monologue.
You know as creepy as Jeff is, he’s the one with the heart and soft side that Lester just doesn’t have. He’s the one who has always known that Chuck and Sarah belonged together, “when he’s with Sarah, the light in his eyes shines brightly.”
Seems like I’ve been saying this a lot lately, but what a great episode! I had a total blast, from beginning to end this is what I want Chuck to be.
Couple of observations…
I thought we’d heard Chuck and Sarah would be apart for much of this episode? Well obviously not, so great surprise right off.
I thought it seemed too obvious that Chuck needed to set the record straight as soon as Riley started making accusations about Orion et al. Like “my dad spent his life trying to fix that mistake; and so did mom. why do you think she never left him?!”
I really don’t like seeing Sarah drop over deathly ill even knowing she will get better. I was very pleased the preview spoiled the wedding a little, I think that was needed and they need to keep it up all week.
I loved all of what has already been mentioned by other commenters. Sarah and her lack of pop culture knowledge is hysterical.
Mom’s approval in the end was very sweet.
Now bring on 4.24! I wonder if I’ll sleep this week???
Yes but I believe that wedding is a dream sequence. Morgan is the minister and not the best man.
I didn’t notice that. Okay, bummer.
But that’s fine. Use it in a promo all they want. Even if it is just Sarah’s dream. We will see one beautiful imaginary one and a very poignant real one. I’d love that.
interestingly, there are 3 bridemaids and only 2 men standing there, did the best man have to take over the ceremony?
I wonder if Morgan could officiate a wedding better than he can deliver a eulogy?
It’s a dream sequence (probably Chuck’s). Notice how the scene segues from Sarah almost unconscious in Chuck’s arms at the alter to Chuck hovering over an unconscious Sarah lying in bed.
I’m kind of interested in why you guys think it’s a dream sequence. Does Sarah seem like the person that would dream a church wedding? Not that I’m saying you guys aren’t right (who knows), but I am curious.
I’ve talked to Faith about the whole ‘dream sequence’ angle for a while. Whether it’s Chuck’s dream or Sarah’s.. I think it may be Sarah’s. I think she’s really bought in to all this ‘wedding in a church’ stuff since really diving in head first, so maybe it’s a ‘before you die’ sort of moment, only we hope Sarah doesn’t die, obviously.
well as you say they are nothing less than predictable. they do the promo bits in order if how it plays out in the episode. so the wedding bits are at the beginning sarah is in the hospital after that, twice. plus i’m sticking with my original idea from over a month ago. i said then we don’t see the real wedding, but they end up married. although i’m wavering on the last part.
Faith, both DR and Mel at ChuckTV have said its a “dream” wedding. Sarah’s dream.
Here are a couple of specs from me. Maybe the funeral is a fake one for Sarah with the drama being that they do it just before what was supposed to be their wedding. Everyone will be there. This draws out Vivian so they can catch her in a trap. And when they do they follow it up with the real wedding.
Also DR has a teaser about Sarah being cold in ice, maybe that is how they save her. Devon and Ellie, remember Ryan teased something about them springing into action, decide to lower her core temperature to slow down the effects of the Norseman and that is what keeps her alive. Having a Doctor immediately on scene making the right call.
Uplink, If we accept that Mel and DR are being literal when talking about “Sarah’s dream” I am guessing that there may be two scenarios. First will be a “dream wedding” – that takes place while Sarah is at the hospital and then there will really be a wedding. My only hope – all the wedding scenes that we saw in the promo are real and not part of some “dream”
All this dream talk is making me want to break out my inner lit nerd:
“To sleep, perchance to dream. There’s the rub.
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause, there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.”
Genie I think you are going to be disappointed. In the scenes from the promo Morgan is the minister and not the best man. My feeling is that will be from her “dream” while her body is being temperature is being lowered to fight off the effects of the Norseman. What is bizarre however is there is a lot of chatter from both Fedak and McPartlin that she is poisoned. So not sure what to make of that.
I posted this earlier and my feeling is that the funeral will be for Sarah and actually a trap for Vivian trying to get the rest of the Bartowski’s. They have it in the same church their wedding was supposed to be in but just prior to it. Then after Vivian is defeated Sarah is either brought in or gets up and they have the actual wedding.
