Somerset, England. Nothing has changed at the house, so someone must still be living there. They knock on door, and a little old woman answers. Sarah adopts an English accent (I am thoroughly enjoying this trend of Yvonne Strahovski doing different accents every week) and says that she is showing her fiance, Chuck, around where she grew up. the woman invites them in for some tea.
Casey wants to know what's taking her so long; she could be poisoning the tea. When the woman brings the tea back, they take reluctant sips. Fortunately, they have not been poisoned. The woman asks who the "handsome young man" is, referring to Casey. Chuck says he is a hitchhiker they picked up. Sarah says her friend, Hartley, used to live in the house. The woman says Hartley was the previous tenant, and bit of a recluse. When he moved out thirty years ago, he left behind a box of personal effects. Would Chuck give her a hand in retrieving it?
She leaves Chuck in the hall where he sees a picture of the woman and a boy and flashes the Hartley files. He comes out of the flash to find the woman pointing a large gun at him. Hartley is her son, so what does Chuck want with him. Chuck explains that Hartley is in danger, that Chuck is with the CIA and they ar trying to protect him. The CIA disavowed Hartley, the woman explains, why should she trust Chuck. He explains that his father tried to help Hartley all these years. "You're Stephen Bartowski's boy?" the woman asks. She says Stephen and Hartley were close. "Are you going to fix my son?"
Riley and his goons show up outside the house, and send gunshots through the window. Casey and Sarah return fire, with Casey noting that they are outgunned and outmanned. The woman runs in with her shotgun, and asks Casey to "lay down some fire, laddie." The woman figures they are after Hartley's spy will. She gives the key to Chuck, and he and Sarah run to the basement to get the will. The woman tells Casey they need more firepower, so she opens up a chest and pulls out a Gattling gun. He asks if she's ever fed ammo into a gun before. She laughs, "Laddie, you're feeding me!" As she fires away in slo-mo, a huge grin of awe spreads across Casey's face.
Down in the basement, Chuck asks where would one hide a spy will. Chuck and Sarah eventually find the round spy will case. Casey is out of ammo for the gun, so the woman rigs a grenade atop some plastic explosives with yarn attached to the grenade pin. "You are the mother I never had," Casey beams. They run out of the house and gather with Chuck and Sarah behind a stone wall. Riley's men, including the female agent enter the house. She spies the grenade, but it is too late. the woman pulls on her yarn, and blows up the house, killing everyone except Riley, who drives away. "You remind me of my son," the woman says to Chuck, "He didn't like guns either." "I love this woman," says Casey.
In his luxurious, yet practical Toyota Corolla (Blatant Product Placement!), Big Mike, Jeff and Lester head to Reno. To the strains of "Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into My Car" by Billy Ocean (God, I love that video), the guys take turns driving. Jeff finally announces, "We're here!" They get out, but realize they are back in the woods. A sign says they are in Reneaux, British Columbia, Canada! Big Mike begins to strangles Jeff, but Lester stops him. He points a few meters away to a Canadian casino.
Back at Castle, the agents bring the will to Ellie. She asks if they have to wait for a code from the CIA. Nope, Chuck has the key. He pauses. The identity of Agent X is in that box, the whole reason their family fell apart. They open it and find a card for Hartley Winterbottom. Underneath the card is a picture...of a young Volkoff!! Alexi Volkoff is Hartley Winterbottom and Agent X! Chuck wonders if maybe his Mom was trying to fix Volkoff in her own way this whole time. Casey grabs a computer floppy disk and scans the files. "Interrogation Room. Now!" Casey commands.
He disconnects the security camera in the room, and tells everyone that they are going to pretend they didn't see this information. The CIA created one of the most murderous men in history. If someone finds out, they will hire someone like Casey to put a bullet in their heads. He's sure Orion didn't want that to happen. Chuck says maybe it was enough that the search for Agent X made Ellie and him rely on each other. Ellie protests, and thinks they should fix Agent X. "This isn't for the CIA," she says, "It's for us."
Commentary
We are moving into the final stretch of Season Four of Chuck, and possibly the entire series. If it is the end (which I certainly hope it is not), I think the path they are moving down would tie a nice bow on the series. Chuck and Sarah get married; Ellie knows that Chuck is still a spy and accept that; Casey has a family in Alex, Morgan and, likely, Kathleen; Stephen Bartowski's work is completed in the "curing" of Alexi Volkoff, aka Hartley Winterbottom; Vivian Volkoff is brought to justice, etc. The whole thing could be neatly packaged, and we'd all likely be satisfied. Of course, Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak have stated that the season finale actually ends on a major cliffhanger. The episode is actually titled, "Chuck vs the Cliffhanger," so it is almost 100% unlikely any of the above will tie up neatly. That said, however, I think this week's installment has placed the show on a great path heading into its final two hours.
Obviously, the big reveal that Volkoff is Agent X was huge, and I'm actually upset with myself that once they said the house was in England, I didn't figure out the surprise. It has always been odd to me that Volkoff has a British accent, but now, of course, it all makes sense. He is English, and has just had his identity switched by a corruptive form of the Intersect. As someone who covers Chuck on a weekly basis, it's hard for me to be surprised by anything, so I really enjoyed that this was a true surprise for me. Moreover, I loved the fact that back at the end of Season Three, one of the files Chuck viewed in his father's house's basement was for Agent X. As the show had only been renewed at that point for thirteen episodes, it doesn't appear that this Agent X storyline was originally in the works, but maybe it was. If it was, then kudos to Schwartz and Fedak for planting its seeds way back when.
As far as the rest of the episode goes, there was a lot of fun to be had. The Vegas/Vecas joke is an easy one, but it still amused the heck out of me. I loved Sarah's swings form horror at the idea of just relaxing for her bachelorette party, to the excitement of having an actual party, to renewed horror at the "guns" placed in her face during the strip show. This just goes to prove that when given the opportunity, Yvonne Strahovski can act. I can only hope she continues to get more to do on and post-Chuck. I thought Casey's admiration for Mrs. Winterbottom was just fantastic, and very well played by Adam Baldwin.
Last, what can be said about Zachary Levi and Sarah Lancaster that hasn't already been said? When the show first debuted, one of the criticisms against it was that Levi and Lancaster had more chemistry than Levi and Strahovski. Fortunately, the latter pair have developed into one of the most excellent and real "couples" on TV, while the former have not lost their acting spark. The scenes between the two of them are fantastic, and I had a huge smile on my face when Chuck told Ellie that he had "one more secret" to tell his sister, before bringing her into Castle. That scene was perfect, and it's a great development for the show to have, at this point of the series, the whole family in on Chuck's identity.
All in all, I thought this was a pretty great episode that make me excited for the final two hours of the season. What did you think? Did you see the identity of Agent X coming? Are you glad Ellie finally knows the whole truth? Is Mark Christopher Lawrence (Big Mike) the best in-show pitch man you've ever seen? Please leave your comments below. I'll be back next week with another recap. Until then, I'm off to dishonor your shirt...in Japanese.
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