Chuck – Recap & Review – Chuck Vs. The Mask

photo: nbc

Chuck
Chuck Vs. The Mask

Original Air Date: Feb 8, 2010

Jeff L – TwoCents Staff Writer
JeffL@thetwocentscorp.com

Cue the Mission Impossible music, we open with agent Superman, dressed as Ethan Hunt lowering himself into a museum vault to retrieve a golden mask. Of course, a screw comes loose and sets off the vault’s sensors sealing Superman inside. This is one of those “air-tight” museum vaults we always see whenever we go to museums so the oxygen in the room is being syphoned off. Superman, who must have run into some gold Kryptonite somewhere along the line, has to call Casey to get Chuck to come bail him out.

Over at the Buy More, Lana Lang is still following Chuck around like a lost little puppy. She still wants Chuck to show her the ropes. Chuck agrees to take her on his next off-site job, but I don’t think he thought too much about it, because when Casey grabs Chuck for a “Nerd Herd Emergency,” Lana goes chasing after him in her own Nerdmobile. Once inside the museum, Casey and Sarah set up to blow the vault door with explosives, while Chuck prepares to handle the security system in a more Nerd Herd-friendly fashion. Luckily, Lana shows up to help. I don’t think Chuck has been practicing any actual Nerd Herd related skills lately.

Just as Casey is about to blow the door, possibly injuring (or worse gasp!) Superman, Lana and Chuck reboot the system and save the day. The museum’s curator is so impressed with Chuck and Lana he insist that they come to the gala unveiling of the mask (which Superman was trying to steal) the next night to ensure all the computer systems are working properly. I guess museums (which can afford elaborate security systems) can no longer afford the tech support that would probably come standard with said-systems, but I digress. Superman tells Chuck to take the gig, since he was unable to snatch the mask before its gala unveiling.

Back at the Castle, Superman flirts with Sarah but she rebuffs him. Does Superman think Sarah dates/falls-in-love-with everyone she works with (Bryce Larkin/Chuck)? Superman reveals that the mask and other pieces in the museum are being used by the Ring to smuggle contraband into the country. Their mission is to replace the real mask with a replica.

And then the b-story kicks in. I thought this was going to play out a little better, since Morgan and Ellie decided to keep a more watchful eye on Chuck last week. Their Operation Bartowski has ascertained that Chuck is never at the Buy More. So naturally, they assume that Chuck is more heartbroken by his breakup with Sarah than he is letting on and he’s using his time away from the store to mope. Brilliant deduction! I thought you were a doctor, Ellie!

The teams (Lana & Chuck and Superman & Sarah & Casey) attend the gala mask unveiling. Superman flirts with Sarah some more. She doesn’t seem too happy about it. Chuck flashes (finally) on a Ring operative and trafficker in black market goods. Chuck rushes out to warn Shaw and Sarah, leaving Lana in the control room.  It seems Superman tried to blow this operative up so Superman has to go dark in order to protect their cover.

To keep Lana and the rest of the museum patrons busy, Chuck crashes the computer system. He then tries to lower Sarah into the vault to retrieve the mask, but soon is discovered by Ring operatives and Chuck somehow ends up in the dangling by a zip-line in the vault. Sarah kicks some butt but the Ring operatives escape. By this time, Lana has the computer working again. (I guess she didn’t need Chuck’s help as much as she led him to believe). Superman, from out in the van, battles with Lana over control of the museum’s computers. Chuck, meanwhile, replaces the mask with a replica and is raised back up to the roof. Chuck goes to get Lana, but she’s mad because she saw him run off with Sarah on the security monitors. Casey, Sarah and Superman head back to the Castle to try and figure out exactly what the Ring was doing with the mask.

There’s some more b-story (time killer) about Ellie and Morgan planning an intervention for Chuck. Snooze.

In the Castle, the team discovers a can of toxic nerve gas inside the base of the mask. Superman and Sarah are accidently exposed to the gas and Chuck, from outside the protective lockdown flashes that there’s in antidote that can be administered up to one hour after exposure to the deadly toxin. Chuck and Casey head back to the museum to look for another relic that might contain the antidote.

Meanwhile, the Ring agent had disabled the museum curator and phones the Buy More, Morgan picks up. The agent asks for Hannah to return to the museum for some more computer work. 

Chuck plans on using the mask (this time containing a harmless smoke bomb) to scare the Ring operatives into revealing where the antidote might be in the museum. He thinks if they believe they’ve been poisoned they’ll go for the antidote and he can rescue Sarah and Superman.

Lana beats the spies to the museum and is quickly apprehended and thrown into that vault with the airtight seal. She has only minutes to live. Chuck sets off his fake “poison” and the Ring operative reveals that the antidote in an a vase. There are hundreds of vases in the museum. Chuck has to decide which one is the Holy Grail and finally flashes on one which he uses to smash the Ring operative over the head – this finding the antidote.

Casey, still wanting to blow something up, has replanted his explosives in an effort to save Lana from the vault. Chuck stops him and says he is able to fix the computer and open the vault door, which he does, but that doesn’t leave enough time for Casey to get the antidote back to the Castle to save Superman and Sarah. Luckily, the Castle had cleaned the air and the lockdown was lifted in enough time for Superman to fly Sarah to the museum and get the antidote before they both succumbed to the deadly poison. Chuck runs into the lobby just in time to see Superman administer the antidote to Sarah in his arms as she comes to. Chuck goes to grab Lana from the now opening vault and the Ring operative, no longer unconscious, spots his old arch nemesis Superman before he escapes.

Back at the Castle, Superman explains that Casey and Sarah might not always be around to help Chuck. He suggests that Chuck think of his team as his training wheels and that someday soon it would be time for a “big boy bike.” Isn’t this just another way of saying “real spy” without actually using those words “real spy” so we can play our “real spy” drinking game?

Elsewhere, Morgan and Ellie tail Chuck to the Buy More, where they plan to confront Chuck. Inside the giant TV room (which was once Morgan’s apartment) they see Chuck and Lana kissing. Ellie is overjoyed. Morgan (who you’ll remember coveted Lana himself) is not so pleased. I think it’s time for Anna Wu to come back, but we’ll have to wait until NBC is done airing that sports thing they have going on for the next few weeks.

The episode ends with the Ring operative entering a darkened room where one a giant lighted ring hangs on the wall. Subtle, Ring, subtle. He tells the Ringleaders about Superman and they vow to do to him what they are about to do to the agent. A gun appears out of the darkness and the agent is shot dead.

What did you think of the episode? Where were Jeff and Lester? Leave your comments below.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine