Chuck: "Chuck Versus The Baby" Review

Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.

Technically, I'm on vacation right now. But I can't possibly just skip a Chuck review, this close to the end! But, that being the case, forgive me if I'm a bit scatter-brained, covering this "NBC is just burning off the show now" episode, which aired on a holiday week where no other scripted, primetime network series was programming new episodes.

A big piece of Sarah's history got filled in this week, as we met her mother, played -- in a typically fun bit of winking, pop-culture Chuck casting -- by someone who knows a thing or two about looking hot while kicking butt: Cheryl Ladd. However, this episode took a very different tactic than the manner in which we met Sarah's dad, mostly showing mom in a couple of flashbacks – until the end. It was an admirable way to have things play out differently, as we found out the story of that baby Shaw mentioned last week.

Predictably, the baby was not Sarah's – something I'm glad was dealt with very quickly in the episode, as dragging on the idea of Sarah secretly having her own child would have been frustrating (though honestly, I could have done without the tease last week). And the idea of seeing more of Sarah, the uber-CIA agent (very shortly before she would meet Chuck) was fun, particularly when she got her Eric Draven on, jumping onto a table and wiping out a room full of baddies with an array of guns and knives.

Chuck saying he and Sarah could afford the house they wanted, if they take Beckman's offer to re-join the CIA, was interesting: He basically wants to re-up on the spy life to help set up a better/bigger home life (kids, included). We didn't really get a definitive answer on whether taking Beckman's offer will happen or not… something I suspect may be put off until the series finale.*

Tim DeKay was an appropriately tough and menacing presence as Sarah's ex-handler, Ryker, who'd gone bad. But yeesh, on the heels of her treatment by Shaw last week, it was a little tough to see Sarah get beat up and captured again - not to mention all the punishment Ryker dished out to her in their final fight (her head went through one window/wall after another!) before she, thankfully, killed his ass.

At first, I was wary of the B-plot, in which Morgan, Alex, Awesome and Ellie had a game night – in Castle of all places. But it was saved by some very funny Awesome/Ellie moments, as we learned they still were pretty excited by spy role-play (Ellie looked hot with that ammo belt!) – plus, I was particularly amused by the double "Babe" exclamation from the couple.

With the series coming to a close, it was very cool to see one last flashback appearance from Tony Todd as Director Graham – a nice link to the show's earliest days. I still hold out hope we might see Bryce Larkin again one last time, but I'm doubtful such an appearance has been kept secret… so perhaps we'll have to accept Matthew Bomer's White Collar co-star DeKay guest starring this week as a proxy.

As for the ending… It was sweet! Sarah meeting her "sister," with the knowledge of how she'd saved this little girl, was a genuine, poignant moment.

*A couple of you pointed out in the comments that Sarah and Chuck decided to pass on Beckman's offer, which I totally blanked on. Sorry I missed that! I blame vacation brain...