Chuck Vs. The Suburbs: Charles Carmichael always comes quickly.

This week’s episode had Chuck and Sarah, for one flimsy excuse or another (I really don’t pay that much attention to the underlying reasons behind most missions) moving to the suburbs. The episode started off with Chuck and Sarah on a very awkward Valentines Day cover date which was the perfect reason to launch them into the next mission disguised as the young, happily married couple Mr. and Mrs. Carmichael. Cuz if it isn’t awkward to have to spend the weekend in a house with photoshopped wedding pictures and a very real pet golden retriever, I dunno what is! The thing is, though, it wasn’t awkward, and Chuck and Sarah proved, rather surprisingly, that they’re actually pretty good at the whole suburban bliss thing. (It was like a fan fic reader’s wet dream, only minus the 2.5 kids.)

The setup was rife with plenty of potential Charah goodness and the episode delivered, especially in a quaint little morning scene that had Sarah trading her gun for a spatula as she cooked breakfast for a bemused Chuck. The smile on Chuck’s face after she revealed that she was cooking for him, with out pretense or reason, was adorable. Kudos to Zachary Levi for proving yet again that he is very capable of making a girl’s heat melt. But props have to be given to Yvonne Strahovski as well who played the whole scene with a demure smile on her face that said, “yes, I’m totally loving this just as much as you are.” A great Charah moment that had the charah fangirls smiling. I know it had me smiling like an idiot.

Anyway, Chuck and Sarah think they’re dealing with a run-of-the-mill terrorist but they’re in deeper shiz than they thought when it turns out that all their neighbors are fulcrum. Funny peeps Andy Richter and Jenny McCarthy are perfectly cast as part of the cul-de-sac– they’re unassuming funny persona’s lending themselves to an innate creepiness I can’t really put my finger on. (I think it may have something to do with the way their eyebrows arch when they smile). But anyway: Oh no! Fulcrum!

Without knowing it Chuck gets himself tested for a fulcrum intersect. This is worth mentioning for lots of reason but primarily because in his walk of shame (in his boxers!) Back home Sarah delivers a whopping slap across his face that was just pure comic gold. (And perfectly orchestrated with the music starting again at the exact moment Sarah’s hand collides with Chuck’s face.

The episode until now was pretty fun but one of the great things about Chuck is that it could go from funny to dire in just a matter of scenes. Next thing we know, Casey, Chuck, and Sarah are taken by the cul-de-sac folk to an underground facility so that Chuck could be strapped to a chair Clockwork Orange-style so that his brain can be exposed to the Very Bad Intersect (or dark intersect, as some are calling it.) Sarah did a good job of squirming in her seat while the whole thing went down. And when it was over it looked like Fulcrum had unwittingly found their new human intersect in none other than the old human intersect.

Meanwhile, in a funny moment of irony, Casey had to do what he tried to get Chuck to do earlier; break his thumb to get out of handcuffs. It was both gross and heroic. With, along with the shooting off of his toe, is something we’ve come to expect from dear Casey. He stormed the viewing room and just as the bad guys were sitting Sarah down for her own dose of Very Scary Images, he secretly set the thing off to room full of people not wearing their RayBans. Another sweet Charah moment resulted of this: Chuck protectively held Sarah’s head close to his chest in order to shield her from the images, and a shot of their hands locking only expounded the intimacy of the moment.

The incident killed/seriously harmed the Fulcrum agents. Because apparently, this special viewing in the red room will not only make you go crazy– it’ll kill you too! Which begs the question: why didn’t they just close their eyes? To this I say: Oh who cares! Chuck could be known as Plothole Central for all the unexplainable things that occur but there could be an entire camera crew in the shot and I’d turn the other way cuz this show is just too damn fun. Bring on the plotholes! Like I mentioned earlier, the semantics of the missions is the least of my worries.

When all is said and done Chuck goes back home only to tell Ellie that him and Sarah? Totally not the awesome couple everyone thinks they are. But why, Chuck? Why do you have to go on blabbing to your sister about it? You know this will mean only bad things in the long run whenever Ellie and Sarah are anywhere near each other again. This will inevitably cause complications and I’ looking forward to future episodes to see the ramifications.

Back at the Orange Orange Beckman tells Sarah the honeymoon’s over. Things are more serious now than ever, and Sarah takes the sentiment to heart. After Chuck asks her if they could go back to the suburbs she turns him down (rather coldly) and asks for the wedding ring back. “We cant go back there,” she tells Chuck. It’s a sad moment for Charah- the “two steps back” portion of their “one step forward two steps back” formula. But it’s essential to getting this couple their happy ending. The only reason Sarah’s the one acting so harshly is because she’s the one who let herself fall the hardest over in Suburbialand. She let herself imagine a life of normalcy with Chuck- and she liked it. In the final scene, as she watche the cleanup crew take back all the wedding photos and close up shop, you could see the symbolic meaning of it all on her face. Leave it to Yvonne Strahovski to turn a silent moment into one rife with meaning. The girl, she is very good with her face.

Other great things about this very great episode:

-Emmet’s wig! More of that, please. Also, I wouldn’t mind seeing Henrietta any time soon.

- At NYCC Chris Fedak mentioned that they’re goal was to cast as many Star Trek and Whedonverse actors as they could. It may have been an offhand comment, not meant to be taken entirely seriously, but last night we got our first Whedon alum! Sylvia’s husband was played by Brian Thompson, also known as Luke on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You may remember him from season 1 as The Master’s right hand man. It was nice to see him sans vampire face and I can only hope more Buffy people show up. (Nicholas Brendan as Chuck’s zany cousin perhaps?)

- The episode’s perfect soundtrack– especially when Chuck drives up to the new house and looks around the neighborhood.

- Andy Richter’s business card scene was right out of American Psycho. That shoulda been chuck’s first clue.

- The first appearance of Morgan’s mom! Right under Big Mike’s lips! This was first hinted at back in the summer when Josh Schwartz surprised the cast at Comic Con by telling them Big Mike would be getting a love interest in Morgan’s mom. Comedy gold, I say! Also, her name’s Bologna. Nice.

- And last, but certainly not least: “Charles Carmichael always comes quickly.” Nuff said.