I thought Vivian also referred to the Norseman as “poisoning” victims. I was briefly wondering if the Norseman would prove to be a red herring and that Sarah was actually poisoned some other way; but I’d say after a couple re-watches that just doesn’t fly. It seems clear the Norseman was used, and some sort of DNA coded poisoning is how it kills.
Dave, my spec is that the Norseman isn’t a poison but more like an EMP against people. It disrupts the nervous system and internal organs which causes death.
Paul, great analogy about a neurological EMP. I think you hit it. Good thing Sarah’s sister-in-law is a neurologist.
Great first speculation for next week, Jason.
It was a great party scene, Dave. I always wished we could have seen something of the rehearsal dinner at the end of Colonel, when Chuck&Sarah first knew it was real. This made up for it.
Until that moment when Sarah feel. Now we’re into that same tension we had at the end of Subway – except we have to wait a week! Oh nos!
I really didn’t like seeing her drop over; but you know I didn’t feel that much tension over it, it’s not like they’d really kill her off!
reminded me some of the suburbs or the balcony, wonderful episode spoiled by a rotten ending – in theory – she should be dead as the norseman worked that quickly in the other scene – far better to have 41 3/4 minutes of joy for 1/4 minute of agony than 12 hours and 55 minutes of misery for 5 minutes of joy like season 3 I guess – but I hated the end – didn’t ruin the episode, but certainly pulled it down a notch – I did like it more than Fake Name or Mask – LOL
I think the Norseman becomes less effective over a distance. Remember the other deaths occured when the Norsemen was deployed while in the same room.
It could be that it either takes a while to kill over a long distance or it just makes someone very sick.
One question I’ve wondered about is whether or not the Norseman will affect only the person targeted or also those related by dna.
For instance would targeting Chuck also target Ellie since they shared the same set of parents and if it did would it also go on to target Mama B because she contributed to thier dna or Clara because Ellie contributed half her dna?
i would bet it only affects the 100% match. if they do it the other way you can kiss all chances of seeing sarahs mom next year or her dad goodbye. if not well you know what the chant will be.
It could be one of those things where it’s main intent is to only affect the exact match but it could be modified to or have a switch that could be flipped to take out many members of the same line.
I have a feeling that this was Vivian’s doing. She didn’t want to kill Sarah yet, but torture Chuck. She can pull the trigger again.
That’s a great spec Joe! I’d love it if you’re right.
One quick observation after re-watch; funny that they flew an Alaska Air MD-80 to Moscow. They retired their MD80 series in 2008, and don’t fly to Moscow anyway!
In fact, the more I think of it this bothers me so much I think I’ll have stop watching Chuck. No resolved cliffhanger for me, this ends now; such sloppy continuity is unprofessional and makes a mockery of the entire aviation industry. I can’t in good conscience continue to support the people who make a joke of physical realities involving aircraft range; and flaunt FAA and ICAO regulations involving engine-out power requirements for trans-oceanic flight.
I’m sure you will all understand the need to take a stand on these important issues; I hope you continue to enjoy the show even though I can’t imagine how any thinking person can possibly overlook these shortcomings.
Thinkling, we need to get Snark Soothner to Dave. On the double. 😉 🙂
Sorry, sorry. After a good nights sleep I’m feeling much better now. No more snark, I promise.
Ditto what Faith said. ROTFL!!
I’ll get right on it Alladins, as soon as I recover from the laughter.
Totally loved the episode despite the presence of EMS. So many awesome C/S scenes. 🙂
I also loved the song selection; especially Deathcab for Cutie’s “You are a tourist” at the rehearsal dinner scene.
I really liked the episode.
Chuck and Sarah felt like a real couple throughout the whole thing. Not surprising since Newman was one of the writers. She just gets the characters. Loved the interplay between Chuck, Sarah and Mary. And Mary’s speech about Sarah during the rehearsal was a long time coming. I always thought we’d get that from Chuck but I’m hoping it was a passing of the torch about protection.
My only issue is Vivian’s being evil. Its not the actress but her story just feels off, part of it’s the writing. She comes off like a spoiled brat not a super villain.
Favorite scenes were Chuck showing off at the beginning and Riley shooting the MI6 agent. Super nitpick, they should’ve referenced Cole after that.
