"You are damaging my calm, Chuck." John Casey says while taking a short time-out from getting his ass handed to him by his former Sensei, Ty Bennett. Now, while this is also a reference to Adam Baldwin's previous role as Jayne in Firefly and the film Serenity -- it's also exactly what John Casey needed. He needed his calm damaged, he needed to express himself in fact, he needed to explode. Just not at Chuck please, Casey.
This was another great Casey-centric episode following Versus the Undercover Lover in season one. John Casey is an obedient soldier that takes his orders and completes them but he wasn't just born that way or as he said in Versus the Fat Lady, he wasn't "Hatched". Casey was taught by Sensei Ty Bennett played by the great tv veteran Carl Lumbly. When Casey finds out that his former Sensei has now gone rogue and is a member of Fulcrum, he isn't quite sure what to do with those feelings. Bennett taught him how to remain calm but let's face it, Casey has been bottling up a lot of feelings lately. First of all, he can't stand this assignment, protecting Chuck in Burbank, working at the Buy More. It's driving him nuts, but he was taught to accept orders like a good soldier and remain calm.
Leave it to Chuck Bartowski to figure out that Casey needs to do the opposite of keeping cool and calm, he needs to express his rage. In a hilarious scene, Casey channels his anger toward Chuck and his whole situation in general, not to mention his feelings of being betrayed by his former Sensei to beat him in a one on one battle. It's pretty awesome, and I love the bit at the end when Casey says "Thank you" under his breath. Great stuff.
I love that we get to meet Devon's parents Woody and Honey played by forever beautfiul, Morgan Fairchild and the great Bruce Boxleitner. Tron is in the episode! Poor Ellie knows that they mean well, wanting to handle everything to do with her and Awesome's wedding but this isn't what Ellie wants and she just doesn't know how exactly to express her feelings. We've all been there, we've been in situations where we wanted to express our feelings to someone that means well but we're just not sure how to handle it. Ellie finally loses it and explodes her feelings out into the open in a very awkward Food Tasting. Poor Sarah is left all alone to talk about her career in the yogurt game.
One of my favorite moments in the episode is the reveal of the Buy More Employee of the Month, Skip Johnson. Hilarious, not to mention the prizes! An 8 x 10 glossy of yourself next to a picture of the Founder and CEO of the Buy More -- Moses Finklestein! (not to mention a 65 inch Flat Screen!). Another great moment is when Jeff loses it when a customer gives him a four star rating on his comment card. But my most favorite moment is when Casey is on lock-down in Castle and he tricks Chuck into coming to free him by giving Chuck exactly what he wants -- Casey expresses his feelings, Chuck can't help but run to Castle to listen to more of Casey unloading his emotions.
Listen to the Podcast Episode: S2Ep9 Vs The Sensei
I love when Chuck tries to use the Force to free himself but he ends up using some of that patented Bartowski smarts or MacGuyver as Chuck credits to get out of the Orange Orange and help save the day. It's true that Chuck never stays put as ordered but Sarah and Casey would have been totally screwed if he hadn't. Who would have thought to coach Casey ringside if Chuck wasn't there?
This episode had some great tunes, The New Song by Datarock (I actually own their album!), Shake Your Blood by Probot (I thought it was Judas Priest when I first heard it.) and Don't Worry by Love as Laughter.
And here we are again with reviews, the first one is Alan Sepinwall's thoughts on Sensei. He's overly picky of the episode in my opinion and then we have Eric Goldman's review. Here also is a nice review by AV Club. Finally, here's a great article written by Maureen Ryan on why she is enjoying Chuck Season 2 so much.
As this episode ends, Chuck returns home to find a somber Ellie who is bummed out about the fact that their Dad will not be at her wedding to walk her down the aisle. Challenge accepted by Chuck, he is now a man on a mission and he is off to find their Dad. I love the way this episode sets up that future storyline because there are lots of great things that are going to happen along the way. I can't wait!
Until then...
The Jastrom
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