{alltv} 'Chuck': Say hello to Agent X

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"Chuck" had a whole lot to pack into 41 minutes or so of story this week -- a pair of pre-wedding parties, a heart-to-heart between Chuck and Ellie and a big development in this season's ongoing spy story. "Chuck vs. Agent X" felt slightly overstuffed at times, but the good far outweighed the bad in an episode that deftly set the stage for the final two episodes of the season.

Even if you had your suspicions about the identity of Agent X, the revelation at the end worked. Ellie's introduction to Castle and the spy world, which followed her and Chuck finally coming clean with one another, also played well. And comically stoned Jeff is pretty much always good.

If anything, the episode maybe could have used a little bit less time on the bachelor-party prep and the trip to Las Vecas (as opposed to Las Vegas) before Ray Wise (OK, if we must: Volkoff lawyer Riley) and the mercenaries showed up to collect the Intersect computer. It was funny -- see above re: stoned Jeff, plus Big Mike's frustration -- but it ended up being little more than tangential to the meat of the story, all of which was shoved into the last half-hour.

(What we Sarah's bachelorette party, on the other hand, felt just about right. Yvonne Strahovski has talked about how uncomfortable the male-stripper scene made her, but it made for good comedy. And it featured a Weinerlicious reference, which had to bring a smile to long-time fans' faces.)

But once the show got into its second half, it kicked into high gear. The Chuck-Ellie talk was well overdue, but I appreciate the fact that once they got to it, it wasn't fraught. Neither of them had the moral high ground here, and they both knew it, so it became just an honest, heartfelt talk between siblings who have always counted on each other. (Loved the "You Rubik's Cubed me, sis," after Ellie figures out what Chuck had to tell her before he gets it out.)

And the stuff in England, featuring a tremendous guest turn by British actress Millicent Martin, was that great "Chuck" mix of comedy and action -- to say nothing of its leading to the revelation that Agent X and Alexei Volkoff are one and the same. If Mrs. Winterbottom were 20 years younger, Casey just might have stayed put in Somerset, so taken was he with her affinity for firearms (she rather liked him, too).

Connecting the dots from Agent X to Hartley Winterbottom to Volkoff wasn't the hardest puzzle the show has ever put in front of viewers, but the notion that A) Chuck and Ellie's dad developed an earlier version of the Intersect and B) it went sideways and essentially created Volkoff is a neat way to put this season's familial theme front and center in the final episodes of the season. Volkoff and the Bartowski family were already tied together through Mary, but the revelation that Steven Bartowski had a hand in Hartley becoming Volkoff (and then trying to help him) only strengthens those ties.

Just as Casey is right that higher-ups at the CIA shouldn't know that they know about Hartley, Ellie is also correct that their dad's clues are something she and Chuck need to solve together. I can't wait to see where it takes them.

A couple other notes from "Chuck vs. Agent X":

Casey, your "fancy target" is now outdated; Osama Bin Laden is dead. Still, that's a nice accident of timing to have Casey show off his Osama target the day after the Al Qaeda leader was killed by U.S. forces.
I said the show had 41 minutes of story up above because I'm subtracting the goofy, Billy Ocean-fueled Toyota product placement from the typical 42-minute running time of an hour-long network show. Still, it's hard to be too upset because the Toyota and Subway and other product placements have helped keep "Chuck" on the air, and also because Mark Christopher Lawrence (who seems to have become the show's go-to pitchman) is always so enthusiastic about it.
Loved the translation after Chuck de-sleeves Morgan with the katana sword: "I have dishonored your shirt. For that, I am sorry."

What did you think of "Chuck vs. Agent X"?