S2Ep15 Vs The Beefcake -- The Chuck Series Companion

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

S2Ep15 Vs The Beefcake

Chuck Versus the Beefcake

Everyone Talks - At least that's what they keep telling us, from Sarah to the Fulcrum Agent named Alexis Katrina Law to even Jeff of the Buy More -- When someone is under duress everyone eventually talks. Be it from torture or being yelled at harshly by Big Mike or being persuaded by your sister to talk to your cover girlfriend.

I talk quite a bit about the continuity problems at the beginning of this episode on the podcast that are caused from Vs the Suburbs and Vs the Best Friend being aired out of order, so I won't bog things down here on the blog with it but I will say that when Ellie tells Chuck to talk to Sarah about his feelings, Chuck is more than willing to listen to his sister. The lies are tearing him apart and pretending someone like Sarah is his girlfriend is really messing with his head. Perhaps he made the right decision for his own mental health but he quickly regrets it when Agent Cole Barker Jonathan Cake shows up.

General Beckman orders Sarah to seduce Barker and retrieve the belt buckle that contains some very important Fulcrum intelligence. Sarah easily keeps up with Agent Barker and even bests him when Chuck manages to distract him by knocking on the door at an opportune moment. It turns out though that Barker is not a Fulcrum agent but MI6 working undercover and they can't actually see what's on the chip because they need a special Fulcrum playback piece of tech to read it. This leads to a moment when Chuck offers to hack it being the tech whiz that we all know that he is. Casey and Sarah turn him down and tell him to return to work.

Keep in mind, up until this point, Chuck has had to watch and listen as Sarah pretended to like Barker and Barker returned the favor, once it turned out he actually is a good guy, it got worse. Now Agent Barker is telling Chuck he wants to "Butter that muffin." in regards to Sarah and Chuck is desperately feeling out of his league. So what does he do? He tries to hack that chip and he succeeds only it triggers a homing device (Of course it does!) which totally botches the meet-up that Sarah, Casey and Cole are conducting at the same moment for the playback device. Sarah and Cole are captured and the bad guys are on their way to Chuck.

When Chuck actually watches what's on the chip it turns out to be HIM! It's the footage from Chuck Vs the Suburbs when Fulcrum strapped him to a chair and pelted him with images from their Intersect. Chuck freaks out when he sees this and then notices that a very lethal Fulcrum (and scary and strangely hot) Agent that he just flashed on is approaching him. He smartly smashes the chip. This of course does not please the Fulcrum agent wondering "Why must people always do things the hard way?"

The hard way being Torture! Yikes. It's hilarious when the scene begins and Chuck is whimpering in pain and Sarah has to break it to him that the torture has not even started. I also love when Cole asks Sarah what Chuck's pain tolerance is on a scale of 1 to 10 and she says a 1. Chuck is insulted but he quickly realizes that it is indeed true, he especially can't handle needles and Fulcrum Agent Alexis has a whole tray of an assortment of needles. He's totally screwed. In a valiant effort Chuck reveals that he is indeed the Intersect in order to save Cole from continued torture but Cole shifts it back to himself in order to protect Chuck.

After Casey interrogates Jeff and Lester (and I'll get to their escapades in a moment) he figures out how to track Team Chuck down and saves the day and we get to witness Alexis inject poison into herself, Good Lord Man! Cole ends up looking the more heroic because let's hand it to him, he did endure torture, Chuck merely passed out at the sight of a needle but he did reveal he was the Intersect and put himself in harms way just to help Cole so he is also equally heroic but maybe passing out is a less attractive quality on a hero. BTW I love Casey's merciless jabs at Chuck the entire episode, sure it's really mean but it's also hilarious. Casey is a master at the side-comment.

