Thursday, January 5, 2017

Chuck Versus The First Kill


I can't believe that I am almost to the finale of season two of Chuck! Fulcrum has Chuck's Father and General Beckman's apologies aren't enough for Chuck Bartowski so he has the idea to use a captured Fulcrum agent to find him. That Fulcrum agent just happens to be one Jill Roberts (Jordana Brewster), the former girlfriend that Chuck put behind bars! Of course Jill isn't so willing to help, not without a deal to go free, Chuck promises it knowing full well that it's total baloney but he will do anything to get his Dad back.


This episode is all about 'Who do you trust?' Chuck doesn't really trust Jill but he doesn't have any other choice because he doesn't fully trust the CIA or General Beckman either, the only person he truly trusts is Sarah Walker. After viewing this episode multiple times over the years since it aired, the scene where Chuck and Jill pretend to be engaged to her family in order to lure Uncle Bernie out in the open I couldn't help but feel bad for Jill's predicament and her entire family as well. Not to mention the fact that her own father's best friend Bernie lured his little girl into the clutches of evil Fulcrum. Some friend. I think it's hilarious that Chuck's 'First Kill' is actually the result of making an out of shape killer climb too many stairs and we also get to see Chuck do 'The Morgan' which is Morgan's self defense move from elementary school when he was getting beat up by girls. Wow, poor Morgan.


Speaking of Morgan, The Buy Morons rebel against Emmett's wishes to behave while he gets his corporate review but after meeting with him he has decided to help Emmett because he thinks that if Emmett gets a great review from Corporate he will be sent away, job completed. I do believe that I had no idea what Emmett was up to upon my first viewing of this episode although it's hard to remember.


Since Uncle Bernie dropped dead, they have to send Jill back to prison. Chuck thinks that's a bad idea, they still need Jill because of her knowledge of Fulcrum. Luckily Fulcrum calls Bernie's phone and they trace the call back to their Strength and Leadership Building. I love when Chuck and Casey do their 'Auditing' session after watching a creepy Fulcrum video. Chuck aces the test and Casey flunks it. It turns out that Fulcrum knows exactly who Chuck is, he's the son of Orion. Looks like their files have been updated recently. How cool is the scene where Casey saves Chuck blasting through the office window with his shotgun? Totally awesome. Sarah also gets to kick some ass blasting Fulcrum agents left and right. I think it's interesting that Jill was indeed going to escape until she heard Chuck call for help. Chuck again does 'The Morgan' with lethal results and poor Bill Bergey Head of Recruiting is a stain on the concrete down below.


This episode of Chuck was jam packed full of music, I wonder what their music budget was for season two? It had to be huge, right? First we hear the song HERE by Mackintosh Braun then We're Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister as the Buy More Workers rebel. Today I Met The Boy I'm Gonna Marry by The Crystals when Chuck and Jill announce their fake engagement and Hungry Like The Wolf by Duran Duran when Uncle Bernie gives chase. The Earth Has Lost Its Hold by Calhoun when it's time to send Jill back to prison and Shopping For Blood by Franz Ferdinand when Chuck and Casey infiltrate Fulcrum.


Listen to the Podcast Episode: S2Ep20 Vs The First Kill


Now for the links to reviews of this episode, first as always we have Alan Sepinwall's take and then we have Eric Goldman's at IGN. I've also decided to include AV Club's review because I really dig how much they like the show and I love reading the old comments section seeing what the viewers were thinking and that people like me at the time, were really afraid that Chuck was going to get cancelled.


When Chuck realizes that his Dad is no longer in the building, Jill tells him she overheard that he'd been taken to a place called Black Rock. Chuck flashes on the location and decides that he isn't going to be cold and heartless like Fulcrum and the CIA, he's going to keep his word and let Jill go. When Beckman finds out that Jill escaped she doesn't take it well, she orders Casey that it's time to shut down Operation Chuck. Sarah is to lure Chuck to Castle and Casey is to Tranq him. Then he will be shipped off to an underground facility where they can keep an eye on him. Remember that almost happened to Chuck before in the season one episode Chuck Versus the Marlin? Luckily Chuck was saved in time but this time it looks like there is nothing that can save him. Back at the Buy More it turns out that Emmett was indeed not to be trusted, he steals Big Mike's job out from under him. The funny thing is, it looks like Big Mike really had gotten incredibly lazy running the store since he had Emmett to fall back on. But we like Big Mike and Emmett is a weasel so we root for Big Mike. Like Michael Corleone knew it was Fredo, Big Mike knew it was Morgan who betrayed him. Poor Morgan now knows he trusted the wrong person. Will the same thing happen to Chuck?


Sarah nearly does it, in an epic scene she tells Chuck a lie about his Dad being found but she can't go through with it, She's not going to betray Chuck. She tells him to take off his watch and that they are going to run. Yes! It's a very exciting cliff hanger ending. It motivated me to get this episode of the podcast done double-time because I wanted to watch the next episode. My personal rule is that I can't watch the next episode until I have recorded a podcast first. So now you know what I will be doing right after I publish this blog post. Of course I know that I have seen these episodes multiple times before but none of that matters when you get sucked into the storyline again. Season two of Chuck is fantastic and these final episodes are building to an incredible finale. I can't wait to get there. Two more episodes.


Again, I thank you for reading this blog and for listening to the Chuck Series Companion. There are times when I think about how many episodes are in front of me and I get overwhelmed a bit. I have to take a step back and just remember that there is no rush. I just need to take it one episode at a time.

Watch more Chuck!


Until then...

The Jastrom

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