Actually the MI6 guy reminded me of that cocky, sniveling, little pretty boy Bryce Larkin a lot more that Cole Barker. So I was glad he got shot lol. Cole was the only honorable man of all of Sarah’s other suitors.
Come on, Uplink, get off that fence. Tell us what you really think about Bryce…..
Damn the Bryce hate is strong with that one, never understood it. Bryce was awesome.
Hehe Well I have never liked pretty boys. Especially cocky little one lol. Plus I stand by my statement. Cole Barker was the only honorable man of all of Sarah’s PLIs except for Chuck.
i never minded him either. i think it stems from 2 things. first was he got chuck kicked out of school and second he committed the ultimate sin. he tried to get back together with sarah.
Actually Bryce was a lot like Chuck’s parents: he did the wrong thing for the right reason.
Well he dramatically and irrevocably changed 2 people’s lives without telling either or giving them choices, two people he supposedly cared about. Got Chuck to break up with Sarah not to protect her really but to have her available for himself even though he saw how they felt about each other. Sarah’s safety never bothered him when he was with her. It took her telling him she wasn’t leaving and his own imminent death to finally do the honorable thing. Cole saw the writing on the wall and honorably backed off as soon as he realized what he saw was real. So with that Cole will always be the better man than Bryce to me.
I never liked eiher of them. Bryce was cocky and arrogant and Cole was smarmy and arrogant. His first episode he spent a lot of time deliberately trying to upstage Chuck. He actually put Sarah’s ife in danger in order to “save” her by busting in the front of the bad guys place.
Plus Sarah’s behavior with him was the precursor for hre behavior with Shaw and it was cringeworthy enough the first time.I think TPTB took some people’s approval of Cole as approval of Sarah acting like she’d been replaced by a pre adolescent rabid boy band fan who just was asked to go on tour by her faves.
And anybody who leaves a place with an armory to go into what they know will be a major firefight with only the weapons on thier person and no extra ammo is an idiot!
I’d say Bryce was a flawed hero. So many legitimate heroes are cocky jerks (I’m a major history nerd, and heroes who are a bit full of themselves is hardly uncommon), sometimes it takes extraordinary self confidence to do extraordinary things. But that same self confidence may make someone personally unpleasant to deal with. I liked Bryce that way, he wasn’t someone you’d really want to hang out with; but he would kill or die for a friend or a cause.
I think the thing with Vivian is she’s not really evil, but she TRYING to be evil. She is a confused and easily manipulated person. Did you notice that everything that she has done (trying to assassinate Sarah aside) was at the prodding of Riley? Without him there egging her on, I don’t think she would have done most if not all of the things she has done.
I agree, Paul. It was Riley the whole way through, lying and manipulating her into being evil. But she certainly crossed a line with trying to kill Sarah. Don’t know if she can be turned back now.
I’m really interested to see how Hartley/Volkoff turns out … and what if any of that will stay on the table for S5. I’d love to see Hartley and Mary stick around, at least from time to time.
Well, if they are doing a Star Wars-esque redemption theme, I think once Whittlebottom/Volkoff reverts back to his true self and has a talk with her she might come around. Or she kills him by accident and then realizes the mistakes she’s made. I think the redemption of Vivian may be one of the plot points in the finale.
I hope they do go that way Paul. I have my doubts after having her go so dark at the end of this episode; but my expectation at the start was that she’d turn around. Perhaps Alexei/Hartley can yet reach her.
Sets up a really interesting finale. Finally Chuck really has to stand up and protect Sarah. The ep set this up so well by showing us how much Chuck relies on her. Now the question is will he be able to step up to the plate without her to save her? They tried to ask this question in Chuck versus the Fear of Death and look how that turned out. Although now he has the intersect… Let’s hope for an awesome SEASON finale with solid ratings so Chuck gets a season 5! I love the new dynamics that they’ve established this season. Totally can’t lose my favourite show….
