Chuck has claimed his love will always remain "the exact same Sarah Walker."

But that wasn't really the case in "Chuck Versus the Gobbler." Draped in leather, wearing a jet black wig and sunglasses, this was not the blonde, orange mini skirt-donning, ice cream scooper we knew from a couple of seasons ago. 

Sarah was attempting to convince Volkoff that she had turned bad this week, and while that may have proved to be easier than one might imagine, it involved tearing herself away from Chuck.  This was not an easy task for Agent Walker.

While some have complained that Chuck and Sarah have never been able to just be happy, I ask: who wants to watch that?  Chuck has done a good job lately of keeping conflict between our romantic heroes, yet not making any of it seem stale. 

Sarah is undercover in Volkoff Industries and, therefore, has to stay away from Chuck.  Mama B explains that keeping her distance from Chuck will make things easier, so Sarah declines to read Charles's text message near the end of the episode.  The fact that we know how much Sarah misses Chuck makes the fact that she hits that decline button so much more of a gut punch.

Before we ponder what may lie ahead for our favorite CIA agents, let's take a look at what we got out of the Chuck Triple Threat this week.

Action
We should begin with the epic fight between Sarah and Casey. That second fall from the platform looked like a doozy for Casey, and seeing him so helpless in that hospital bed was a new experience.  It's not often that a character has any physical repercussions for all of the trouble he/she gets into.  This latest injury might make the stakes seem a little more real in the future.  If Casey is up and at 'em in the next  episode, I will be angry.

There was also the nice moment when Sarah took out Volkoff's three guards like they were standing still, which they were.  Chuck got in on things when he took out The Gobbler after a long struggle at the prison.  Now, I understand that The Intersect allows Chuck to be able to fight like a pro, but it shouldn't make him more tolerable to pain. 

This huge dude's punches would've knocked him out in season one.  Is it normal for Chuck to have gained this much tolerance?  And, finally, we had Volkoff just flat out shoot The Gobbler in the head for disappointing him.  I did not see that coming!  It was shades of Emmett Milbarge getting mirked in the face a couple seasons ago.

Comedy
There weren't many one-liners this week from the Buy Morons, but that doesn't mean they didn't make that scene count.  It was nice to get Awesome and Ellie back for the first time in 2011, and Awesome's plan to get Ellie off of the name Grunka for their baby was, in a word, awesome! 

Which would turn you off to the name more: Lester losing his virginity to a Grunka?  There being a serial killer named Grunka?  Or Jeff simply liking the name Grunka?  I'm going with Lester.

Of course, Morgan had his moments.  Some of my favorites included him practicing his tough guy voice; telling Casey that his daughter was wearing Morgan's t-shirt because it's cold and sometimes they have "shirt parties;" all of his antics at the faux birthday party for the security guard; and his introduction of Chuck as a "real killer" at the prison.

Heart
Like I noted at the beginning of the review, this episode's heartfelt moments began and ended with Sarah and Chuck being so close, but having to be so far away for now.  My favorite was the both sweet and hilarious moment that Chuck told Sarah he loved her, kissed his finger, and then placed it on Sarah's cheek.  Him immediately asking "Was that weird? That whole finger kissy thingy?" had me bursting out in laughter, but it was very sweet.

This Volkoff guy is really growing on me.  He may be the evil bad guy, but he is also a romantic sap, and I like that combination.  This week, he explained that he loves paintings, poetry, and the art of massage, before begging Mama B to have dinner, lunch, breakfast, or a bit of cake with him.  He is a sucker for the ladies, and hopefully it will help Sarah get Mama B out of there for good one of these days.

Moving Forward
So Sarah is in now. Volkoff buys that she's turned on the CIA, right?  Or does he?  I never questioned that he would let Sarah into the fold this easily, but I did a double take when he so quickly allowed her to see everything in the Hydra eyeball.  After he demolished it and downloaded it to a more secure location, I'm back to thinking maybe he doesn't trust her after all.

How long is it going to take Sarah to bring this whole thing down?  Since I believe this season was originally 13 episodes long, I'm assuming next week's is going to be a big one. And since creator Josh Schwartz tweeted that "the last 5 mins of episode 13 are the best 5 mins CHUCK has ever done," I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

Dan Forcella is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter.