Devon and Ellie enter the Buy More because Devon is in desperate need of a new toaster. Lester immediately appears to help them with their purchase. After complimenting Ellie in only the way Lester can, he asks them if they have chosen a name yet for the baby. Upon hearing the name "Grunca," Lester admits that he lost his virginity to a girl named Grunca. Ellie replies that she is happy with the name. Big Mike then arrives, saying he heard the name Grunca mentioned. Would she be named after the famous Armenian serial killer Grunca Garabedian? Why yes, Ellie answers, yes they are naming heir daughter after the serial killer. She turns on Devon, telling him that she knows what's going on; she is going to wait in the car.
At Volkoff's headquarters, Volkoff is delighted to see Yuri. He was at a complete loss without his bodyguard. as he is the only man with complete access to the Hydra database. Volkoff was, however, disappointed, that Yuri was imprisoned. In fact, he was very disappointed. Volkoff pulls out a gun and shoots Yuri square in the forehead!! (Honestly, this may been the most violent moment in Chuck history.) Volkoff tells a shocked Mary and Sarah that he has a hard time dealing with disappointment. Back at Castle, Chuck is sad that Sarah is not there after their mission. After a mission, Chuck used to play a board game with Sarah to unwind. He glumly asks Morgan if they recorded The View. Morgan looks knowingly at Casey, and tells Chuck that they want to play game.
Back in Russia, Volkoff explains that Yuri was Hydra. He emphasizes this fact by plucking out Yuri's eye. He places the eye into a device on his desk, which displays holograms from teh eye. The Hydra database is how Volkoff communicates with his people as none of them know each other; Hydra is the hub of Volkoff Industries. That Hydra was out of commission with Yuri in prison, however, points to a major flaw: human error. Volkoff removes the eye from the display device and smashes it on the floor. Mary is surprised he would destroy all that information, but Volkoff explains that he downloaded the information to a secure location. As he departs the room, Volkoff says he still has one more mission for Sarah. Actually, there are two missions remaining. The first and foremost is the dead Yuri on the floor. He orders an underling to clean up the body as he leaves. Mary, unbeknownst to Volkoff, picks up the pieces of the eye.
In Echo Park, Chuck, Casey and Morgan are playing Risk. Casey remarks that world domination is always fun. Morgan, still trying to keep Chuck's mood light, tells Chuck that he can always talk to Morgan. Casey is too distracted by the game to care much, as he gleefully takes out Chuck's armies in Australia. Casey then gets a text from Sarah. Since she didn't send it to Chuck, something must be wrong, so Casey must go alone to answer it. When Chuck protests, Casey explains that Volkoff knows who Chuck is, so he can't be seen in fear of exposing Sarah's mission. For her part, Sarah tells Volkoff that she can use Casey's loyalty against him. That is exactly what Volkoff was thinking. He wants Sarah to kill Casey on the ninth floor of the Triton Tower. It was he who texted Casey to lure him into the trap. Volkoff informs Sarah that he will be watching her via security cameras throughout the building.
Mary and Sarah ascend the stairs to the ninth floor. Sarah asks how she is supposed to make "killing" Casey look real with all of the cameras around. Mary tells her she will figure something out, and if she gets a chance, she should hand the pieces of the eye to Casey. Meanwhile, Chuck paces in his apartment. Morgan says he knows how Chuck misses Sarah, but Casey told them to sit tight. No, Chuck replies, they could need the Intersect, so he is going to go to Castle to hack into Casey's phone and get the location. Morgan tells Chuck the location, Triton Tower. It seems Morgan has perfected the "looking at someone else's text without looking like he is looking" move. By the time Morgan finishes explaining this, Chuck is gone.
Sarah approaches a waiting Casey on the ninth floor with her gun drawn. Noticing the cameras, she purposefully kicks a can of paint to draw Casey's attention. He spins around and disarms Sarah. They fight about the room. When Casey gets her into a corner unseen by the camera, she tells him to follow her lead. Chuck calls General Beckman as he approaches the building, but Volkoff's guards pull their guns on Chuck. "Perfect timing," Volkoff utters as he emerges from the shadows. He tells Chuck that there is a specific moment when a spy chooses to flip to the other side. Now is that time for Sarah, so he brings Chuck into the building to watch.
