Character Development: Both Sarah & Casey, Chuck “Chuck Versus the Wedding Planner” 

I enjoyed this week’s Chuck, not so much for the wedding planner con, but definitely for some of the character development that happened for both Sarah and Casey. The fact that it brought Gary Cole, who plays Sarah’s dad, back to the show was a big bonus. At this point, I don’t know if Jack’s going to show up to the wedding — probably not — but I hope he surprises us and does. Any reason to see Cole on TV again is a good thing.   As the wedding approaches, it definitely seems like Sarah’s had to deal with some of her issues, namely those of the commitment variety. But knowing Chuck is going to have his mom, sister and brother-in-law in attendance, she’s had to have been thinking about her dad. Almost every bride wants her dad to walk her down the aisle. There’s no reason for Sarah to even think that’s a possibility which is why she didn’t invite him. He’s never been there for any of her important events. That doesn’t stop her from tracking him down after she and Chuck get conned by a wedding planner. Who better to help out or give advice about how to get their money back than her con man dad? Of course dad shows up in Burbank because he certainly didn’t buy her story that she got conned trying to throw a party. It’s great that he knows his daughter’s a spy and it’s even better that he got involved in his daughter’s spy games too. He’s so slick and smooth when he’s in the midst of a con.

After it’s all over, you can tell he wants to be a real father and stay, but he knows he’ll never be that guy in the truest sense. But he does what he can. He leaves her the pink piggy bank that we saw in flashbacks (when her dad left, a young Sarah wanted him to have her piggy bank filled with money she had amassed). It turns out not only did he never spend the money she gave him as a child, he had been collecting a nest egg to give to his daughter that’ll allow her to have the wedding she wants. Not complete redemption, because he has been such a bad dad, but man, it was such a sweet move on his part. I fell for it. Call me a sucker. It was an awesome moment when she started removing the wads of cash from the piggy bank. It was something (somewhat) selfless he could do for his daughter so she could have her big day.

As for Casey, Alex thinks it’s time for him to come clean with her mom. While he can’t bring himself to tell Kathleen he’s still alive, the decision’s taken out of his hands. Kathleen follows him from the Buy More and stumbles onto Casey while he and the gang are trying to bring down the bad guys and recover some sort of weapon. At first she believes he’s nothing more than a Buy More salesperson by day, security guard at night. She wants him to tell Alex the truth because her daughter is under the assumption her dad’s a hero. But then she witnesses Casey in action. I love the look between the two when Casey spots Kathleen realizing the truth from the safety of her car.

Later, at Casey’s apartment, the two have another talk. She notices how Casey and Alex have the same quirk when they get nervous. She thinks the NSA agent has it all : “Look at you. You’re a soldier. You’re a hero. You have everything that you wanted.” But the look on Casey’s face says otherwise. He’s missing love in his life; the love of a woman. Maybe this means he’s grown and his ideas about life are changing? I hope these two can get together at some point. Adam Baldwin and Clare Carey did a good job with this bittersweet scene.