Where do we begin with Jeff and Lester? Big Mike wants Morgan to get a taste of management life by conducting job interviews -- now that Mike is sleeping with his Mom, Big Mike has taken a shine to Morgan, almost as if he's like a Son to him. Morgan is still deeply disturbed by this development especially since he can hear everything they are doing from the other room. Lester kindly offers to do the employee interviews for him and Jeff and Lester are off to conduct their own sessions of Casting Couch which is the practice of rewarding actresses parts in exchange for certain favors or in this case Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Models get to be a Buy More Babe in exchange for 'Getting Busy' with Jeff and Lester. This doesn't work out though because the models are intelligent human beings and plus Jeff's not wearing any underwear. Gross.

Speaking of Underwear! -- Morgan isn't wearing any! As he likes to sleep in the buff. Too bad Devon and Ellie weren't aware of this until it was too late. "Talk about low hanging fruit." There's a great line toward the end of the episode where Morgan says to Chuck, "Maybe Ellie seeing me naked was a blessing in disguise?" and Chuck responds, "Not for her, it wasn't." Hilarious. Morgan has this realization that he can't go on living with his Mom, he needs to grow up and Chuck comes to the same conclusion, it's time they move on in their lives. It's a great moment when they decide to get a place together. It's short lived though because Agent Cole is taken by Fulcrum giving us an open-ended episode.

This Episode had some great music, first we have Tigers in the Fire by Love Grenades, then when Sarah attempts to seduce Agent Cole we hear, Wake Up by Mackintosh Braun. When Chuck and Morgan go to deliver Ellie and Devon important news we hear, The Brightest of the Head by Starflyer 59. Then, my favorite song of the episode is when Chuck bids farewell to Cole Barker we hear the song, Airplanes by Local Natives.

Listen to the Podcast Episode: S2Ep15 Vs The Beefcake

Just like every other post I do I am including links to some reviews and recaps that I have enjoyed reading in the past when I was binge watching Chuck. Now I know that not everyone will really care about these reviews but I was longing for someone else's thoughts on Chuck the multiple times I was pouring through the seasons. Here they are if you are interested: Alan Sepinwall's review and Eric Goldman's. Then we have a B review from AV Club.

One of my favorite moments of this episode is when Chuck and Morgan show up to let Ellie and Devon in on the big news that they are moving in together, Ellie's reaction is priceless and the comedic timing is perfect. Unfortunately the living situation must be put on hold with Agent Barker captured with the knowledge of who the Intersect is, Chuck must now be under the 24 hour surveillance of one Sarah Walker. So their Relationship ruse is back on and it's going to be painful when Chuck has to break it to his best buddy that they're not going to live together anytime soon.

Thank you so much for listening and reading the Chuck Series Companion! There's only 7 episodes of season 2 left and I'm going to try to get them out as consistently as possible. Please, let me hear from you, your thoughts on Chuck and the Series Companion. Without feedback I start to lose steam and begin to lose sight of my mission. Keep me on track.

Watch more Chuck.

Until then...

The Jastrom

S2Ep14 Vs The Best Friend -- The Chuck Series Companion

Covering Season Two Episode Fourteen of the Television Series Chuck, Chuck Versus the Best Friend - Watch the Episode, Listen to the Show! - Subscribe on iTunes!

S2Ep14 Vs The Best Friend

Chuck Versus the Best Friend

Semper Fidelis! Chuck is always faithful to his best friend Morgan and Morgan has always been there for his best buddy Chuck so what happens when Chuck is ordered to betray him? This episode begins with a hilarious spy mission that doesn't involve Chuck's real spy life, it involves Morgan's love life. Anna is now dating someone else and Morgan wants to get to the bottom of it with the help of Jeff and Lester. Jeff's got a creepy spy van just perfect for this kind of mission. Chuck accompanies for moral support.

I love that Casey and Sarah are spying on the guys spying on Anna. Chuck objects of course, he thinks this is a really bad idea but it leads to him flashing on none other than Anna's new beau Jason Wang! He's mixed up with Triad gangsters and now it's up to Chuck to go on a double date to see what he can find out about the Triads as ordered by General Beckman. I love the moment when Casey sides with Chuck because he understands the idea that you never leave a brother behind being always faithful and always loyal because he was a Marine but he also knows that orders are orders.

