Chuck Versus the Gobbler
Encyclopedia
"Chuck Versus the Gobbler" is the twelfth episode of the fourth season
of Chuck
. It originally aired on January 24, 2011. Sarah Walker
sets out on a perilous undercover mission by assisting Mary Elizabeth Bartowski
(Linda Hamilton
) in a bid to finally crush criminal mastermind Alexei Volkoff
(Timothy Dalton
). Meanwhile, Ellie
and Devon Woodcomb bicker over baby names.
, with Sarah Walker
and John Casey
fighting.
Two days earlier, Casey and Morgan Grimes
converse about the reputation Sarah has built undercover as a rogue CIA
agent. They reveal that she has finally drawn the attention of Alexei Volkoff
(Timothy Dalton
).
In Moscow
, Russia
, Sarah enters Volkoff Industries
looking quite different. She and Volkoff discuss why she decided to turn on the CIA. When Volkoff asks why he should trust Sarah, his guards hold her at gunpoint. Sarah easily dispatches the guards and takes aim at Volkoff, telling him the reason he can trust her is because she chose not to kill him when she had the chance. As Volkoff and Sarah toast, Chuck's mother Mary
(Linda Hamilton
) enters and protests his acceptance of Sarah, warning that Sarah will betray him. Volkoff explains how Sarah could be useful and suggests that she breaks Yuri Gabrienko (Matthew Willig
), nicknamed Yuri the Gobbler because he eats his victims, out of jail.
Later, Mary secretly reveals to Sarah that Yuri was Volkoff's most trusted bodyguard, but she suspects he is involved in a project called "Hydra" which is a database of weapons buyers, sellers and Volkoff's entire infrastructure. Mary also expresses her concern that Sarah may change while undercover. Sarah disables the surveillance system at Castle so she can discuss her plan to break Yuri out of jail. This involves Casey and Morgan posing as prison guards and Chuck as a prisoner. Morgan and Casey distract the other guards with birthday cake as Chuck initiates a fight with Yuri. Yuri tries to eat Chuck, but Chuck flashes and hits him in the head with a weight. Chuck enjoys a few minutes of being "top dog" before another prisoner challenges him. Sarah knocks him out when she comes to retrieve Chuck.
Volkoff initially welcomes Yuri back, before expressing his disappointment and shooting Yuri in the head. It is revealed that Yuri was given the Hydra database as a fake eyeball replacing one of his real eyes. He then removes Yuri's eye and places it on a device, causing information to download into his personal database. Volkoff decides that the device is unnecessary and destroys it with a paperweight. As Mary secretly retrieves a portion of the eye, Volkoff tells Sarah he has a mission for her and they exit. Volkoff, posing as Sarah, sends a message to Casey telling him to meet her alone. At Trident Tower, Volkoff orders Sarah to prove her loyalty by killing Casey, warning her that he will be watching on surveillance cameras. Mary escorts Sarah upstairs to Casey and sneaks her a fragment of the fake eye.
At the apartment, Chuck expresses his concern for Sarah and Casey, and Grimes reveals that he saw where Casey was meeting Sarah. He arrives at the tower, only to be caught by Volkoff's guards.
Casey and Sarah begin to fight, all while discussing how they will fake his death with Volkoff watching. He first tells her to shoot him in the shoulder, which she refuses to do, so instead they agree to push him out the window onto a window washer's platform 40 feet below. As Sarah sneaks Casey a fragment of the fake eye, Chuck arrives and Volkoff tries to convince him to join them. He leads him upstairs just in time to see Sarah push Casey out the window. Casey lands on the platform as planned, but the platform breaks and he falls to the ground. Chuck looks on in disbelief as one of Volkoff's men knocks him out. Sarah tends to him, but leaves when Volkoff asks her to.
Casey is shown to be at a hospital in critical but stable condition; Sarah ceases communication with Team Bartowski.
, Morgan and Casey express their concern that Chuck may become depressed with Sarah undercover. However, Chuck enters the building with a spring in his step, smiling and acting quite chipper.
