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May 27, 2012

Chuck: Chuck Versus the Best Friend

by Allison Waldman, posted Feb 24th 2009 10:55AM

chuck(S02E14) Twosomes were very much the theme in this episode, not just Chuck and Morgan, but Devon and Ellie, Jeff and Lester, Morgan and Anna, and -- naturally -- Chuck and Sarah as well as Chuck and Casey. There were scenes that dealt with all these pairs and their dynamics.

The case involved Anna's new boyfriend, car dealer extraordinaire Jason Wang, who caused Chuck's intersect to go off and he was involved with an Asian group of baddies called the Triad. To uncover what they were up to, the General -- whom I'm starting to really detest -- ordered Chuck to get close to Anna's boyfriend, which meant betraying Morgan.

Faced with a question of conscience, Chuck couldn't do it. Sarah and Casey, ironically, had no qualms. This is the main difference between them and Chuck; he is not a trained agent and devoid of emotion. He can't follow orders like Casey and Sarah, and they don't get that.

Chuck and Morgan have best friends since kindergarten (and the flashback reminded me of Shawn and Gus in Psych). Casey appreciated Chuck's loyalty, which was refreshing, but he still told him, "Orders before honor." Ouch.

In the other duos, Ellie pressed Devon to take on some of the wedding plans. Could it be that the reason Devon is so awesome because he gets others to do his work? You have to wonder when he dumps the band assignment on Chuck, saying, "Considering your mellow sched..."

So Jeff and Lester have a band -- Jeffster. Their version of Toto's "Africa" was what Simon Cowell would call karaoke on crack. Still, you have to love their passion for music. Lester's extrapolation about how just auditioning for Devon and Ellie would lead to superstardom, addiction and their inevitable bitter break up was brilliant.

Morgan was determined to win back Anna, even if it meant spying. Chuck saved him from being killed by the Triad by telling them Morgan was a sicko stalker. Yes, Chuck saved him, but at the cost of Morgan's dignity. Fortunately, he was able to right things with Morgan and let him know that he'll always be there for him.

The weekly girl fight was set in a car, which was cool because it was such a confined space. It reminded me of From Russia with Love, Sean Connery and Robert Shaw trying to kill each other in a tiny railroad compartment. Also, I loved the CD being used as a weapon.

In the end, Sarah and Casey showed some genuine emotion when NerdHerd3 blew up, thinking that Chuck was still inside. Clever nerd that he is, Chuck had ditched the car to use the RC device that Casey had rigged up -- and how cool was that? Of course, I doubt Big Mike is going to be happy about the loss of the company car.

Finally, what is going on with Chuck's hair? It's helmet hair. It never moves. He woke up with it exactly as it is all day long. I think he needs some product.


Chuck' Show & Cast Photos
    CHUCK Adam Baldwin as Major John Casey stars in the episode "Chuck vs. the First Date." Airs Monday, September 29, 2008. NBC CHUCK Adam Baldwin as Major John Casey stars in the episode "Chuck vs. the First Date." Airs Monday, September 29, 2008. NBC CHUCK Michael Clarke Duncan as Colt and Yvonne Strahovski as Sarah Walker star in the episode "Chuck vs. the First Date." Airs Monday, September 29, 2008. NBC CHUCK Zachary Levi as Chuck Bartowski and Yvonne Strahovski as Sarah Walker star in the episode "Chuck vs. the First Date." Airs Monday, September 29, 2008. NBC CHUCK Zachary Levi as Chuck Bartowski and Yvonne Strahovski as Sarah Walker star in the episode "Chuck vs. the First Date." Airs Monday, September 29, 2008. NBC CHUCK Zachary Levi as Chuck Bartowski, Yvonne Strahovski as Sarah Walker and Michael Clarke Duncan as Colt star in the episode "Chuck vs. the First Date." Airs Monday, September 29, 2008. NBC CHUCK Zachary Levi as Chuck Bartowski stars in the episode "Chuck vs. the First Date." Airs Monday, September 29, 2008. NBC CHUCK Zachary Levi as Chuck Bartowski stars in the episode "Chuck vs. the First Date." Airs Monday, September 29, 2008. NBC CHUCK Zachary Levi as Chuck Bartowski and Yvonne Strahovski as Sarah Walker star in the episode "Chuck vs. the First Date." Airs Monday, September 29, 2008. NBC CHUCK Yvonne Strahovski as Sarah Walker stars in the episode "Chuck vs. the First Date." Airs Monday, September 29, 2008. NBC

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rang

i love this episode esp that moment when the nerdherd blew up and sarah cries. its so sweet she really likes chuck and i like how every episode show how their relationshp progress ;) really bittersweet.. ok lol im cheesy

February 27 2009 at 5:43 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bruce

Can Chuck please not flip out to such a high degree every time he flashes on someone/something? His "oohh ohh ohh!" and blatant face of shock, every single time it happens, has gotten kinda old at this point. Every time. Every flash. If a flash revealed that someone was planning to kill Morgan or Sarah or Ellie, okay, I can understand the shock and emotion, but flashing on some guy at some party to find out he is a Triad member does not warrant the blatant over-acting and face of shock and awe that occurs each and every time Chuck flashes.

