Monday, May 24, 2010

...Set: Chuck 3x18 "Chuck versus the Subway"

After a few weeks of good-but-not-great episodes, this one really hit it out of the park. The next one, the second half of the finale, is sure to follow suit, but I'm writing this up before I watch that one, or else my brain might go mushy like Chuck's on Intersect 2.0. And we certainly don't want that.

This episode started out with Papa B (what I shall now be referring to the elder Bartowski as) working on the 2.0 version of his Governor watch for Chuck. Chuck is feeling the pressure and transferring that pressure onto his dad. Sarah tells him he needs to calm down and leave him alone for a while to finish, though she still doesn't know what exactly this watch is for. Chuck! Don't lie to your lady!

Recap/review of Chuck 3x18 'Chuck versus the Subway' by
In any event, Sarah takes Chuck out to relax, but he gets sidetracked when he hears Shaw's voice. He follows a mysterious figure down into the subway station and at first thinks he's gone nuts, but then Shaw shows his face! Yep, Shaw is really alive! He informs Sarah and Casey, but they can't find General Beckman to tell her. That's because she's at some kind of tribunal hearing type thingy in the CIA arguing the Intersect's, and therefore Chuck's, case. The trio decide they can't just let this lie and, despite protestations from Papa B, follow Shaw's path out of the subway into a mysterious location they think must be a Ring headquarters.

They get inside and split up. Casey and Sarah meet up and figure out they're not in a Ring facility, but actually in a CIA headquarters. But Chuck doesn't know that. He ends up taking out a guy who happens to be... Justin?!?! And who sees him do it? Ellie! Yep, that's right, this is the location she had been taken to in last week's episode. Before she can get any answers out of Chuck, he takes off after Justin, and attacks him right in the tribunal hearing room, in front of all of the CIA biggety bigs. They bring in Casey and Sarah to continue in arguing the case, but things take a major turn for the worse when Shaw himself shows up! While our group tries to convince the CIA that he's turned rogue and is working for the Ring, Shaw claims that he was working as a double agent. But Chuck sees him flash on something. He wants to show them that Shaw's lying and is an Intersect too, so he tries throwing a letter opener at him (why was that letter opener just randomly lying there?), but Shaw, knowing he'd do that, just takes it in the chest. They haul off Chuck after Shaw convinces all of them that his brain is deteriorating because of his Intersect. So now Sarah knows that bit of info.

Casey, who we learned earlier on in the episode has been regularly going to the pie shop where his daughter Alex works, goes to get Alex to safety since he knows they will be coming after her. But just when he arrives, Justin shows up. They have a tete-a-tete in the pie shop until Casey punches him out and hauls off Alex. He gives her a key to a locker at the Buy More and reveals to her that he's father before more dudes show up and take him away. In the end of the episode, she shows up at the Buy More and, with Morgan's help, discovers that Casey has left her a ton of money and passports.

Chuck, locked up in custody, gets a helping hand from Papa B and escapes, with Sarah following him. Sarah tells him he can't go because they'll put a burn notice on him, but Papa B tells him that if he doesn't go, he'll be putting everyone in danger. So he goes, because Chuck likes to save people. Sarah, pissed off at Shaw, goes to confront him, but he uses her emotions against her and makes the CIA think she has gone rogue. So now she and Casey are in custody.

Okay so meanwhile, Devon has been thinking that Ellie is cheating on him because of all of her shenanigans with Justin. But when she shows up back at home and tells him that Chuck is in trouble with the CIA, the full truth comes out! Well, almost, because Devon doesn't know everything. So they go see Morgan. Morgan then calls up Chuck to tell him that everything has gone to hell in a handbasket. Papa B wants to keep running, but Chuck convinces him they can't. Oh, and Papa B gives Chuck his finished Governor, which immediately makes Chuck feel better.

They meet up with Ellie to try to figure out what the deal with Justin really is. She takes them to their rendezvous point she they discover a secret Ring base. Chuck and Papa B infiltrate it and find the Intersect location Shaw downloaded from. They want to take this information to the CIA, but Shaw has been tipped off and cuts them off at the pass and forces Chuck to give him the Governor. Chuck wants to face him one on one and see who wins, but Shaw doesn't think it's fair since Chuck will be emotionally compromised. Chuck says he is, in fact, quite calm. So what does Shaw do?! He flipping shoots and kills Papa B!!! Which Ellie also saw, because she saw Shaw going down into the secret base and followed him. Luckily she keeps hidden, though, as Shaw takes Chuck.

He loads Chuck up into the van with Casey and Sarah, and Chuck has completely given up. As they drive away, he says that all hope is lost because there's no one to come after them now. BUT NO, Chuck, you are wrong! Because your sister is here to save the day. She is following the van, and has called in Devon and Morgan as back up!!

As a fun aside, I loved the bit where Beckman was talking to Morgan and Devon and the video was cutting out and repeated the "You are our only hope" line and then she was dragged away. Hello Star Wars reference!


"Dude, you don't look so hot, buddy. I mean, compared to your normal level of hotness, you lost a little sizzle." - Morgan, to Devon

"Devon..." - Morgan
"Whoa, you just called me Devon." - Devon
"Yeah, well, this is no time for frivolity." - Morgan

"It's my dream come true. Ellie is exactly like Chuck, but with lady parts." - Jeff

"Nice work, guys. Awesome." - Morgan
"What?" - Devon
"No, not you, Awesome." - Morgan

"I'm sorry, Sarah. But if I have to choose, I will always choose to protect you." - Chuck

"Morgan Grimes. The boy who took my pillow as his date to junior prom, knows more about my family being spies than I do." - Ellie

"Much as it pains me to admit, you are our only hope." - Beckman
"Dude, did she mean you or me?" - Devon, to Morgan

"Don't know when it happened, but our boy became a man. Bartowski's a spy. Picked a good one, Walker. Finally." - Casey

"Let's do this." - Devon

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