Chuck: A New Dawn, A New Day
When we last saw Chuck, he had dispensed with traitor and romantic rival Daniel Shaw and had finally sealed the deal with Sarah. Back on the homefront, Casey had been re-instated and Morgan joined the team. New things are afoot.
That episode was supposed to be Chuck's Season 3 finale, but NBC asked the producers for six more episodes, either because they really liked the direction the show had gone in or because they had nothing else to fill out the schedule. Either way, Chuck returned last night with all the new set pieces ready to move in an episode that highlighted all the things that make the show so great.
When last night's episode began, Chuck and Sarah were together on a train in Europe, late to report back to General Beckman and considering not doing it at all. Now that they're together, and they know they can't be together and be spies, they choose each other over the spy life and decide not go back.
Tasked with finding the AWOL Chuck and Sarah, Casey is tasked to turn to Morgan because of his insight into Chuck's character. This pairing, sure to continue now that Morgan is on the team, is a great example of the way the show mixes buddy comedy (in multiple pairings) with the spy stuff. On another note, it's nice for Morgan to finally have something to do after languishing most of the season, or being dispatched to "Buy More Corporate for management seminars" whenever he couldn't be worked into the plot.
Later in the episode, with the plot now in full gear, we get another side of the show - the action side. Even though they are handcuffed together (metaphor!), Chuck and Sarah fight off the bad guys in the kind of balletic fight sequence that the show has always been good at pulling off.
And, of course, we get the heart-felt ending. Chuck works really hard at being a well-balanced show and because it mostly succeeds, the gushier moments pay off better. The episode's final scene finds Chuck and Sarah in bed, with him attempting to find her favorite song, a nice bookend to the conversation that opened the show.
Multiple changes are being played with now that the show has made major plot decisions: will Chuck and Sarah be able to juggle dating for real and being spies? Is this the last we see of Ellie and Awesome? How will Jeff and Lester play into the new scheme? And, how will Morgan integrate into the team? It's a new day indeed.