When you think of big episodes, this episode has to be one of those that comes to mind. “Chuck Versus the Leftovers” was chock full of surprises. I wasn’t expecting Alexi Volkoff (Timothy Dalton) and Mary Bartowski (Linda Hamilton) to make another appearance so soon after their previous one.
Anytime the writers try to bring some sense of normalcy in the Buy More, I smile. The talk about Black Friday was actually disappointing because all it was was talk. They didn’t have Jeff (Scott Krinsky), Lester (Vik Sahay), Morgan (Joshua Gomez), and the rest of the Buy More employees trying to keep the store from being torn apart by the discount-seeking shoppers. Black Friday is a very tempting day to go shopping, but the hordes of shoppers tend to keep me away.
That doesn’t mean the store wasn’t a good place for a story, however. The store actually turned out to be the location for an Alexi Volkoff and CIA standoff when Mary Bartowski showed up to protect Chuck from Volkoff’s assassins. The surprise in Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Sarah’s (Yvonne Strahovski) faces when they learned of Alexi’s love of Mary was one of those things this episode could have done without. They didn’t even need to broach the subject in my opinion. It was evident several episodes ago that Alexi loved Mary Bartowski. I’m not a big fan of knowing things the character’s don’t know. I prefer to be surprised along with the characters of the show when a big development takes place.
Joshua Gomez as Morgan Grimes
That issue I had with the writing was largely corrected when the Chuck writers paid tribute to Die Hard via Morgan Grimes. When I saw him climbing around the air ducts, I knew exactly where they were going and I loved the execution. They even had Morgan use tape to secure a gun to his back, which he promptly couldn’t reach. It was one of those laugh-out-loud moments where you have to pat Joshua Gomez on the back for his willingness to subject himself to such silly displays of behavior. Not everyone’s willing to look like an idiot. Gomez does it regularly. Nice job, my friend. Nice job.
Earlier, I mentioned this episode had its share of surprises. That story with Alexi wanting to meet Mary’s family and have Thanksgiving dinner with everyone was definitely a surprise. I loved Timothy Dalton’s enthusiasm. You weren’t always sure whether or not Alexi was going to hug someone or shoot ‘em. He’s one unstable SOB. It really makes things hard to predict.
Speaking of which, where does this story go?! Alexi can’t really trust Chuck. He knows he can’t kill Chuck without Mary involving herself. And I can’t see Alexi wanting to kill Mary because he does love her. This story could go just about anywhere.
As for the old laptop, It proved to be quite valuable. Chuck and the Intersect are back! I know the CIA was willing to keep Chuck as an agent, but he’s definitely more valuable of an asset when he’s got the Intersect.
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