At his and Morgan's apartment, Chuck eats cereal and listens to a series of beeps and tones. He explains to Morgan that since Sarah is undercover, the CIA developed the tones as a sort of language for he and Sarah to communicate.
Chuck later arrives at Trident Tower just in time to see Sarah push Casey out the window. As Chuck sits at a hospital in disbelief, he sends Sarah an encoded message, which she declines after Mary tells her that it gets easier with distance.
) asks if she can borrow a t-shirt and enters wearing Morgan's "previously unworn, original issue Zemeckis
-authenticated Back to the Future
t-shirt". She proceeds to messily eat pizza and drink orange juice. Chuck tries to get Morgan to save the shirt, but Morgan stays calm and has the epiphany that he's in love with Alex.
When Casey confronts Morgan after seeing Alex leaving Morgan's and Chuck's apartment that morning in one of Morgan's shirts, Morgan initially attempts to deny the sexual component to his relationship with Alex but eventually explains that he cares deeply about Alex; Casey then releases his grip on Morgan and explains, "That's all I wanted to hear." Despite his love for Alex, Casey is uncomfortable expressing it in words and admonishes Morgan likewise to show it with actions rather than stating it in words.
Alex later tells Morgan over Casey's injured and comatose body that, while she's only known Casey a short time, she loves him very much; Morgan assures her that Casey loves her more than she can know.
tells Chuck that she and Devon cannot agree on a name for their unborn baby. She wants Chuck to encourage Devon to name the baby "Grunka". Devon is horrified by the name and has the Buy More
staff use various planned responses to Ellie's name suggestion, including Lester Patel's claim that he lost his virginity to a "filthy" grandmother named Grunka.
After Devon and Ellie discuss baby names again, they finally decide on "Clara". Ellie later reveals she was never serious about the name Grunka; "Grunka" was the name of spoons she recently bought.
episode "Chuck Versus the Tango
", as "Uri", one of two bodyguards escorting the known arms dealer La Ciudad.
gave this episode a score of 7.5 out of 10, praising Dalton's performance. Goldman, however, felt that the episode was "a bit messy and rushed", writing, "At the beginning of the episode, Morgan and Casey talk about the reputation Sarah's been building over several weeks, in order to get on Volkoff's radar, and it felt kind of disappointing that we couldn't see any of that."
HitFix writer Alan Sepinwall noted, "And while there were a lot of good things in 'Chuck vs. the Gobbler,' overall the episode felt like it was racing to get all the pieces into place for next week's episode
..." Commenting on the scene of Yuri's murder and the extraction of the Hydra database, Sepinwall said, "Chuck doesn't usually dabble much in graphic imagery (unless it involves Jeff), so I was a bit surprised by the scene of Volkoff scooping out Yuri's eyeball, even though it was shot in a way where you really didn't see any of what he was doing.
Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club
gave the episode a C-, stating, "Thus, we get 'Chuck Vs. The Gobbler,' a wobbly episode caught between joyful camp
and high-stakes ruminations on the mental capacity of Sarah Walker." Heisler also questioned the ease with which Volkoff downloads the database, "At what point did he notice he was doing too many eyeball data downloads to warrant some sort of plug-in attachment, and decide a permanent fixture was necessary?"
Chuck (season 4)
The fourth season of Chuck was announced on May 13, 2010. Having initially ordered 13 episodes, NBC ordered an additional 11 on October 19, 2010 for a total of 24 episodes....
of Chuck
Chuck (TV series)
Chuck is an action-comedy/spy-drama television program from the United States created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. The series is about an "average computer-whiz-next-door" named Chuck, played by Zachary Levi, who receives an encoded e-mail from an old college friend now working for the Central...
. It originally aired on January 24, 2011. Sarah Walker
Sarah Walker (Chuck)
Sarah Lisa Bartowski is the alias of one of the main characters of the fictional television show Chuck on NBC. She is portrayed by Yvonne Strahovski and is one of two agents assigned by the NSA and CIA to protect Chuck Bartowski after he unwittingly downloads the secret government computer known...
sets out on a perilous undercover mission by assisting Mary Elizabeth Bartowski
Mary Elizabeth Bartowski
Mary Elizabeth Bartowski is a character on the television series Chuck. Mary is the estranged mother of Chuck and Ellie Bartowski. She is portrayed by Linda Hamilton.-Biography:...
