"It's personal," Sarah tells Chuck when he tries to find out just what her plans could possibly be. Indeed it is personal because her Dad, Jack Burton (played by the fantastic Gary Cole) is in town and he's a Con Man. A Con Man that taught her the ways of the grifter and has just recently conned an extremely rich and dangerous Sheik out of nearly a million dollars.
I loved that immediately Chuck likes Jack even though the guy is a criminal, he even makes excuses for the guy to Sarah who's had her heart broken by her Dad far too many times. There's a great moment when Jack reveals that he has lifted Chuck's credit card and even then, Chuck knows it was because her Dad was just trying to protect Sarah. General Beckman sees Jack's conning of the Sheik as an opportunity to get a hold of his funds seeing as how he is suspected in funding bad guys and so the plan is set in motion.
Jack thinks that Sarah has a con of her own going on, there's no way she would be dating the Schnook, Chippy, *ahem* I mean Chuck. Of course, Jack is right to think that something is off, like how Sarah can afford her nice apartment working at a frozen yogurt shop but it has nothing to do with being a criminal. It's funny to think that a part of Sarah doesn't want to disappoint her Father by telling him that she's indeed in law enforcement.
When the team pulls off the con, it's a thing of beauty, I love when Chuck is put on the spot and has to use a German accent. Sarah can't believe it, they got the Sheik's funds and her Dad actually came through for her. Until that is, he left with the money -- He even took Casey's victory smoke! So funny.
It's now time for Morgan to grow up and get a place with Anna as using the Home Theater Room at the Buy More to 'get busy' has gotten a little stale. Unfortunately he doesn't have the funds so Awesome loans him the cash without batting an eye because he genuinely believes in Morgan. I thought that was a lovely gesture except that Morgan doesn't really seem too keen on the idea of moving in with Anna. He seems kind of terrified that his freedom is going to disappear which is hilarious because I'm not sure what he is doing with his free time anyway. I think we can all relate to the beginning of a relationship, there's that moment when you have to decide whether it's just about having fun casually or is it something serious. Someone worth changing your life for.
When the DeLorean shows up at the Buy More it's love at first sight for Morgan and he uses the money that Awesome gave him for his new life as an Adult with responsibility. It's hilarious what a piece of junk the DeLorean is. Back to the Future made it into an iconic vehicle but the reality for Morgan is that it can't go over 22 let alone 88 MPH.
Download the Podcast Episode: S2Ep10 Vs The DeLorean
I love when Sarah convinces Jack that they need to use her team to pull off the Lichtenstein job and we get Schnook and Cop Face. Great nicknames for Chuck and Casey. It's great seeing them all work as a team getting the job done and how great is it when Casey puts in a good word for Jack to General Beckman? Sarah seemed genuinely moved by Casey's gesture but Casey played it the way he always does, like a soldier with no emotion. But you know the real Casey's in there.
This episode has a ton of great music, My Party by Plastilina Mosh, Montanita by Ratatat, Diamond Hoo Ha Man by Supergrass during the heist and the wonderful Furr by Blitzen Trapper when Jack says goodbye. I can't forget the use of Oh Yeah by Yello when Morgan lays his eyes on the Demorgan and we get a great send up of the scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Read Alan Sepinwall's review of DeLorean to see him nitpick the Con that the team pulls off and then check out Eric Goldman's review. I can't forget to link AV Club's review which they titled Chuck vs the Ex on accident and never fixed it after all of these years.
There's a moment early in the episode when Chuck wonders if Sarah could possibly turn her Dad into the authorities. It turns out that she cannot. She gives her Dad an errand to run before the cops arrive. Jack knows that his daughter is some kind of cop and he tells Chuck to take care of her. One of my favorite moments in the episode is when Chuck brings Sarah some chocolate croissants and let's her know that neither one of them had perfect parents and that it's not Sarah's fault and she turned out pretty great anyway.
This is another one of those Chuck episodes that ends perfectly. Jack reads people and he tells Sarah that Chuck loves her and that's how he knew he could trust him with 10 million dollars. A part of Sarah might think that they really fooled him, pretending to be a couple but I think she also knows it's true that Chuck does indeed love her and would do anything for her.
Coming up next is my favorite episode of Chuck and one I've been anticipating doing ever since I started this podcast and blog. I have favorites, I have episodes I love but I think that Chuck Versus Santa Claus is my all-time favorite episode. If you are thinking, "Wow his favorite episode is in season two, why bother watching any further?" I will tell you why, because I love each and every episode of Chuck and I have favorite episodes in every season but I think that Chuck Versus Santa Claus is the perfect example of what makes Chuck great. And that's all I will say at this time but expect it to be a special Double-Sized Podcast! As always, thank you for listening and reading!
Until Then...
The Jastrom
I recently finished rewatching this episode with my wife and daughter (making it the third time I've watched the episode) and was grabbed by how much I like this one. Gary Cole as Sarah's father does a great job with the character, both the fun/lighthearted scenes and the more emotionally charged ones.
ReplyDeleteThe spy part, with the team having to run a con job with Sarah's father to pull off their mission, is a fun twist on the usual formula we've had most prior episodes. Chuck pretending to be a rich German is hilarious, and watching how the team constructs the big con is entertaining.
The Devon/Morgan/loan/DeLorean storyline is fun and, although this Buy More storyline is not as strongly interwoven with the spy storyline like some other recent episodes were able to pull off, it does dovetail with the spy mission at the end in a funny way. Morgan looking in awe first at the DeLorean and then, having just lucked out on his foolish DeLorean purchase, the General Lee Dodge Charger gets a chuckle out of me.
And the heart in the episode is great. Some nice scenes between Sarah and her father, especially at the end talking about Chuck. Then shortly thereafter the scene between her father and Chuck talking about what he sees between Chuck and Sarah. Wonderful.
The use of Jack Burton for the name of Sarah's dad did tickle me as I love "Big Trouble in Little China." (Had my kids watch that movie with me not that long ago.)
Chuck getting caught trying to spy on Sarah is also humorous. As for Chuck sounding like Milton from "Office Space," I would have never picked up on that, but I think you're onto something. I love little nods/references in "Chuck" to other shows and movies.
--LetsGoRed