Chuck Official Site
The Time: Mondays, 8:00 PM, NBC
The Show:
Chuck
Bartowski is just an average guy who works at the local Burbank,
California Buy More (think Best Buy) store and lives with his sister,
Ellie and her fiance, Captain Awesome. Chuck’s life has
stagnated since his best friend Bryce Larkin framed him for cheating,
resulting in his getting kicked out of Stanford. However,
Chuck’s life changes when Bryce, who’s actually a rogue CIA agent,
chooses Chuck into which to download the only copy of the CIA / NSA
computer database called The Intersect. Now, until the
government can find a way to get the Intersect out of his head, Chuck
is an unwilling secret agent, able to access the data whenever he sees
or hears something that causes a mnemonic “flash” of the Intersect in
his mind. Chuck is protected by CIA Agent Sarah Walker, a hot
and lethal CIA agent on whom he has a crush, and NSA Agent John Casey,
of whom he’s constantly afraid.
The Stars:
• Zachary Levi – Chuck Bartowski
• Yvonne Strahovski – CIA Agent Sarah Walker
• Adam Baldwin – NSA Agent John Casey
• Joshua Gomez – Morgan Grimes
• Sarah Lancaster – Ellie Bartowski
• Ryan McPartlin – Captain Awesome
• Vik Sahay – Lester Patel
• Mark Christopher Lawrence – Big Mike
• Julia Ling – Anna Wu
• Scott Krinsky – Jeff
The Episode: “Chuck vs. the Gravitron”
Sarah and Casey have to find Chuck ASAP when he goes off on a romantic getaway with his ex / new girlfriend, Jill (Jordana Brewster), who turns out to be an enemy agent. Meanwhile, Morgan, Jeff and Lester are in need f Thanksgiving plans that don’t involve standing guard at the Buy More over Thanksgiving Weekend.
The Lowdown:
This wasn’t a bad episode although there have been better ones this season. It was no big surprise that Chuck’s ex, Jill, was a FULCRUM agent, as was revealed in last week’s episode. The General (Bonita Friedericy) wants Chuck to use his relationship with her to explore what FULCRUM’s agenda is. Normally, Chuck would have an issue with this, but when he finds out that Jill betrayed him not once, but now twice, he’s all for it. Casey and Sarah quickly find out that Jill is a FULCRUM agent and spring to Chuck’s “rescue” when they abscond for some personal time. When Chuck and Jill end up at a local carnival, just like they did when they first hooked up during their Stanford courtship, Jill is contacted by her FULCRUM handler, code-named Leader (Patrick Kilpatrick) and told to kill Chuck as some sort of test of her loyalty.
Luckily Chuck isn’t wasted, which would pretty much end the show right there, and he ends up eluding Leader on a carnie ride called the Gravitron, which is one of those centripetal force rides that spins around at great speed. Jill is captured and interrogated by Sarah and Casey, and she proves to be more complicated than simply a FULCRUM agent looking to do some malfeasance. While this is all going on, Morgan, Lester and Jeff end up locked in the Buy More by Big Mike, who wants to guard against a possible break in before the Black Friday shopping rush. Meanwhile, Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) is freaking because Awesome’s parents, who are both distinguished doctors, are joining them for Thanksgiving dinner.
Jill’s ultimate agenda turns out to be more complicated than Chuck thought, although he can’t help but still be enthralled by his infatuation for her. There’s a pivotal showdown where Chuck must choose between his affection for Jill and his loyalty to the government (i.e. Sarah). Along the way, Big Mike makes a contribution to the case when he mistakes Leader for a common burglar at the Buy More and gives him a football tackle worthy of Reggie White.
Levi as Chuck gets to show that his character continues to be resourceful when he turns the tables on Leader when he captures Sarah and Casey. Chuck also gets to finally put his past history with Jill behind him, because when it comes down to a choice between Sarah and Jill, there really is no choice for him. The Buy More B-story, which is usually the comedic backbone of any episode, doesn’t really have the gusto this episode, as it’s mildly diverting at best. No, this episode is strictly carried by Levi himself. There’s a poignant scene where Jill is hooked up to a lie detector and Chuck queries her about their past relationship and whether it was ever real or not. And we do learn that FULCRUM’S agenda, at least for this episode, involves another spy from Chucks past. This wasn’t a great episode, but still not a bad one.
(Reviewer’s note: there were no pics for this episode posted yet, so I went with what I could find.)