Chuck Versus the Wedding Planner

In 1988 McCall, Idaho, Sarah Walker (Alexa Blair) assists her father Jack Burton (Gary Cole) with a number of confidence tricks.

However, when reading the plans for the Gerlich wedding, Chuck flashes on the names of Franz (Thom Williams), Bruno (Kevin Makely), and Paulie Klüg (George Ketsios), Hungarian scientists in the possession of Iranian nuclear research on a portable device called the "Zephyr", which one of the brothers is always carrying.

Jack realizes that the Klügs have been performing a shell game: the government has been pursuing them for the Zephyr when none of them ever had it; their father (Timothy V. Murphy) had it all along.

When Chuck and Sarah confront him, Klüg uses Morgan as a human shield, but John Casey (Adam Baldwin) takes aim at his head.

"Chuck Versus the Wedding Planner" was directed by Anton Cropper and written by Rafe Judkins and Lauren LeFranc.

[5] Series co-creator Chris Fedak revealed at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) that Gary Cole would return as Sarah's father Jack Burton,[2] and Zap2it confirmed in April 2011 that Cole would appear in "Chuck Versus the Wedding Planner",[6] after last appearing in the second season episode "Chuck Versus the DeLorean".

[10] In contrast, Alan Sepinwall and Eric Goldman noted, in their respective reviews for HitFix and IGN, allusions in "Chuck Versus the Wedding Planner" to past episodes.

Gary Cole's return was highly praised, as well as the scene in which Sarah imitates the face Chuck makes when the Intersect has a "flash".

[1][7][8][9][10][12] HitFix Senior Editor Alan Sepinwall wrote, "Cole's return was as much fun as I hoped it would be - in some ways, even better than his first appearance in season two's 'Chuck vs. the Delorean,' where I liked Sarah and Jack's interaction but thought the actual con job was a bit thin.

But once Jack turned up in Burbank to help his daughter and her schnook of a fiance be heroes and get back in the good graces of General Beckman, 'Wedding Planner' was really very strong, both as a comedy piece (loved Yvonne Strahovski's accent as she impersonated Daphne) and another story about Sarah's colorful but ultimately sad past.

[7] Melody Simpson of Buzz Focus wrote, "This story line has the potential to bring lots of drama but the way that it has been building up to this moment.

"[3] Brittany Frederick of Starpulse wrote that the episode reminded her "of all the reasons I fell in love with this show a year ago.