Chuck and Sarah meet Anna at her boyfriend's exotic car show and I love the moment where Anna is surprised to realize that Sarah thinks of her as a friend. The painful part comes later when in order to save Morgan, Chuck must embarrass him in front of Anna and Jason and the Triads. Chuck calls Morgan a stalker and tells him to grow up. It's a moment where you feel for poor Morgan. Chuck is crushed that he had to hurt his friend but Morgan won't let him talk, he tells Chuck to enjoy the memories because their friendship is over. Chuck vents at Sarah telling her that she has no idea what it's like to have a best friend. She quickly gives him a piece of reality that it's not just his best friend that's in danger but everyone's best friend if the Triads have smuggled in some sort of weapon.

This is also a great episode for a very special reason: JEFFSTER! That's right, this episode is the birth of Jeffster! Jeff and Lester have a band. They would have called it Jester but they didn't want to be thought of as a couple of fools. I love it. Devon has asked Chuck to pick a band for their wedding because he just doesn't have time even though Ellie asked him to. As soon as Jeff hears about this he begs Chuck for a chance for Jeffster to play the wedding which wisely he immediately turns down. That's not going to stop Jeff though, this is the most motivated we've ever seen him, they show up at the Bartowski's in the guise of fixing Ellie's laptop to seize the opportunity of auditioning for the wedding. There's only one problem. Lester is scared because after all he's a very tortured artist even though he has a voice that makes angels cry.

Eventually Morgan forgives Chuck because he's more angry with himself for Chuck always having to bail him out for his stupidity. He decides from now on he's going to fight his own battles only now's not a good time because those Triad guys just showed up at the Buy More to kill him. They found the bug Chuck planted and they think Morgan was the one who planted it! Earlier in the episode Casey showed Chuck some really cool spy breath spray that's really knock-out spray -- Chuck uses it on Morgan and is out like a light just in time for the Triads to kidnap him sleeping in a box. Chuck gives chase and Casey and Sarah follow.

What follows is one of the coolest Sarah Walker fights of the entire series as she goes toe to toe with a slick Triad woman named Smooth Lau. They beat the tar out of each other inside a car and it's pretty brutal. Chuck goes after Morgan in the nerd herder with Casey on the roof. There's a bomb in the Chinese Ambassador's car and Morgan is asleep in the back. So funny. I love the editing between Sarah's fight and the car chase to the tune of Wannamama by Pop Levi, it's excellent and energetic. Sarah kicks Smooth Lau's ass and Chuck takes the bomb and drives away in the nerd herder. Sarah arrives on the scene just in time to see what she thinks is Chuck blowing up. It's an awesome scene -- Sarah thinks she just witnessed Chuck's demise and you can read it on her face. It's okay though, Chuck just used the remote-controls for the nerd herder that Casey had just recently revealed. Nice try Chuck Writers, you didn't fool me.

Listen to the Podcast Episode: S2Ep14 Vs The Best Friend

This episode had some great music, the episode starts out with Been Caught Stealing by Jane's Addiction and then we get Mama's Boy by Chromeo on the Anna date spy mission. When Chuck and Sarah go to Jason Wang's Car expo we hear Why do these parties always end the same way? by Benji Hughes. And as I mentioned before during the awesome Fight and Car Chase we hear Wannamama by Pop Levi.

Here are links to this episodes reviews by Alan Sepinwall and Eric Goldman and AV Club.

At the end of the episode Awesome and Ellie show up at the Buy More, Devon has brought Ellie there unaware that they are about to see Jeffster perform. Come on Ellie, didn't you ever have a dream that never came true? I love the speech that Jeff gives Lester about doing it for him. Apparently Jeff quotes Eminem here which is hilarious but I had no idea until I read it. Hey some references on this show are bound to go over my head but most stuff lands. Jeffster performs Africa by TOTO and it is glorious! On the podcast I spoke about expecting Jeffster to sound terrible but in reality they sound great! Sure it's part of the joke, they are creeps but they are our creeps and we love them. Rock on Jeffster! I can't wait to see more.