The decision to renew will be made before Cliffahanger airs, so last night’s rating are the last ones that really matter. But yeah, sure hope for one more season!
tv spoilers released the prelim numbers, I don’t know exactly how to interpret them, but it appeared that chuck was slightly down or equal, the numbers were 2.8/5 if anyone knows how to interpret them, vs I think 3.0/5 last week and the event was 2.8/4. Interestingly, only ABC was up over last year, and by only a few %, NBC was down the second least, at down 16%, has network TV dipped that much on all nights? If total viewership for mondays all networks is down say 15% (a safe bet i think), that would mean last seasons 2.0 would only have to be 1.7 to be equal. Funny thing, figures never lie, but liars always figure. If you gave me long enough, I probably could rationalize chuck’s viewership is up 20%.
I have mixed emotions about chuck, I really disliked the show when it decided to kick the puppy like last night, in some ways, I don’t like seeing fedak and schwartz getting rewarded for those last 15 seconds, the only problem is …. how do I rationalize how much I enjoyed the first 41 minutes and 45 seconds, let alone most of s1/2/4 …. surely that time was award winning more often than not.
But, I am not a big believer that one has to get frostbite to enjoy a warm fire, so I will continue to stomp my feet and so no when TPTB try to justify misery so that fans will enjoy the payoff in the end …. it failed in season 3, it failed in 4×11&12, we’ll see just how much misery they are going to try to sell in 4×24 after punching fans square in the stomach with 4×23’s end, the jury is still out. I for one don’t really think chuck is an action hero without sarah, he is very marginal on his own (he struggles, he often looks constipated when he tries to be serious, just watch) – even more so lacking when morgan is with him, and all the special effects money in the world will not cure that.
By the way, Morgan is really showing some acting chops this season, since he stopped being used so much, he is really starting to kick butt, I thought he was great last night.
And jeff ….. saved the day, except Fedak pretty much screwed everyone anyhow seconds later.
What do you mean “finally?” Did you forget he shot Shaw to save her life in “The Other Guy?”
Chuck and Sarah have been taking care of each other since the beginning. Chuck saving Sarah from torture in Helicopter springs to mind as the first time he stepped up.
Yeah, he’s saved her before… Wasn’t that the point of Other Guy already?!
Except the events of Other Guy were washed away four episodes later. It sucks that Sarah will be out of commission but at least they did it in a way that didn’t make her look stupid. And I’m extremely curious about how far they’ll take Chuck in trying to save her. Will we see more of Frost from him instead of Orion?
Wow. I think I should probably keep this short because it looks like I’m in a minority of one – but that was a really disappointing episode for me. It was funny in parts (the Ellie/Lester kiss made me laugh out loud) and the rehearsal dinner stuff was cute – but the rest turned TeamB into the 3 Stooges and MamaB (not for the first time) into the worst spy in the world. I usually have a fairly high tolerance for WTF spy moments – but there were just way too many in this episode. I thought Kristin Newman was by far the best of the new writers but first Muurder, and now this?? I’m revising my opinion rapidly.
Glad the rest of you enjoyed it though 🙂
welcome to my nightmare. you are more tolerant than i am so if you thought it was bad, just wow. thanks for the heads up.
I just couldn’t get past TeamB and MamaB being such wincingly bad spies all episode. Just a little too Spies Like Us for me this time.
Reaction from everyone else is pretty positive though, so I’m the rogue opinion this week – so you should probably listen to everyone else 🙂
i would, but reading the other posts here most center on old movie quotes, cute moments and picture montages. i prefer a decent spy plot. all else is just the gravy to top it off. so if the big 3 looked bad, and i already knew mama b was a horrible spy, why bother?
It’s funny you mention Spies Like Us; you do realize Schwedak have cited that as a major inspiration from the very beginning, right? I don’t mean this to be rude, but how did you ever get hooked on this show? I mean it basically celebrates what you guys seem to dislike. To me, this is completely consistent with the show I’ve loved in season 1,2 & 4. Starting with disabling bombs with porn and Icelandic spies with crossbows.
dave not hooked in any way, hence my comment i did not watch the last 2 live and probable won’t watch this episode. the first 2 seasons had a different air to me. sarah never seemed as incompetent as she has a few times this year, chuck was not as whiny, morgan was just used for comedy not missions. there was a big bad that was an actual threat. this year everything was about family. if you keep touting sarah and casey now chuck as top agents, at least have them act that way. don’t have them bumble around as they have this year. i just think you can have a serious spy plot with real danger and mix in the comedy and romance.