(Linda Hamilton
Linda Hamilton
Linda Carroll Hamilton is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Sarah Connor in The Terminator and its sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Catherine Chandler in the television series Beauty and the Beast, for which she was nominated for two Golden Globes and an Emmy...
) in a bid to finally crush criminal mastermind Alexei Volkoff
Alexei Volkoff
Alexei Volkoff is the alias and alter ego of Hartley Winterbottom , a fictional character on the television series Chuck. Volkoff is the head of Volkoff Industries. For the first six episodes of the fourth season, he was an unseen character, directing his operatives from behind the scenes...
(Timothy Dalton
Timothy Dalton
Timothy Peter Dalton ) is a Welsh actor of film and television. He is known for portraying James Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill , as well as Rhett Butler in the television miniseries Scarlett , an original sequel to Gone with the Wind...
). Meanwhile, Ellie
Ellie Bartowski
Eleanor Faye "Ellie" Bartowski Woodcomb, M.D., Ph.D., is the older sister of title character Chuck Bartowski on the television series Chuck. She is portrayed by actress Sarah Lancaster.-Biography:...
and Devon Woodcomb bicker over baby names.
Main Plot
The episode begins in medias resIn medias res
In medias res or medias in res is a Latin phrase denoting the literary and artistic narrative technique wherein the relation of a story begins either at the mid-point or at the conclusion, rather than at the beginning In medias res or medias in res (into the middle of things) is a Latin phrase...
, with Sarah Walker
Sarah Walker (Chuck)
Sarah Lisa Bartowski is the alias of one of the main characters of the fictional television show Chuck on NBC. She is portrayed by Yvonne Strahovski and is one of two agents assigned by the NSA and CIA to protect Chuck Bartowski after he unwittingly downloads the secret government computer known...
and John Casey
John Casey (Chuck)
Colonel John Casey is portrayed by actor Adam Baldwin on the television show Chuck on NBC. Prior to the episode "Chuck Versus the Tic Tac," he was partnered with CIA agent Sarah Walker to protect Chuck Bartowski....
fighting.
Two days earlier, Casey and Morgan Grimes
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....
converse about the reputation Sarah has built undercover as a rogue CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
agent. They reveal that she has finally drawn the attention of Alexei Volkoff
Alexei Volkoff
Alexei Volkoff is the alias and alter ego of Hartley Winterbottom , a fictional character on the television series Chuck. Volkoff is the head of Volkoff Industries. For the first six episodes of the fourth season, he was an unseen character, directing his operatives from behind the scenes...
(Timothy Dalton
Timothy Dalton
Timothy Peter Dalton ) is a Welsh actor of film and television. He is known for portraying James Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill , as well as Rhett Butler in the television miniseries Scarlett , an original sequel to Gone with the Wind...
).
In Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Sarah enters Volkoff Industries
Volkoff Industries
Volkoff Industries is a major organization on the television series Chuck. It is a public business front owned by an international arms dealer named Alexei Volkoff, portrayed by Timothy Dalton. Volkoff Industries is introduced in the third season finale as a threat against which Stephen J...
looking quite different. She and Volkoff discuss why she decided to turn on the CIA. When Volkoff asks why he should trust Sarah, his guards hold her at gunpoint. Sarah easily dispatches the guards and takes aim at Volkoff, telling him the reason he can trust her is because she chose not to kill him when she had the chance. As Volkoff and Sarah toast, Chuck's mother Mary
Mary Elizabeth Bartowski
Mary Elizabeth Bartowski is a character on the television series Chuck. Mary is the estranged mother of Chuck and Ellie Bartowski. She is portrayed by Linda Hamilton.-Biography:...
