CHUCK vs. The Gravitron
November 25, 2008 by Kath Skerry
“Unleash the Casey”—OMG! T-shirt, please!
So WOW, there was a lot going on last night. And I’m just going to be totally honest with you—I accidentally fell asleep for a long time before Billy came home and woke me up around 10 and insisted on immediately watching Chuck, so I think some of that chemical in your brain that makes you not remember dreams was still working because I’m a little fuzzier on details than normal, which is why I’m counting on you guys to comment and remind me of all the awesome one-liners, because I KNOW I laughed out loud.
Alright, let’s start with this Jill business. I was glad that we didn’t have to wait around the whole episode for Chuck to figure out that Jill was Fulcrum, but we obviously couldn’t be rid of her that quickly, either. And I was so mad at Chuck, again, for all the stupid things he did in regard to Jill, like FREEING HER FROM HER RESTRAINTS. Oh, Chuck. I did like the very nice touch that she was devious enough to shoot Leader to trick Chuck. And by the way, I totally thought that Jesse “The Body” Ventura would have made an awesome Leader, but Billy pointed out that this guy was basically the poor man’s Jesse Ventura. Although maybe not anymore—Jesse has really let himself go.
I wasn’t sure how to feel about the revelations from Jill about her college years. On the one hand, it was good to have a better understanding of how the Fulcrum recruiting went down (basically selling your soul without really realizing it until it’s too late), and I was glad for Chuck that she really did have feelings for him and didn’t sleep with Bryce (because seriously, I would have had to start wondering if Bryce’s you-know-what was made of chocolate and gold and George Clooney, you know?), but there was also sort of an unsophisticated part of me that wanted Jill to just be a bad guy. I do really appreciate that she wasn’t and it added to the depth of her character, but I guess I was just so willing to hate Jill.
And it did add something to the part at the end where Chuck puts her in the Buy More car in detention mode. (And by the way, WTF? I almost never think too hard about stuff that happens on Chuck, but that was a little … well, out of nowhere.) Because Jill wasn’t an all bad character and Chuck has been so ridiculous over her, I really thought he might struggle with whether or not to go somewhere with her. I was glad he didn’t, and I was glad for the reason he gave—that he couldn’t let her go once he realized she was going to kill Sarah. And I loved that Sarah heard that, and the emotion on her face was so subtle and perfect, and I just think that Yvonne Strahovski can do no wrong. I just could not possibly be more impressed with her.
The Buy More was hilarious this week. Jeff’s one stupid trip wire (which I suppose did come in handy, after all) and that turkey shirt cracked me up. Did everyone see it, with the turkey wearing a pig nose and holding a sign that said “Oink, Oink”? I loved how when they sent Morgan out to procure a real turkey, albeit a trash can turkey (like any of those guys would care), and Jeff was doing all that hot wiring, they got spy music! Hilarious! And then Morgan and Jeff touching hands through the glass was so weird and funny. Also, did anyone else get a major kick out of Big Mike this week? When he called Morgan, Jeff and Lester “you pathetic bastards” and then referred to Lady Big Mike, I about lost it.
And speaking of Big Mike, can you imagine seeing him all decked out in his fishing gear coming at you? I’d be too stunned to move too. I LOVED Casey hiding his gun from Big Mike and standing there awkwardly, and Big Mike just assuming that Morgan left him in charge. It did mean that we didn’t get Casey at Thanksgiving dinner, which, for me, was the only thing missing. I think at this point, it may be best to leave The Awesomes in my mind, although Ellie stressing out so hard over them makes me definitely want to meet them in the future. But for now, I’m content to let the anticipation build.
So I know that was a super involved episode and I only scratched the surface—what did YOU think?
— posted by SB
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.
