Chuck – Recap & Review – Chuck vs. The Fear of Death

photo: nbc

Chuck
Chuck vs. The Fear of Death

Original Air Date: Nov 15, 2010

Jeff L – Staff Writer
JeffL@thetwocentscorp.com

This week’s Charles Bartowski and Friends Subway Sandwich Hour featured some more great guest-stars and a nifty little Firefly/Serenity reunion. Oh, and some stuff about Chuck and the Intersect.

General Grandma is, of course, angry that Chuck trusted his mother and got the Intersect suppressed or deleted or what-have-you. She punished Chuck by sending Sarah on a solo mission to track down Chuck’s mom and Volkoff.

Meanwhile, Chuck must stay in Castle and be tortured (waterboarded?) by CIA scientists trying to jump start the failed Intersect and Casey has to stay home and babysit Morgan and his girlfriend (his daughter). After a month of failed A Clockwork Orange-esque experiments on Chuck’s brain, the CIA finally give up and call in the big guns in the form of Jim Rye (the usually hilarious Rob Riggle).

Sarah returns just as he shows up and it doesn’t take Rye long to realize that Sarah is Chuck safety blanket and without PFOD (Pure Fear of Death – hence the title) Chuck was never going to flash. Rye even tries by breaking into Chuck and Sarah’s bedroom dressed as a ninja but nothing works. Chuck does have some unusual “blank” flashes though so the Intersect can’t be totally gone. Of course, Ellie and her new car containing the cure to whatever ails Chuck is nowhere to be found in this episode.

Eventually Rye decides Chuck needs to go on a solo mission with in order to jump-start the Intersect. General Grandma sends Chuck to Switzerland on a mission to retrieve a diamond from an auction being held by the Belgian.

Over in the b-story, Summer Glau is the new Spy More Greta. She does a lot of looking hot, eating Subway sandwiches and being ogled by Jeff and Lester in this episode. Eventually she has a scene with Casey for us Firefly and Serenity fans, but it’s too short. Casey does save her though from the clutches of Jeffster! eventually.

Over in Switzerland, Chuck can’t flash at all even when there’s a gun to his back during the auction – which he loses, despite his orders to from General Grandma. Rye and Chuck decide they must steal the diamond from a secret vault, but even the vaults security system which drops the temperature to sub-zero in a matter of seconds doesn’t manage to trip off Chuck’s Intersect. Chuck does manage to find several more diamonds in the vault than the CIA originally believed existed.

Chuck briefs General Grandma and he’s ordered to apprehend the Belgian. Sarah doesn’t believe Chuck can handle such a dangerous mission without the Intersect. Chuck says he can, because he’s a spy, but Sarah says he’s not. At least not right now. Not without the Intersect. Grandma agrees and sends Sarah to Switzerland to partner with Chuck for the mission.

Chuck, wanting to prove everyone wrong, decides to capture the Belgian on his own. Back at the Spy More, Casey realizes that the diamonds contain information encoded on microdots inside the diamonds – some of that information pertains to Chuck himself. Which means the Belgian knows all about Chuck and the Intersect and Chuck is walking into a trap.

Chuck and Rye aboard a gondola over the Swiss countryside, manage to fight off the Belgian’s henchmen, but eventually the Belgian gets the upper hand and Chuck is left dangling from the side of the car while Rye is shot and thrown from the gondola onto the snowy mountains below. (Is that the last we’ll see of Rye?) The Belgian helps Chuck back into the car and he’s held hostage.
Sarah is about to leave for Switzerland when Casey and Morgan show up – each ready to help find their friend. To be continued next week…

So what did you think of Chuck vs. The Fear of Death? Can Chuck be a spy without the Intersect? Is Sarah the reason Chuck can’t get the Intersect to start working again? What’s in Ellie’s car and how is it going to help Chuck? Is Jeffster! ever going to sing again? Who should be the next Greta? Leave your thoughts and questions in the comments section below and be sure to “Chuck” back in next week for Chuck vs. Phase Three. Be sure to bookmark www.thetwocents.com for all your television news, reviews and discussions. Now, I’m off to Subway for a sophisticated sandwich.