Chuck Versus the First Bank of Evil
Encyclopedia
"Chuck Versus the First Bank of Evil" is the seventeenth episode of the fourth season
of Chuck
. It originally aired on February 28, 2011. Chuck Bartowski
encourages Vivian McArthur (Lauren Cohan
) to get in touch with her inner villain for a mission; Morgan Grimes
' search for a new roommate has unexpected results.
", with Vivian McArthur (Lauren Cohan
) investigating her father Alexei Volkoff
's office at the Volkoff Industries
headquarters in Moscow
, Russia
. After unlocking a secret compartment with the locket
her father had given her, Vivian finds a bank account card. The opening of the compartment triggers a silent alarm, and a man (Ray Wise
) enters, introducing himself as Riley, her father's lawyer. Riley reads Volkoff's will
, revealing that he has given Vivian the entire organization, claiming to have groomed her to become his successor. When Vivian declines her father's legacy, Riley holds her at gunpoint, urging her not to waste the opportunity. She stabs his hand to the desk and smashes a vase across his face before escaping. Later at Castle, General Beckman assigns Chuck Bartowski
and Sarah Walker
to use Vivian to infiltrate the criminal-funding First Bank of Macau
, having learned that Volkoff has left a means for her to enter the bank with the account card.
The bank manager (François Chau
) escorts Vivian all the way to the vault. Chuck, disguised as Vivian's bodyguard, is held back at the lobby. Vivian passes a series of tests through lie detectors and even a DNA sample before being able to access her father's deposit. The manager finally gives Vivian her father's safe deposit box
, revealing countless newspaper headlines on Vivian's achievements and even photographs of her childhood, shocking Vivian. Meanwhile, Chuck steals a guard's access card, being punched in the stomach in the process, and makes his way through the higher levels of the bank, finding a room storing with high-tech equipment. He flashes on it, learning that they are the servers
used to handle all of the bank's fundings, having been stolen from the Chinese Army
one year earlier. Chuck is then cornered by two of the bank's security guards just after Vivian leaves the vault. Vivian feigns anger at her bodyguard's betrayal, holding him at gunpoint. The staff simply tells her to handle the situation outside of bank property, and they escort the two back to the lobby, where Sarah is disguised as Vivian's head of security. They then leave and return to Castle, where Chuck tells Vivian that he will arrange for her to meet with her father.
Beckman reveals that the bank has used the server's to become a black market stock exchange
, laundering money for criminals, terrorists, and rogue nations. As an account holder, Vivian would be able to enter the bank and manually access the network, giving the government access the priceless intelligence. Beckman agrees to let Vivian see her father in exchange for her help and orders Chuck and Sarah to rob the bank as a diversion.
As Vivian makes a deposit in the upper levels of the bank, Chuck and Sarah enter and tranquilize several guards. The guard assigned to Vivian leaves her to prevent the robbery, allowing her to connect to the bank's network. Suddenly, Riley appears and asks Vivian questions the cause her to question Chuck's sincerity. Although he reveals that Chuck is the one responsible for her father's arrest, Vivian asserts that her father is a criminal. Riley points out Volkoff's love for her, telling her that the CIA
has manipulated her and will not allow her to see her father. Riley gives her his business card and tells her to tell him when she is ready to claim the company, returning her locket before leaving the bank. Vivian reunites with Chuck and Sarah, and they burn the money they have stolen from the bank.
Beckman later decides that the security risks are too high for Vivian to see her father, and Chuck is forced to apologize to her. Chuck later calls Vivian, who ignores the call and drives away with Riley, wanting to learn the truth about her father.
, contacts Sarah to ensure that all of her decisions are to Sarah's liking.
Ellie later calls Sarah with the epiphany that a wedding should be based around the bride's wedding dress
, leading Sarah to try on several dresses in the recently-expanded Castle "coatroom", which contains dozens of outfits and a holographic representation of the user wearing said outfit. Sarah finds one to her liking and bursts into tears of joy at the realization that she is getting married. Casey compliments the dress, though he points out that the specific one she is wearing has multiple bullet holes on the back and will have to be replaced. Sarah is nonetheless delighted to tell Chuck she picked out her dress, while they rob a bank.
Sarah later makes several expensive demands of Ellie (including 100 dozen Casablanca lilies, a wedding cake
flown in from Paris
, and reserving a private island for the ceremony), worrying Chuck about the wedding's expenses. Ellie worries that she's created a monster
.
searches for a new roommate, while temporarily staying at his mother's house. Morgan complains to Big Mike that he is uncomfortable sleeping every night with the "cat noises" (Big Mike and his mother's engaging in intercourse), but Mike simply expresses that Morgan should not be complaining, as he chose to move in with them.
