Chuck – Recap & Review – Chuck Vs. The Subway/Chuck Vs. The Ring: Part II

photo: nbc

Chuck
Chuck Vs. The Subway/Chuck Vs. The Ring: Part II

Original Air Date: May 24 , 2010

Jeff L – Staff Writer
JeffL@thetwocentscorp.com

These two-hour episodes are so “chuck” full of stuff. I’m going to do a quick recap where I settle on the highlights and commentary rather than trying to recap everything that happened in the season finale. If you didn’t watch the show (and I’m guessing most of you didn’t since it only got a 1.8 share – lowest ratings of the season) I suggest you download it from iTunes or watch it on NBC.com.

Captain Archer builds his son Chuck an Intersect governor wristwatch and tells him maybe he should think about quitting the spy business. Running away in order to keep his family safe is another area where Pops Bartowski is an expert.

Ellie finds out about Chuck’s secret spy life and it turns out Justin, her handler, actually is a CIA agent. The Ring is more deeply embedded in all agencies of government than we had thought.

Superman shows up again and this time he’s got his on Ring Intersect and a plan to take down General Grandma and possibly the entire CIA with her. The General is in town testifying before a committee about the effectiveness of Operation Bartwoski. Chuck and his team track Superman to the building where the hearings are taking place. They think it’s a Ring outpost, but it turns out to be a highly classified government building where Chuck stumbles into the hearing about his effectiveness and thereby refutes every good thing the general has said about the operation.

The committee thinks the Intersect program is too expensive and dangerous. Chuck wants to know who thinks so and just then Superman enters to boardroom explaining that he is the reason they are having this hearing. Superman shares with everyone the truth about the Intersect and how it’s eating Chuck’s brain. Sarah gets angry Chuck didn’t tell her. Of course.

Shaw, no in possession of his own Intersect and the knowledge of how dangerous it can be, desperately wants the governor that Captain Archer Bartowski built for his son. He had an inevitable showdown with Chuck but they don’t get to pit their Intersects against each other, because Superman just wants the governor so his armed goons take it from Chuck. They also shoot and kill Captain Archer so he can’t build another governor for Chuck. Ellie, hiding, sees the whole thing and watches as her dad dies in Chuck’s arms before Chuck, Sarah and Casey are taken away by the Ring.

Ellie follows the truck carrying her brother and Casey and Sarah. She’s got Morgan and Awesome on the trail too in Casey’s car. Eventually Morgan sets of a secret missile launcher in Casey’s car and it knocks Superman unconscious and allows Chuck and the gang to escape. Superman wakes up just as they drive off and fires his gun after them, but he’s bagged his limit of Bartwoskis for today.

Corporate threatens to close down the Spy More. Big Mike and Jeffster! hatch a plan to save the store by selling everything in a going-out-of-business sale.

Chuck and Ellie flashback to their childhood and talk about their father. Chuck explains to Ellie about Pops Bartowski’s secret life and why he had to run away to protect his family. Chuck vows to get revenge on Superman for killing their father and Ellie make’s Chuck promise that once Superman is taken care of and the Ring has been taken down that Chuck will quit being a spy. He agrees.

Morgan hits on Casey’s daughter. Remember her?

Chuck taps into some of the surveillance equipment he spotted at the Ring compound where his father was killed. Inside one of the cells they spot General Grandma. She tells them that Shaw locked her up and he’s planning on taking her place to discredit her and the CIA at a big spy summit taking place that evening. All the top agencies will be there as well as the Ring elders. Grandma warns the spies about trying to take out Shaw at the summit. Only the best spies in the world could pull that off.

Chuck and his team of course do pull it off. They trick Superman into tipping off the Ring elders and Casey and Sarah round them up when they try to escape. Chuck tries to have the inevitable showdown with Superman, but every time he flashes becomes more and more painful without the governor. Superman on the other hand, has no problems, yet, flashing. So while Chuck flashes and hits the floor, Superman flashes and hits the window sailing down a flagpole and into a floor below escaping.

Back at the Spy More, the sale is going full swing. Morgan spots Superman planting something in the store. He grabs it and it turns out to be one of many C4 charges that Superman has placed through the Spy More. Morgan gets tied up, breaks his thumbs to escape, and Sarah shows up, but it’s Chuck that Superman is after. Chuck is laid up in Castle, however, unable to do much of anything. Superman handcuffs Sarah to the Nerd Herd desk and as the alarms sound Chuck wakes up. He limps up to store and has it out with Superman while the Jeffster! music video for Blaze of Glory plays on every television.

Superman gets the upper hand though since Chuck doesn’t have the benefit of the governor and Shaw hasn’t been flashing nearly as long as Chuck. Eventually Chuck is knocked out and in his unconscious state he remembers being a boy and accidently absorbing his father’s first version of the Intersect. He recalls Captain Archer Bartwoski telling his son, upon realizing he had just absorbed a massive amount of data (when Chuck was a kid I’m guessing about 10 megabytes), that Chuck was special – mirroring his dying words to his son. Chuck then seems to get a second wind. He calls Superman back and tells him he just needed to reboot.

Chuck kicks Superman’s ass once and for all (hopefully) and while Sup begs Chuck to finish him off, he does the noble thing and lets him live. Sarah knocks him out as the backup arrives.

The government team sweeps the store, but they are unable to find the detonator that Superman was using. Eventually Morgan finds it and with his broken thumbs, he drops it, setting off the timer. Everyone runs as the Spy More explodes in a blaze of glory.

Later than night, Chuck receives a message on his phone. It tells him to go to his computer. It’s a message from his father telling him that if Chuck is seeing this message it means he is dead. He explains that there was more to his secret life than Chuck knew about. Chuck follows his father’s instructions and returns to his childhood home. Inside he finds a secret stairway leading to a huge vault filled with all kinds of stuff about the Ring, Fulcrum and several other agencies that maybe coming after Chuck now that pops Bartowski is no longer around to keep his family safe. Pops also explains that he did it all for “her.” Elsewhere, we see the back of a woman on a phone. We hear someone say “we’re going to have to move you,” as Chuck spots a file labeled Mary Elizabeth Bartowski: Missing.

So what did you think of the finale of Chuck? Did you enjoy the Chuck vs. Superman showdown? Did you wish Chuck had actually killed him (again) this time? As I’m sure you’re aware if you’re reading this, NBC has renewed Chuck for season 4, but at this time they’ve only ordered 13 episodes and with ratings as low as they were for the finale I don’t know if they’ll order any further episodes. So I’m beginning my campaign now for the full 22 episodes for season 4. Who’s with me? Leave your two cents below and keep checking back to TheTwoCents.com for all your television news, reviews and recaps.

Have a great summer!

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine