When Chuck ditched his marriage proposal, I began wondering how long this would drag on. Optimally, it would be resolved by the episode's end, but from experience, the writers love to extend things as long as possible. The end result falls somewhere in between, with both Chuck and Sarah fully committed and knowledgeable about the proposal before a giant plot hole comes between them.
A good part of the episode is the fun Chuck we're used to seeing with Morgan as the proposal double agent and Lester putting on the charm. There's more positive reinforcement to Chuck and Sarah's relationship which solidifies them enough so we don't have to worry about them (assuming Sarah didn't know about the arrest and undercover operation before leaving on the mission, and was cold-hearted enough to almost let the proposal go through).
But I want to go back to final few minutes which a plot contrivance of epic proportions. This isn't the usual isolated plot hole which matters for the one episode, but the beginning to a larger arc. Already, it's not making sense and I can't imagine how the writers can make it work logically.
It's like the writers sat down, decided that Sarah and Chuck would be separated, and came up with an explanation--all within a minute. Somehow, Sarah is going undercover in Volkoff Industries, and her arrest was supposed to establish her cover. Even if Beckman planned this from the point after the chip was recovered (unless this was orchestrated from the very beginning of the episode, which would be insane), wouldn't Volkoff, or someone in the organization, eventually learn that the chip Sarah provided was fake. That would undermine her as a rogue CIA agent since they know she has the real chip. And wouldn't they wonder why Chuck wasn't arrested when he was right there? Lastly, Alexei Volkoff knows Sarah wants to bring him down and plenty of other people have seen her taking direct action again Volkoff, so how is she supposed to infiltrate the group?
Forgetting about the implausibility--which is a must to continue watching Chuck every week--this plot has plenty of potential, but also more of the sappy "oh no, Chuck can't be with Sarah." We'll see what happens.
Score: 8.7/10
