Chuck-"Chuck vs the A-Team"

Rick "Greta" fights Chuck on "Chuck"
Credit: NBC

My review of tonight's episode of Chuck is after the jump.

Tonight's episode of Chuck was a fun episode. The show is a lot better at storyline payoffs then they are at set up episodes and this was no exception. Because the show got that back 11, it got time to tell a story that they wouldn't have had time to tell in a shorter season. The return of Greta proved to be a very fun plotline that may not have been brilliant, but it was fun enough for me to enjoy the hour. 

The return, and explanation, of Greta turned out to be a very fun way to bring back something from the show's past that needed to be explained. This episode tried to prove that the Greta character was not just an excuse to bring in special guest stars, but it was something that played a role in the greater mythology of the show. It did succeed in proving that. The Gretas were not just CIA agents stationed in the Buy More for one week, they were people who were being auditioned by Bentley to be potential Intersects. This was a pretty good explanation for why they were there one week, and out the next. 

Isaiah Mustafa and Stacy Keibler were the Gretas who returned (they appeared in the episodes "vs. the Suitcase" and "vs. the Cubic Z"). They both seemed like they were having a lot of fun in the episode. They kicked ass convincingly and were very good as their return as Greta, or, as I should say, As Rick and Vicki.

The episode also gave an explanation to what was behind that big steel door that Casey was hiding behind during the past two episodes. Apparently, it was a more shiny Castle where Casey was able to head up his own team. This provided an interesting dynamic for the episode with Chuck and Sarah being angry at Casey for ditching them and getting his own team, with Intersects. There were multiple moments between Sarah and Casey in this episode that were fantastic because Baldwin and Strahovski played them very well. Those stood out to me as some of my favorite scenes from the episode. I'm not sure if Chuck's reaction to everything going on was good or slightly annoying. At times, it seemed like complaining for the sake of complaining, but as I got further into the episode I began to see exactly what Chuck was feeling and I began to connect to the character even more. The scene in the new "Castle" was a scene that made me connect with the character because we got to actually see how irrelevant he had become. 

The actual mission is where the episode fell flat. I didn't find the actual spy mission in the episode to be interesting at all. I didn't dislike it, it's just what didn't really work for me. The only interesting part of that was Chuck's method of disarming a bomb. Using apple juice to disarm a nuclear bomb is probably the most interesting way I've seen a bomb disarmed since Chuck used a porn virus in the pilot. He sure does own unique ways of disarming a nuclear bomb.

Some other thoughts:

• Morgan was relegated to the position of comic relief this week, but this is a position where the character does very well. The opening with Casey was very funny. (The Morgan and Casey duo is never not funny). He also got some great scenes to play with Chuck that worked very well.
• The Ellie and Awesome plotline was very fun as well. It was very silly at first, but silly seemed to work. Loved the 12 hours of adult conversation in 12 minutes bit. Sarah Lancaster played this very well. Loved how this took an 180 later in the episode with the return of Orion's computer. This left me very intrigued. 
• Apparently Jeff is clairvoyant, very funny. 
• It's never a good sign when Robin Givens shows up at your door, is it?
• I was very happy to see Phil Klemmer back writing for the show. He seemed to settle back into the world of Chuck very well (after leaving at the end of last season to work on Undercovers). 
• Liked the two Gretas a lot more than the last spy they used as an intersect *cough* Shaw *cough*.
• "Ech, Sounds Like a CBS Show". Apparently Chuck is not a fan of the CBS crime drama.
• More product placement this week, with the Toyota Siena getting plenty of attention.

Overall, this was a very fun episode of Chuck that worked on most levels.

What does everyone else think?