CHUCK Recap Season 4 Episode 17: Chuck Versus the First Bank of Evil

Tonight’s Chuck answered the question, “What does the head of an evil empire leave his long abandoned daughter in the case of his death or capture?”

The mysterious gift Alexei Volkoff chose to leave to his daughter, Vivian, was a clear plastic card with the numbers from LOST on it. (How long has that been in there? Did he ever go to the island? So many questions!) She was also treated to a reading of a letter from Alexei to Vivian by Riley, Volkoff’s lawyer (Ray Wise, always perfection when playing someone evil). Sadly, Vivian chose not to have Riley continue reading the letter in the Volkoff impersonation he practiced for several weeks. Unsurprisingly, the letter said Alexei wanted Vivian to take over as head of Volkoff industries, but Vivian refused. However, being that Lauren Cohan was playing the role, I had a feeling she would ride the line between good and evil a bit closer than that. But before we get to Vivian’s decision making, let’s take a look at the side stories this week.

First, the ridiculous. Morgan, having moved out of Chuck and Sarah’s and into his Mom’s house, is now in need of new digs. Morgan stupidly allowed Jeff and Lester to know he needed a place, and then left them in his office with his unfinished craigslist ad open on his computer.

In a not so surprising turn of events, Morgan is inundated with Renaissance Faire participants (You know, because Jeff and Lester think the Ren Faire is a good place to meet chics). Morgan decides to give up and sleep in the Buy More. Before he can fall asleep on his Star Wars sheets, Morgan hears two workmen and follows them down to Castle where he discovers that secret area Casey is working on. Not so great for Casey, but fantastic for Morgan who is able to use this info as blackmail to stay in Casey’s extra room. Although, why Morgan would want to live with his girlfriend’s father in an apartment that doubles as an arsenal, I’m not sure.

Sarah is having some issues of her own. Turns out, she’s not so girlie and is having problems with the wedding stuff. I know – it’s shocking, right? She can’t pick a centerpiece to save her life. (Although he could probably use a centerpiece as a deadly weapon, but that’s a whole other thing.) Ellie tries to help her out and tells Sarah not to worry, eventually she will have that “moment” where it all clicks. And of course, she did. Turns out Castle has an entire mall worth of clothes in a closet that appears to just be an upgrade of Alicia Silverstone’s closet in Clueless. Naturally, it is fully stocked with a variety of wedding dresses. After the obligatory montage, Sarah finds “the perfect dress” – a very simple fitted gown that flows at the bottom. Classic and beautiful, like Sarah. And as Casey points out when he walks in, it also came with several bullet holes already included. It really was perfect for Sarah. (Side note- if Sarah’s dad doesn’t come back, I really want Casey to walk Sarah down the aisle. I may be over invested in this wedding.) This clicked the crazy-bride switch in Sarah, and now she is off and running and driving Ellie a little crazy with wedding plans.

But all of this was just background to the main story – Vivian Volkoff. After turning down Riley, she goes to Chuck and Sarah with the plastic card she found in Alexei’s office. Chuck flashes on the card – it is a key to an account in The First Bank of Macau (the titular evil bank). Vivian becomes an asset for the CIA and agrees to go get her father’s account. Chuck accompanies Vivian posing as “her Kevin Costner” while wearing what is possibly the worst fake mustache ever. The bank manager is played by François Chau, who played Dr. Pierre Chang on LOST. I sort of hoped he took the card with the LOST number he would lead Vivian into a hatch with a Swan on it. Sigh…. Anyway, Vivian was escorted to the vault, sans Bodyguard Chuck, and asked of series of questions. When she passed the identity test, the manager’s reaction was like a game show host letting a contestant know they won the grand prize. I half expected confetti and balloons to fall down from the ceiling. While sneaking in the restricted area, Chuck finds a room of computer servers stolen from the Chinese Army. This leads to another mission for Vivian, with the promise of a meeting with her dad.

Mission two consists of Vivian going back to the vault and tapping into the bank’s servers while Chuck and Sarah “rob” the bank. Vivian has another run-in with Riley (that guy is everywhere!) who puts doubt in her mind that the CIA is ever really going to help her. He also gave her back the necklace from her father, which makes me think it is a tracking device as well as a key. Chuck and Sarah have a lot of fun in a Bonnie and Clyde meet The Matrix style shoot out. This gave them a minute to just hang and talk about the wedding and be funny. Sometimes we forget they can both be funny. The mission is a success, but Vivian seems unsure about the CIA vs life in Volkoff industries (because she is LAUREN COHAN. It’s all about the casting, my friends). When Chuck tells Vivian that her request to see her dad is denied, she appears to be pushed to the side of evil and rides off with Riley.

Will Vivian really go evil? I find it hard to believe that a girl that was relatively a good person is suddenly going to run a evil empire. Will Sarah become Bridezilla? Will Casey kill Morgan? Will they watch Firefly together? (A girl can dream). And most important question – now that a billion people watched Zachary Levi sing on the Oscars will they FINALLY let him sing on the show??? I’ve been waiting four seasons!

Written by Melissa Miller. Find her on Twitter @Serrae and follow her blog I Heart TV. Make sure you stay tuned for her Chucktacular Chuck recap of the next episode.

Images: NBC

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