It’s been a few weeks since the last time Chuck changed the entire game on us. So I guess it was time to do it again? With results this good, it was most definitely time for a change.
At its most fundamental level, “Chuck vs. Agent X” was all about mistaken identity. Over and over again, identities and secrets came into question, and every major plot point came about as a result. But let’s put the impressively intricate nature of the writing aside to go through what actually happened.
Bachelor Parties!
Crazy party time! Except not so much in the end.
Chuck and the boys (by which I mean every single male member of the cast) head off to a weekend of debauchery in Las Vegas. Only it’s not Las Vegas. By putting Captain Awesome in charge of the extravaganza, the men end up at the Las Vecas campground. The general dismay is short-lived, however, since the bad guys are closing in.
Meanwhile, Ellie throws Sarah a bachelorette party, complete with dozens of strange women and commando strippers. Their partying is hampered only slightly by the realization that Dad Bartowski’s super-laptop has gone missing.
And where is it? In the woods with Devon (he mistakenly took the wrong bag). By using a stolen CIA-tracker, Volkoff’s evil lawyer has found the computer. He attacks with commandos and a large-breasted mercenary chick.
With Jeff tripping on ‘shrooms, Lester and Big Mike abandoning ship, and Devon and Morgan sharpening sticks, Casey takes out each of the commandos, leaving Mercenary Chick for Chuck. The ensuing knife fight between our hero and She-of-the-Evil-Breasts leaves the computer kind of stabbed, but the guys all manage to get away intact.
Secrets No More
The previous night’s events convince absolutely everybody that it’s kind of mean to keep lying to Ellie. Chuck mans up and spills the beans. At least he would have manned up to spill the beans, except Ellie figures it all out before Chuck can say anything.
Ellie’s reward for solving the puzzle? A trip to Castle, where Chuck gives her a rather impressive demonstration of his Intersect skills (much to the dishonor of Morgan’s shirt). Ellie points out that the mysterious Agent X could not, in fact, be Chuck, since Agent X received his Intersect before Chuck was even born.
Fortunately for the continuation of this plot, Chuck can fix anything computer-related and soon gets the laptop up and running. Some seriously redacted documents give the team a name, Hartley, and a photo of a house in Somerset, England. (Big clue here that I totally didn’t catch. Oh the shame!)
The Mother Casey Never Had
Leaving Ellie behind to exercise some parental responsibility (shouldn’t she just leave that to Devon?), Chuck, Sarah and Casey fly off to England. The house from the photos is not a spy lair at all, just a charming cottage inhabited by a sweet, old lady and her bunny figurines.
But all is not as it would seem… Chuck flashes on a photo in the hallway to realize that sweet Mrs. Winterbottom is the mother of the mysterious Hartley. She informs Chuck that her son was once a sweet boy, a gun-hating scientist who had been friends with Stephen Bartowski back in the day. Mrs. Winterbottom describes Hartley’s transformation into the evil Agent X and the CIA’s subsequent disavowal of the man in brief before the house comes under attack from the forces of Evil Lawyer, Breasts-from-Hell and some brand-new commandos.
While Chuck and Sarah race to the basement to find Hartley’s spy will, Mrs. Winterbottom and Casey decimate the opposition with giant guns. That tactic, awesome as it may be, fails eventually, leading Mrs. Winterbottom to scuttle her house. Casey is in love.
The Truth Will Set You … In a New Direction
The team returns the funky spy box to Burbank, where Ellie gets to participate in the opening. And the identity of lost Hartley is … Alexei Volkoff?
Whoa.
The kind-of-evil nature of the CIA’s beast has led to one impressive cover-up. Fortunately, Casey realizes this before anyone else gets wind of the discovery, and he points out how dead they will all be, should those in power find out.
But it’s not over yet. Those silly, honorable Bartowskis can’t just let such an injustice go, of course. And now we’ve got two of them involved. As Casey buries the Hartley-Volkoff information deep in the bowels of Castle, Chuck and Ellie decide to save the day — on their own if necessary.
And now???
Where does Chuck go from here? Will they be able to save Volkoff from himself? What does this mean for the Intersect, both Volkoff’s and Chuck’s? How involved will Ellie get? What does Mom know?
And how incredibly awesome is it that Alexei Volkoff’s real name is Hartley Winterbottom?
Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below!
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(Image courtesy of NBC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
Laurel grew up in Mamaroneck, NY, Grosse Pointe, MI and Bellevue WA. She then went on to live in places like Boston, Tucson, Houston, Wales, Tanzania, Prince Edward Island and New York City before heading back to Seattle. Ever since early childhood, when she became addicted to The Muppet Show, Laurel has watched far too much TV. Current favorites include Chuck, Modern Family, Supernatural, Mad Men and Community. Laurel received a BA in Astrophysics (yes, that is possible) from Colgate University and a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies and History of Science from Columbia University before she realized that television is much better than studying.
