Chuck and his "stable of hos" were back full-force last night, in the series’ first show that did not rest completely on our title character’s newfound ability. And thank goodness, because Chuck’s stale second episode came close to turning off many a fan who thoroughly enjoyed the show’s pilot.
But luckily for us, Chuck officially lost his spy virginity last night, adopting a code name — the secret agent-appropriate Charles Carmichael — and trading in his Nerd Herd getup for a tuxedo in his search for an artistically minded, but elusive and dangerous, arms dealer named La Ciudad at an auction. And it was at this art auction that we saw Zachary Levi at his best, not only cooking up a mean tango (hello, Dancing with the Stars audition tape!), but delivering that perfect mix of comic timing and Everyman likability that made Chuck’s pilot so enjoyable.
Before we get into the action at the auction, let’s first address the episode’s most important revelation: that Chuck was expelled from Stanford sophomore senior year after Bryce found stolen tests under Chuck’s bed. Obviously, we can assume, as CIA agent Sarah did, that Chuck is "a decent person," so something tells me Bryce planted the tests there himself, perhaps to win the affections of Chuck’s girlfriend, Jill. (Seriously, with all the trouble those two boys seemed to have gone through to get with Jill, I expect this girl to have Angelina Jolie’s looks, Marie Curie’s smarts, and Mother Teresa’s benevolence). But this still doesn’t explain why Bryce would resort to such dirty tactics, or why he would send all those encoded images to our guy. My bet is that much of this information will be saved for the season finale.
But back to the present. Sarah and NSA agent Casey drag Chuck to theart auction to identify La Ciudad using his computer/brain, which, welearned, can be fallible. While Sarah and Casey trail a British secretservice agent who the Nerd Herd-er confuses for La Cuidad, Chuck findshimself tango-ing (no, thank you, shirtless Captain Awesome!)with the target herself. Cut to La Cuidad’s discovery that CharlesCarmichael is not who he says he is, and Chuck soon finds himself tiedto a chair and threatened with death. Thanks to some quick thinking,Sarah and Casey realize their mistake, and save Chuck, but not beforeLa Ciudad manages to escape.
Of course, though Sarah claims that Chuck’s mission is complete, nogood spy show could end with the antagonist on the run. Nor would anygood villain neglect to complete an execution mission. Two of LaCiudad’s henchman tracked Chuck down at the Buy More, but wereoutsmarted by Casey and his talent for, well, throwing heavy objects(good thing Chuck doesn’t work at a pillow store). And La Ciudad,disguised in the most revealing delivery woman costume money can buy,was eventually defeated at the conclusion of the episode after aWienerlicious Sarah managed to take her down via a vicious blow to theface. Impressive as whole scene was, however, I couldn’t help butnotice it looked eerily similar to a drunken brawl at a sororityHalloween party, thanks to the opponents’ wardrobe.
In between saving the day and a Dark Crystalreference or two, Chuck also found time to contemplate a futureposition as an assistant manager at Buy More, a post that would onlygive the Nerd Herd-er a mere $2/hour raise (Don’t you think the CIA andNSA should be giving Chuck a small stipend as compensation for, youknow, almost having his cojones pinned to a chair?). Of course, CaptainAwesome had a solution to Chuck’s quarter life crisis: whitewaterrafting. (See? I told you all about this guy and extreme sports).Unfortunately, Chuck didn’t take the captain up on his offer, andinstead was given the task of fixing a large pile of broken computersin one night to prove he’s qualified for the job. Our main guy ended uppassing the buck to Morgan and his team because of his date/spymission, which allowed us viewers to learn a little about oursupporting characters: Jeff can get drunk in five minutes, Anna Wuapparently participated in some girl-on-girl action, and Morgan isfrightened of old computers. (Okay, I’ll buy Tyra Banks’ fear ofdolphins, but old computers?). Needless to say, with Morgan incharge, the repairs were still unfinished by the time Chuck returnedfrom his several near-death experiences, forcing him to pull anall-nighter to prove he’s assistant manager-worthy.
Morgan may have garnered much of the laughs last night, but when it comes to Chuck’ssecondary characters, Adam Baldwin, as Casey, has become so hilariouslyover-the-top that he comes dangerously close to stealing the show. Comeon, how could you not laugh at the tough guy’s cheesy one-liners("That’s what I call moving of merchandise," after hitting a lackeywith a microwave) and questionable monitoring techniques (see: Caseypeering twice through Chuck’s shades)? He certainly outshines YvonneStrzechowski’s Sarah, who doesn’t seem to have much beyond herpretty-heartbroken-blonde- who-can-kick-ass exterior.
