At the hospital, Casey rouses, and whispers, “Morgan Grimes.” Alex comes to his bedside. “You’re here,” the Colonel says to her. “Of course I am,” she replies. She tells him that she brought a bonsai tree to make his room more like home,
figuring that bringing his guns would be frowned upon by the hospital staff. He tries to speak again, but winces from the pain. Alex tells him he needs his rest. Though it has been only for a short while, she likes having her dad around. She has just gotten used to having her father, so not ready to have him dead again. Casey gives his hand to her. In another room, Ellie tells a nurse that her contractions are ten minutes apart. Devon nervously flits about the room, putting clothes in a dresser. The nurse asks if he’s OK, and Ellie assures her that he’ll snap out of it.
Volkoff arrives at Stephen’s cabin. He tells his men that he will go in alone — it is time to put this ghost in the ground. When he enters the cabin, Volkoff sees a man, enshrouded in shadows, sitting in a chair. The man rise and approaches Volkoff, but it is not Orion; it’s Chuck! Chuck draws back and punches Volkoff, knocking him out. When Volkoff awakes, he has been tied up. Chuck pulls up a chair, and says, “Morning, Sunshine.” Volkoff notes that since he is alive, Chuck must want something. Oh yes, Chuck says. He points a gun right at Volkoff’s head. Volkoff mocks Chuck, and asks if Chuck will kill him because he spoke disparagingly about his father? No, Chuck replies, it is because he took his mother from him. As Volkoff begins to undo his ropes, he puts his forehead to Chuck’s gun. “What will happen to the people you love if you put a bullet between my eyes?” Volkoff asks. He has access to everyone Chuck loves. The scene cuts to Mary being guarded, and Armond entering the hospital.
Volkoff finally frees himself and knocks Chuck onto the floor and aims the gun at him. He admits it was a good plan to use Volkoff’s jealousy against him, but Chuck ran into problems because Chuck is his father’s son. Everyone could have gotten out alive if Chuck had been smarter. Cut to the hospital where Armond puts a pillow over Casey’s face. Casey struggles to reach for the bonsai, but he flatlines. “Now for the sister,” Armond says. Volkoff informs Chuck that he told his men to kill Mary if they didn’t hear from him. “And they won’t,” he warns. Volkoff trains the gun on Chuck and tells him it’s time for a family reunion. Chuck, well, chuckles, and tells Volkoff that he can’t believe the bad guy hasn’t figured out the solution yet. “Solution to what?” Volkoff wonders. “Gotcha!” Chuck says. He radios to Morgan who tells Chuck that they’ve got the passcode. Chuck was able to get Volkoff to say all of the words in the Stalin quote. Morgan patches them together to access the Hydra database. Chuck tells Volkoff that the message he received from “Orion” was a virus. Now that they have the passcode, Hydra is being transferred to the cabin’s computer. “I guess you can say that it was Stephen J. Bartwoski that finally took you down,” Chuck states. Volkoff says that Chuck’s friends and family are still in danger. Chuck corrects him, and says that looks can be deceiving. The scene moves back to the hospital where Casey’s eyes open. He’s alive! He flatlined by taking the sensors off his fingers. Casey grabs the bonsai and cracks it over Armond’s head. Meanwhile, on the Contessa, Sarah takes out the guys that are holding Mary. A stunned Volkoff aims his gun at Chuck and pulls the trigger, but the gun just clicks. Chuck laughs, noting that he has a thing about bullets. “I am my fathers son, aren’t I?” Volkoff says that Chuck has made one mistake, however: all of the information from Hydra is in the cabin. Outside the door, Volkoff has dozens of heavily armed men. “You’re going to need an army to get out alive,” he mocks. There is a knock at the cabin door. Chuck opens it to reveal General Beckman and the army! “Will they suffice?” Chuck asks. Volkoff is arrested, and the General informs Chuck that Frost and Walker are on route to Burbank. She congratulates Chuck on his plan. Morgan enters and says need to get out of here now…Ellie is having her baby! Chuck asks Beckman if he can borrow a van. She informs him that he just captured Volkoff and secured Hydra, for which they’ve been looking for 20 years. “Lieutenant,” she orders, “get this man a chopper!”
At the hospital, Devon squeezes a stress ball. Ellie asks him to get the doctor, but he doesn’t move. “Look at me,” she tells him, “Take five minutes to pull yourself together. You are all I have. I need you.” Lester and Jeff arrive at the hospital. “Ewwww….pregnant women,” Lester states. They asked to be pointed to the Woodcomb womb, but as they aren’t family, they can’t go. Lester protests, saying that the kid is going to grow up listening to Snow Patrol and Coldplay! The nurse tells them to take a seat, but Lester sees the PA system microphone and gets an idea. Devon stares at the babies in the nursery, contemplating his soon-to-be future. Casey wheels up to Devon, and asks why he’s not in there with Ellie. He pleads with Devon to not make the same mistakes he did. He missed his daughter’s birth, and her whole childhood. He needs to get in there! Devon agrees and slaps Casey’s shoulder as he makes his way back to Ellie’s room. The doctor tells Ellie that it is time to push.