Zach, please tone it down a notch. Surely Chuck is used to flashing on stuff at this point in season 2.

February 24 2009 at 5:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
skywalkermoon

I love this show, I really do... but I'm getting to the point where I'm just embarrassed for Chuck most of the time. Is he ever going to reach a point where he doesn't act/react like such a dork every time he flashes on something or sees the bad guy (come on... he's been doing this almost two years now!)? I swear he's a flashing neon sign most of the time. I like the fact that he's resourceful and he always figures out a way to get whatever needs to be done done but I'm really getting tired of girlyscream!Chuck. (no flames please... it's just how I see it. :) ).

That being said, I loved the whole Devon and Ellie part of the show. We haven't been getting nearly enough of these two and I loved Ellie's reaction to finding out that Devon had "outsourced" part of his part of the To Do list. LOL Also - Yay! for Anna being back! I've soooo missed this character! The girlfight in the car was awesome - it had me cringing through the whole thing. And the NerdHerder being blown up at the end really got me. I so didn't see the remote control thing coming - I thought that Chuck had bailed out of the car when the train passed by. I loved Sarah's reaction and Chuck realizing that she was almost crying because of him - though I wish we could have gotten a little more of his reaction to it.

Looking forward to next week!

February 24 2009 at 1:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Yme Sandelmann

I loved this episode! It had everything I like about this show. AND it included (almost) every character. But I can do without Big Mike for an episode or two. I also liked that they finally had storylines interweaving the "Buy More"-staff and the rest of the cast. The ending was perfect, also in regards to Chuck & Sarah. It doesn't always have to be big drama (re: Profession vs. Emotion).
Chuck had an easy way out, though. He should have lied to Morgan that he was befriending Anna's new boyfriend in order to get close to him ("keep your friends close, your enemies closer").
And I was hoping that this was the episode where Morgan would start to suspect that Chuck is maybe more than just a "Buy More" employee. Him slepping through all of it in the trunk of a car was a little disappointing...

February 24 2009 at 12:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Beth

I love this show, I do. Dearly. But they keep using what sounds like "The Greatest" by Cat Power over, and over, and over again in each episode MULTIPLE times. Please, please, please add more to the soundtrack!

February 24 2009 at 12:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Grover

"Chuck and Morgan have best friends since kindergarten (and the flashback reminded me of Shawn and Gus in Psych)" I thought the same thing... for a second I thought I was watching Psych; then I realized it wasn't Saturday morning and I couldn't fast forward through the commercials.

February 24 2009 at 12:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Grover's comment
Dan

Actually, I thought of the flashback scenes in "My Name is Earl" when they showed that flashback to Chuck and Morgan. This show is just so entertaining, I absolutely love it every week. This may not be as good as the Atari episode, but it's still awesome.

February 24 2009 at 1:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Joe

Anytime we can get more Morgan, it's a good thing. I love this show!!!

http://www.joeonthetube.com

February 24 2009 at 12:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mike

All in all, not one of Chuck's better showings. There were a couple of good lines, but the story did not keep me interested like it has in previous episodes. It felt like the writers had to cram everyone into one epsiode and give them all solid story lines, leaving everyone just a little short - with only 44 minutes of screen time, you just can't fit everything in every time!

February 24 2009 at 11:42 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
MWM

not again..an asian male character = organized crime gang member. ohh so typical. (i.e. Jin on Lost)
Thank god for Cho on the Mentalist.

February 24 2009 at 11:10 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to MWM's comment
Joe

Jin isn't a member of organized crime, he was just muscle for a legitimate business man.

http://www.joenothetube.com

February 24 2009 at 12:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dan

Generally if you see a guest star, they are some kind of criminal who will be the baddie for that week. I do like the variety, but it would be cool if they could do a longer-lasting storyline that spanned a few weeks. It doesn't always need to be solved at the end, or this show runs the risk of getting old pretty soon once they run out of ideas for new situations for Chuck to be involved in.

February 24 2009 at 1:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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