While we’re on the subject, we know that Chuck has developed quite acrush on his CIA babysitter/"girlfriend," but there seems to be nary aspark between the two leads. Sure, they’ve flirted and their futurehookup is inevitable, but they certainly are no Ross and Rachel. Or Jimand Pam. Or, yes, even Summer and Seth. I’m far more a fan of thechemistry between Chuck and his sister Ellie (Commence your "ewwws"now). Okay, so I know it can’t happen (this is not Les Enfants Terriblesafter all), but every time Levi and Sarah Lancaster appear on screentogether — and deliver some of the most heartwarming scenes ontelevision today — I keep hoping that Chuck and Ellie will discoverthey’ve been secretly adopted from different families so they can justget it on already.
What do you think, Popwatchers? Do you, like me, prefer Chellie overShuck? Why do you think Bryce planted the stolen tests to get Chuckkicked out of Stanford? Do you have a fear as irrational as Morgan’s?And do you like your martinis shaken, stirred or — like Chuck — shaken and stirred?
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I have to disagree with you on the Chuck and Ellie thing; I only see them as siblings who have become great friends and nothing more. I did like this episode much much better than the second one. I’m not too sure about why Bryce (if he did) plant(ed) those tests, but I am looking forward to the answer. And yes, I’m a bit of a grammar freak. My fear is really bad grammar when one is not trying to use slang.
senior year, my friend. he was kicked out senior year. i do believe chuck said so while sitting with the lovely weinergirl and morgan blurted it out while sis was icing cupcakes.
That sounds like a brilliant idea. Chuck and Ellie? Together? And what will happen to Morgan and Captain Awesome? I thought the scene with Chuck and Sarah where they talked about the moment being a perfect time to kiss after an evening together showed great chemistry.
I agree with the lack of chemistry between Sarah and Chuck. There are some rumors that Rachel Bilson will be guest starring in the near future as a possible love interest for him, so the writers are (fingers crossed) not limiting Chuck to Sarah only.
In a nutshell:
Loved last night’s episode.
Love Zachary Levi.
Love that the show has its own TV Watch.
So much better then last week! Let’s just hope they can keep the momentum up. I don’t think they should be afraid to settle into the “mission a week” formula. There is certainly enough secondary plot lines to keep it all interesting.
Chuck and Ellie? NO! I love them as borther and sister, so there can be no “Oh gee, we’re adopted, let’s make out.” in the show.
Can I just say that I love Zachary Levi?
Hallelujah, last night was awesome. I was really getting nervous because the as much as I wanted to like week 2, I didn’t all that much. This had a wonderful mix of the things that worked so nicely in the pilot and the Sarah/Chuck stuff was well done. You can definitely see that they like each other but the situation is just too difficult. The tango scene was perfection and I love that Sarah is seeing the possibly less-than-perfect background on the rogue spy Bryce.
I love Chuck! I actually can’t believe that I am enamored with two new shows (this and Pushing Daisies).
Best part: When Chuck describes that Water Lilies painting as “Bob Rossian” in quality.
I’ve seen better catfights on Alias! Couldn’t they have borrowed the fight coordinator from Bionic Woman? Oh well, it’s just a comedy after all. But I do agree that Adam Baldwin is hilarous and that there’s no much spark between Chuck and Sarah. How ’bout they go for a Casey and Sarah hookup instead?
Ellie = Nellie Bluth?
See: Les cousins dangereux
Hey Brie, I’m with you. I love Chuck and pushing daisies out of the new crop of shows this season. I thought there was chemistry between Chuck and Sarah in the “wait, does she really like me, is there something there?” I can see Chuck not sure trying to figure this out or if she is just playing the role. My one complaint about the episode was that I watched it online and the camera worked seemed kinda shaky in the begining. Also wasn’t it a microwave and not a tv that Casey threw?
Sarah C- I like the way they think.
Hey, popwatch, fix your RSS feed.
Bryce does seem to have a knack for taking/stealing items (tests, national secrets) and passing them off on to Chuck.
I’m also pretty sure that he was kicked out of Stanford Senior year, that he had two days (not one night) to fix the computers, and that Jayne said “moving some merchandise” after hitting a lackey with a microwave. While I don’t mean to be picky, turn on the subtitles!
