CHUCK Recap: ‘Chuck Versus the Santa Suit’

THE MISSION – Gasp! NOOOOOOO!!!!! Not SHAW!!!! Yes, Shaw. You just knew he’d be back, and he’s more evil than ever. The Omen virus has opened the door for Shaw to wreak vengeance on Sarah and Chuck. He starts by taking Sarah as she works alone in Castle, playing Christmas elf for Ellie and baby Clara. From there it just gets worse.

Tonight there is a mission and it’s Chuck’s most important to date; the final mission for Carmicheal Industries is to retrieve the Macao Device from the C.I.A. Los Angeles HQ and trade it for Sarah. To do this he needs the help of the whole team, General Beckman and the Buy More Santa suit. Beckman gets Chuck inside the C.I.A. Christmas party dressed as Santa, and together they break into Decker’s office and retrieve the Macao Device, but not before Beckman has to kiss a surprised Chuck as part of a deception to send the security people on their way. After retrieving the device she says, “We never speak of this again.”

Meanwhile, Sarah has been hanging around (literally!) in Castle with Shaw as he gathers information, draining the C.I.A. mainframe of data to create intersect 3.0. Little does he realize two of the most advanced computer specialists in the world have been instructed to reverse engineer the omen virus. Yes! I’m talking about Lester and Jeff who just might have saved the world. Our intrepid nerd herders discover that the virus is a fake, designed only to attack the C.I.A.

Sarah cleverly manages to cut herself loose, while at the same time Casey is crashing the party through the heating ducts. Shaw shoots through the ductwork seriously wounding Casey who crashes to the floor and is kicked into one of the holding cells (where Sarah had been storing the Christmas gifts) and recaptures Sarah.

Chuck returns to the Buy More with the Macao device and quickly programs it to suppress the intersect instead of upload it. He then taunts Shaw into meeting him in the empty Buy More for round two of their epic battle, while Morgan sneaks into the elevator and descends to Castle, rescuing Sarah with the help of Casey, who has escaped the holding cell thanks to Mr. Pippers. Shaw intends for Sarah to watch him kill her husband the way she killed Evelyn Shaw, so she’ll have to live with that the rest of her life. “It’s not about Chuck,” says Shaw. “It’s about you.”

Shaw puts on the intersect glasses only to find he’s been de-intersected, whereupon Chuck beats him up. However, the dastardly Shaw is able to grab a pistol and it looks like the end for Chuck when Ellie conks the baddie with a piece of electronic equipment.

Chuck had tried to send her home earlier, but as she says, “I’m Eleanor Woodcomb. Since when do I do what I’m told?”

Goodbye, Daniel Shaw! But wait! General Beckman joins the Bartowski clan for Christmas, welcoming the team back into the C.I.A. She also tells Sarah that Shaw has requested a meet. She visits him in prison where he asks the question that will drive the last half of the season, “Does Chuck know about the baby?”

Can’t we ever get rid of this guy?

MISSION ANALYSIS – Yikes! Have we seen the end of Shaw? I think we have. It was nice to see Ellie take some revenge for the death of her father. I’m sensing closure here.

Stan Lee is a spy? Under the mistletoe with General Beckman? Whoo boy! A Geek’s delight.

The last four minutes set up the story arc for the rest of the season — whose baby is it? Is it Sarah’s? Who’s the father? Shaw? Chuck? Bryce? We’re treated to some scenes of Sarah, the baby and her mother in the promos for next week. Sarah’s hair is long, so I’m guessing they’re flashbacks. It’s going to be another fun episode. How are we going to wait until next Friday? Things are starting to pick up speed as we careen toward the series finale.

POINTS TO PONDER –

• ”Merry Christmas, Sarah. Miss me?” – Shaw
• Mr. Pippers – a geek reference to Wally Cox and his 50’s sitcom “Mr. Peepers?”
• Lester and Jeff bribed with a six inch classic Italian BMT from Subway. Thanks Subway for all your support over the years. We owe you big.
• ”You seriously underestimate the power of the nerd herd” – Chuck to Shaw
• ”When you roll with General Diane Beckman, you roll in style!” – Chuck
• Lester in his yarmulke at the Bartowski party — a good Hinjew to the end.

YOUR INPUT – What did you think of this episode?