In his office at the Buy More
, Morgan searches for a roommate on the internet, only to be interrupted by Jeff Barnes and Lester Patel. Jeff and Lester offer Morgan the empty "room" in their van in exchange for one week off of work to attend a Renaissance fair
and meet women, which Morgan swiftly refuses. He then leaves the manager office to handle the store, with the two still in the office. Lester goes onto Morgan's laptop and sabotages his search for a roommate as revenge. While Morgan's prospective roommates arrive, he discovers that they are all participants of the Renaissance fair Jeff and Lester were referring to.
Morgan accepts the room in their van, only to learn that it has since been filled by the fair's "king". As Morgan goes to sleep on the couch in the Buy More home theater room, he is distracted by sounds of construction in Castle. Two men take the secret elevator to install a TR-476 in the facility. Morgan follows the men to Castle, which is being expanded by the National Clandestine Service
. Casey confronts Morgan, who claims not to have seen anything.
Morgan apologizes to Casey, who finally agrees to let him stay in the spare room of his apartment. In exchange, Morgan is to keep quiet about Casey's secret missions, especially to Chuck.
".
Even Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club
gave the episode a B, writing that, though the episode was not disjointed and that the "action, particularly the Matrix homage that sent Sarah flying through the air, was well staged and self-aware enough to let itself go over-the-top", it felt "bloated", and the main plot did not blend well with the episode's subplots. Heisler wrote that the episode "was still one of the better recent Chuck episodes (and even though I'm the guy who gave last week's a D, I don't mean that as faint praise)." Eric Goldman of IGN
gave this episode a score of 7.5 out of 10, writing that it "felt like a bit of an off week for Chuck – but I do hope we can now continue gathering momentum with Vivian, as Chuck faces off with his evil sister... I mean, if she is his sister."
The episode drew 5.35 million viewers.
Chuck (season 4)
The fourth season of Chuck was announced on May 13, 2010. Having initially ordered 13 episodes, NBC ordered an additional 11 on October 19, 2010 for a total of 24 episodes....
of Chuck
Chuck (TV series)
Chuck is an action-comedy/spy-drama television program from the United States created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. The series is about an "average computer-whiz-next-door" named Chuck, played by Zachary Levi, who receives an encoded e-mail from an old college friend now working for the Central...
. It originally aired on February 28, 2011. Chuck Bartowski
Chuck Bartowski
Charles Irving "Chuck" Bartowski is the main and titular character of the American fiction television show Chuck on NBC. He is portrayed by Zachary Levi.-Character profile:...
encourages Vivian McArthur (Lauren Cohan
Lauren Cohan
Lauren Cohan is an American actress. Her most recognized role to date is that of the role of Bela Talbot on Supernatural...
) to get in touch with her inner villain for a mission; Morgan Grimes
Morgan Grimes
Morgan Guillermo Grimes is a major character on the television series Chuck. He is portrayed by actor Joshua Gomez, and is the best friend of Chuck Bartowski....
' search for a new roommate has unexpected results.
Main plot
The episode begins immediately after the events of "Chuck Versus the MasqueradeChuck Versus the Masquerade
"Chuck Versus the Masquerade" is the sixteenth episode of the fourth season of Chuck. Although taking place on and around Valentine's Day, the episode actually aired originally on February 21, 2011, one week later. Valentine's Day is ruined when the team is dispatched to protect heiress Vivian...
", with Vivian McArthur (Lauren Cohan
Lauren Cohan
Lauren Cohan is an American actress. Her most recognized role to date is that of the role of Bela Talbot on Supernatural...
) investigating her father Alexei Volkoff
Alexei Volkoff
Alexei Volkoff is the alias and alter ego of Hartley Winterbottom , a fictional character on the television series Chuck. Volkoff is the head of Volkoff Industries. For the first six episodes of the fourth season, he was an unseen character, directing his operatives from behind the scenes...
