S2Ep17 Vs The Predator -- The Chuck Series Companion

This Episode of the Chuck Series Companion covers Season Two Episode Seventeen of the Television Series Chuck, Chuck Versus the Predator - Watch the Episode, Listen to the Show! - Subscribe on iTunes!

S2Ep17 Vs The Predator

Chuck Versus the Predator

"It would be unprofessional not to." Shoot them, that is. Fulcrum Agent Vincent Smith has been tracking Orion for the past three years and it only took Chuck one episode to find him. Vincent played by Arnold Vosloo doesn't give up easily after he and other Fulcrum agents are defeated by a Predator Drone sent to their location. When the episode begins, we see that the Buy More has been Toilet Papered by those jerks at the Beverly Hills Buy More, Barclay and his well dressed goons, don't think that the Burbank Buy More deserves to carry the new Roark 7 gaming laptop and not theirs. Instead of retaliating, Big Mike chooses to keep calm and collected because after all, that is the Buy More way.

When Orion contacts Chuck at the store, he realizes that he must tell Sarah and then General Beckman. It turns out Orion is sending Chuck one of his computers and the General wants it before anyone else gets their hands on it because Orion's computers are dangerous if they fall into the wrong hands. Cut to -- Jeff and Lester with the computer that they think is the Roark 7. I love Jeff's Office set up in the Buy More restroom, it is surprisingly nice. Lester has brought Morgan into the fold to show him the computer. When they boot it up, they think it's some kind of combat simulation game like War Games which is awesome, I love when Chuck references our favorite 80's films. They think they are playing a game in which they are sending a Predator Drone to the Buy More to blow it up. The only problem with that is that is actually what is happening.

Casey thinks that Orion is sending a drone to kill Chuck but they quickly figure out who the real culprits are when it changes its target to the Beverly Hills Buy More. When Big Mike confiscates the laptop also believing it to be the Roark 7 gaming laptop it's up to the team to steal it back. It turns out that Jeff and Lester have the same idea as well as Agent Vincent. In a hilarious scenario at night in the Buy More, Emmett Milbarge is on watch when each team infiltrates. Vincent is a quiet cool professional telling Chuck that it's "Hilarious" that they are both stealing the computer at the same time in a deadpan way that makes his character so interesting. My favorite moment besides Emmett pepper spraying Jeff and Lester is Casey claiming that he had to punch out Emmett. It turns out though that it was totally necessary because Vincent now has Chuck at gunpoint. This leads to a great exchange when Chuck has to explain that they can't put down their weapons when they aren't carrying any guns. Vincent wonders why would you order them not to carry guns? I know, right! Well it turns out that Casey didn't listen to Chuck anyway and he shoots Vincent who then poisons himself and chokes to death in front of Chuck who really didn't need to see that.

When General Beckman won't let Chuck look at the laptop he can't believe it, she's more concerned with how a Fulcrum Agent knew about it, she orders Chuck on lock-down until she can arrive to personally oversee the operation. Chuck is contacted by Orion who tells him he can't trust the CIA. Chuck escapes to retrieve that laptop and Agent Vincent awakens, it turns out that he took a Fulcrum class on how to survive Blow fish toxin -- sounds like a fun class. "Not really." There's that classic Vincent wit again. There's a great moment when Vincent and Chuck go to meet Orion at the rendezvous point and Vincent tells him that he's heard of Agent Carmichael and he even tells him he's done a good job getting Orion to come out of the woodwork. When Orion shows up Fulcrum is there to capture him and just before Vincent is about to kill Chuck, Casey and Sarah save the day. We see Fulcrum escaping with who we believe to be Orion on a helicopter, Orion sends another Predator Drone which shoots it out of the sky. Orion is dead, Chuck couldn't save him and he is heartbroken. Orion was going to help Chuck get the Intersect out of his head.

When Big Mike and the Buy Morons head to the Beverly Hills Buy More it's hilarious when Emmett does the domino gag with his bat swing, sure we've seen it before on other shows but that doesn't make it less funny. I also love just how awful Emmet's face looks after Casey punched him. It's hilarious that they get revenge on the wrong people, trashing their store because it's the Buy More way and this is how they do things in Burbank.

                                                           "Hilarious..."

This episode was pretty light in the song department if you compare it to other episodes of Chuck, first we had Making Love out of Nothing at All by Air Supply in a very disturbing scene with Big Mike and Bolonia as Morgan is in his bedroom and he can hear everything. Then we have Amazing Life by Matt Pond PA.

Listen to the Podcast Episode: S2Ep17 Vs the Predator

Alan Sepinwall's review of this episode is a little too picky for my tastes and his predictions of Chuck one day working at the Orange Orange are hilarious, thank God, he never actually wrote this show. Then we have Eric Goldman's review and he thought the episode was amazing and I have to agree. Finally, we have AV Club's review in which they gave this episode an A. 

Chuck asks the General if she even wants him to get the Intersect out of his head and she says no. She needs Chuck now more than ever before because they are in a war with Fulcrum and they are losing. The only advantage they seem to have is Chuck and she's not going to let that advantage go. It's time for Chuck to become a real spy. Wow, I'm ready for it too. It's funny watching this series multiple times, I have to think back and try to remember how I felt when I first watched it. I was bummed we didn't get to find out more about Orion before he died and at the same time, I knew for sure I never actually wanted Chuck to have the Intersect removed from his head because that might mean that there would be no more story. There's a great moment at the end when Chuck comes home and he finds that Orion left him a message and schematics for the Intersect, he needs to study them if he hopes to get it out of his head, Sarah shows up to see if Chuck still trusts them, he still trusts her but I don't think he trusts Beckman or the CIA at all.

Well guys, I hated to be away for so long and I'm hoping to wrap up season two in the next few months. I'm even hoping to have some guests on for the season finale. I want to thank everyone for their patience and hang in there because a new episode will follow soon.

Until then, watch more Chuck!

The Jastrom