"Chuck Versus the Living Dead" really didn't click for me until well into the episode, and even then the episode only presented a mashup events intended to lead into the two-hour season finale next week. The first half of the episode is spent setting everything up and felt very disjointed. Chuck's father, Stephen Bartowski, shows up and unravels what Chuck has been up to, Sarah finds out about Chuck's dreams, Justin continues to lead Ellie on, and Chuck has Casey tail Ellie. Unlike last season's penultimate episode, "Chuck Versus the Colonel," "Living Dead" wasn't as tightly knit, primarily because the scope is larger and the writers are more ambitious, and the episode lost that intimacy that made "Colonel" so good.
The episode picks up about midway through when Ellie, under Justin's orders, plants a tracker on Stephen, leading to an awesome Bartowski family (plus Sarah, though she may become one soon *wink*) fight. They work together to take down some incompetent Ring goons, who have no backup. Stephen shows Chuck the Governor, a new device that can regulate the Intersect.
In some ways, the darker first half of the season has had an impact of the second half which, albeit is substantially lighter, but still maintains the habitual lying Chuck does with ease and in this episode, the element of death was introduced with the spy will. After reading Shaw's will, Sarah gives hers to Chuck and at the end of the episode, Chuck begins to write his own. While Chuck the show is all about fun and games, to the characters there is a real possibility of death, something we haven't seen until now.
All the problems arising from Ellie's dealings with the CIA comes at the risk of her seeming stupid or gullible. Watching her being led around was unsettling because the viewers know she's doing almost everything wrong and helping the enemy. The upside is that there's no turning back now. She's deep into Chuck's world and will finally learn the truth--hopefully leading to more of those Chuck and Ellie moments are awesome.
Shaw, presumably, is alive (unless he has clones and that would be awesome) and downloads the Intersect into his brain. Huge Intersect throwdown next week? Hell yeah! It wasn't a particularly surprising twist that Shaw was alive because his body was never recovered and because dead people are often still alive on Chuck.
Jeffster goes through its troubles with Jeff going "corporate" with Big Mike as manager, but Big Mike calls Jeffster in, revealing himself as a member of Earth, Wind, and Fire and Rain (Mike being Rain). This brings Lester back and the ster to Jeffster.
Chuck has been renewed for a fourth season, so we don't have to worry if next week will be the last time we see our favorite spies. We can sit back, relax, and enjoy the show properly.
Score: 9.0/10