's office at the Volkoff Industries
Volkoff Industries
Volkoff Industries is a major organization on the television series Chuck. It is a public business front owned by an international arms dealer named Alexei Volkoff, portrayed by Timothy Dalton. Volkoff Industries is introduced in the third season finale as a threat against which Stephen J...
headquarters in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. After unlocking a secret compartment with the locket
Locket
A locket is a pendant that opens to reveal a space used for storing a photograph or other small item such as a curl of hair. Lockets are usually given to loved ones on holidays such as Valentine's Day and occasions such as Christenings, weddings and, most noticeably during the Victorian Age,...
her father had given her, Vivian finds a bank account card. The opening of the compartment triggers a silent alarm, and a man (Ray Wise
Ray Wise
Raymond Nicolas "Ray" Wise is an American actor, known for his roles as Leland Palmer in Twin Peaks, as Leon C. Nash, right-hand henchman to villain Clarence Boddicker in the science fiction classic RoboCop, and recently as the Devil in the CW television series Reaper.-Life and career:Wise was...
) enters, introducing himself as Riley, her father's lawyer. Riley reads Volkoff's will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
, revealing that he has given Vivian the entire organization, claiming to have groomed her to become his successor. When Vivian declines her father's legacy, Riley holds her at gunpoint, urging her not to waste the opportunity. She stabs his hand to the desk and smashes a vase across his face before escaping. Later at Castle, General Beckman assigns Chuck Bartowski
Chuck Bartowski
Charles Irving "Chuck" Bartowski is the main and titular character of the American fiction television show Chuck on NBC. He is portrayed by Zachary Levi.-Character profile:...
and Sarah Walker
Sarah Walker (Chuck)
Sarah Lisa Bartowski is the alias of one of the main characters of the fictional television show Chuck on NBC. She is portrayed by Yvonne Strahovski and is one of two agents assigned by the NSA and CIA to protect Chuck Bartowski after he unwittingly downloads the secret government computer known...
to use Vivian to infiltrate the criminal-funding First Bank of Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
, having learned that Volkoff has left a means for her to enter the bank with the account card.
The bank manager (François Chau
François Chau
François Chau is a Cambodian-American actor. He is known for his role as Dr. Pierre Chang in ABC's Lost, and as The Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze....
) escorts Vivian all the way to the vault. Chuck, disguised as Vivian's bodyguard, is held back at the lobby. Vivian passes a series of tests through lie detectors and even a DNA sample before being able to access her father's deposit. The manager finally gives Vivian her father's safe deposit box
Safe deposit box
A safe deposit box or wrongly referred to as a safety deposit box is an individually-secured container, usually held within a larger safe or bank vault. Safe deposit boxes are generally located in banks, post offices or other institutions...
, revealing countless newspaper headlines on Vivian's achievements and even photographs of her childhood, shocking Vivian. Meanwhile, Chuck steals a guard's access card, being punched in the stomach in the process, and makes his way through the higher levels of the bank, finding a room storing with high-tech equipment. He flashes on it, learning that they are the servers
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
used to handle all of the bank's fundings, having been stolen from the Chinese Army
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
one year earlier. Chuck is then cornered by two of the bank's security guards just after Vivian leaves the vault. Vivian feigns anger at her bodyguard's betrayal, holding him at gunpoint. The staff simply tells her to handle the situation outside of bank property, and they escort the two back to the lobby, where Sarah is disguised as Vivian's head of security. They then leave and return to Castle, where Chuck tells Vivian that he will arrange for her to meet with her father.
Beckman reveals that the bank has used the server's to become a black market stock exchange
Stock exchange
A stock exchange is an entity that provides services for stock brokers and traders to trade stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, and capital events including the payment of income and...
, laundering money for criminals, terrorists, and rogue nations. As an account holder, Vivian would be able to enter the bank and manually access the network, giving the government access the priceless intelligence. Beckman agrees to let Vivian see her father in exchange for her help and orders Chuck and Sarah to rob the bank as a diversion.
As Vivian makes a deposit in the upper levels of the bank, Chuck and Sarah enter and tranquilize several guards. The guard assigned to Vivian leaves her to prevent the robbery, allowing her to connect to the bank's network. Suddenly, Riley appears and asks Vivian questions the cause her to question Chuck's sincerity. Although he reveals that Chuck is the one responsible for her father's arrest, Vivian asserts that her father is a criminal. Riley points out Volkoff's love for her, telling her that the CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
has manipulated her and will not allow her to see her father. Riley gives her his business card and tells her to tell him when she is ready to claim the company, returning her locket before leaving the bank. Vivian reunites with Chuck and Sarah, and they burn the money they have stolen from the bank.
Beckman later decides that the security risks are too high for Vivian to see her father, and Chuck is forced to apologize to her. Chuck later calls Vivian, who ignores the call and drives away with Riley, wanting to learn the truth about her father.
