Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Chuck Versus the Wedding Planner


The theme of this week's episode, "Chuck Versus the Wedding Planner," was fathers and daughters. After Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) get taken in a con by their wedding planner they turn to the best con man they know for help - Sarah's father (Gary Cole). In the B-story episode Casey (Adam Baldwin) and his daughter Alex (Mekenna Melvin) decide to tell her mother (Clare Carey) he's still alive. We also get a short sequence with Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) and his baby daughter. What's surprising, in a story about fathers and daughters, is we don't get any movement on Ellie's (Sarah Lancaster) investigation into her father's work.

Although the episode is fun, and more than a little goofy (such as Chuck faking a flash to use CIA resources to find their wedding planner), it's a little weak in spots (such as how easily Chuck and Sarah are taken in by the con and how quickly the situation spirals out of control).


That said, there are some very good moments - particularly the con scenes such as the team working together to con three brothers out of Iran's nuclear codes. The flashbacks with a young Sarah and her dad also give us a better understanding of her strained relationship to her father (as well as give us a great idea for a Girl Scout con).

It's the final scene with Sarah alone in the bedroom that really puts the episode over the top. Not only is it great way to end the episode, but it foreshadows what it might mean for these two characters down the line. I'm hopeful we'll see Gary Cole at least one more time to give Sarah and her father the on-screen moment they really deserve.

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