TV Review: CHUCK – Season 5 – “Vs. the Santa Suit”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON / Contributing Writer

Posted: December 24th, 2011 / 03:03 AM

Stars: Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Joshua Gomez, Adam Baldwin, Vik Sahay, Scott Krinsky, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Ryan McPartlin
Writer: Amanda Kate Shuman
Director: Peter Lauer
Network: NBC, Friday nights, 8 p.m.
Original Telecast: December 23, 2011

On the roller coaster ride that is CHUCK this season, this week’s episode, Chuck vs. The Santa Suit, you almost have to wonder if we’re headed back into that corner it sometimes feels like the writers have written themselves into. You also have to wonder how many of the old bad guys they’re going to rustle up in the next few episodes.

Tonight, we have Daniel Shaw (Brandon Routh) back from Season Three and he is out for pain and blood and whatever else he can squeeze out of Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski). Remember Shaw has an Intersect, too. While the Omen virus is wreaking havoc around the world, it’s also letting Shaw out of prison, and not surprisingly, it was Shaw using Decker and Robyn and releasing the virus.

In the meantime, Chuck’s sister Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) is trying to get everything ready for baby Clara’s first Christmas and needless to say, it’s not going well. Her hubby Devon (Ryan McPartlin) tries to calm her down and gets nowhere. Only Sarah can reassure Ellie that pretty much everything is in the bag, which she does from the Castle while Chuck, Casey (Adam Baldwin) and Morgan (Joshua Gomez) are elsewhere trying to figure out the virus.

Shaw breaks into Castle, thus kidnapping Sarah, locks it down and holds her for ransom. In the meantime, Big Mike (Mark Christopher Lawrence) is trying to reassure the world that the Omen virus isn’t going to affect anything from Buy More in the middle of the Christmas rush, and isn’t being helped by Jeff (Scott Krinsky) and Lester (Vic Sahay).

General Beckman (Bonita Friedericy) helps Chuck break into the CIA to steal the device Shaw is demanding as ransom by taking him to a CIA Christmas party disguised as Santa. After that, it gets really ugly and we’re not talking about the mission, just how Chuck and Beckman get out of getting busted for the break in. And Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance at the party. That’s not pretty, either. It’s not supposed to be in this case, but let’s face it, Lee is funny but a terrible actor.

And the Subway references are worse than usual, and yet another product gets added into the dialogue. And the episode gets a little goopy at the end. Yet all in all, it’s a fun one. Again, you have to wonder where it’s all going, but at least it looks like the getting there will be fun.

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