Chuck: Chuck Versus the Gravitron

(S02E08) "You already broke my heart, is it necessary to shoot it as well?" - Chuck to Jill

It must be a Thanksgiving thing because Monday night TV was tremendous. And as I mentioned in my post of thanks, I'm grateful to my DVR because in addition to enjoying this Chuck episode, I also gorged myself on How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men and Samantha Who, all of them excellent installments. How lucky can you get?

Well, if you're Chuck, you only get so much luck. Of all the girls in all the world, why did his first love, the lovely Jill, have to turn out to be a spy? Make that a bad girl spy.

Poor Chuck was just getting some serious booty, when the damn truth came out about Jill, the intersect kicked in and Jill, the Fulcrum agent, code name Sandstorm, emerged. We learned much of her badness in the last episode. In this one, we learned along with Chuck, if he and Jill had a shot at a future together.

The gravitron of the title was the set piece for a carnival scene in which Chuck faced peril -- again. In typical Chuck style, the nerd used his guile and quirks to save his skin. Thank goodness for that Stanford education because Chuck is often facing down the barrel of a gun.

The carnival setting was very Alfred Hitchcock -- Strangers On A Train -- as well as Orson Welles' The Lady from Shanghai, with the hall of mirrors scene. In the scene at the top of the ferris wheel, Jill pulled the seduction scene just the Sarah said she would, and still Chuck fell for it. I love Chuck, but does he have to always seem to be such a romantic dope? There are times when you just want to smack him. Of course, Sarah warns him later not to lose that soft, mushy center, but there are times when I wish he'd be more circumspect.

Ultimately, Chuck's affinity for all things geeky -- as indicated by his having read the Castle manual which looks like a very large copy of the Bible -- he's able to double cross the Fulcrum agents who have double crossed him to gain entry into the Castle in the first place. Before all that, though, we had Jill strapped to a lie detector, a la Meet the Parents. Yes, there were a lot of movie references in this episode, which I love.

Even the final encounter between Jill and Chuck had movie overtones. Chuck let Jill believe that he would let her get away -- and he said he might have if she hadn't threatened to kill Sarah -- but would he really have gone off with her? Would Sam Spade let Brigid O'Shaughnessy play him for a sap in The Maltese Falcon? No, she was bad and she had to pay. So, too, does Jill.

Big Mike enlisted Morgan into the "lonely bastard patrol" at Buy More -- with Jeff and Lester -- locking them in the store to keep the Black Friday merchandise from being robbed. When faced with a plastic, microwave turkey dinner, Morgan opted to make a break to get a real turkey, even if it is in Ellie's garbage (a Seinfeld moment). Before he can get out, though, he gets trapped in the electric door (Young Frankenstein), then when he's finally on the other side of the glass, Morgan and Lester's goodbye pays homage to the scene from The Wrath of Khan between Spock and Kirk, only without the tears.

How funny was it that Morgan salivated over the sight of a roast turkey, not Ellie's oh-so-attractive, clingy sweater? It was great that the Awesomes canceled and Chuck's friends could share Thanksgiving with his family. Only where was Casey? Come on, Sarah was there. That was the only moment that bothered me all night.