I’d like to say I found this episode poorly written. There were just so many plot devices which were to convenient and unrealistic.
In no particular order
Why did Steve Austin have to open the cell doors 1 at a time, and in order? That isn’t how computers work. Especially not state of the art government holding facilities.
The voice recognition program Casey had to deal with was just awful. This isn’t 2002, decent voice recognition software exists and a top of the line brand new CIA/NSA substation would use said software, or if it didn’t function properly use another interface.
Why on earth would there be an escape ladder leading to a (human sized) ventilation system inside a prisoner’s cell? The previous castle’s cell doors opened automatically in the event of an emergency. They only covered a power loss previously, but it can be assumed a fire would also open them or some other such emergency (if a loss of power would).
The way in which Steve Austin escaped was totally unrealistic given the circumstances. When serving a prisoner food you do not enter the room armed(if you enter at all), you have other guards nearby, and you close the door if he isn’t on the far side of the room when you attempt to enter.
New video game launches for recent years have pushed pre-ordering games meaning the correct number will be sent to each store and if you show up w/o a preorder you can’t EXPECT a copy to be available. A slightly more plausible scenario would have been the delivery being delayed, not the distributor only agreeing to send 4 copies with a short phone call an hour before launch.
Video games are shipped to stores in advance, at the latest you would have them instore before sundown the night of a major launch. Stores are simply not allowed to sell the games prior to midnight.
The fight between Steve Austin / Chuck was horrible. Chuck did not flash, meaning the former RING OPERATIVE with huge muscles should have killed him in literally 10 seconds with the weapons available at the time. Why would this former ring operative leave Chuck alive, he was very angry earlier in the episode and was willing to kill him on the airplane which Chuck captured him.
They (the writers) keep trying to tell us how great of a spy Sarah is, if that were the case why would she not put her personal feelings aside until after the mission rather than discuss personal issues in front of prisoners while getting easily distracted?
Also perhaps they explained this and I missed it, but why would Steve Austin not leave the Buy More but instead headed for a group of angry gamers?
As far as the helicopter ambush on the roof, did the US government suddenly stop using radios and watching air traffic around CIA/NSA/Military bases? (especially during prisoner transfers)
And something that bothers me less (but still a little) why are Chuck/Sarah/Casey so keen on talking about their off the books mission to find Chuck’s mother INSIDE castle, which is completely wired with A/V surveillance? Seems to me like the General should already know whats going on and have confronted them about it.
Reading back at my spoiler text, I don’t want to give off the feeling that I demand perfection from Chuck as I know it was always a show focused more on character development than plot devices/realism. I look forward to seeing next weeks episode, and I hope it isn’t so poorly done.