Top 5 CHUCK Episodes…So Far

Man, you guys! There have been so many really great episodes of Chuck that this was a hard list to put together! I know that everyone is going to have different faves and I can’t wait to hear what yours are in the comments. You’ll notice that all of mine come from Season Two, which isn’t a huge surprise since that’s when I feel like the show really, truly hit its stride. The other part of that is that Season One was cut short due to the writers’ strike and was only 13 episodes. But truly, picking out your favorite episodes of Chuck is like picking out your five favorite desserts—anything you pick is going to be a winner!

1. Chuck vs. The Delorean

This episode OWNS me. I am a sucker for everything in it. It’s by far my favorite Sarah episode—I love seeing her backstory and how she got to where she is now, and I think that this was the episode where I realized that the writers truly know their characters thoroughly, in and out, weaknesses and strengths. Gary Cole was outstanding, Chuck stepped comfortably and surprisingly into his spy role, and Josh Schwartz introduced me to a new awesome band (Blitzen Trapper, who I am now in love with). The B-plot also kicked major ass, with Morgan having a Peter Pan complex and Captain Awesome trying to teach him to be a man, which ignited my love for that bromance. Throw in Casey saving the day and you have set my heart on fire.

(Watch the full episode below.)

Read more

CHUCK vs. The Dream Job

Hey guys! Thanks to everyone who participated in the live chat last night! It was so fun, and I LOVE community TV watching. But please please please be sure to join in the discussion in the comments! Even if you usually lurk, please come out of the woodwork. This is the week where we all share our love for Chuck! Now, let’s get this party started!

SO much happened last night that I actually had to go back and watch again. I did miss the Buy More crew (okay, a lot), but I know that there just really wasn’t time for them. And we did get Jeffster running interference for Chuck at the conference, so that helped to curb the craving a little bit.

I think that what really stands out to me about this episode was that it was subtle. A lot of people did a really great job acting, and I can only imagine that getting such regularly great performances out of so many people at once has to be a special talent. Captain Awesome was SO good—he played slightly awkward so well. Sarah didn’t say much in this episode, but as always, it was all written perfectly on her face. Seriously, that girl is a gem, and I can’t imagine anyone else in the part. Scott Bakula was amazingly cast as Chuck’s father (seriously, I could absolutely imagine them sharing DNA), and he played maybe-genius/maybe-crazy in just the right way. And even though we all kind of knew it was coming, the big reveal was still awesome. All Quantum Leap jokes were totally lost on me, though, so please feel encouraged to share those in the comments!

I mentioned last night in the chat that I wasn’t crazy about Chevy Chase in the Roark role and that I kept trying to recast him in my mind, but he did grow on me a bit in the second watching. He made those not-quite-funny self-deprecating-but-not-really jokes so perfectly that I think his character was just a little hateable (totally a word, trust me). And since that’s what his character was supposed to be, I have to give him props for that.

Read more

CHUCK vs. The Broken Heart

SHUT UP! This was such a good episode!

I think I like Chuck best when it’s really funny and punctuated by moments of angst. Lately, it feels like it’s been total angst punctuated by moments of humor, so this ep was a nice return to form for me. There was so much funny stuff, I hardly even know where to start.

The opening scene was incredible—I really thought Chuck was being kidnapped and that hood was scary! And then out of nowhere, badass Casey shows up with a gun and stops them. I loved how he noticed Morgan’s green shoes and made them take their masks off, and THEN realized he still had his gun on him. Obviously, Casey doesn’t need a gun to scare those guys, but his irritation was so funny and I was amused when he turned the hose on them. It was a gun of sorts, at least!

The Buy More guys trying to get into a bachelor party was so perfect that it had to have almost written itself. And Jeff thinking a bachelor party was Xanadu … could anyone else only picture glitter and roller skates? And then of course they wouldn’t know how to act at a bachelor party, with Lester taking pictures (for his SCRAPBOOK! Hee!) and Jeff hiring ugly strippers, including his sister. GOOD LORD. I’d have to say, though, my favorite Jeffster moment was when Lester told Chuck that the world did not revolve around him, it revolved around the sun, and Jeff said, “Astrology snap!” It was so dumb but so funny and I laughed REALLY hard.

I’m glad that Ellie and Awesome’s engagement is progressing at a normal rate and that they’re not just in engagement limbo the way some TV couples are. I love Awesome and I thought he was so sweet when he was trying to not get violated by the CIA stripper. I always like when Awesome gets brought into stories. I find myself not so much liking Ellie, though, and that was probably my one real beef with this episode. Of course, she’s like mothering almost to the point of nagging, and all she does is dispense motherly advice and motherly concern, which gets old and boring, but I think the real reason she doesn’t do anything for me is because she does absolutely nothing for this show on her own. Everything they show of her is her worrying about Chuck or her being annoyed at Awesome. It’s like she has no life and no personality outside of those characters, and they could get rid of her and I probably wouldn’t even notice. And I don’t think that’s the actress’ fault—she’s good and does what she can, but I truly think it’s a writing issue. I’m hoping Ellie gets some better material with the appearance of the dad, and I don’t think she’s too far gone to make interesting. I mean, look at the miracle they performed with Morgan! I just want more from her.

