Hartley Winterbottom | |||||||||||||||||||
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Nobody names a person that.
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Hartley Winterbottom is the true, original identity of the man known to the world as Alexei Volkoff. He was an MI6 scientist on the original Intersect team along with Stephen Bartowski (Scott Bakula), and they were the first Human Intersects.
He is portrayed by Timothy Dalton. Hartley served as the primary antagonist of Season 4.
Hartley Winterbottom[]
Hartley and Stephen Bartowski were close friends, based on what Hartley's mother told Chuck. When working on the Intersect, the CIA agreed to let Hartley go undercover, though he was a scientist not a field agent. The Intersect was still in development, and Stephen had tested it on himself, but had not worked out all the bugs. Together, Stephen and Hartley created a fictitious profile for Hartley to play while undercover: Alexei Volkoff, an international arms dealer. Much like Stephen, Hartley hated guns, and was a retiring man, and this would prove to be a liability if he were to go undercover as a ruthless arms dealer. Hartley convinced Stephen to let him use the Intersect for the mission. The version of Intersect uploaded into Hartley was only meant to temporarily overwrite his real identity and replace it with his invented persona, and according to Mary, it was supposed to last for only a few months.
Alexei Volkoff[]
For some reason, Hartley's Intersect overwhelmed him, virtually burying everything that made him Hartley, and replacing it with the attributes of his cover identity. Volkoff didn't remember anything about who he actually was, and even subconsciously, he believed himself to be Alexei Volkoff. He quickly acted on his invented identity, working as Volkoff and became a criminal arms dealer and succeeded in the business with ruthless efficiency. He founded Volkoff Industries, catering to the destructive needs of various high level, dangerous criminal organizations, such as The Ring.
Mary Bartowski (Linda Hamilton) aka Frost, was sent into Volkoff Industries undercover. Based on information imparted in Chuck Versus the Leftovers, she was sent by the CIA into Volkoff Industries to take down Volkoff's network working as a mole in his Company. It is also possible, even probably, that she and Orion decided that she could also work to correct the Intersect overwrite and help Hartley return. She and her husband would spend the rest of their lives trying to undo the damage the Intersect had done. Meanwhile, to avoid the scandal of an international supervillain having been created by the CIA, the US government buried all evidence of Winterbottom's original identity.
Season 4[]
Volkoff made his first appearance in Chuck Versus the First Fight posing as Gregory Tuttle, an apparently timid MI6 handler with no field training, with Frost as his asset. The preset meeting and undercover identity were a protocol made by Volkoff and Frost as a way to safely bring her in when she went on operations at a distance from Volkoff Industries, or if captured. He goes to the lengths to arranging a woman to tranq him and Chuck, a plane to take them to "Volkoff", and even has a team of agents track him down at a bank to take him and Chuck. The reason as to why he scripted all of this was likely to earn Chuck's trust and convince him of the tale they then told him, that he and Frost were legitimate spies, and there was a way to prove her innocence.
Once they get thee package, he hands Chuck the disks allegedly with the evidence clearing Mary on them. However, the disks were triangle shaped and they worked only on Phalanx XR-12 computers. One such computer was available in Orion's secret base. Just before they leave to go to Orion's base. Tuttle gets shot and lays dying. He tells Chuck to take the disks and clear his mothers name.
However, when Chuck, Sarah, and Mary utilize the base computer and Chuck finds the disks empty, it becomes clear that they were part of a hoax to gain access to the base. Mary then uses a device from storage to suppresses Chuck's Intersect. The man Chuck knew as Tuttle appears in the base, perfectly fine and reveals that his name is Alexei Volkoff, and that everything had been part of a plan for him and Frost to find Orion's secret base. He then went on to tie up Chuck and Sarah, plant some bombs through the base and tell Chuck that he was a fool, much like Orion. Volkoff wondered how Orion had convinced him to follow in his footsteps, unaware Chuck was Stephen's son. Once the bombs were planted, he and Frost left Orion's secret base and detonated the bombs, destroying all the files and technology in there in the process, but not before Mary gave Sarah the means to save herself and Chuck.