Sarah
Sarah and Ellie Woodcomb discuss on what types of flowers she should have for the wedding. Sarah confesses that she is not used to the "girl stuff", and asks Ellie to make the decisions for her completely. Ellie, being a good bridesmaidBridesmaid
The bridesmaids are members of the bride's wedding party in a wedding. A bridesmaid is typically a young woman, and often a close friend or sister. She attends to the bride on the day of a wedding or marriage ceremony...
, contacts Sarah to ensure that all of her decisions are to Sarah's liking.
Ellie later calls Sarah with the epiphany that a wedding should be based around the bride's wedding dress
Wedding dress
A wedding dress or wedding gown is the clothing worn by a bride during a wedding ceremony. Color, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants.- Western culture :...
, leading Sarah to try on several dresses in the recently-expanded Castle "coatroom", which contains dozens of outfits and a holographic representation of the user wearing said outfit. Sarah finds one to her liking and bursts into tears of joy at the realization that she is getting married. Casey compliments the dress, though he points out that the specific one she is wearing has multiple bullet holes on the back and will have to be replaced. Sarah is nonetheless delighted to tell Chuck she picked out her dress, while they rob a bank.
Sarah later makes several expensive demands of Ellie (including 100 dozen Casablanca lilies, a wedding cake
Wedding cake
A wedding cake is the traditional cake served to the guests at a wedding reception after a wedding. In modern Western culture, it is usually a large cake, multi-layered or tiered, and heavily decorated with icing, usually over a layer of marzipan or fondant...
flown in from Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and reserving a private island for the ceremony), worrying Chuck about the wedding's expenses. Ellie worries that she's created a monster
Bridezilla
A bridezilla is a difficult, unpleasant, perfectionist bride.The first known citation was in The Boston Globe, June 29, 1995....
.
Morgan and Casey
Morgan GrimesMorgan Grimes
Morgan Guillermo Grimes is a major character on the television series Chuck. He is portrayed by actor Joshua Gomez, and is the best friend of Chuck Bartowski....
searches for a new roommate, while temporarily staying at his mother's house. Morgan complains to Big Mike that he is uncomfortable sleeping every night with the "cat noises" (Big Mike and his mother's engaging in intercourse), but Mike simply expresses that Morgan should not be complaining, as he chose to move in with them.
In his office at the Buy More
Buy More
Buy More is a fictional big box electronics retail chain in NBC's action-comedy series Chuck. The Buy More is a parody of similar chains, particularly Best Buy....
, Morgan searches for a roommate on the internet, only to be interrupted by Jeff Barnes and Lester Patel. Jeff and Lester offer Morgan the empty "room" in their van in exchange for one week off of work to attend a Renaissance fair
Renaissance Fair
A Renaissance fair, Renaissance faire, or Renaissance festival is an outdoor weekend gathering, usually held in the United States, open to the public and typically commercial in nature, which emulates a historic period for the amusement of its guests. Some are permanent theme parks, others are...
and meet women, which Morgan swiftly refuses. He then leaves the manager office to handle the store, with the two still in the office. Lester goes onto Morgan's laptop and sabotages his search for a roommate as revenge. While Morgan's prospective roommates arrive, he discovers that they are all participants of the Renaissance fair Jeff and Lester were referring to.
Morgan accepts the room in their van, only to learn that it has since been filled by the fair's "king". As Morgan goes to sleep on the couch in the Buy More home theater room, he is distracted by sounds of construction in Castle. Two men take the secret elevator to install a TR-476 in the facility. Morgan follows the men to Castle, which is being expanded by the National Clandestine Service
National Clandestine Service
The National Clandestine Service is one of the four main components of the Central Intelligence Agency...
. Casey confronts Morgan, who claims not to have seen anything.
Morgan apologizes to Casey, who finally agrees to let him stay in the spare room of his apartment. In exchange, Morgan is to keep quiet about Casey's secret missions, especially to Chuck.
Production
Chuck and Sarah robbing the bank while talking about their wedding parallels their fight in the middle of another bank robbery in "Chuck Versus the First FightChuck Versus the First Fight
"Chuck Versus the First Fight" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of Chuck. It originally aired November 1, 2010. In the wake of his first fight with Sarah, Chuck Bartowski embarks on a rogue mission to prove his mother's innocence, ultimately colliding with her MI6 handler, Gregory...
".
Flashes
- Chuck flashes on a room in the bank, identifying the servers as being stolen from the Chinese army one year prior.
- Chuck flashes on acrobatics to jump over a desk and tranquilize several guards.
