...Set: Chuck 4x06 "...vs. the Aisle of Terror"

Man feet! Otters! Old people! Black licorice! Public showers! Interspecies relations! Babies in costume! Those images are apparently what send crazy people (like Jeff) over the edge, and sent me laughing. Did I miss any? I think those are all of them. I'm getting way ahead of myself here, but I loved the randomness of that, and how Jeff's crazy demented head full of hay-like hair ended up being Chuck's saving grace.

But what did Chuck need saving from? That requires us to back up to the top of the hour, during which Chuck received a phone call from his missing Mama Mary (you like my alliteration there?), who wanted to meet with him, alone, in Griffith Park, at a creepy children's playground. Riiiight. That instills confidence, Lady Frost. Chuck was smart, though, and had Sarah accompany him as back up, which led to a tense standoff between Sarah and Mama B that Chuck was forced to get into the middle of. So what is Mama B's story? She wants to hand over this deadly terror gas stuff called Atroxium that this Dr. Wheelwright dude has made, and has come to Chuck to facilitate said hand over as his alter ego Charles Carmichael.

And that brings us to the main dilemma of the evening - whether to trust this suddenly reappearing ghost from Chuck's past or not. She claims that she went so undercover back in the day, doing something called Project Isis, that she was expunged from CIA records, and therefore could not contact her family again, and that the only reason she's doing it now is to make them safe again. Chuck wants to believe her, but the other spies are more skeptical. The episode teeters back and forth with trying to make us believe her or not believe her, as her actions prove rather devious sometimes, caring others.

Case in point: she shoots Chuck at the meet to pass over the atroxium, but she then later claims that she had to do it because Volkoff was watching the meet and she had to make it look like Charles Carmichael was taken out for good. Okay. Chuck then tries to get her to agree to meet up with Ellie before she disappears back into the spy ether again, and while at first she seems rather reluctant to do so, in the end she agrees. BUT! This is only after Casey has done a little digging of his own to discover that, according to CIA records, Mama B went totally off the reservation, aka rogue, and that she really is bad. He and Sarah assemble a team to capture her right before she was going to see Ellie. Dun dun dun! But oh, Chuck does tell Ellie that the reason she couldn't show up is because she's a spy. I guess I forgot she never knew that, so it wasn't that big of a reveal moment for me.

Meanwhile, back in the poison plot, the nefarious Dr. Wheelwright works it so that Chuck gets doused with this special neurotoxin that makes people see their worst fears manifest. Since it also happens to be Halloween-time at the Buy More, this is particularly bad for Chuck, who confesses he already doesn't much like scary things. He ends up getting the better of the good doctor, however, when he uses the aisle of terror that Jeff and Lester previously set up with screens that show images that are supposed to make the most insane minds lose it. Because it turns out, it does actually work on truly crazy people! This is the thing I was talking about at the beginning, if you didn't already figure that out. Duh. Chuck and Sarah manage to get him to tell them where the anti-toxin is, and Chuck is put back to his right mind.

And in side-plot-ville, Devon's mom has come to town to help with the baby stuff. This side story was mostly used as a way to contrast Ellie's mother-in-law with her real mom, and didn't have a lot of meaty story material otherwise.

Next episode it looks like we are going to find out more about maybe misbehaving Mary and whether she's good, bad or otherwise.

Quotes:

"It's gonna be scary! Good scary, though, like pumpkins and ghosts. Not bad scary, like war and bears." - Morgan

"You are not a rhyming monkey, you are a manager." - Big Mike

"So sorry I'm late." - Morgan
"You weren't here already?" - Casey
"Ha ha, nice. I love our little give and take. Classic Ross and Rachel." - Morgan

"I know a morgue that gives good discounts on unclaimed merchandise. Maybe we could sprinkle some cold dead ones in here." - Jeff

"We gotta tap into a place that is so scary, so demented, that it'll change Halloween as we know it. We gotta tap... into your head." - Lester
"Okay." - Jeff
"Yeah, you gotta start using conditioner. Your hair feels like hay." - Lester

"Nothing I won't do for $30 and a sandwich. Or just a sandwich." - Jeff

"This is exactly why I don't see scary movies, and I stick mainly to the PG13 region!" - Chuck (I feel ya, Chuck!)

"Is it a baby, or is it a snail?!" - Jeff, then later, Dr. Wheelwright

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