CHUCK Recap: Chuck vs. The Crown Vic

Episode: “Chuck vs. The Crown Vic”
Original Airdate: 12.03.07
GMMR Recapper: SB

Ugh, you guys, I am so mad that this was the last Chuck (and Heroes and everything else) for awhile. And then they go and throw it in my face at the end that we’ll see Chuck again in 2008 … they hope. I know they were referring to “if Casey doesn’t kill him,” but it still seemed like such an evil little “wink, wink”. Just when you think you can’t hate the promo department any more …

Anyway, not my favorite episode but an okay one, with a little cliffhanger action. Although I really think that if there had to be a mid-season break (sigh), last week’s might have been better to go out on. In a nut shell: Buy More Christmas Party; Morgan meets Anna’s parents; Chuck, Sarah, and Casey go to a charity casino night to spy on some smuggler; Sarah flirts with bad guy to get info; Chuck gets jealous; Chuck gets a flash; things go awry and Sarah and Casey get benched; Chuck figures out that the goods are on a boat with Morgan and Anna and is going to be blown up; Sarah and Chuck and Casey save the day. Whew. Onward.

So, I’m not really sure why Sarah was acting weird toward Chuck this episode as opposed to the last one, but I suppose I’ll forgive the chronology on that one because it does make sense in the larger context. I really liked the scene where she was asking Casey if he ever just wanted a normal life (because obviously she does), because I really like their little conversations where you see how they have such similar lives but are so different within them. I didn’t like how she and Chuck agreed to shaking on “friends” at the end, but … I guess she has to sleep at night. And it’s not that I feel like it was totally unrealistic or whatever, but sometimes realistic events in TV shows piss me off more than unrealistic events. Like, hello, the last scene of Chasing Amy.

And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually thought this was a pretty good Morgan episode. Although most it wasn’t all Morgan so much as the people surrounding him, like Flashback Jeff wanting a doggie bag, I actually thought him being King of the World was really funny, and I loved at the end when he told Anna he missed her pretty make-up. Awwww. I didn’t really like where they went with Anna in the Thanksgiving episode, so her rubbing Morgan’s back while he puked was really sweet and I am back on the ship (pun intended, even if it is kind of a stretch).

Casey polishing his car reminded me so much of Jayne with his gun collection, and that t-shirt (“If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.”) was too much. I wasn’t really into the Crown Vic, even though Billy used to have one and so you’d think MAYBE I’d feel a tiny bit of nostalgia. Nope. Maybe it’s just that I spent way too many years driving boxy cars from the mid-80’s to really be over it yet, but when he said he reupholstered the prison containment area, I did crack up. And I felt bad for him when he almost cried when they blew his car up. But … couldn’t the NSA just replace it or something? I don’t know, seems like if they can give Chuck $100K to gamble with, they could buy Casey a fifteen-year-old car to fix up. Or maybe he could commandeer one.

I was surprised that Sarah didn’t run off with Bryce, especially when she woke up with sun on her face. And, I don’t know … the whole Bryce situation just seems maybe too easily resolved by having him go “deep undercover”. WTF? Could we have not had living-in-the-present Bryce for more than one episode? I mean, his guest-starring rate cannot be that much relative to all the missiles and blowing stuff up they do on this show. And it’s not like I want Bryce around all the time, but I found his abrupt departure kind of unsatisfying. More Bryce!

I’m sure you’ve probably guessed by now that the Buy More scenes were my favorite, and not because anything really happened, but because Jeff was running around with mistletoe, getting “polluted”. I love Jeff. And I don’t love to look at him as much as Casey, but I really think he’s pulled out in the lead for favorite character. He’s just so goofy and weird, but not really in an off-putting way. Just in a random kind of way. Did anyone ever watch Homestar Runner? He’s like Homsar, the weird version of Homestar that said stuff like, “Let’s all ride on the gravy train!” Not shockingly, Homsar was my favorite character on that too. What does that even say about me?

I was surprised at the end how accepting Casey was of his impending mission to kill Chuck. He seemed more emotional about it at the beginning of the season, which seems weird, but maybe all those conversations about desert island sandwiches have finally gotten to him. I know he’s not going to kill Chuck (because hello, that’s the name of the show), and obviously not because Chuck could ever outsmart his trigger-happy, killing machine ways, but I just wonder how either he’ll get out of it or defy the order, which seems really contrary to his character. It actually is an intriguing little cliffhanger.

So, I have no idea when the episodes resume or anything like that, so hopefully we’ll make it through the dry spell as we boycott crappy reality TV. Also, I just want to add that while I loved Journeyman, Life is a really great show and I really like it as a follow-up to Heroes. I think some of you Chuck fans may get into it too, since the humor is different but it’s still really funny. Again, think of it as dinner … Chuck is the appetizer and Heroes is the main course, and Journeyman was like that second helping that your aunt makes you have even though you’re full but you think you should go ahead and eat it, but then it’s maybe just a little too much after such a heavy meal, but then Life is like a delicious dessert that compliments dinner but satisfies the lighter side too. Also, I think there are elements of that serious story that Prison Break fans could really get into (as I myself was one, before the craptastic ending of Season Two). Monday nights on NBC are shaping up to be really great TV, and now is the time to give some of the shows you missed a chance! And hopefully some Chuck fans will find their way over by doing the same. See you all in 2008!

SB has many interests, including photography, her pets, entertainment, traveling and writing. She does have a day job, but that mostly amounts to her being a sarcastic young woman with a lot of time on her hands, which is why she appreciates the opportunity to recap.