(Linda Hamilton
Linda Hamilton
Linda Carroll Hamilton is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Sarah Connor in The Terminator and its sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Catherine Chandler in the television series Beauty and the Beast, for which she was nominated for two Golden Globes and an Emmy...
) enters and protests his acceptance of Sarah, warning that Sarah will betray him. Volkoff explains how Sarah could be useful and suggests that she breaks Yuri Gabrienko (Matthew Willig
Matt Willig
Matthew Joseph "Matt" Willig is an American actor and former American football offensive tackle in the National Football League. He stands 6 feet, 8 inches .-Acting:...
), nicknamed Yuri the Gobbler because he eats his victims, out of jail.
Later, Mary secretly reveals to Sarah that Yuri was Volkoff's most trusted bodyguard, but she suspects he is involved in a project called "Hydra" which is a database of weapons buyers, sellers and Volkoff's entire infrastructure. Mary also expresses her concern that Sarah may change while undercover. Sarah disables the surveillance system at Castle so she can discuss her plan to break Yuri out of jail. This involves Casey and Morgan posing as prison guards and Chuck as a prisoner. Morgan and Casey distract the other guards with birthday cake as Chuck initiates a fight with Yuri. Yuri tries to eat Chuck, but Chuck flashes and hits him in the head with a weight. Chuck enjoys a few minutes of being "top dog" before another prisoner challenges him. Sarah knocks him out when she comes to retrieve Chuck.
Volkoff initially welcomes Yuri back, before expressing his disappointment and shooting Yuri in the head. It is revealed that Yuri was given the Hydra database as a fake eyeball replacing one of his real eyes. He then removes Yuri's eye and places it on a device, causing information to download into his personal database. Volkoff decides that the device is unnecessary and destroys it with a paperweight. As Mary secretly retrieves a portion of the eye, Volkoff tells Sarah he has a mission for her and they exit. Volkoff, posing as Sarah, sends a message to Casey telling him to meet her alone. At Trident Tower, Volkoff orders Sarah to prove her loyalty by killing Casey, warning her that he will be watching on surveillance cameras. Mary escorts Sarah upstairs to Casey and sneaks her a fragment of the fake eye.
At the apartment, Chuck expresses his concern for Sarah and Casey, and Grimes reveals that he saw where Casey was meeting Sarah. He arrives at the tower, only to be caught by Volkoff's guards.
Casey and Sarah begin to fight, all while discussing how they will fake his death with Volkoff watching. He first tells her to shoot him in the shoulder, which she refuses to do, so instead they agree to push him out the window onto a window washer's platform 40 feet below. As Sarah sneaks Casey a fragment of the fake eye, Chuck arrives and Volkoff tries to convince him to join them. He leads him upstairs just in time to see Sarah push Casey out the window. Casey lands on the platform as planned, but the platform breaks and he falls to the ground. Chuck looks on in disbelief as one of Volkoff's men knocks him out. Sarah tends to him, but leaves when Volkoff asks her to.
Casey is shown to be at a hospital in critical but stable condition; Sarah ceases communication with Team Bartowski.
Chuck and Sarah
At the Buy MoreBuy More
Buy More is a fictional big box electronics retail chain in NBC's action-comedy series Chuck. The Buy More is a parody of similar chains, particularly Best Buy....
, Morgan and Casey express their concern that Chuck may become depressed with Sarah undercover. However, Chuck enters the building with a spring in his step, smiling and acting quite chipper.
At his and Morgan's apartment, Chuck eats cereal and listens to a series of beeps and tones. He explains to Morgan that since Sarah is undercover, the CIA developed the tones as a sort of language for he and Sarah to communicate.
Chuck later arrives at Trident Tower just in time to see Sarah push Casey out the window. As Chuck sits at a hospital in disbelief, he sends Sarah an encoded message, which she declines after Mary tells her that it gets easier with distance.
Morgan and Alex
Off screen, Alex McHugh (Mekenna MelvinMekenna Melvin
Mekenna Melvin is an American actress known for playing the role of Alex McHugh in Chuck, Angela in Three Rivers, and Stefanie Fife in Lie to Me. She also co-created and will be starring as Amber Hannold in Amber Lake, an independent film due for release in 2010.- Personal life :Melvin was born...