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Filed under Chuck, Chuck Recaps
there so needs to be an “unleash the casey” shirt. awesome call. that might be my new motto when i have to get all bad-@ss with those who annoy me. it’s right up there with “what? i wasn’t hatched.” that’s another shirt too. santa, please? i’ve been good this year.
i know would have hurled in the gravitron and the house of mirrors thing? that was weird. weird weird weird. and the super secret underground lair is called the castle? what?
anyhoo – jill – eh? so she’s bad, but not bad bad? and fulcrum thinks bryce is the intersect? good for chuck to put the car in “detention mode” and lock her up. i love that sarah saw everything but didn’t say a word or intervene.
the best part, though, was when chuck and sarah came through the courtyard and then held hands before going into his apartment. in the words of ellie and morgan, a thanksgiving miracle. i think that chuck and sarah’s bond is even deeper now and one of the two needs to go ahead and cave in. they should just have a real relationship while pretending to be in a fake real relationship, it would make the cover that much better. plus, i think casey is actually supportive of sarah and chuck together, even if he pretends not to be.
thanks chuck, for reminding me to always read the manual. and gmmr’s twitter comment during the ep, dead on. as usual.
sb – i had to rewatch too (dvr is fixed! yay!) because my husband was asking me too many questions (never watched before) and my kiddo was screeching. how many decibels is a little kid’s screech, anyway?
Chuck was pretty darn good last night, as it has been most of this season. “Unleash the Casey” totally has to be a T-shirt slogan. HAS to be!! And though Casey scares me a bit, I’ll admit the thought of Big Mike barreling towards me would probably be scarier. Wow.
Poor Chuck, having to learn about Jill’s Fulcrum-age, and then deal with her. I felt his pain when he asked who *wasn’t* a spy, and questioned his sister, Morgan, etc. Can you imagine Capt. Awesome and Ellie being not only doctors, but spies as well? Oh dear.
You also touched on the Buy More bits … hilarious! I do enjoy a good spy plot, but I live for the Buy More bits. Jeff, Lester, and Morgan = hilarity. And I agree, the glass touch was weird, but was it between Morgan and Jeff, or Morgan and Lester? I kind of dozed through a few seconds of the episode, too, but for some reason I’ve got a mental image of Lester and his big pretty eyes (and lashes) gazing through the glass.
Overall – a fab episode. And hey, was that an Alias alum that I saw on the preview for next week’s ep? As Casey’s mentor??
Oh, Kimber, you’re so right, it WAS Lester doing the glass touching! I totally put the wrong name. And yeah, next week looks INCREDIBLE! I knew you guys would jog my memory. A Caseycentric episode? I’m going to die of hotness.
Somewhere I read that the “touch” between Morgan and Lester was an homage to “the Wrath of Kahn”–I’m not a Trekkie, so I wouldn’t know–regardless, it was hilarious.
You know what, SB. I’m still convinced that Jill was all bad. You don’t just flip flop between “I’m fond of you” to “I’m a baddie” in a split second if you really care about someone. There would be some serious reservation, and I’m not sure that I saw it. I just saw someone that was using Chuck’s feelings to achieve her mission. I mean, the whole carnival plot was concocted–including shooting “Leader”–I don’t see how making Chuck believe that she’s all schmoopy over him to get what she wants no matter the cost wasn’t part of the plan either. Heck, even Casey couldn’t shoot Chuck in “target practice,” and he’s, well, Casey.
I was so happy to see Chuck grow a pair, finally. While I wanted to smack his forehead when he said to Sarah, “Don’t hurt her,” I was so glad that he decided to “break up with” her when he realized that she had no qualms about harming Sarah.
I love Chuck so much this year it’s ridiculous. I’ve seen every episode since the start, but I find myself looking forward to it more and more every week, and thinking about it way more after I’ve watched. It is just off the charts good this year and I’m so hoping for a season three.
The Twitter comment about Chuck being a great kisser – I’ll second that! Even if I was so mad at him for letting Jill out of her restraints. At least he redeemed himself by locking her in the Nerd Herd car and explaining how much she hurt him by what she almost did to Sarah. And Sarah hearing the whole thing! Swoon…
Unleash the Casey indeed – that cracked me up!!