Fair enough, but you’re drawing a lot of conclusions without even watching the episode. I don’t recall any moments of incompetence or buffoonery apart from Frost getting captured. But apart from being alone she wasn’t doing anything stupid. And TeamB functioned well as a team in this episode; even if Sarah and Mary took shots at each other for a bit (Mary especially had it coming, very satisfying dialog to me). The main kitschy element was a rather archaic looking ultimate weapon.
I’m usually hard on the spy plots but I’d say the only groan worthy spy element was Vivian pulling a Batman after Riley was killed. But everyone has their own limits to what bothers them so its understandable.
dave fair enough. if i said i can’t wait to see the episode because it sounds funny and great, would you ask me the same question?
I would always recommend watching an episode before drawing conclusions! That doesn’t mean there aren’t legitimate reasons for skipping (if I really thought Sarah was dying I wouldn’t watch again), but you have to know your opinions will be marginalized if don’t even watch.
@Dave,
Fair point. It was a bad example.
To clarify, I love TeamB being funny and original spies (Exhibit A the porn star virus in the pilot) but I hate seeing them turned into incompetent idiots. From MamaB being her usual clueless self, to walking around the Columbian compound with a sign on their head saying “Spies Here”, to Sarah being too busy hugging Chuck to secure the bad guy – last night just hit my face to palm limit.
To be fair, it was less jarring on rewatch, so like Neilsen, my final rating may tick up slightly.
@Army,
Respectfully, I gotta agree with Dave. You should at least watch the episode before deciding you don’t like it 🙂
I’m glad it got an uptick in your ratings Kev!
Its funny you mention clueless mamaB, she really is. Sarah showed remarkable restrain in not bringing up the trapped in a mission for 20 years thing when they were posturing against each other.
Okay…I am willing to suspend reality for Chuck’s story lines….but couldn’t the prop guys/writers figured out a better looking high-tech weapon?
The Norseman looks like a “laser beam” gun from a—very, very, very old—serial called “Buck Rogers”…ha!
I think this is one show I will need to watch again before I form an opinion…lots of stuff going on…I was getting visual whiplash.
If you really want to have fun look up thorium. It is not rare, it could be used in nuclear reactors without any expensive refinment and it produces far less waste than uranium and plutonium reactors. Apparently there is enough readily available to provide 1000 years of energy.
They might as well have gone truly old school and used John Carter’s radium pisols!
Except this was Thourium, completely different. Just kidding, I have no explanation, except they must have thought it sounded cool.
You had me Dave, when I read the first half of that I thought I had completely messed up! 😛
Something occurred to me. Riley admitted he knew about Agent X but not for how long or if he knew his real name. Did he go after the Agent X info because he’d let Vivian know about it and wanted to let her in on the secret eventually or to cover up the parts that would make it obvious who Agent X is.
For instance , did he use the info from the computer to find the house the way they did or did he know all along and would he have killed Mama Winterbottom given the chance.
(He’d probably kill most anybody, given the chance.) I wondered about that, too, Tamara. How the heck did Riley know about Agent X? That does bring up a lot of questions, but he’s dead now, so there won’t be any follow up any of that (probably).
Stellar ratings as always (yeah /sarcasm)
1.3 demo, which is a tied series low.
Good episodes always get crappy ratings.
Well the ratings are pretty irrelevant now anyway. Its all about the Pilots. If NBC likes a number of them Chuck is gone but if not then it comes back simple as that.
so does anyone thing the ‘tune in to watch us kill sarah right b4 she was going to marry chuck’ promotion strategy has paid handsome dividends for TPTB?
Seriously do you honestly think they are actually going to kill Sarah or is that sarcasm? I’m sure they’ll try to make it look that way and possibly leave it until the last moment. It’s called raising the stakes for the viewer and for Chuck and it puts him on a clock. It’s not like they haven’t done this before and it’s always worked out by the end of the mid season/season.
