Chuck season 4 episode 14 review: Chuck Versus The Seduction Impossible

This review may contain spoilers.

4.14 Chuck Versus The Seduction Impossible

I’ll be up front, I’ve still not yet forgiven John Larroquette for trying to remake Fawlty Towers. However, even with this massive blot on his copybook, his reappearance in this Chuck episode was actually rather welcome, as he returned as the ultimate spy seduction expert, Roan Montgomery. For fans of the show, he first appeared in Chuck Versus The Seduction, the fifteenth Chuck in the very first season.

But I’ve noticed that, since then, he’s been mainly appearing in serious acting jobs, most recently on CSI:NY, after a stint on Boston Legal that lasted for 33 episodes.

Some actors mature gracefully with age, and John Larroquette is certainly in that category.

Having reached what would have been a natural season end last week, I was curious how the Chuck creative team would re-prime their show for the back 11 episode run.

It all starts rather uncomfortably, with the whirlwind of activity surrounding baby Clara, and after two minutes of uncontrolled newborn adoration, most viewers would be reaching for the remote for a rapid escape. Thankfully, Chuck, Sarah and Casey also get the same feelings and demand a mission to escape the Awesome playpen and get back to the death-for-breakfast business.

The mission General Beckman she gives them is more of a personal errand than an actually mission, as she sends them to extract the errant Roan Montgomery, who is up to his bloodshot eyeballs in beautiful women and counterfeit intrigue. 

In bringing back Roan, they open a previously hinted can of worms, and hilariously explore the long term romance between Roan and General Beckman! This is the set-up for one of the best visual gags that they’ve used on Chuck, and Bonita Friedricy chalks up some very memorable scenes along the way to that superbly funny sequence, which I’m not going to spoil.

What was also noticeable is that they stayed well away from their usual fodder, avoiding using the intersect to solve all their problems, and having a moustache twirling villain.

If there was disappointment in here it came in the lack of any Jeff, Lester or Big Mike at all, and Buy More was only used in some minor scenes. But these omissions were outweighed by some great highlights, which included, in no particular order, the red night attire of Roan Montgomery, the blond wig of General Beckman, Casey’s seduction technique, a really odd reference to the James Franco movie, 127 hours, Sarah belly dancing and the absolute necessity to ‘duck’ when someone tells you to do that.

If they can avoid the temptation to show Baby Clara in each show, and keep the craziness levels high, then I’ve got no doubt that Chuck can fulfil the rest of its episode commitment this season, while keeping its audience highly amused.

Next week, Chuck encounters the Cat Squad and Lou Diamond Phillips, and without knowing anything more about the story, that sounds challenging to me.

Read our review of episode 13, Chuck Versus The Push Mix, here.

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