My Husband and I love Adam Baldwin’s character! We trade back and forth through the show quotes from his character Jayne on Firefly. “This is my favorite gun.” “See, you should have let me bring grenades.” and “Jayne is a girls name”.
this whole episode was worth watching just to see captain awesome shirtless. finally something the counteract the obsessive focus on how hot the spy chick is (we get it). and the slutty delivery girl outfit
I love Chuck and Casey totally steals the show. I worry that Morgan’s character is going to get a little stale…
a seth and summer reference, nice…guess we’ll see what summer can do when Rachel Bilson comes aboard in a few weeks.
Captain Awesome was hilarious once again…Chuck’s Stable of Ho’s was the line of the evening.
First, I liked the second episode. I don’t mind more of a setup to the show and that episode was almost like a part 2 to the pilot. But this ep was definitely better. It was a lot of fun! So I hope they keep up the dynamic they had here, spy stuff with Chuck, Sarah and Casey with a mix of the subplots/supporting characters goofing around/working/being awesome like the Captain. I’m a huge fan of Chuck’s sister and the other Nerd Herders will be fun as the season goes on. And I also think Chuck and Sarah have chemistry. How could they not? She’s wearing that wienerlicious uniform!!! I’m sold on their chemistry right there. Or maybe I’m just a pig.
While watching the show last night, my boyfriend actually said, “Don’t you think Chuck has better chemistry with his sister?” How funny that you picked up on it, too! And, you know, ewww.
I don’t think Bryce meant to send the e-mail to Chuck. He was scrolling through a list of names when he was killed, and Chuck just happened to be in there and that’s where it ended up. Granted, it makes no sense that he would have Chuck’s e-mail after getting him kicked out and stealing his GF but that’s a different topic.
I disagree about the Chuck and Ellie thing too. One of the things I love about this show is the sibling relationship and how strong and warm it is. Just because they have chemistry doesn’t mean they have to make out! (c: I really love this show — so far the only bad thing is that Morgan is on the way to becoming more annoying than funny.
If I remember correctly, Morgan was scared of *old* computers, not broken ones. And if anyone was watching this show with a drop of attention, Casey threw a microwave at the mobster (it went ding, I laughed, hence, I remember it to be a microwave).
Ummmm – Chuck got kicked out his senior year of college which makes it all the more damaging. There would be no time to transfer or find another program since it appeared he had been cheating since day 1 and he’d probably already spent all his tuition money an didn’t want to start over somewhere.
Where are Chuck’s parents? There is a back story there and I think the reason why him and Sis are so close is b/c the parents died when they were younger. Who knows, maybe they were spies which is why Bryce chose Chuck.
Just a thought.
Here at EW we get the first few eps of certain shows ahead of time, and in the screener for this episode of Chuck, Morgan says that Chuck got expelled from Stanford sophomore year. I based my TV watch off of the screener. I just checked out the episode streamed online, and it seems post-production changed it to senior year from sophomore year. So Popwatchers, we were both right.
While ‘cest is the new hattt, I’m far more into the gay vibe between Casey and Chuck. I think Casey agrees seeing is he is so keen on peeping on the nerd dude
.
I love the Chuck/Sarah relationship. I think they’re really cute together and that last scene was really good. I thought last weeks was pretty good too. Would one episode be enough to turn off all the people who loved the pilot?
This was such a great faux TVwatch that it should become a real TVwatch (hint, hint to EW editors)!! You rock Kate Ward, way to bring us a great recap with the right amount of witticism and snarky comments! And I’m glad to see the kudos for Adam Baldwin, been a fan since Firefly!
Ha! I am seeing a bit more chemistry between Casey and Chuck. ; )
All that aside, I really loved this episode. Am I the only one not annoyed by Morgan? (not here, other places). I found him very funny, especially during the whole cage scene. Also, the whole “What made you think I wanted to hang out?” bit was great. He’s such a puppy.
Loved Casey toying with Chuck, his creepy blind spying, and the delicate bonsai tree pruning! He is my favorite character besides Chuck so far. Captain Awesome teaching Chuck the Tango was both oddly hot and hilarious. The male characters rule this show.
Adam Baldwin owns a little piece of my snarky soul. And Levi is like that puppy in the window you just wanna take home and cuddle.
I would love to see this Mini TV Watch turn into a real TV Watch. Kthx.
This show is pretty ammusing, but I have to admit, Captain Awesome is HOT! Last night, watching him shirtless (MORE THAN ONCE) was my highlight! The writers can work that in once a week, and I’ll tune in, although he’s not in the shows credits at the beginning, so I doubt he’ll have much screen time to be running around near naked as he did last night! Also, it was def. a microwave Adam Baldwin threw.