I want to see how Chuck fixes this, you know Chuck the guy that always comes up roses at the end. If the episode ended with a nice happy wedding rehersal then this would have done as the series finale no need for the 24th episode all done.
to quote chuck – I get it – I was mocking the promotion strategy, not the eps – I love season 4 – near as much as any fan on this site – but the promotion of the show as morbid while deliverying excellence continues to harm the show – many bloggers have commented how ‘nice’ 4×23 was compared to what they expected, this is an extreme losing strategy
i don’t think it has anything to do with the quality of last night. this week reflects last week, it’s how it works. that’s not my point however. i said after the last 2 three episode arcs, they just don’t work. 4.07 -4.09 went down each episode. 4.11-4.13 went down each episode. why would the trend change? the formula is the same in each arc. so this comes as no surprise. i feel the trend will break next week because people are hoping to see a wedding.
Wow, just like Dave foresaw!
Who knew there are so many passionate avionics people? 😀
Hey don’t mess with the aviation community, we control the fate of all! (except when catching a nap, but we won’t go there…)
Old Darth I thought you were never going to post on a CHUCK forum again? I am glad that you did because your opinions are always great….and when you said that you gave up on CHUCK I hope you are at least watching the last 2 episodes of this season. I think this was a great episode…and next weeks will be too.
final ratings adjusted up to 1.4. 18% increase in male viewers 18-49. so some good news.
Well Army the trend was broken. It went back up to a 1.4 in the finals so same as last week.
yes it was, but i would have rather seen it broken with a raise in ratings vs a stay put, lol. i’ll take it however.
Steady is better than down! Gee, am I profound today or what…
Yeah, at least it is in the right direction; hopefully it will continue to improve, but more importantly Chuck is renewed.
Well, I still have 21 hours to go for the episode to download (and I’ve been at it for HOURS already). I just wanted to chime in that there is such irony in Chuck’s numbers. I’ve been on other sites and reading various articles and their comments. The thing that still strikes me is the lack of promotion provided by NBC. Maybe it is a self induced problem: NBC is now like the 4th ranked network so not too many people are watching, so what little promotion they are doing isn’t being seen. Seems like a crazy spiral to me. Sorry, I’m really random tonight, waiting for the ep to download!
Your bandwidth issues are amazing Amy, are they flying bits in one at a time?!
They must be coming over on that Alaska Air MD80 you referenced above! lol! I had to reset the internet this morning and now it says 313 hours remaining. I may finally get to watch this one next week while waiting another week for the finale.
At least the Red Wings won to force a game 7!
Now you know the pain I was experiencing last year…. 😉
The things I like in this episode have already been mentioned by some of you guys and Magnus. But what I love about CHUCK can be the references to seasons past…I loved:
1) The season 1 callback to when Jeffster used the handheld video camera to perve on the pita girl…it was totally in their nature to do the same to Sarah..so when they said they had footage and produced a lovely video I loved that.
2) I loved Casey letting Chuck put the mission first and another great callback when he told Chuck through facial expressions to hit him…great moment and one that reminds me of how proud Casey is of Chuck.
3) I am so, so, so happy that someone finally called out Mama B for being a crappy parent and I am glad that it was Sarah. I mean this has been a long time coming but the fact that Mama B took this dangerous mission so close to her sons wedding is just not great at all…she was trying yet again to tidy up her and Papa B’s mess instead of focusing on her family. We know that Sarah will always put Chuck before a mission and to see her lay into Mama B was fantastic! and because it is something Sarah always does that makes it all the more sweeter because it is in character moment and a strong one at that. Sarah (and to some extent Casey) will never know how someone can put something before Chuck and I like that.
4) I like that Mama B recognised that at the rehearsal dinner and praised Sarah for always protecting Chuck first.
5) The video was awesome…it was so adorable and the sweetest part was Chuck and Sarah holding hands…awwww! so sweet!
I really loved this episode, I loved Team B being in the field together like the old days and working so well. The writers nailed all the right moments…
Good comments Amrit, and you hit on some things that haven’t been mentioned as much (like Chuck hitting Casey). I loved this episode except for the very end, and as long as all ends well in 4.24 that won’t be a big deal at all.
Does anyone know if they posted the video on line somewhere (Jeff’s version please!). They had the Jeffster video up last year!
i heard its on the NBC site, both videos.
