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

S2Ep16 Vs The Lethal Weapon -- The Chuck Series Companion

Covering Season Two Episode Sixteen of the Television Series Chuck, Chuck Versus the Lethal Weapon - Watch the Episode, Listen to the Show! - Subscribe on iTunes!

S2Ep16 Vs The Lethal Weapon

Chuck Versus the Lethal Weapon

Agent Cole Barker has been captured by Fulcrum and he's being tortured while continuously being asked what he knows about Perseus (It's the dude from Clash of the Titans obviously, Fulcrum. Sheesh) and their favorite question, "Who is the Intersect?" -- Cole is a bad ass though, he's not going to let a blow to his rib cage with a steel pipe intimidate him, right? Ouch.

Meanwhile, Chuck and Sarah are sharing a bed, their cover is now of a reunited couple who will soon move in together. Chuck though, worries that Sarah may have already fallen for Cole, he's a super spy and Chuck can't help but notice that Sarah is rather distracted. Ellie on the other hand, knows none of this or any of Chuck's spy life, she's eager to get these two kids into a home together and get ready for phase two of their relationship (or is that phase three? Pun intended. Hehe).

There's a great moment where Ellie jokes with Sarah about getting rid of some of Chuck's belongings because let's face it, she wants Chuck to grow up. She wants to start with his Tron poster until Chuck reminds her that their Father gave it to him. The mood instantly turns somber until Sarah changes the subject wondering what Morgan thinks about Chuck moving in with her instead of him. One problem, he hasn't broken the news to Morgan yet.

Morgan is already banning Jeff and Lester from any future parties at their soon to be bachelor pad when he catches them making fun of him to the entire Buy More staff. Does anyone work at this place? Don't answer that, I already know the answer. Before Chuck can let Morgan down gently, he's swooped up by Casey and taken to Castle. The CIA has failed to locate Agent Barker so they are putting Chuck on lock-down at a secure facility before Fulcrum shows up at their underground base. The alarm is tripped but fear not, it's only Cole Barker, he's escaped and he looks like crap. I love Chuck's reluctance to believe that Cole could defeat nine fulcrum bad guys to escape. He knows that Cole is awesome but c'mon, does he have to be THIS awesome? The answer is yes, Chuck.

Beckman orders Chuck and Cole to stay in Castle while Casey and Sarah go to a fancy shindig at the Swiss Consulate looking for a man Codenamed: Perseus. There are some great moments here as Chuck desperately tries to work in some Sarah compliments as Cole bombards her with constant comments on her beauty. Chuck also takes the time to point out some nice hor d'oeuvres on a passing tray to Casey. It's not long before Fulcrum agents spot Casey and Sarah as they have now found Perseus, a one Doctor Busgang Robert Picardo. When Chuck and Cole lose contact, Cole explains to Chuck that you don't try to be a hero you just do what has to be done. There's a great moment when Cole does something that Sarah and Casey have never done, he gives Chuck a gun!

I love later on when Chuck shows Casey his gun and Casey proclaims that they are all going to die. He's nearly correct when Chuck gets his leg stuck in the window and drops the pistol, only for it to fire and hit Dr. Busgang in the leg. Poor guy, he was only helping Fulcrum because he thought they were the real CIA. Cole takes a bullet for Sarah and Chuck feels even more inferior and what makes it worse is that Cole is actually a decent guy, he even refers to Chuck as 'Buddy'. He's genuinely concerned about him when Chuck complains about his leg. So Fulcrum gets away and so does Busgang and all Chuck has to show for it is a hurt ankle.

                                         "We're dead, Bartowski's got a gun."

