Since the end of the initial 13-episode arc, the first two episodes back were undiluted bursts of comedy and action, straying far from the dark subplot that lingered throughout the first 13 episodes. "Chuck Versus the Tooth" was still on the lighter side in regards to the totality of the season so far, but the writers tried to inject that darkness which made some episodes very compelling. To that extent, the episode was halfway there and in the right direction. Chuck was placed in dangerous situation and had a deteriorating condition, but I was never convinced he was ever wrong about the dreams or that he wouldn't get out.
The main plot focuses on Chuck and these dreams he's been having, an indication the Intersect may not be the healthiest thing for our protagonist. I'm getting tired of dream sequences, and having them two nights in a row with Treme last night didn't put me in a good mood. He sees the president of Zamibia, who is coming to America, on TV and has a weird dream-flash about him getting assassinated. After appealing to Beckman, Chuck is assigned a therapist (Christopher Lloyd) who doesn't believe him either and removes him from field duty.
Still, there's always Morgan, the trusty sidekick who can be always entrusted with doing illicit spy activities. They go to the concert to save the president and despite Sarah's attempts to intervene, Chuck ends up punching a scientist, landing himself in a mental hospital along with other damaged spies. When Sarah comes to visit, he gives her the scientist's tooth, proof that he was right all along, except after further analysis, the tooth is clean. The assassins visit Chuck at the hospital, and display typical villain derangement by telling Chuck which tooth was the fake before Sarah comes and takes them out. The tooth has some kind of information for the Ring...and the rest doesn't matter. Honestly, the Ring or Fulcrum or whatever other shadowy organization could operating souvlaki stands all across the world for all I care.
After the huge roadblocks for Chuck and Sarah in the first part of the season that severely plagued some episodes, there have been huge steps taken in just a few episodes. First they're all over each other, then they move in together, and in this episode, Sarah really stands by Chuck every step of the way, and declares her love for him. I did get the warm fuzzies in the end.
I'm usually fine with unrelated subplots that are underdeveloped or unrelated to the main story if they are purely for comedic purposes. However, the subplots in "Chuck Versus the Tooth" were underdeveloped, unrelated to the main story, and not for comedy. Out of the blue, Justin, the Doctors Without Borders guy, shows up and tells Ellie that Casey is an NSA double agent. He plays at Ellie's fears, telling her that people will think she's crazy (paralleling Chuck's predicament), and Awesome does exactly that. This all leads to Justin asking her to contact her father. Awesome's angle was shown briefly and not enough for the subplot to be anything more than a simple ruse by the Ring to get Ellie to uncover her father.
Anna's return was disappointing, especially when her initial departure was explained away in one sentence, maligning her as a person who would cheat on Morgan with another chef. She returns and sees Morgan as a changed man, who gets the fan also. His new duties or his perceived duties force him to a higher standard, and that means putting off Anna until he has time. The result, of course, is what Anna sees as Morgan playing hard to get and now she wants him back, only Morgan really changed. He blows her off and I'm guessing that's the last we'll see of her. Along with the other subplot, it wasn't developed enough for me to care about and ended predictably.
In Chuck's final dream sequence, Shaw shows up to tell Chuck he's still alive. Given that we only saw Shaw fall into the river and there wasn't any discussion of his body afterwards, it's certainly possibly that he's still alive. People in the Chuck universe come back from the dead far too often to count out anything.
Scott Bakula returns next week as Stephen Bartowski. Along with the Ring closing in, what about Chuck's brain? There are only three episodes left in the season, so the endgame is here. And on that note, there's lots of good news swirling around about a Chuck renewal, nothing definite but very positive.
Score: 8.6/10