Feedback sounds on the PA system. Cue Jeff and Lester, clad in early ’90s leather Salt ‘n’ Pepa jackets, and singing “Push It!!” Casey, hearing the music, grunts “Jeffster!” With Jeff on keytar, Lester belts out the lyrics. Mary, Chuck, Sarah, and Morgan arrive. Sarah tries to apologize to Casey, but he just says that he’s glad she’s back. Security ends the Jeffster! concert as the doctor tells the gathered that one person can go in with Ellie and Devon. “Mom,” Chuck says, “make sure she knows we’re all out here.” Casey and Morgan head back to Casey’s room. Morgan asks if Alex is there. Casey says she went home, but she appears; she just went to get coffee. Alex promises she’s not going anywhere. “Neither am I,” Casey replies. “And good luck trying to get rid of me,” Morgan adds. Ellie breathes deeply, and, saving us from watching Sarah Lancaster sweat, strain and scream, the baby is born! Ellie passes Baby Clara to Devon, who takes her nervously. All he can say is, “Awesome.”
Chuck and Sarah sit outside Ellie’s room, silently, as Chuck plays with Sarah’s hair. He looks into her eyes, and stands up. He opens the ring box. With the sound of the janitor’s floor waxer drowning out everything else, we see Chuck get down on one knee in the distance. Sarah appears to smile, grabs Chuck’s face and gives him a loving kiss!
Commentary
I wrote yesterday about the hype around this week’s episode, with the showrunners calling the last ten minutes the best they have ever shot. Accounting for the final commercial break, those last ten minutes encompass Chuck’s showdown with Volkkoff and the final scenes at the hospital. If I am judging these scenes honestly, yes, these may have been the best ten minutes of Chuck ever. Of course, the birth of Baby Awesome, the Morgan-Casey-Alex trio, and Chuck’s proposal to Sarah were all amazing, but what made these scenes amazing for me was the way Chuck took down Volkoff. What I have worried about during the course of the season is that Chuck seemed to be relying more and more upon Intersect 2.0 to get himself out of trouble, and not on his intellect or nerdness as he had in earlier seasons. Well, that all changed this week. Yes, Chuck flashed on the Hydra eye, but that was an old school flash. At no time did Chuck use his Chuck Fu or some other physical ability; Chuck was just able to outwit Volkoff to defeat him. It was this return to the original recipe Chuck that made this episode score high with me.
Of course, there was a lot else to love in the episode. That was maybe the best Jeffster! performance since the original (the jackets were the perfect flourish). I was happy to not see every second of Ellie pushing out her baby (I’m going to have to go through this live in a few months, so I didn’t need the test run), though that did mean that my desired homage to Lost‘s “Do No Harm” didn’t materialize. I also appreciated that Volkoff wasn’t killed off because that leads to the possibility that Timothy Dalton might be back at some date in the future. Dalton was absolutely fantastic during his run on the show, up to an including this week’s episode. He seemed to really relish the opportunity to play this really evil guy (he coldly killed to of his henchmen in the last two weeks), who was at the same time so utterly smitten with Mary. And don’t forget his bumbling persona from the beginning of the season when he first met Chuck. All in all, it was a fantastic performance that will hopefully garner him a Best Guest Actor Emmy nomination.
Finally, we must address Chuck’s proposal. This may be the only part of the episode that disappointed. Now, I fully understand what they were doing with us not being able to hear the proposal. It’s a private moment, and it should remain private. Plus, we’ve heard the two of them profess their love for each other enough times over the course of the season, and seen Chuck (almost) propose a number of times that hearing those things again might not have the same oomph. That said, Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski are so strong together, that I so desperately wanted to hear the proposal! I feel somewhat cheated, though, obviously, I am very excited, as this means that the season will likely end in what will be a fantastic wedding. Cheers Chuck and Sarah!
Alright, that’s what I have on “Chuck vs. the Push Mix.” What did you think of the episode? Was it the best episode of the season? (Yes, for me.) The best of the series? (Not so sure about that.) Were you upset you couldn’t hear Chuck’s proposal or Sarah’s reaction? What did you think about how Chuck took down Volkoff? Please leave your questions, comments and theories below. For another opinion, check out Emma’s review here. I’ll be back next week with another recap. Until then, I’m off to practice my warrior poses.
Follow: twitter.com/tvovermind
Follow: twitter.com/MikeNJD
Email: michael@tvovermind.com
Follow Us