As they continue to fight, Casey tells Sarah to shoot him in shoulder, but she refuses to shoot him. As Sarah presses Casey against a window, and hands him the pieces of the eye, he notices a window washer's platform about forty feet below. Casey says to throw him out of the window onto the ledge. Sarah, reluctant at first, finally agrees. When Volkoff, Chuck and Mary make their way to the scene of the fight, Sarah staggers Casey by the window. Volkoff asks if she wants his gun. No, she replies. Then in a replay of the episode's opening scene, Casey asks "Is that all you've got?" Sarah rears back and punches Casey through the window. He lands safely on the window washer platform. Casey and Sarah smile, but their joy is short-lived as the platform gives way and Casey crashes to the ground unconscious. Chuck is horrified, and yells after him. "It's done," says Sarah, not betraying her great concern for Casey's safety. "Why?" asks Chuck. Volkoff tells Chuck that she did it all for Chuck. Before he can respond, Chuck is knocked out by one of Volkoff's men. Sarah leaves him on the ground and departs with Volkoff.
At their home, Devon apologizes to Ellie for involving the Buy More guys in their name issue. Ellie worries that he doesn't like any of the names she has picked out. Ellie suggests Clara. Devon likes that name, but he hesitates. This choice will set their daughter's course for her whole life. True, but that's parenting, Ellie reminds him; they are going to have to make a lot of decisions about their girl. Finally, she asks "Clara or Grunca?" Devon chooses the former, happily. With that decided, Ellie says that she can't believe he thought she'd name their daughter after the spoons she bought from Ikea.
Sarah looks worriedly out of the window as she, Mary and Volkoff fly back to Russia. Mary grabs Sarah's hands, and tells her that it gets easier, with distance. Chuck and Morgan sit vigil by Casey's bed as he lies unconscious in the hospital. Alex rushes in, and says that though she barely knows him, she already loves him so much. Morgan promises her that Casey will be ok, and that he, Casey, loves her very much. Chuck sends an encoded message to Sarah. Sarah sees the message coming in, but declines it, whispering "Distance."
Commentary
Hrm. What can I say about "Chuck vs. the Gobbler?" On the whole, I thought it was a pleasant episode. There were some really interesting elements like Sarah's costume, her fight with Casey, and Volkoff's cold-blooded killing of Yuri. I also continue to thoroughly enjoy Timothy Dalton's performance as Volkoff -- the guy just seems like he's having so much fun, and it's infectious. In fact, all of the acting on the show has reached rather fine proportions. All of the regular actors are really at the top of their games.
My problem with the episode is just that it felt soooo very much like a set-up episode, which, in essence, it is. If you remember, before NBC ordered an additional eleven episodes months ago, Chuck was only supposed to have thirteen episodes this season. Therefore this, the twelfth episode, would have been the penultimate one, leading into the season (and possibly series) finale. Further, Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak were recently on Alan Sepinwall and Dan Fienberg's podcast, "The Firewall and Iceberg Podcast," to talk about the show, and they referenced that the last ten minutes of Episode Thirteen are the best ten minutes of the show's history. That's some pretty big talk that I can't wait to see if they live up to, but more importantly, it created a real sense of anticipation for next week's episode. To be honest, I was more interested in figuring out how this week's action informed where they might be going next week, that I probably wasn't enjoying this episode for what it was.
All in all though, even with me distracted as I was, I enjoyed "Chuck vs. the Gobbler." It was nice to have all of the cast in the episode (save General Beckman), though it appeared Ellie and Devon were shoehorned in just to make sure we didn't forget they existed. What did you think of the episode? How do you feel about Sarah joining Volkoff and making the hard decision to cut off Chuck? Do you really have any fear that Casey won't recover? Do you think Morgan should tell Alex he loves her? Please leave your questions, comments and theories below. For another take on the episode, be sure to check out Emma's review here. I'll be back next week with another recap of what is supposed to be the best episode of Chuck ever! Until then, I'm off to grab some sourdough bread.
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