Yeah they are. The Lester version is actually a bit longer than what we saw on the show, but Jeff’s version was pretty much shown in its entirety. Although one humorous difference I saw; there’s a shot of Chuck and Sarah holding hands facing each other, that was obviously done during the same photo shoot as another well circulated photo done during the “Seduction” time frame. You can’t tell in the episode, but the “full” version on line show’s that they are standing on a pool diving board; and Sarah/Yvonne is barefoot. So what you see on TV is just sweet, but if you see the whole shot its sort of funny.
Awww.
GUYS!!! AUSIELLO SAID WE HAVE A 5 SEASON!!!!!
One of the Chuck news links below mentions it as well
http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHBjWDLmifgzr6YHzJxmnhbzB-yfg&url=http://www.daemonstv.com/2011/05/11/nbc-picks-up-four-shows-whitney-smash-prime-suspect-and-up-all-night/
So in light of the reports of season 5, how many of you are now more optimistic about vs the Cliffhanger? One of the things that I like about the season enders is that TPTB tend to allot more of their budget for these episodes, flashier stunts, more and better music, more guest stars. So bring on action Chuck, Carina & Zondra, and great tunes (just not Jeffster), if I know we’re coming back I can take on anything.
I’m a little more at ease with a S5, because they can resolve whatever the cliffy is. I’m still worried about how they will handle the “real” wedding. A spectacular “dream” wedding just cannot substitute a real one.
If they are employing the same reasoning with the wedding that they did with the proposal, it doesn’t work the same way. The proposal in Balcony was real, just unfinished, so the simple unheard hospital proposal was sufficient. Whatever wonderful things are done and said in a dream wedding aren’t real and, therefore, were never really said or done. So if the real wedding is as understated as the real proposal, I’ll feel robbed.
I like the idea of the dream wedding keeping Sarah fighting for life, like Chuck fought for his life in Phase 3. I’m guessing her dream will be intercut with the reality of people trying to save her. That’s cool and fantastic … as long as we get a real wedding, too.
I am excited about the mission side of the the Cliffhanger, just worried about the wedding. I have no doubt that the rest will be really great.
Whatever wonderful things are done and said in a dream wedding aren’t real and, therefore, were never really said or done. So if the real wedding is as understated as the real proposal, I’ll feel robbed.
We are in total agreement on this point. 🙂
TBH the news doesn’t change anything for me. they wrote it like they were coming back and said so. this just means if they left it on some crazy note they can fix it or whatever next year. that might make it more bearable if it ends on a down note.
It’s a good question, Herder. I don’t think I was particularly pessimistic about the potential cliffhanger anyway.
I’m thinking about the end of S2. I was still happy about what we saw in Colonel, and except for a very puzzled look on Sarah’s face during the very ending moments (“Chuck, did you just flash???”), I pretty much accepted everything as complete. Chuck was again the Intersect, he and Sarah and Casey would carry on as top spies together and all was right with the world. So when the words come up – “To Be Continued”, I literally jumped up and cheered because I was going to see more of it! YES!
Of course, we didn’t exactly happily ever after. We saw them traveling on a very rocky road for the next twelve episodes; my imagination had taken them elsewhere, to a far more comfortable (and probably boring) place.
I’m sort of doing the same today. I suspect that the loose ends will have that same nature, where we could see them as small bumps, easily handled by the husband and wife with their friends. We’d do that if the show comes to an end.
But it looks more and more every minute that will get to see those bumps are really camel’s noses under the tent.
I think I’ve been more concerned about the way the episode is promoted than I am about will actually happen anyway. But yeah, on the off chance the ending is a downer of some sort, its nice to know they’ll have another season to fix it. As a rule of thumb, I really don’t like cliffhangers; unresolved cliffies are the worst. At least now we know that won’t happen.
i hate cliff hangers. i don’t think the last 2 season ending were cliff hangers. they just did a lead in to the next season and made me wonder whats going to come of it? if they end like that i’m ok. if they leave a big dramatic wt/wt be married or sarah is still down then not so much. to clarify i don’t think that will be the case.
from the last 2 vids, maybe the big twist is sarah and chuck running from the cia? that could work and i would be intrigued by it, sarah being pregnant not so much.