In Chuck Versus the Leftovers, Volkoff finds out that 'Agent Carmichael' is still alive. Unbeknownst to him, Mary had passed Sarah a blade for her to cut the ropes and escape with Chuck, before leaving them in the doomed base. He assigns his top three assassins in the United States to assist Frost in killing Charles Carmichael. Before they get the chance to kill him, Frost betrays and kills them. She then tells Chuck to come with her if he wants to live. Chuck, Sarah, and Mary head to Castle, and Mary tries to explain the situation to Chuck, but Chuck's lack of trust and traumatic bias causes him to be a liability in the interrogation, which leads to Sarah shutting him out of the room while questioning Frost.
By the closing time of Buy More, Volkoff manages to get one of his agents to pose as a woman desperate to get a 7G Smartphone on sale, in order to get the Buy More door open and to get Frost out of the CIA base. He spares no expense with preparations, bringing along a team of agents with automatic weapons, soldering equipment, bombs, and a hacker named K.K. with a high grade computer system. While his team starts cutting through the elevator shaft, he disables the CIA weapons system and kills all communications, thus effectively locking in Agent Carmichael and his team with no access to backup. He calls Chuck and demands to talk to Frost. It is then that his romantic obsession toward Frost is revealed. At the end of the call, Chuck questions his mother about who Alexei is to her. Frost states that they have never been together, but Volkoff is in love with her. Sarah explains to Chuck that Volkoff's feelings allow Mary to be on the inside of his operation and allows her to get access to the deepest recesses of his operation. After Volkoff threatens Chuck with a thermite bomb, Chuck and Sarah decide to surface with Mary. Volkoff breaks the deal, admits to lying, and in defense, states, "you threatened the woman I love". He points a gun at Chuck, but before he is able to pull the trigger, Mary is forced to reveal that Chuck is her son in order to save him.
Upon learning the truth, Volkoff is stunned, but doesn't seem to be as hostile or angry toward Chuck anymore. He also finds out that Frost also has a daughter, when Ellie calls up the Buy More phone to ask Chuck if he was going to come over for dinner. Out of desire to prove to Mary that he can bond with her family, Volkoff invites himself in the dinner, claims to be Mary's handler who cleared her name, and even happily plays charades with the family after dinner. During the game of charades, Chuck whispers the truth to Devon about Volkoff's true profession and nature, and convinces him to not freak out, sneak in a gun from his apartment, and alert the CIA. Once Devon makes up an excuse to leave with Ellie, Volkoff hugs and kisses the couple goodbye before deducing that Chuck and Sarah had alerted the CIA.
Volkoff's men aim their guns toward Chuck and Sarah, and when Frost aims her gun toward Sarah, Sarah drops her weapon, allowing Volkoff to take it and aim at her. Frost then aims her gun at Volkoff, and threatens him, saying she could never be with someone who hurt her family in any way, and if he did, she would end him. Volkoff lowers the weapon, smiles at Chuck and tells him that that is a real threat, before walking away.
Sarah Walker[]
At the end of Chuck Versus the Balcony, General Beckman sets in motion a carefully calculated plan to establish Sarah's identity as a traitor, in order to help her enter Volkoff Industries as a double agent, with Volkoff thinking that she was a rogue turncoat. In Chuck Versus the Gobbler, Volkoff starts noticing Sarah's work as a rogue agent and calls her into his office alongside three of his guards. Upon being questioned why he would trust her, Sarah beats up the guards, aims the weapons she retrieves at Alexei, and does not kill him. Seeing that act, Volkoff chuckles, declares that she is such fun and welcomes her to Volkoff Industries. Frost suggests that she will betray him and suggests a first mission; to break Yuri the Gobbler out of prison. Later in the day, Frost meets Sarah in Volkoff's compound and tells her that Yuri is the only person who has access to the Hydra network, which is a crucial database, vital to the operations of Volkoff Industries.