Back at the Buy More, Anna found Morgan's Apartment Lease papers in the store fax machine and now she thinks Morgan was going to surprise her with an apartment. Now Morgan is screwed, he has no other choice than accepting Jeff and Lester's help. Dear God, no. Their idea is to repulse Anna so much that she will think twice about moving in with him. They try Wii Tennis which doesn't work, even with a sweaty Jeff trying to put his arm around her. He tries a Morgannuptual demanding only String Cheese in their household. This doesn't work either. I loved when Morgan says she will probably have to put down her pet, Chico. Anna's not having any of it, she's too excited looking for Ikea furniture to be repulsed. Later on, Chuck asks Morgan what the hell he's doing, trying to repulse Anna? Anna is in to him, why is he trying to ruin it? He needs to seize the day, there's this girl who's into him and he needs to decide if this is what he wants. The time is now, Morgan! I love that Chuck is in the dark here, sure he's giving Morgan great advice but he has no idea that Morgan is trying to repulse Anna because she thinks they are moving in together. It's nice to have Chuck not know what's going on for a change.

When Chuck returns home, Ellie and Devon -- who are doctors -- immediately notice his limp and rush him to the hospital and it's there he sees Dr. Busgang. Chuck pursues and is followed by Fulcrum. I love the moment when Busgang is in awe of Chuck's ability to flash and he seems genuinely sympathetic to Chuck's plight. Chuck flashed on the name ORION and Busgang explains that Orion created the Intersect but before he has a chance to tell Chuck more, he's killed by the same Fulcrum Agent that tortured Cole. Cole repays the favor by tackling him before he can kill Chuck but Cole takes another bullet. Jeez Cole. This time Sarah saves them and once again, Chuck is competing for sympathy from Sarah with Cole. It's a pretty funny moment when Sarah asks, "Are you okay?" and then improvises, "Both of you?" But Chuck knows she meant, Cole.

This episode had some great music, it opened with God & Suicide by Blitzen Trapper and then we got to hear an awesome cover of Walk Like an Egyptian by The Puppini Sisters and finally Signs by Bloc Party.

Listen to the Podcast Episode: S2Ep16 Vs The Lethal Weapon

Alan Sepinwall enjoyed the episode in his review but he thinks he found some plot holes. Plot holes in Chuck? I think not, surely you must be mistaken Sir! Eric Goldman dug the episode in his review and AV Club gave Lethal Weapon a B-. B Minus!?! How dare they!

When the Team returns to Castle, they are commended by General Beckman. I love when Cole tells Casey that he didn't take out nine bad guys, it was actually twelve -- he just doesn't like to boast. He then says to Chuck that he is the most SPECIAL agent that he has ever worked with. Casey guffaws at this. Chuck leaves Sarah and Cole to say goodbye to each other, he doesn't want to get in the way of their good vibes they have for each other. Now I am saying Chuck feels this way, it doesn't mean that it's actually true. Cole has indeed fallen for Agent Sarah Walker but she's just not into him and she finally breaks it to him. He finally realizes that her heart has been set on Chuck the entire time. Agent Barker loses the girl to Chuck Bartowski, indeed.

Now the episode isn't over yet, Morgan gently breaks it to Chuck that he can't move in with him because he's moving in with Anna. Chuck is genuinely happy for him. He looks on as Morgan and Anna kiss in the break room, wondering if he will ever have that himself. When he arrives at the courtyard fountain, where he and Sarah have shared many moments. Sarah explains that Cole and her aren't happening, he's a great guy but she belongs there. He seizes the opportunity to tell her that he can't move in with her, because it would just be torture to him. He's crazy about her and it would destroy him, pretending. He then promises her that one day he's going to get the Intersect out of his head and when he does he's going to get the girl. She understands. He has no time to explain this to Ellie as he makes his way to his room and takes the Tron poster off the wall. You know the one that Ellie wants him to get rid of because it's a sign of his stagnant life and his youth. It was given to him by his missing Father and it means a lot to him. He turns it over to reveal that he has mapped out everyone he has encountered since getting the Intersect in his head. He writes down the word ORION because he knows that this is it. Orion is the key, the key to getting the Intersect out of his head.

Thank you for reading and listening to the Chuck Series Companion. It doesn't matter how long I am away from Chuck, when I sit down to watch Chuck again, those happy feelings return. I love Chuck and I hope that this Blog and Podcast prove it.

Watch more Chuck!

Until then...

The Jastrom

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