Chuck: "Chuck Versus the Business Trip" Review

Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.

For those hating Morgan as the Intersect, you should be happy with this episode, as Mr. Grimes is now Intersect-free. Of course, the flip side is that Chuck is still not The Intersect, and I'm curious how long we'll go with no one having that ability – and a little sad we never got to see both Chuck and Morgan fighting alongside one another, all 'sected up. Alas.

Gotta gripe about Beckman telling Chuck and company, "Don't make a mistake like this again." Like what again? Morgan didn't know that would happen to him when he put on those sunglasses. But more importantly, the Intersect had been corrupted beforehand, so no matter who had put on those glasses, they would have been screwed up by it, right? I'm just saying, Diane… It's not that simple! Though I did like her less than thrilled glance at the video games and pinball machines added to Castle since her absence.

My bigger complaint about this episode was that it made zero sense that they even tried to pass Chuck off as Morgan, or that it worked, if just for a little while. Decker knows who Morgan is and would have already given The Viper that info, photo included. There were far too many big CIA players involved for that to ever have been an option.

Fortunately, the rest of the episode made up for this though, with a fun excursion to a Buy More retreat, where Chuck and Sarah did their best mingling (and Sarah got to wear her sexy Nerd Herd uniform again – Mmmm….). You had to figure The Viper would turn out to be one of the two most notable guest stars (That's just TV 101), but I still enjoyed Anchorman's David Koechner, as the red herring who turned out to be a furry, and The Shield's Catherine Dent as the true Viper – especially because Chuck figured out the switchback for himself, before it was revealed to him. Sarah telling The Viper, "You're amazing at what you do. I really trusted you," was a nice touch between two spies.

- NBC

At first, this episode looked like it was repeating a storyline from early in the series, with Chuck wondering if maybe him and Sarah could have a normal life – but the focus here switched more to Sarah, and her feeling like she had no regular friends. Sure, her realization that she did have good friends (and an extended family), even if they were a screwy, spy-affiliated one, was a bit sappy, but since I love these characters, I still felt the "aww" of it all.

The subplots this week were both good too. Casey screwing with the still memory-impaired Morgan by having him watch the Star Wars movies beginning with the prequels was a great touch (as was Chuck's geek envy at someone getting to watch Star Wars again for the first time). And the increasing softening of Casey's grudge against Morgan was marked by perfect steps – first when he told him he should actually watch the original trilogy, but still ruined all the big twists for him. And then, when he'd really forgiven him, by giving him the Indiana Jones trilogy, insisting they only made three. Truly, the mark of someone who cares!

At first, I was rolling my eyes at Lester trying to get "old" Jeff back by filling the break room with carbon monoxide – it just seemed so cartoonish and ridiculous. But that's why I really dug the ending, when Jeff had Lester arrested. Because honestly… Lester deserved it! He could have killed Jeff and Big Mike! Now I don't know if I need a whole Lester on trial storyline, but Chuck continues to impress by how it can shift tones so quickly, and so this was a nice swerve in the tale of Jeffster.

Interestingly, this episode ended with two arrests, as Decker had Casey taken in. Casey killing The Viper and several others tasked with killing everyone was a great Bad Ass Casey moment, and it was a nice touch that Sarah was silently complicit in it. We know Chuck doesn't want to kill his enemies, but this shows that Sarah is much more a spy born and agrees with Casey that sometimes, you have to go all the way.

I continue to not find Decker himself a very engaging villain, but him having Casey arrested is at least a major move for him. And I am very curious why he ordered everyone be killed except Chuck and Sarah. Why does he want those two alive? What's his specific purpose? And why do I suddenly think he wants them to breed because he thinks their child is of great significance, like he's Mister Sinister or something? (the answer to that last one is that I read too many comic books growing up)

Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter at @EricIGN.

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