SB:
I agree with Lauren. I think Jill was all bad. Remember after Chuck freed her, he asked if after all of it was done, if they could be together. No spying, no lying. She hugged him and said “yes” but the polygraph indicated “negative” meaning she was lying. So even after he freed her and expressed his feelings, she was still lying to him and playing with his emotions.
Looking forward to next week. Loved the expression on Casey’s face when his is playing chicken with his old mentor.
One thing that bothered me: polygraphs.
First of all, they have gargantuan (and I mean gargantuan) error margins: something like a third of the time, they’re wrong. And that’s not even considering people who are trained to fool them, as Jill should have been. What’s more, it’s idiotic of Casey and Sarah to expect that Jill wouldn’t have been trained to fool lie detectors. Even two-penny criminals know how. Heck, even I know (in theory) how to do it, and I’ve never even stolen as much as a paper clip.
I love Chuck, I really do, but it seems like every episode has one of these obvious *facepalm* plot points. And it’s starting to grate.
This season of Chuck has been a revelation, even to those of us who enjoyed the playful entertainment of its abbreviated first year.
When hour long “dramedys” use stunt guest stars and elaborate set pieces, they often forget to move the primary storylines forward and succumb to the temptation to overplay their visual hand. Leave it to the geniuses behind Chuck to allow Jordana Brewster and the carnival setup to do away with those bad habits. The Jill story arc was well crafted and compellingly executed, and has given fresh momentum to Chuck & Sarah’s relationship.
We need to come up with an alternative to the term “Jump the Shark” to identify when a show has reached new heights in creativity and viewer satisfaction. In the world of athletics, Sports Guy Bill Simmons calls it, “Making The Leap.”
Can the GMMR community coin a new phrase to reward artistic excellence and originality?
Thanks for the recap. I really enjoyed the episode. i think the best part would have to be the manual. The manual that tells you how to operate everything in the castle. How cool is it that they have one of those?
Laila, real intelligence units do use polygraph testing. They also can tell when someone is trying to fool the polygrapher. That said, the polygraph section was totally implausible–there is such a thing as a trained polygrapher, you can’t just operate one on your own, and there’s no magic computer that reads them. But come on, do we really expect Chuck to be plausible? There’s a whole suspension of belief that goes on when watching this show, as none of the situations are very plausible if you think about them. But that’s the beauty of the show, it makes you believe that there could be a polygraph machine that just tells you if the person is telling the truth. Or that Bryce Larkin could hide the intersect update in a pair of sunglasses. Or that two extremely hot spy girls would fall for the geeky computer guy. Or that one extremely hot sandwich gal would fall for the guy that works at Buy More. I don’t watch it for the reality, I watch it for the fluffy spy fun. And because I hope that there might be an extremely hot geek out there for me . . .
I totally agree with you mcdonam3…Jill is all bad, these past few episodes I’ve held no small amount of disgust toward her manipulating Chuck left and right. Kudos to Chuck for “growing a pair” as someone above said. He actually kinda unleashed the chuck with his “devious” plan of saving Sarah and Casey in the castle. When Chuck trapped Jill in the NerdHerder and said the part about her hurting Sarah, I think the “awwwww” could have been heard in every chuckophile’s living room; so cute! Maybe Chuck will have a more spy-y role in the upcoming episodes, now that he’s kinda saved the day on purpose (a few of the other times seemed like kind of a Scoobydoo/Shaggy “ruh-roh, we tripped the bad guy” type of thing)… Oh and the Chuck/Sarah kissing lesson and subsequent almost kiss…awesome…another great testimony to Yvonne Strahovski’s acting chops…
I agree with you, Lauren, about the need for suspension of disbelief generally being needed for these sorts of shows. The difference here, as I see it, is that it’s sloppy to expect the audience to just go along whenever the plot calls for it. It’s inconsistent and gets tiresome.