Chuck: "Chuck Vs. The Gobbler"

A review of last night's Chuck, coming up after the jump... 

How do you pull off the possibly-turncoat-spy angle, when the show makes it quite clear that nobody has turned? You can't, not really. And that was the problem facing tonight's episode. Or one of them. The other involves the timeline, which jumped forward two weeks at the beginning of this episode. The long and short of everything we saw tonight was the Sarah's acting like a traitor (though we know she's not) and Chuck is now in emotional turmoil (which, despite Levi's solid acting in the scene at the business building, I don't buy.) At lot of things happened tonight, and due to it all being rushed (because this is episode 12 of a order of 13, and thus Schwartz and Fedak are trying to tie up all lose ends), none of it felt very moving, at least not on the level of last week's episode.

There was, however, a bright spot in the Morgan/Alex/Casey subplot, which sentiments felt neither rushed not unearned. Since we already buy the emotional connection between Morgan and Alex, it makes since that he would be in love with her, and at this point, his level of feelings would be right. But what saved this plot from totally destruction (because, let's face it, at first it seemed to be headed down a rote more suited for Chuck) was when it became about Casey, as a man who loves his daughter, but can't say the words out loud. That big lug! It's endnote, with Alex and Morgan (and Chuck, I guess) by Casey's bedside was more low-key, and yet more moving than Chuck's fears concerning Sarah.

The Ellie and Awesome subplot, was, by necessity, light and disposable. Due to how much the budget has been slashed over the years, it should be no surprise that these two characters are the ones most often kept out of episodes. While their presence can give us some good emotional beats for Chuck to play, this doesn't occur too frequently, and it's not like I miss their presence when their not in an episode. (Well, maybe Capitan Awesome, just a little bit.) And so these days, their subplots run the risk of just being terribly unimportant and/or distracting, but I like how this one was kept low key, and just played for laughs. None of this had any effect on Chuck, so it didn't feel like it was hogging any of the action. Plus, Ellie getting the name “Grunka” from the IKEA spoon set made me laugh for some reason.


Additional Thoughts: 

-The Volkoff Industries symbol: Overly stereotypical, or the MOST stereotypical thing you have ever seen?

- “What's his name?” “Steve.” “Aww, yeah, Steve.”

- “It's just frosting. Don't ask.”

- Phyllis is responsible for body clean-up.

- Anybody else think Ellie looked overly pregnant? Plus, why does her water break next week? Isn't it all a little soon, or do am I confused on the show's timeline over this season?