I actually agree with all of that army. Its funny, my wife hates May television; she just says its the time of year no story gets finished. And so many of my friends feel the same way. I think the idea of a cliffhanger keeping interest and excitement up over a break is just completely bass-ackwards. Most of us are following multiple TV shows and story lines at any given time, and the “requirement” to remember details of what happened 3 or 4 months ago just turns people off. I think people are far more likely to remember a show that gave them a satisfying (or exciting) and COMPLETE story.
Now that said, I also agree Chuck has done very well in this regard. By resolving major story elements they give us some satisfaction, but at the same time they’ve left hooks to give us some clue of what’s coming next. That is well crafted entertainment.
And as you hinted at, I would LOVE a story of Chuck and Sarah going on the run from the CIA. Its absolutely one of my favorite themes that pops up from time to time in fan fiction. On the show we’ve only had a couple of abortive one episode runs. But a longer arc of that could be very exciting. I still doubt it would run a whole season, that could render the rest of the cast unnecessary. But more than a single week could be fun. Of course, we won’t know until Monday if that has anything to do with the story. But now I’m getting excited!
for me, watching sarah be pregnant next season would not be entertaining. The reason for me a cliffy of her being pregnant works, is my idea for season 5 is a 13 episode finale, of what our team does when they grow up.
By that I mean 13 eps of a grown up chuck and sarah with maybe 2 kids, morgan and alex married, ellie and awesome doing awesome stuff, jeff totally normal, lester even worse, mary moving on, casey taking beckman’s spot, etc, maybe about a 5 year leap ahead. Some crisis occurs such that general casey needs Team B again, they reassemble, and off they go.
I’ll even title my first ep, 5×1, chuck versus the reconcilliation, the reconcilliation being the reassembly of team B with the CIA, as well as of Jeff and Lester.
Agree with you guys on this!! Like Dave said Chuck does it well. Resolve the major stuff and then create an enticing hook for the next season. That works well.
Jason I do like the idea of a time jump, but probably not for the whole season. Maybe just if they get a backorder. It would be fun to a “several years later” sort of thing, but I hope for more of the young power couple theme first.
I’ve had a bit of a theory floating around my mind to explain why the weapon didn’t kill Sarah while everyone else has dropped dead. Although not yet completely locked in, it goes something like this: Orion and Winterbottom were collaborative scientists, the weapon is some sort of a DNA weapon, Orion and Winterbottom while working on this weapon used their own DNA in designing it, so someone with Bartowski or Winterbottom DNA would be able to “reboot” much like Chuck did last year.
The problem is that this theory makes Sarah related to either Chuck (ick!) or Volkov. Unless she has within her some small amount of Walker/Bartowski DNA which is enough to thwart the weapon.
“Unless she has within her some small amount of Walker/Bartowski DNA which is enough to thwart the weapon.”
And my mind went to a naughty place.
Interesting theory, Herder. I had been thinking the reverse of that … that pregnant Sarah would be vulnerable to the weapon if it targeted Bartowski DNA. I hadn’t thought of the back door protection angle … good twist. That would make Chuck outright impervious (or rebootable), and little Chuck (or Sarah) would have afforded Sarah just enough protection to fight her way back. I like it.
That’s actually an appealing theory, I like it.
Hey guys, as you may have noticed I’m new to this blog (though I have been floating around reading a lot of articles for a few months now, just too lazy to write anything) anyway super psyched about the news of season 5 and hope we see some cool new adventures. As far as the finale promo goes, I agree with a few of you in that it does seem to send out a pretty negative vibe, but I believe that after the huge build up to Push Mix and “The most epic last 10 minutes of chuck ever” it seems pretty likely that by playing down the wedding that we’ll all be super chuffed by the final outcome, as opposed to being a little let down by Push Mix (don’t get me wrong I loved Push Mix but I didn’t think it quite entered the realm of epicness in quite the scale I think TPTB were trying to send across). Though this is of course only speculation at this point and I could be very wrong….though I’m really hoping I’m not
Hey Lappers welcome to our blog! Never be shy about pitching in, the more opinions the better.
You may be right about them just trying a different approach after Push Mix, you can only offer a “best 10 minutes ever” so many times! But it is still hard to figure such down-beat talk from Fedak. Maybe he was pessimistic about renewal chances for a while there, at least cast was able to spin things a little better.
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