Chuck 4x16 "...vs. the Masquerade"

Pardon me if this recap might be slightly off tonight, but I just managed to poke myself in the eye, and it's feeling a bit funky. Eye poking? Not so great. How did I do it, you ask? I don't even know. I am a mystery even unto myself. Moving on!
The main event on Chuck tonight revolved around a girl named Vivian. You see, this dude named Boris was after her, because he believed her to have a key of some kind, that would give him access to Volkoff's lair, or something. The CIA picks up on this, and sends in the team to find Vivian and protect her from Boris et al. They manage to get her out, and soon discover that she's not so much connected to Volkoff (I seriously almost just wrote Voldemort! Ha!) in a job-related way as she's more actually related. As in, his daughter. Dun dun dun! They cart her back to Castle for some debriefing, and find out she knew nothing about what Volkoff actually did, since she barely ever saw him, and was mostly just off in boarding schools or learning other random skills.

Now, though, she wants to help the team take down Boris and his dudes, rather than just sit back and let other people keep taking care of her. They jet back to England, apparently, because they can just fly anywhere and everywhere at the drop of a hat and also in 2 seconds. They first set up Sarah as a decoy Vivian riding her horse, but she gets taken down by some of Boris' men. Casey saves Sarah before some other guys kill her, while Vivian and Chuck get on their own horse to, I guess, go help. Though Casey doesn't actually need any help in killing all of the guys. Vivian and Chuck get separated, and she ends up face to face with Boris. He tries to get her to give him the key, but she doesn't know what he's talking about. And by this time I think most of us will have figured out that this special key is the necklace she always wears, which she seems to cotton on to at this point too. Boris threatens her again, and she ends up shooting him.

With Boris behind her, Vivian takes off on her own to figure out what she wants to do with her life, and secretly goes off to Volkoff's old lair. She finds the lock that the key fits, and it opens some mysterious door with a bright light. Uh oh, is she going to follow in her father's footsteps? Does that deserve another dun dun dun? Dun dun dun!

Meanwhile, Morgan is starting to feel like the third wheel in the living situation he has going on with Chuck and Sarah, mostly thanks to some nudging from Casey. This prompts him to decide to move out, despite both Chuck and Sarah telling him he doesn't need to. In the end, however, he does go through with it.

Amid all the action, Casey is propositioned by someone named Jane something or other, to have his own team rather than be the backup for every Chuck and Sarah mission. He says he's not going to leave Burbank, but she shows him that he doesn't have to. Whatever mysterious team she wants him to head has some equally mysterious red hallway and door within Castle. Guesses?

And for a bit of levity in this episode, we got to see how Ellie and Devon have been dealing with being new parents. It turns out that Clara is a bit of crier, and they have hardly been able to get any sleep. And what do they find that eventually gets her to fall asleep? Music by the one and only Jeffster! It does, however, eventually let them get up the courage to start putting her in her nursery rather than in their room with them, since the Jeffster was just too much for their minds to handle. I kind of loved seeing the two of them harried, since they always seem to be the most put together people on the show.

This episode felt like a transitioner to the next big chapter. Will Vivian go to the dark side, or will she turn her father's evil empire into a force for good? Is this secretly the next chapter in Star Wars? I guess we'll have to keep tuning in to find out. Hyuck hyuck.

Song choice of the night:

No Time for Dreams by Last Days of April

Quotes:

"It's just a bunch of socialites wearing masks." - Sarah
"Yeah, it could be that. Or it's a sex-crazed orgy party, where they don't want you to see their faces or know their secrets." - Chuck
"No, no, I've been to those kinds of parties, and it doesn't look anything like this." - Sarah

"Wake up Grimes, you're living with an engaged couple. It's like you're their kid." - Casey

"Ellie Bartowski-Woodcomb." - Lester
"Hilary Rodham-Clinton. ... Oh, are we not playing that game?" - Jeff

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