WRITERS: Lauren LeFranc & Rafe Judkins[SPOILERS] A disappointing and often frustrating episode, at least until a mild recovery in the final moments. I haven't been enjoying this six-episode wrap-up to season 3 (it feels hastily put together), but I'm glad a fourth season's been confirmed by NBC. There are some good ideas bubbling around (the Intersect having an adverse effect on Chuck's mental health, Ellie being manipulated by the Ring), but the stories haven't been as entertaining as they usually are.
DIRECTOR: Jay Chandrasekhar
GUEST CAST: Scott Bakula & Scott Holroyd
This week, Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) started sending coded messages to her father Stephen (Scott Bakula) in a newspaper's classified ads, believing he's in danger and needs protection from "CIA agent" Justin (Scott Holroyd), who's actually a Ring operative trying to capture the Intersect's reclusive creator. With his father back and unaware he's downloaded Intersect 2.0 and become spy, Chuck (Zachary Levi) lies about his continuing involvement with the CIA, all while trying to ascertain if his nightmares about Agent Shaw being alive are true, accompanying Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) and Casey (Adam Baldwin) on a mission to investigate one of Shaw's active aliases."Chuck Versus The Living Dead" (a title that's twice the fun of the episode) just didn't work very well, mainly because the return of Stephen was a disappointing waste of the likeable Bakula, but also because the first half involved Chuck constantly lying to his own father in a manner that became exasperating. Likewise, it was irritating to see Ellie being played for an idiot, although admittedly this storyline is the best use of Lancaster in ages (perhaps ever?), and fun to see her involved in the spy-game for the bad guys. She even managed to incapacitate "enemy agent" Casey with a frying pan, so maybe the Bartowski's have a natural affinity for this stuff.
Second of Strahotness: bed head
A few good sequences kept my interest (Chuck and Sarah using X-ray specs inside Shaw's penthouse, a great fight in Stephen's cabin with Chuck using snapped-off chair arms as weapons), but everything felt quite flat in-between. Most of the positives occurred in the last act; the reveal that Stephen has a device ("The Governor") that can protect Chuck from the Intersect's electrical output like a pacemaker, and that Shaw really did survive a watery grave and has downloaded a version of the Intersect. It was also a nice touch to have Sarah entrust Chuck with her "lockbox" (a container of personal information that every spy compiled, to be opened in the event of their death), and for Stephen to accept the fact his son wants to follow in his footsteps.
But while those moments were appreciated, they all came late in the game. Too much of "... The Living Dead" lingered around until the script made a dash for the finish-line. In effect, this episode felt like last-minute preparation for the two-part finale; it didn't really have much of a story to tell, just information to deliver.Asides
- I'm not a fan of Jeff (Scott Krinsky) and Lester (Vik Sahay), but will admit that the joyful silliness of their two-man band Jeffster! can make me smile. So it's a shame Jeffster's not fulfilling its season 2 promise, with dud performances all year. This episode's thin subplot about the band's split and Big Mike becoming their manager wasn't a bad idea on paper, but it didn't get enough screentime to work. Increasingly, I think Chuck should be brave and ditch the Buy More entirely. I doubt it will, because too much of the Buy More iconography is part of Chuck's visual makeup (the green-shirts, the Nerd Herd cars, etc.)
- Morgan (Joshua Gomez) hearing from Devon (Ryan McPartlin) what a typical day with Ellie is like, and developing a man-crush on "Captain Awesome" as a result of the 24-hour heaven he describes was a fun scene.
