I had trouble getting into last night’s episode of Chuck, but through no fault of the show. I kept flipping over to a local channel during commercials to check out the Canadian election results (we had an election here yesterday) and to say the results were not good would be a major understatement. So I wasn’t as invested in Chuck as I normally am and might watch the episode again. Most likely when I crawl back into bed, pretending this election never happened. America is nice right now, right? Should I move?

Anyway, I digress. Let’s actually talk about Chuck.

Chuck actually delivered on what I wanted last night, and I have a feeling the last couple episodes of season four are going to be really exciting. Exciting enough to bring in some viewers and get Chuck renewed for a fifth season? Who knows. With my luck, probably not. Nothing ever goes my way. (Sorry, that’s the post-election melancholy talking again.) What we got was some great moments between Chuck and Ellie. Moments I’ve been wanting to see between the siblings for a long time.

Ellie gets awesome again

I’m glad we were reminded of how awesome Ellie is. That she’s really, really smart. That she knows Chuck really well. As soon as Chuck went to talk to her, Ellie realized what she’s been missing all season – that Chuck is still a spy. I liked how the whole thing went down, how she realized the truth immediately, the same way she’d solved the Rubik’s Cube when they were kids before Chuck even got his out of the box. Ellie has had a lot on her plate lately, what with the return of her mother and being a new mom herself. It’s understandable that she didn’t notice, but once it was in front of her she realized right away.

And now she knows that Chuck knows about the computer. And we discovered something very interesting about it.

For a while now, we’ve been wondering who Agent X is. I knew it wouldn’t be Chuck, since that was too predictable. But we didn’t know enough about Agent X to try and decipher who it would be. Stephen Bartowski himself? Mama Bartowski? Ellie? A stranger? Nope. It was none other than Alexi Volkoff.

Honestly, this twist redeems the whole season for me. Not that this season needed to be redeemed – I’ve really enjoyed it. But this new twist took it to a whole new level. It’s brilliant. Once upon a time Volkoff was just a meek CIA scientist who didn’t like to use guns. Then they made him the first Intersect and basically destroyed his world. It turned him into something of a super-villain, and that’s the CIA’s fault. Stephen Bartowski spent the rest of his life looking for him. Combine that knowledge with the chilling fact, as Casey pointed out, that if the CIA knew what they’d figured out they’d order someone like him to put a bullet in each of their heads, and you have yourself set up for two damn exciting final episodes.

The bachelor party gets ca-razy!

Chuck’s bachelor party in “Vecas” fell a little flat for me because, as I’ve mentioned before on the blog, I’m not a big Jeff and Lester fan. (Though I did laugh at Lester saying “I’m making it rain, Canadian style, which is technically making it snow. Dolla dolla, coins y’all!”) I couldn’t really make myself care about any of it. I much preferred everything that happened afterward – Chuck, Sarah, Casey and Morgan going to the cute little house in the English countryside, and fighting off mercenaries with Agent X’s mother. Her rapport with Casey was hilarious. That scene is even more interesting now that we know Agent X is Volkoff – so the sweet old lady was fighting off mercenaries sent by her own granddaughter.

Stunning!

I’m so excited to see what will happen in these final two episodes. Remember last season, Stephen Bartowski was killed in the penultimate episode. Maybe it’s because Chuck rarely knows if they’re coming back for another season, but they sure do know how to go out with a bang. I’m dying to know what will happen at Chuck and Sarah’s wedding, and if any of our beloved characters are going to get the axe. I’d even be upset if Chuck and Ellie’s mom was the one to die. And will Chuck and Sarah make it down the aisle? Just because there’s a picture of Sarah in her wedding dress from the episode doesn’t mean that’s a given, but my guess is we’ll get to see them tie the knot.

What did you think of “Chuck vs. Agent X”?

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