With a little "under the radar" help from Chuck, Morgan, and Casey, she breaks Yuri out of prison. Once she returns to Volkoff Industries with Yuri, Volkoff welcomes him back, and claims that he went at a complete loss after Yuri was arrested. Yuri apologizes, Volkoff responds by saying that he's not angry, just a little disappointed. Volkoff then corrects himself and says he's incredibly disappointed before shooting Yuri in the head, killing him. He takes out Yuri's prosthetic eye and reveals to Frost and Sarah that the Hydra Network access was stored in a glass eye,"Yuri didn't know about Hydra. Yuri was Hydra. I hired Yuri to carry this device on him at all times. It cost him an eyeball but earned him an unparalleled place in my corporation." He goes on to show them the Hydra Network, then transfers it to a more secure location, and destroys the eye, saying that the system's only flaw was human error. At that point, Mary appropriates a large piece of the false eye that had fallen on the ground, hiding it under her foot, and later stores it in a small box.
Volkoff tells Sarah that he has another mission for her, and along with her and Frost, he flies to Los Angeles. After reaching the Trident Tower, he shows Sarah an image of the fake ID badge used by Casey while breaking Yuri out of prison, and asks her if she knows him. Sarah answers that question by saying, "he is still loyal to me, so why not take advantage of him." In order to verify the answer, he hands her a weapon and sends her upstairs with Frost to kill Casey, who waits on the 9th floor, not knowing that the text he had received from Sarah's phone to meet there was actually sent by Alexei Volkoff.
Before Sarah and Frost leave, he tells Sarah that he'll be watching, and shows them the live security feed of the building on his phone to prove it. Sarah and Frost begin climbing up the stairs of the building and discuss possible plans to fake the killing. Just before they reach the 9th floor, Frost hands Sarah the piece of the false eye she had taken, telling her to give it to Casey if she gets the chance. Sarah intentionally knocks over a can to alert Casey that she is sneaking up to him from behind. As they brawl, Sarah tells him that she has been tasked to kill him and that Volkoff is watching. During the brawl, Volkoff watches the fight from downstairs. Sarah and Casey plan ways of faking his death during the fight. Casey first suggests that she shoot him in the shoulder, which she declines. Then, Casey spots a platform that is 40 feet below them, outside the building, and tells her to knock him out on to that platform, claiming that he has survived up to 60 feet before. Trusting his word on this, Sarah agrees to the plan.
Meanwhile, Chuck shows up downstairs, trying to find Casey and Sarah. Alexei and his men spot him, and in a falsely friendly manner, he takes Chuck upstairs to see the brawl in person, "There's a particular moment when an agent makes the decision to stop pretending, and to take the leap to join the other side. It's a game-changing step. Your mother made it all those years ago. And now, if you'll come with me, we'll see if Sarah's going to make the same step. I think she will." By the time they get upstairs, Casey is making the fight look legitimate. Upon being offered by Volkoff to kill Casey with a gun, Sarah says no, and delivers a punch, causing the glass behind him to break, as he falls out of the window and on to the platform, as planned.
At first, Sarah looks relieved that it worked, but the platform breaks, and he falls down on the ground. Sarah is not sure if her friend is alive or dead at that point. Volkoff has one of his agents to knock Chuck unconscious and leaves with Frost and Sarah.
Endgame[]
After returning to his base in Moscow, Volkoff's power in the complex is shutting down sporadically. When the elevator stops while opening, he immediately jumps out of the elevator. The lights go off and electricity goes haywire. Volkoff calls up his assistant to try and get the problems fixed, but his phone line is cut off, and his TV screen is hacked in to. The message on his screen reads "I want my wife back." Upon asking who's doing this, Volkoff gets his answer on the screen, "ORION". He stares at the screen in horror, as the word ORION multiplies and flashes on the screen.
He calls his assistant, Armand, into his office the next day and assigns him to find Orion's whereabouts. After that, he takes Frost and Walker with him to the Contessa, his ship and the location of the new Hydra network.
