What the Chuck?! - The Chuck Recap - s3e10 Big Daddy

Well Chuck is certainly in deep this time out, isn't he? Awww shucks that's every week! And that's part of why we love this show so much. One tiny part, at least. Welcome back to the slightly late Chuck Recap! As always, spoilers for the latest episode lie below, so don't go lookin' if you don't wanna know…

All right, I think this time, instead of a slow recap with everything that happened we're going to break things down a bit and jump around some. There was simply too much awesome this week to deal any other way. So let's deal with the least working part of the week: Ellie and Devon.

I'm sorry, I thought they were gone. I wasn't sure it was a good idea but playing an entire episode of "Will they / won't they" was frustrating and got us no where. Ellie gets a medical opportunity she's always wanted so now she doesn't want to do Doctors Without Borders and yet, of course, Devon wants to and can't explain why. Once again we're playing Ellie as the idiot. Argh! Yes, they get one great moment from the premise: Morgan and Devon's "Chuck is a…" "You know!" scene was wonderful, though also scary In that, well, that's all it takes huh? Good secret keeping boys. No, overall I have gone from loving Devon and Ellie to feeling that they don't have good stories being used and so they drag down the show right now. Hopefully this will change In that they will leave (probably not) or the writers will use them well (hopefully so).

Moving on from them and dealing with another bit of the show - is it me or does the whole show feel more relaxed when Brandon Routh isn't there? I wish that wasn't the case. Ouch.

Right! Onto the bits of this episode that are awesome! That would be the rest of them!

Casey a traitor! Chuck flashing on command! Sarah being badass! Chuck being badass! Enough exclamation points, sorry, got carried away. So that Alex Coburn thing we first heard about from the Mafia guys a few episodes ago and that Ring call last week were related. Casey's real name is Alex Coburn after all and he was recruited by Keller (never trust a Terminator, guys) into Special Forces. So his old life was killed off, literally, as far as his fiancé and family knew. Thus was born the man, the myth, the grunter - John Casey.

Makes me wonder how the Mafia guy pegged him though. Maybe Casey used his old name as a cover ID recently? Eh, maybe. Anyway…

So Keller calls on Casey and tells him to steal something from within a CIA building. A building that Team Bartowski has just been tasked with breaking into, as part of the CIA's testing their security. Morgan, spying on him from outside, is caught by Chuck and Chuck is confused but that's not too new.

So the CIA base. Well. 14 levels of bad guy stopping wackiness ensue! Except we only see the first level, where we get a great scene of Chuck flashing and leaping like the superspy he really is, thanks to the intersect. It's a trick the show has used before, so us a little bit and then cut to the end with our heroes wincing and complaining about that last level, but it works. We don't really need to see all 14 levels. Not really.

So they get into the vault room and while Chuck gets the box they have to break into open, Casey steals a pill from another box. Chuck catches him and Casey pulls a gun on him! Woa, uhm, ok. So Casey is working for the Ring, huh?

Later, at the debrief, we have one of my favorite pure-Chuck scenes in, well, forever. Only Chuck can really pull this scene off, with Chuck thinking that, upon hearing the pill was stolen and is a huge deal (it suppresses emotion making people cold and able to function better. Chuck kinda wants it, Sarah worries about that) Chuck decides this must be a test. So while laughing and feeling smart he reveals that Casey stole it. That had to be one of the tensest scenes the show's done with Casey and Sarah staring each other down and Chuck's good humor turning to raw fear. Wonderfully played.

Casey turns himself in and is arrested. Chuck and Sarah can't believe it. Not Casey! Morgan's bad spy work comes in handy as he has Keller on video and Chuck flashes. Running to Sarah, Chuck points out that they have to go and break him out. Sarah reminds him that doing so could easily result in Chuck losing the spy life and even ending in jail himself. Chuck knows. But it's Casey. That's the Chuck we know, Sarah included! Hooray! I seriously wanted to cheer a bit at that.

So they go in to try and get through the security again and Chuck flips and… faceplants into a clear barrier. Great faceslide, Agent Carmichael. We meet the guy who designed the security, who is a fan of Chuck's. That's perfect. Anyway, Sarah and Chuck fool him into taking them all the way back to level 15 again where they plan on freeing Casey. So does the Ring and they explode the wall, leaving Casey a choice. The good or the bad.

Casey goes with the bad.

Casey finds Morgan back home and gets him to go grab the pill, left in a DVD case for Planet of the Apes at the Buy More. Oh, Casey, really? That was your hiding place? Well fine. Chuck gets it from Morgan and goes to confront Casey and find out the truth.

We find out that Casey was engaged and the Ring has his ex-fiancé and will kill her if Casey doesn't steal the pill. Chuck and Sarah offer to help Casey, if he'll trust them to keep his Ex safe. He does. Team Bartowski rides again.