Thank you so much for listening to the show and reading this blog. I want to apologize for the long gap between episodes, I really want to do episodes on a more consistent basis so thank you for your patience. This was a fantastic episode and it wraps up with one of those patented heartwarming Chuck endings. Sarah tells Chuck that she's sorry for not understanding his and Morgan's friendship because she's never had anyone that cared about her like Chuck does for Morgan. Yeah you do. Chuck does. Watch more Chuck.

Until then...

The Jastrom

S2Ep13 Vs The Suburbs -- The Chuck Series Companion

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

S2Ep13 Vs The Suburbs

Chuck Versus the Suburbs

It's Valentine's Day and Chuck and Sarah aren't sure if they should do a fake date. They quickly decide they could be doing other things plus Sarah has lots of paperwork to do. As soon as Morgan wonders what the two lovebirds are up to, they have to pretend to have plans again for the sake of their cover. This wasn't originally planned to be the 13th episode of Season Two, that was Chuck Versus the Best Friend which is now actually Episode 14. Chuck Versus the Best Friend was preempted due to a Presidential speech -- The Network aired Suburbs because it had a Valentine's Day theme -- Kinda. That storyline doesn't last long as Chuck and Sarah are enlisted in a new mission, a mission that requires them to be a married couple and live in the Suburbs! Gasp!

Meanwhile Big Mike's love is on the rocks as him and the Lady Big Mike (I wonder if my Wife would mind if I called her The Lady Jastrom?) are getting a divorce. Poor Mike (Wait! Didn't he sleep with Harry Tang's Wife?). The Buy More gang knew he was acting strange for some reason because Big Mike is actually working for a change and he's making them work too! Jeff thought he might be a Skin-Job (ala Blade Runner and BSG). I love the line where Emmett wonders who crapped in Big Mike's box of chocolates. How frightening is Emmett's wig by the way? I guess Henrietta is into that sort of thing.

So we know that a missing CIA Agent has turned up babbling the word Salamander over and over, he needs to be strapped to a bed and they can't get any answers from him. All they know is that he was undercover in a cul-de-sac in the suburbs called Meadow Branch. When Chuck is packing his clothes Ellie thinks it's great that he and Sarah will have a chance to see how it would work out for them, playing house. Chuck isn't so sure but once he arrives in the neighborhood to the Talking Heads song, Once in a Lifetime you can see the wheels start to turn in his head. He's quickly confronted with the idea of being married and owning a dog no less.

Chuck gets to mingle with the neighbors, Brad played by Andy Richter seems to be the leader, quickly introducing Chuck to the rest of the couples. He is overly friendly and even makes a wife swapping joke, Chuck doesn't know whether to laugh or run away. Jenny McCarthy's character Sylvia notices Chuck hanging back and takes the opportunity to suggest to him that her door is always open. I love how Chuck reacts whenever a beautiful woman comes on to him. He's always fidgety and clumsy. He even tells Sarah, "that woman has a dirty mouth". Casey finds a Fulcrum bug in their house and tracks it to Sylvia's husband who has an incredible amount of power going into his home via some fancy high-bandwidth cable that I definitely want to use to get some 4K Netflix if it really exists.

So it's up to Chuck to head on over to Sylvia's to seduce her and try to gain access to her husband's computer. It's a great scene seeing Chuck be thrown around by the scary cougar. Chuck gains access to the computer only to download something that looks a lot like a red tinted Intersect! When Chuck has to escape in his underwear in front of the rest of the neighbors Sarah slaps him right in the face to save face. General Beckman doesn't like the Intersect being exposed like this so she kicks Chuck off the mission. I can't forget the great moment when Chuck realizes that he could really get into this suburban life, Sarah making him breakfast, handing him a grocery list and kissing him goodbye as he's off to work as we hear I can see clearly now by Johnny Nash -- but it's all a fantasy and things quickly get serious.