While at sea, he finds Frost in the server room, trying to access the Hydra network, along with Chuck, Sarah, and Morgan. Frost manages to hold Alexei hostage and the other three escape, but in the process, gets trapped inside with Volkoff and his men. He confronts her with the false messages Chuck had implanted in his system, "...this message led Armand to hundreds more. You've been talking to Orion every day for years. Night after night, behind my back! That's why you didn't want me near you?"
He finally tells her, "I'm going to visit your husband, and when I come back, I'll bring you his body." He travels to Orion's cabin to kill Stephen, but it's Chuck who meets him, having manipulated his fears and jealousies to get him there. Volkoff acknowledges "I have to admit, it was a good plan. Using my own jealousy against me."
He and all of his men are taken by Beckman and her strike team. As he is marched away in handcuffs, he tells Chuck, "Tell your mom to come visit. It's been fun."
Return to Hartley[]
In Chuck Versus the Cliffhanger Volkoff is removed from his cell and put on a transport by Clyde Decker. While enroute to a CIA holding facility, Decker has the Intersect removed from Volkoff, and he becomes a Hartley again: a kind, thoughtful, rather timid man, instead of the ruthless and fearless Volkoff. He no longer expresses romantic obsession with Mary, and at least initially, has no memories of his thirty years as a supervillain.
When taken to Moscow by Chuck to infiltrate Volkoff Industries, he turns and flees rather than face a daughter he does not know, "What do you say to a daughter you've never even met? 'I'm so sorry I've ruined your life?' No, no. I'm sorry, I can't see her. I'm going to run away now."
He eventually works up the nerve to see her however, and arrives in her office, "I just asked to be shown to my office, everyone was really nice, they, they all jumped up to help me. I guess I must have been a harsh boss." He convinces his daughter, Vivian, that she is not a Volkoff, "You're a good person and you come from a good family. You've fallen into the wrong world, the wrong life, but this isn't you. You're not a killer."
When Chuck then gave him and his daughter new, clean identities, so they could start over, Hartley later returned the favor by giving Chuck and Sarah most of the assets from Volkoff Industries as a wedding gift to the tune of 877 million dollars.
Trivia[]
- Volkoff's profile is seen in Chuck's flash in Chuck Versus the Cubic Z, where he is described as a 6'2" male, which corresponds to Timothy Dalton's height in real life.
- When Volkoff points a gun at Chuck at the end of the episode Chuck Versus the Leftovers, he flicks around with the back of his handgun, an obvious reference to Timothy Dalton's James Bond.
- Volkoff's name in Russian is usually spelled Volkov. Such replacement of "ov" with "off" is characteristic of the French version. Russian nobles often used French as a first language prior to the rise of Communism; the Volkoff identity therefore may have been descended from Russian expatriates.
- In Chuck Versus the First Fight, he takes on the alias of Gregory Tuttle based on a preset protocol in order to meet and safely bring in Agent Frost every time she worked on operations at a distance from Volkoff Industries. This profile, however, is very similar to his real identity which was suppressed by his intersect identity at the time. He wore a similar outfit, sported a similar personality while in the staged airplane fight, and claimed to work at MI6, where Hartley worked.
- Tuttle was the name of Hawkeye Pierce's childhood imaginary friend in the series M*A*S*H (1973), he used the name when creating a fictitious officer, Captain Jonathan S. Tuttle in the Season 1 episode Tuttle, saying donated supplies for the orphanage were his doing. So convincingly did Hawkeye, Trapper, and Radar maintain the charade that everyone at the 4077th ended up believing he was real and even believed that they knew him.
Main Characters | ||
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Charles "Chuck" Bartowski • Sarah Walker • John Casey • Morgan Grimes • | ||
Anna Wu • Alex McHugh • Alexei Volkoff • Bryce Larkin • Carina Miller • Clara Woodcomb • Clyde Decker • Daniel Shaw • Diane Beckman • Emmett Milbarge • Gertrude Verbanski • Hannah • Harry Tang • Jane Bentley • Jill Roberts • Langston Graham • Mary Bartowski • Nicholas Quinn • Stephen Bartowski • Vivian Volkoff |