Music
Songs listed by Alan Sepinwall.- "El Capitan" by The Steelwells
- "Squealing Pigs" by Admiral FallowAdmiral FallowAdmiral Fallow is a Scottish musical group formed in 2007 by singer/song-writer Louis Abbott. They have supported the Guillemots, and played at the major Scottish festivals. In 2009 the band headlined the T Break stage at T in the Park...
- "Black Leaf" by The Cave SingersThe Cave SingersThe Cave Singers is an American band from Seattle, Washington. Rising from the ashes of Pretty Girls Make Graves after its disbandment in 2007, former PGMG-member Derek Fudesco teamed up with Pete Quirk and Marty Lund and began playing in the Seattle area. Soon after the band's conception, The...
- "Breeze" by Alex Silverman
Cultural references
- Chuck tells Vivian that he will pose as her bodyguard, saying, "I'll be like your very own Kevin CostnerKevin CostnerKevin Michael Costner is an American actor, singer, musician, producer, director, and businessman. He has been nominated for three BAFTA Awards, won two Academy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. Costner's roles include Lt. John J...
", referencing The BodyguardThe BodyguardThe Bodyguard is a 1992 American romantic-thriller film starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. Costner stars as a former Secret Service Agent turned bodyguard who is hired to protect Houston's character, a music star, from an unknown stalker. Lawrence Kasdan wrote the film in the 1970s,...
. - Morgan brings his Star WarsStar WarsStar Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
bedsheets to his office at the Buy More. - The episode's bank robbery was presented as an homage to The MatrixThe MatrixThe Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
. - While robbing the bank, Chuck refers to Sarah as "Honey Bunny", a reference to the robbery in the opening and closing scenes of Pulp FictionPulp fictionPulp fiction may refer to:* pulp magazines, short stories presented in a magazine format, printed on cheaply made wood-pulp paper* Pulp Fiction, a 1994 film directed by Quentin Tarantino...
. - Morgan tries to cover for his presence in Castle by pretending to make a call about Sector 7-G, which is where Homer SimpsonHomer SimpsonHomer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
works at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant on The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
. - Volkoff's bank card displays the numbers 4, 8, 1515 (number)15 is the natural number following 14 and preceding 16. In English, it is the smallest natural number with seven letters in its spelled name....
, 1616 (number)16 is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. 16 is a composite number, and a square number, being 42 = 4 × 4. It is the smallest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being , , and ....
, 2323 (number)23 is the natural number following 22 and preceding 24.- In mathematics :Twenty-three is the ninth prime number, the smallest odd prime that is not a twin prime. Twenty-three is also the fifth factorial prime, the third Woodall prime...
, and 4242 (number)42 is the natural number immediately following 41 and directly preceding 43. The number has received considerable attention in popular culture as a result of its central appearance in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and...
, a recurring plot point from the mythologyMythology of LostThe television show Lost includes a number of mysterious elements that have been ascribed to science fiction or supernatural phenomena, usually concerning coincidences, synchronicity, déjà vu, temporal and spatial anomalies, paradoxes, and other puzzling phenomena...
of LostLost (TV series)Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
, the series François Chau is known for appearing on.
Reception
"Chuck Versus the First Bank of Evil" received positive reviews from critics. HitFix writer Alan Sepinwall wrote, "After last week's episode impressively balanced a bunch of different storylines for the large ensemble, 'Chuck vs. the First Bank of Evil' was a more streamlined affair, focusing primarily on Vivan's slow transformation from Vivan McArthur to Vivian Volkoff. Unfortunately, Vivian was probably the least compelling part of last week's episode, and the expanded spotlight tonight didn't have me any more convinced that she's going to be a great villain (even if she's a conflicted one) moving forward... Chuck and Sarah robbing the evil bank as a cover for Vivian while talking about the wedding offered up a parallel of sorts of their fight in the middle of another bank robbery in the first Volkoff episode... The bank robbery was such a blatant riff on 'The Matrix' that I'm surprised they missed the opportunity to have Chuck make a joke about it."Even Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
gave the episode a B, writing that, though the episode was not disjointed and that the "action, particularly the Matrix homage that sent Sarah flying through the air, was well staged and self-aware enough to let itself go over-the-top", it felt "bloated", and the main plot did not blend well with the episode's subplots. Heisler wrote that the episode "was still one of the better recent Chuck episodes (and even though I'm the guy who gave last week's a D, I don't mean that as faint praise)." Eric Goldman of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave this episode a score of 7.5 out of 10, writing that it "felt like a bit of an off week for Chuck – but I do hope we can now continue gathering momentum with Vivian, as Chuck faces off with his evil sister... I mean, if she is his sister."
The episode drew 5.35 million viewers.