) asks if she can borrow a t-shirt and enters wearing Morgan's "previously unworn, original issue Zemeckis
Robert Zemeckis
Robert Lee Zemeckis is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Zemeckis first came to public attention in the 1980s as the director of the comedic time-travel Back to the Future film series, as well as the Academy Award-winning live-action/animation epic Who Framed Roger Rabbit ,...
-authenticated Back to the Future
Back to the Future
Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...
t-shirt". She proceeds to messily eat pizza and drink orange juice. Chuck tries to get Morgan to save the shirt, but Morgan stays calm and has the epiphany that he's in love with Alex.
When Casey confronts Morgan after seeing Alex leaving Morgan's and Chuck's apartment that morning in one of Morgan's shirts, Morgan initially attempts to deny the sexual component to his relationship with Alex but eventually explains that he cares deeply about Alex; Casey then releases his grip on Morgan and explains, "That's all I wanted to hear." Despite his love for Alex, Casey is uncomfortable expressing it in words and admonishes Morgan likewise to show it with actions rather than stating it in words.
Alex later tells Morgan over Casey's injured and comatose body that, while she's only known Casey a short time, she loves him very much; Morgan assures her that Casey loves her more than she can know.
Ellie and Devon
At the apartment courtyard, EllieEllie Bartowski
Eleanor Faye "Ellie" Bartowski Woodcomb, M.D., Ph.D., is the older sister of title character Chuck Bartowski on the television series Chuck. She is portrayed by actress Sarah Lancaster.-Biography:...
tells Chuck that she and Devon cannot agree on a name for their unborn baby. She wants Chuck to encourage Devon to name the baby "Grunka". Devon is horrified by the name and has the Buy More
Buy More
Buy More is a fictional big box electronics retail chain in NBC's action-comedy series Chuck. The Buy More is a parody of similar chains, particularly Best Buy....
staff use various planned responses to Ellie's name suggestion, including Lester Patel's claim that he lost his virginity to a "filthy" grandmother named Grunka.
After Devon and Ellie discuss baby names again, they finally decide on "Clara". Ellie later reveals she was never serious about the name Grunka; "Grunka" was the name of spoons she recently bought.
Production
Willig earlier appeared in the first seasonChuck (season 1)
- Episodes :- Reception :The first season averaged on, only including the first 11 episodes, 8.68 million viewers per episode.- UK BARB ratings :...
episode "Chuck Versus the Tango
Chuck Versus the Tango
"Chuck Versus the Tango" is the third episode of the TV series Chuck, airing on October 8, 2007. Chuck faces the prospect of his first mission, while Morgan motivates the Nerd Herd to help him out against Harry Tang.-Main Plot:...
", as "Uri", one of two bodyguards escorting the known arms dealer La Ciudad.
Continuity
- Morgan's concern about Chuck, despondent about Sarah being gone, eating CheetosCheetosCheetos is a brand of cheese-flavored cornmeal snack made by Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo. Fritos creator Charles Elmer Doolin invented Cheetos in 1948, and began national distribution in the U.S. The initial success of Cheetos was a contributing factor to the merger between The Frito Company...
and watching The View is a homage to "Chuck Versus the Pink SlipChuck Versus the Pink Slip"Chuck Versus the Pink Slip" is the third season premiere episode of the television series Chuck. It aired on January 10, 2010 in a special two-episode block...
". - In "Chuck Versus the Ring: Part IIChuck Versus the Ring: Part II"Chuck Versus the Ring: Part II" is the 19th episode and season finale of the third season of Chuck. It was originally aired May 24, 2010 in a special two-hour block with "Chuck Versus the Subway." Team Bartowski escapes execution by Shaw, thanks to Morgan and Devon...