Even though Chuck is gone in the guise of his marriage on the break, the couple across the street are Fulcrum and they now know that Chuck downloaded their computer test successfully. It's not long before they have both Casey and Sarah. After Chuck flashes on the grocery list, he rushes off to warn them but it's too late as Brad is there waiting for him. I love how Chuck flashes on all of the neighbors, they are all Fulcrum! It's a great moment. Now Chuck has Fulcrum intel in his head!

Chuck is strapped to a chair A Clockwork Orange style with his eyes pried open, They're going to subject him to their fully operational Fulcrum Intersect to see if his brain can handle the whole thing and Sarah is helpless to stop them. Brad and Sylvia are amused at Chuck's devotion to his fake wife Sarah, Sylvia reminds him that it's not real but Chuck is only concerned with where Sarah is. When they upload their Intersect into Chuck it's a great sequence, it indeed looks like they could be frying poor Chuck's brain! When he snaps out of his stupor he plays along for the Fulcrum agents when Casey who just recently broke his thumb to escape (what a bad ass!) turns the tables on Fulcrum and exposes them all to the deadly Intersect -- In a great nod to Raiders of the Lost Ark, Chuck tells Sarah to close her eyes, not to look. With Fulcrum's  collective brains scrambled, Team Bartowski has won.

Listen to the Podcast Episode: S2Ep13 Vs The Suburbs

There were some great songs used to great effect in this episode from, El General Midi by Monareta, as mentioned before, Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads to Fever by Peggy Lee. My favorite song would have to be Freeze and Explode by Cassettes Won't Listen when Chuck tells Ellie that he and Sarah are just never going to happen.

Again with the reviews? Of course, we have to see what our resident TV Critics thought of this particular episode don't we? Why not. First we have Alan Sepinwall's review and then we have Eric Goldman's, they both seemed to really dig the Suburbs. Then we have another AV Club review.

General Beckman warns Sarah that this is a most dangerous time and they need to protect Chuck and the Intersect more than ever before. Chuck wants to take Sarah back to the Cul-de-sac and pretend some more but Sarah is having none of it. Chuck is totally bummed out when he realizes what Sylvia said was true, it's all a fantasy, it's never going to happen, that's when he tells Ellie that their little trip to the suburbs helped him realize that he and Sarah would never be anything more than they are now. Now, Chuck can't actually tell Ellie why this is, so I think I'd understand if she is more than a little confused.

There's a great bit at the end when we find out that Big Mike's date was a fabulous night of lovemaking (T.M.I.) and we quickly find out that it's Morgan's Mom that he is banging! At least that's how Morgan put it, poor Morgan. Have you ever noticed when things go bad for Chuck, they also seem to go bad for Morgan as well? Sure nothing has really changed between Chuck and Sarah. Chuck has just been given a healthy does of reality, this spy life has a nasty way of preventing people from having real relationships.

                                              Somebody call the Cable Guy?

Well, that's it for this time, I apologize for taking a month off from the Chuck Series Companion and after the holidays I'm hoping to get back at it on a regular basis. I want to thank you for taking the time to read the blog and also for listening to the podcast. I'm still having a blast doing it and I hope that you are along for the long haul, one episode at a time. Podcasting can be rewarding but it can also feel like a vacuum, if you have any feedback about the show or the blog or just want to talk about Chuck, send me some feedback, it would be appreciated. Watch more Chuck!

Until then...

The Jastrom

S2Ep12 Vs The Third Dimension -- The Chuck Series Companion

Covering Season Two Episode Twelve of the Television Series Chuck, Chuck Versus the Third Dimension - Watch the Episode, Listen to the Show! - Subscribe on iTunes!

S2Ep12 Vs The Third Dimension