So Casey goes to the meet, seemingly alone, while Chuck goes to the Ex. He poses as the gas man and rushes her out of the house only to rush her back in when he sees Ring agents coming. Locking her in a closet, Chuck gets annoyed. The Ring agents are posing as gas men, too. "I'm the gas man!" Chuck complains. And I fall in love with the show all over again.

Casey confronts Keller and grins when Keller points out that the first thing he taught Casey was to never go in without backup. Cue Sarah dropping down from under the vehicle to take out five Ring agents by herself. Let's rerun that pic.

Casey kills Keller, snapping his neck one-handed, and we're off to the races. Chuck has no choice but to take the experimental pill to calm himself so that he can take on all of the Ring agents who will kill him and Casey's Ex if he doesn't. Down the pill goes and up flips Chuck with all the fury and rage and cruelty of… John Casey, really. That same distant stare crosses Chuck's face and he is about to use the same one-handed neck snap on a Ring agent when Sarah calls his name.

Schmoopy? Sure, but that snaps Chuck out of it and his expression, all through the scene his expressions just sell the scene. Levi can really bring it home. So we're all done, right? Not quite. First of all, it turns out Casey has a daughter. And he leaves his Ex and kid again, because he made his choice once and it is still the right choice for him. That's John Casey. He carries a load that would break anyone else, and to shoulder it he becomes the gruff, hard nose guy that, well, Chuck things he wants to become. And would become if he wasn't careful. Which is why, really, Casey likes Chuck. He sees himself in him, but he isn't sure if the same road is the right road for our boy.

And then… Beckman shows up. Casey went too far. I mean, yeah he did. And so he's gone. Our of the military. Welcome to Mister Casey.

Do I think it'll stick? Of course not! Originally, let's not forget, the season was 13 episodes long. They got a final six after that but said, quite often, that their storyline was 13 episodes long and then they wrote a new six part arc after that. So there is some kind of finale coming up in three episodes. By the end of that, want to bet that John Casey hasn't saved the world enough to get back in on the game, and Team Bartowski? Of course he will, guys. Of course he will. But it'll also give us a few episodes to get to explore his character without the military job on top of it, and that will be interesting.

As always, I want to discuss this all with you guys! Please, holla back and tell me your theories, what you thought of the episode and the season and more. Just don't discuss spoilers. And that includes the promo for next week's episode.

So, guys, what'd you think?

Comments

[D.J.]

Great review/recap, as always, sir! I always read the AV Club reviews of Chuck right after, but now I find myself looking forward to this even more.

Asking how the mob fella recognized Casey as Alex Coburn was the biggest question I had, too. A plot hole?

Also, yeah, it is more relaxed without Shaw, but isn't that the point of his character? Or do you mean it more about Routh's acting chops?

Anyway, fun show. I love it and can't wait for next week...

[Adam P. Knave]

The Alex Coburn thing will bug me. Sadly.

Shaw... I get that his character is there to increase tension but the chemistry of the show feels off when he's around. And yeah that's part of the point but it just feels off in a way that they didn't mean, or something. If that makes sense. It's just not clicking for me.

[ljpock]

I'm not a big Shaw fan either.

The Alex Colburn thing - I thought I remembered the mafia guy (which I looove that it was Paulie from The Sopranos) saying something along the lines of military related. After finding out Casey backstory I assumed they knew each other from Casey/Alex's early military days??

"the man, the myth, the grunter - John Casey." FTW!!!!

I almost cried a few times in this espisode. When I thought Casey was might be a double agent, when he was telling the story of leaving his fiance, and then again when he was discharged.

I love that gun-crazy grunter and hope they bring him back to Col. status soon!

[ljpock]

Oh, and Morgan caving so easily after trying to be so tough about his "mission" - loved it!!! Typical Morgan.

[Adam P. Knave]

Except that he looked so different his own fiancee didn't recognize him. Some random mafia guy did though? That's a bit off. I dunno. It's a stumper. I am stumped. But yeah, Casey is such a great character but this new bit of life gives him a LOT to play with for the while they keep it up. I wonder if we'll see a slightly softer Casey for a while. I mean at the end there he was... nicer.

[Muirnait]

I loved this episode :) I loved getting to know a little more about Casey, but if they *actually* lose him from the show I will undoubtedly freak. It should be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks!

[Muirnait]

Oh, and I also don't like Shaw, but I think since Chuck was dating they had to give Sarah an option too ... but now? Who knows.

[Adam P. Knave]

It really will! I Can't imagine they'd actually lose him though.

[Muirnait]

And I love it when Sarah gets into ass-kicking mode. It's hot :P