Chuck – Recap & Review – Chuck Versus The Pink Slip, Chuck Versus The Three Words, Chuck Versus The Angel de la Muerte

photo: nbc

Chuck
Chuck Versus The Pink Slip
Chuck Versus The Three Words
Chuck Versus The Angel de la Muerte

Original Air Date: Jan 10/11, 2010

Jeff L – TwoCents Staff Writer
JeffL@thetwocentscorp.com

Since we had three glorious episodes of Chuck in two days, I’m going to combine my recap/review into one long story. I know nobody is a glutton for punishment in wanting to read three heavy-handed recap/reviews about our favorite spies.

When the start the season, Chuck (Zachary Levi) is in Prague. It’s only been six months in Buymoria since we last checked in – but it seems like almost year to us. Chuck, you’ll recall, was implanted with an updated Intersect at the end of last season – and now, when he flashes (which might make for an interesting drinking game btw) he’s not just buffered with information, he also obtains specific skill sets.

However, this is Buymoria, so of course, Chuck can’t just flash at will and be the super spy the government wants him to become. Chuck’s emotions and personality conflict with the Intersect programming and Chuck, after six months of attempts to make a go of it, gets fired by General Grandma (Bonita Friedericy).

Chuck’s relationship with Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) doesn’t move forward at all in any of the three episodes this week, so let’s just gloss over it (as did the show’s writers) and say that Chuck wanted to be a real spy and that choice is keeping him from being in a serious/real relationship with Sarah. For some reason. After being not-so-secretly in love with her for the last two years, I’m not sure why all of a sudden he can’t be with her because he has to be a real spy. Also, wasn’t Byrce Larkin a real spy when he and Sarah were knocking boots?

Anyway, back to the plot. Chuck gets the old pink slip from General Grandma and returns home and to the Buy More. Mr. and Mrs. Awesome (Ryan McPartlin , Sarah Lancaster) move to an adjacent apartment and Morgan (Joshua Gomez ) moves in with Chuck. Morgan is newly single and a failed Benihana chef (he couldn’t flip the shrimp). Sayonara Anna Wu (Julia Ling).

It’s not long before Chuck misses the spy life and finds himself back at the castle where Casey (Adam Baldwin) gives Chuck the cold shoulder and Sarah is curiously absent. Chuck overhears some details of Casey’s current mission and insinuates himself into the operation. Chuck goes to find Sarah when he does he flashes on Javiar Cruz the bad guy du jour. Sarah kicks Chuck to the curb, but he uses his newly acquired kung fu skills to waylay an errant mariachi guitar player so he can return to protect Sarah from the assassin. Of course, Chuck blows the entire mission, this is Buymoria, after all, and the bad guy, who it turns out, was the mariachi player in disguise, escapes after finding Chuck’s Buy More id with the clothes he ditched to slip into his mariachi ensemble.

Back at the Buy More, Emmet “Buster” Milbarge (Tony Hale) is finishing up for the night. He is confronted by Cruz (our bad guy) who’s looking for Chuck. Buster gives him a stern talking to and, with possibly one of the funniest last-lines ever calls the assassin a “pussy” before being killed. Yes, that’s right, the Buy More won’t have Emmet Milbarge to kick around anymore. (Adios, Tony Hale – I hope that NBC’s budget concerns with Chuck 3.0 free you up for that Arrested Development movie).

At Chuck’s apartment, Sarah has come to say goodbye to Chuck but Cruz shows up and spoils the moment. Chuck awakens in a prison cell and he’s tortured both with actual torture and with flashbacks of how, at some point in the past six months, he chose spying over Sarah.

Chuck awakens to hear Sarah telling him he may not be a real spy, but she knows real spies and none of them can do what he does. Bolstered by her words, he flashes and the two escape with a little help from Casey and his helicopter full of men. The bad guys are taken out and Chuck finds a broken, fancy gadget that Cruz had been using. The gadget turned out to be a smart phone used by an evil doer agency called The Ring.

So, General Grandma puts Team Bartowsky back in business to help break up The Ring, publically at least. In private, she tells Casey and Sarah that while they spent the last two years protecting Chuck from the world, it’s now time to protect the world from Chuck.

In episode two, Carina (Mini Anden ) (an undercover D.E.A. agent who appeared in Chuck vs. the Wookiee) returns to Buymoria along with her “finance” Karl Stromberg (Vinnie Jones). Of course, Stromberg is the bad guy and Chuck ends up taking him into custody. Aside from that, not much happened is this episode to move the plot forward. Morgan gets laid, Lester (Vik Sahay) and Jeff (Scott Krinsky) host a house warming party. Perfect opportunity for Jeffster to perform but they don’t.

In episode three, we’re introduced to Premier Allejandro Goya (read Fidel Castro) (Armand Assante) and Dr. Captain Awesome gets involved in the plot. Awesome saves Goya after a failed assassination attempt. Casey turns out to be the Angel de la Muerte after killing many of Goya’s associates on the island of Costa Gravas (Cuba). Goya is going to allow democratic elections so it’s now the spy gang’s job to protect him – which they do, but the assassin decides to take revenge on Captain Awesome and in the final scene we see Sarah giving Chuck the news that something terrible has happened to Dr. Awesome. Ellie comes out of her apartment to ask if either of them have seen her husband. After the death of Emmet Milbarge, we could be in for some delightful tension sitting on the edges of our seats to find out if Awesome is alive or dead, but then a promo for next week comes on showing Awesome being held by some bad guys. Tension over. Oh well, you had us hanging on the edge of the cliff for a second there, NBC.

What did you think of the first three episodes of Chuck? Were you glad to see the good ratings (best since the 3D episode) for the premier? Leave your comments below.