"Chuck Versus the First Bank of Evil" is the seventeenth episode of the fourth season of ''

Chuck Chuck is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to: People Arts and entertainment * Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet * Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV producer * ...

''. It originally aired on February 28, 2011.

Chuck Bartowski Charles Irving Bartowski is the title character of the American spy show ''Chuck'' on NBC. He is portrayed by Zachary Levi. UGO.com named him one of the best TV nerds. Character profile At the outset of the show, Chuck Bartowski is presented as ...

encourages

Vivian McArthur ''Chuck'' is an American television series developed by writer/producers Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak and is broadcast by NBC. The title character of the series is Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi), an affable and anxious Nerd Herd associate at Buy ...

(

Lauren Cohan Lauren Cohan (born January 7, 1982) is an American-British actress best known for her role as Maggie Greene in the AMC post-apocalyptic horror television series '' The Walking Dead'' (2011–2018; 2020–2022). Her other notable TV roles inclu ...

) to get in touch with her inner villain for a mission;

Morgan Grimes Morgan Guillermo Grimes is a major character on the television series ''Chuck''. He is portrayed by actor Joshua Gomez, and is the best friend of Chuck Bartowski. Morgan is the manager of the Burbank Buy More. He is also an employee of Chuck and ...

' search for a new roommate has unexpected results.

Plot

investigates her father

Alexei Volkoff Alexei Volkoff () is the Pseudonym, alias and alter ego of Hartley Winterbottom (codename Agent X), a fictional character on the television series ''Chuck (TV series), Chuck''. Volkoff is the head of Volkoff Industries. For the first six episod ...

's office at the

Volkoff Industries ''Chuck'' is an American television series developed by writer/producers Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak and is broadcast by NBC. The title character of the series is Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi), an affable and anxious Nerd Herd associate at Buy ...

headquarters in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. After unlocking a secret compartment with the

locket A locket is a pendant that opens to reveal a space used for storing a photograph or other small item such as a lock of hair. Lockets are usually given to loved ones on holidays such as Valentine's Day and occasions such as christenings, wedding ...

her father had given her, Vivian finds a bank account card. General Beckman assigns

and Sarah Walker to use Vivian to infiltrate the criminal-funding First Bank of

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

, having learned that Volkoff has left a means for her to enter the bank with the account card. Beckman reveals that the bank has used the servers to become a

black market A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the se ...

stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for th ...

, laundering money for criminals, terrorists, and rogue nations. Beckman agrees to let Vivian see her father in exchange for her help and orders Chuck and Sarah to rob the bank as a diversion. Beckman later decides that the security risks are too high for Vivian to see her father, and Chuck is forced to apologize to her. Chuck later calls Vivian, who ignores the call and drives away with Riley, wanting to learn the truth about her father.

Music

Songs listed by Alan Sepinwall. * "El Capitan" by The Steelwells * "Squealing Pigs" by

Admiral Fallow Admiral Fallow are a Scottish musical group formed in 2007 by singer-songwriter Louis Abbott and based in Glasgow. They were originally named Brother Louis Collective. The band's first album, '' Boots Met My Face'', was released worldwide in 20 ...

* "Black Leaf" by

The Cave Singers The Cave Singers is an American band from Seattle, Washington. Composed of former members of Pretty Girls Make Graves after its disbandment in 2007, former PGMG-member Derek Fudesco teamed up with Pete Quirk (of Hint Hint) and Marty Lund (of Cobra ...

* "Breeze" by Alex Silverman

Reception

"Chuck Versus the First Bank of Evil" received positive reviews from critics. ''HitFix'' writer Alan Sepinwall wrote, "After last week's episode impressively balanced a bunch of different storylines for the large ensemble, 'Chuck vs. the First Bank of Evil' was a more streamlined affair, focusing primarily on Vivan's slow transformation from Vivan McArthur to Vivian Volkoff. Unfortunately, Vivian was probably the least compelling part of last week's episode, and the expanded spotlight tonight didn't have me any more convinced that she's going to be a great villain (even if she's a conflicted one) moving forward... Chuck and Sarah robbing the evil bank as a cover for Vivian while talking about the wedding offered up a parallel of sorts of their fight in the middle of another bank robbery in the first Volkoff episode... The bank robbery was such a blatant riff on 'The Matrix' that I'm surprised they missed the opportunity to have Chuck make a joke about it." Even Steve Heisler of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' gave the episode a B, writing that, though the episode was not disjointed and that the "action, particularly the ''Matrix'' homage that sent Sarah flying through the air, was well staged and self-aware enough to let itself go over-the-top", it felt "bloated", and the main plot did not blend well with the episode's subplots. Heisler wrote that the episode "was still one of the better recent ''Chuck'' episodes (and even though I'm the guy who gave last week's a D, I don't mean that as faint praise)." Eric Goldman of ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' gave this episode a score of 7.5 out of 10, writing that it "felt like a bit of an off week for Chuck – but I do hope we can now continue gathering momentum with Vivian, as Chuck faces off with his evil sister... I mean, if she is his sister." The episode drew 5.35 million viewers.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chuck Versus the First Bank of Evil First Bank of Evil 2011 American television episodes Television episodes directed by Frederick E.O. Toye