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| Gary Cole returns to "Chuck" as Sarah's Dad, Jack Burton. Credit: NBC |
My review of this week's episode of Chuck is after the jump.
I know I say this a lot about this show, but I really enjoyed this episode. It was really fun to watch and just an all around good episode. I love Gary Cole and his character so much, that he almost singlehandedly made me enjoy the episode as much as I did. It's not that I didn't love Casey's reunion with his wife or the spy mission, but the heart of the episode was the return of Gary Cole, and the exploration of Sarah's past and the relationship with her father. Those were the best aspects of the episode because of how awesome Gary Cole is and because those were the parts that resonated the most with me because they were ment to have an emotional impact.
It all started with the brilliant Sarah flashback scenes. Seeing how Sarah connects with her father, through the continued scamming of innocent people with Girl Scout cookies. That opening scene was so cute yet so sad at the same time. It made me sad that this is what Sarah has to do in order to connect with her father, she has to con people. She really does try, she even teaches her stuffed animals how to do the shell trick. That scene was so cute, and really does show how interested Sarah is in connecting with her father. But the truly heartbreaking part is all that's going to happen is that she's going to get hurt.
But even if she got hurt in the past, at least for the mission she's able to overcome the hurt and work with Jack in order to throw the wedding reception. From the time that Jack enters the plotline, the mission of the week really began to work. The wedding reception was a great way to tie in the problems that Sarah was having with her Dad. But what was more important then him being involved in the planning and the execution of the reception was him coming in and saving Morgan's life and the day. That showed that even if Jack doesn't want to be involved in the long run, he cares enough about Sarah and her friends that he will step into a dangerous situation way in order to save them from harm. And then, even if he does leave, he cares enough to leave Sarah's piggybank for her. That scene at the end was perfect, and a reminder that Gary Cole does have a heart.
As for the rest of the mission of the week, that was almost completely throwaway. Chuck and Sarah getting conned and having lie to the General wasn't the strongest. The first half, while funny at points, didn't really work as a mission. It improved a lot later, but that beginning was somewhat rough.
The B-Story of the episode was very good. I really did love how Casey was reintroduced to his ex-wife. Those scenes were so well done and so well performed by Adam Baldwin. The few scenes that he and his ex-wife were fantastic and really were emotional. And now Casey's wife knows who Casey is which, now that I think about it, is really the only way that her character could every be willing to reconcile with Casey at all. The plotline had exactly the amount of heart that I've come to expect from an episode of Chuck and a payoff plotline like this one was.
Some other thoughts:
It all started with the brilliant Sarah flashback scenes. Seeing how Sarah connects with her father, through the continued scamming of innocent people with Girl Scout cookies. That opening scene was so cute yet so sad at the same time. It made me sad that this is what Sarah has to do in order to connect with her father, she has to con people. She really does try, she even teaches her stuffed animals how to do the shell trick. That scene was so cute, and really does show how interested Sarah is in connecting with her father. But the truly heartbreaking part is all that's going to happen is that she's going to get hurt.
But even if she got hurt in the past, at least for the mission she's able to overcome the hurt and work with Jack in order to throw the wedding reception. From the time that Jack enters the plotline, the mission of the week really began to work. The wedding reception was a great way to tie in the problems that Sarah was having with her Dad. But what was more important then him being involved in the planning and the execution of the reception was him coming in and saving Morgan's life and the day. That showed that even if Jack doesn't want to be involved in the long run, he cares enough about Sarah and her friends that he will step into a dangerous situation way in order to save them from harm. And then, even if he does leave, he cares enough to leave Sarah's piggybank for her. That scene at the end was perfect, and a reminder that Gary Cole does have a heart.
As for the rest of the mission of the week, that was almost completely throwaway. Chuck and Sarah getting conned and having lie to the General wasn't the strongest. The first half, while funny at points, didn't really work as a mission. It improved a lot later, but that beginning was somewhat rough.
The B-Story of the episode was very good. I really did love how Casey was reintroduced to his ex-wife. Those scenes were so well done and so well performed by Adam Baldwin. The few scenes that he and his ex-wife were fantastic and really were emotional. And now Casey's wife knows who Casey is which, now that I think about it, is really the only way that her character could every be willing to reconcile with Casey at all. The plotline had exactly the amount of heart that I've come to expect from an episode of Chuck and a payoff plotline like this one was.
Some other thoughts:
- There were some very funny things for Yvonne Strahovski to play this week. She got to do the fake flash face, which was hysterical. The Jersey accent was very funny as well. This actress can do funny when given the chance.
- This week's product placement was a very funny scene in the Super Shuttle.
- There were some very good Awesome scenes this week involving Jack Burton. Those were very funny.
Overall, that was a strong episode of Chuck. The mission may not have worked in the beginning but the second half felt like a great episode of Chuck. Gary Cole helped make this a strong episode.
What did everyone else think?
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