", one of Stephen J. BartowskiStephen J. BartowskiStephen J. Bartowski is a recurring character on the television series Chuck portrayed by actor Scott Bakula. Stephen is the estranged father of Chuck and Ellie Bartowski, and under the government codename "Orion" was the chief designer of the Intersect....
's boxes of files was labeled "Identity: Hydra".
Cultural references
- Chuck wears a blue De Blob 2 t-shirt.
- Alex wears a "previously unworn, original issue Zemeckis-authenticated Back to the FutureBack to the FutureBack to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...
t-shirt". - Sarah's current appearance is a homage to Yvonne Strahovski's character Miranda Lawson from Mass Effect 2Mass Effect 2Mass Effect 2 is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The game was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on January 26, 2010 and for PlayStation 3 on January 18, 2011...
. It has also been described as "part Emma PeelEmma PeelEmma Peel was a fictional spy played by Diana Rigg in the British 1960s adventure television series The Avengers. She was born Emma Knight, the daughter of an industrialist, Sir John Knight.-Casting:...
, part Black WidowBlack Widow (Marvel Comics)Black Widow is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics Universe...
". - Ellie is reading Amy TanAmy TanAmy Tan is an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships. Her most well-known work is The Joy Luck Club, which has been translated into 35 languages...
's The Joy Luck ClubThe Joy Luck ClubThe Joy Luck Club is a best-selling novel written by Amy Tan. It focuses on four Chinese American immigrant families in San Francisco, California who start a club known as "the Joy Luck Club," playing the Chinese game of mahjong for money while feasting on a variety of foods...
. - Chuck asks when The View will air.
- Chuck, Casey, and Morgan play RiskRisk (game)Risk is a strategic board game, produced by Parker Brothers . It was invented by French film director Albert Lamorisse and originally released in 1957 as La Conquête du Monde in France. Risk is a turn-based game for two to six players...
.
Music
- "AM/FM Sound" by Matt & Kim
- "Midnite Runaround" by Pop LeviPop LeviPop Levi is an English singer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and filmmaker. Pop Levi's career started in Liverpool. He was the founding member, along with Snap Ant and Loka, of Super Numeri, and has played bass for Ladytron both on record and on tour...
- "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" by The NationalThe National (band)The National is an indie rock band formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1999 and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. The band's lyrics are written and sung by Matt Berninger, a baritone...
- "Silvia" by Miike SnowMiike SnowMiike Snow is a Swedish indie pop band formed in 2007. The band consists of producing team Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg and Andrew Wyatt.-Early years:Miike Snow was formed in 2007 in Stockholm, Sweden....
Critical response
Eric Goldman of IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave this episode a score of 7.5 out of 10, praising Dalton's performance. Goldman, however, felt that the episode was "a bit messy and rushed", writing, "At the beginning of the episode, Morgan and Casey talk about the reputation Sarah's been building over several weeks, in order to get on Volkoff's radar, and it felt kind of disappointing that we couldn't see any of that."
HitFix writer Alan Sepinwall noted, "And while there were a lot of good things in 'Chuck vs. the Gobbler,' overall the episode felt like it was racing to get all the pieces into place for next week's episode
Chuck Versus the Push Mix
"Chuck Versus the Push Mix" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of Chuck. It originally aired on January 31, 2011. Much like "Chuck Versus the Other Guy" in the third season, this episode was intended to be the fourth season finale before an additional eleven episodes were ordered...
..." Commenting on the scene of Yuri's murder and the extraction of the Hydra database, Sepinwall said, "Chuck doesn't usually dabble much in graphic imagery (unless it involves Jeff), so I was a bit surprised by the scene of Volkoff scooping out Yuri's eyeball, even though it was shot in a way where you really didn't see any of what he was doing.
Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
gave the episode a C-, stating, "Thus, we get 'Chuck Vs. The Gobbler,' a wobbly episode caught between joyful camp
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
and high-stakes ruminations on the mental capacity of Sarah Walker." Heisler also questioned the ease with which Volkoff downloads the database, "At what point did he notice he was doing too many eyeball data downloads to warrant some sort of plug-in attachment, and decide a permanent fixture was necessary?"