CHUCK -- "Chuck vs. the Business Trip" Episode 504 -- Photo by: Ron Tom/NBC

This week on “Chuck”, Chuck protects Morgan from an assassination attempt by impersonating him at a “Buy More” retreat, Morgan will like to apologize to Alex while there’s tension between “Jeffster”.

The best part out of this week’s episode was the friction between “Jeffster”. It started when Chuck made the announcement that Morgan was selected as Buy More’s sale person of the year and he gets a weekend trip to Riverside, California. Lester (Vik Sahay) wanted the “Buy More” staff to revolt over the decision but “Jeffrey” (Scott Krinsky) told the hostile staff to accept it and be lucky that they all have jobs during these difficult economic times. While the staff cheered for Jeffrey, Lester was getting upset. Later on, Lester tried to get the “old Jeff” back by placing a tube in the break room so that he can pump out carbon monoxide from Jeff’s van while Jeffrey was eating. Lester’s plan didn’t work and he almost killed “Big Mike” (Mark Christopher Lawrence), who was also in the break room along with Jeffrey. When Jeffrey reported the accident to the cops and he wanted them to arrest Lester, at first, I thought Jeffrey was kidding around with Lester, but it turns out that Jeffrey was serious as the cops halted Lester away in handcuffs. It will be interesting to see once Lester “somehow” gets out of jail, what will he do? Exact revenge or will he continue his attempt(s) to get old Jeff back? I know eventually that Jeffrey will go back to be his old self but I do hope the new “Jeffrey” lasts a little longer because I’m enjoying his new persona, which I must say it’s one of the few highlights to this final season to an otherwise very disappointing season.

This week for Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski), they were discussing about having a normal life and normal friends instead of their private spy life. When Chuck impersonated Morgan at the “Buy More” retreat because he wanted to lure out the “Viper” that has a contract “hit” on Morgan, Chuck and Sarah were having a great time hanging out with other “Buy More” members. At first, Sarah was thrilled that she might have found a new friend named Jane but later on, she will turnout to be the “Viper”.

I just didn’t find the storyline with Chuck and Sarah interesting at all. For instance, does Sarah really need a girlfriend since she already has Ellie, her fellow “Cat Squad” mates or even Alex to talk to? In addition, I had a problem with the couple in need to have a normal life in the beginning of the episode, but it was then quickly resolved at the end seem too clean for my taste. This episode shows why this season has been disappointing overall because Sarah and Chuck‘s arc has been uninterested to watch. It just shows what happens when you married a TV couple that now comes the hard part for writers to continue writing interesting storylines after their marriage. So far, I don’t see Chuck and Sarah as appealing as they were when they were unmarried spies.

I felt it was too predictable that the bartender wasn’t the “Viper” and it was all along Sarah’s “supposedly” new friend, Jane. However, I thought Catherine Dent was terrific playing Jane/The “Viper”.

I was hoping out hope that Morgan (Joshua Gomez) and Alex (Mekenna Melvin) were going to work out their issues and become a couple once again, but I was surprised that they ended their relationship and just became friends.

CHUCK -- "Chuck vs. the Business Trip" Episode 504 -- Photo by: Ron Tom/NBC

I enjoyed Casey (Adam Baldwin), still mad at Morgan in how he treated Alex even though he knew the Intersect affected Morgan‘s mind, had some fun at Morgan’s expense with his mind still a little fuzzy from the Intersect being removed. Casey lied to Morgan by saying “The Phantom Menace” was the best Stars Wars’ film out of the series and him ruining the original “Star Wars” trilogy for Morgan by telling him that Dark Vader was Luke Skywalker’s father and Princess Leia was Luke‘s sister. However, at the end, you knew that Casey was going to forgive the knucklehead by letting Morgan move back to Casey’s apartment.
I hope the writers are coming up with a better storyline for the Woodcombs because so far this season they have been so forgotten to the point you have to watch this episode a few more times to make sure that they were in it.

The big “cliffhanger” at the end was Casey getting arrested by Decker (Richard Burgi) and the CIA for the killings of the “Viper” and her men. I must say it was a pretty cool scene to see Casey’s brutal takedown of the “Viper” and her group. I do wonder if Decker set up Casey because he probably knew Casey was following “Viper” to make sure she didn‘t break her promise by going after the members of Team Bartowski. Now, we will have to wait and see how Team Bartowski gets Casey out of this mess.

Overall, this episode was the most fun I had to watch this season with moments like the “Jeffster” friction, Morgan having one last fun with the Intersect before removing it and Casey’s fun with Morgan. However, it’s still another episode like this season overall that leaves much to be desired. Once again, they need to make Sarah and Chuck’s storyline arc more compelling to get this season back on track because without it this final season will continue to be a disappointment.

REMINDER: There won’t be a new episode of “Chuck” until December 9.

What do you think of “Chuck vs. the Business Trip”?