Read more

CHUCK vs. The Predator

Alright, I’m just going to say it—it’s hard for me to concentrate when I know Six (Tricia Helfer) is going to be on next week. Hello! She is le hot. And le badass. Nonetheless, we had a plot-laden episode and it’s time to get down to business!

The Jeff that I know and love was in full force this week. My favorites were when Lester said they’d never have to buy toilet paper again, and he said, “Why start now?”, and when Emmett was saying that the Beverly Hills Buy More was so fresh and clean and Jeff suggested that it was like a douche. Hee! And that office! It totally reminded me of Chi McBride’s cell in Let’s Go To Prison. I think I was one of about five people who saw that movie, but I thought it was hilarious and I am now the proud owner of the DVD.

I feel like they did something a little different with the Buy More plot this week, and I liked it—it started out kind of joined up and crossing paths with the spy plot, and then went its own separate way. I felt like it really worked, and I loved how the beginning with the laptop was like a shout out to War Games, the 80’s movie starring Matthew Broderick and featuring globothermonuclear war. Yay! And I liked how it was easy for Chuck to figure out who had the computer, because hello, it should be.

Everyone breaking into the Buy More to steal the computer on Emmett’s watch was a little screwball comedy, and I’m not usually into that but I found myself really entertained by the whole thing. I think the characters make it work, and them switching up partners cracked me up. Also cracking me up was that Chuck outlawed guns and Casey and Sarah both had guns. Because, as Casey tells us, he ALWAYS has a gun. Of COURSE he does. It would be unprofessional not to!

Read more

CHUCK vs. The Lethal Weapon

So, I’ll be honest … last night’s episode was hard to watch! And it wasn’t that it was bad, because it wasn’t—I really liked it. It was just so sad and awkward, you know? Not necessarily what I’m used to with Chuck, but you know I like it when they switch it up, so hopefully that first statement didn’t sound worse than I meant it.

Here’s the thing … I know I liked the Buy More plot, and I remember being really cracked up by some little soliloquy of Lester’s, but I cannot for the life of me remember what it was. I know that Morgan said, “Laugh it up, fuzzball!” which is one of my all-time favorite Star Wars quotes (nerd alert!), but details are kind of escaping me right now because so much happened on the spy side. Forgive me, and please help me in rehashing all the fun details in the comments.

Also, did anyone watch Heroes after Chuck? I think I may be the only GMMRer still loving Heroes, but I got extra super excited when Claire went into the comic book store to apply for a job, and all the comic book nerds were staring at her, and two of said nerds were Buy More employees! It was the kid with the red fro and the heavy guy who was wearing a Jeffster shirt. Yay! Apparently when you’re on the NBC lot and in need of a geek, you just go pick one up at the Buy More!

Oh, ALSO, do you guys remember that episode with Gary Cole where they played the most amazing song ever at the end, and I fell madly in love with it and downloaded it and wouldn’t shut up about it? Yeah, it was called “Furr” by Blitzen Trapper. Anyway, I immediately started loving the first song they played in this episode and I was fairly certain it was the same band, so I just went to the Chuck website and sure enough, it was. And dammit all if this show is not going to end up giving me a new favorite band. I am in a certain amount of love.

Read more

CHUCK vs. The Beefcake

Oh, you guys … Chuck totally brought it for me this week. I haven’t laughed that hard at an episode in a really long time, and it’s so funny because Sarah and Chuck were all breaking up and she was getting hit on by a smooth operating James Bond, and it should’ve been totally angsty, but instead it was hysterical. Loves it!

Casey was amazingly funny in this ep, and I like his little snarky interjections, like Chuck and Sarah breaking up and Casey commenting that the most annoying relationship of his life was finally over. And I know he was giving Chuck a hard time about Cole (the James Bond Lite), but I kept getting the feeling that it was in that older brother, get-your-butt-in-gear way, where he wanted Chuck to step it up and fight for his woman.

Later, when the Fulcrum lady who said that everyone talks killed herself immediately after Casey repeated the sentiment, I was like … dude, they were perfect for each other! So I got an extra big laugh when Jeff later said that everyone talks. And I suppose that it was an interesting tie-in that Sarah said the same thing at the end, proving yet again that she’s more like Casey (and, frighteningly, Jeff) than she is like our optimistic Chuck.

Read more

Who Won TOP CHEF?

WARNING! I am totally going to discuss the winners so if you haven’t watched it yet, DO NOT READ ONE MORE WORD!

Y’all, all I can do when I think back (way back, all the way to last night) on this episode is sigh. And then I shake my head and I sigh again. I barely know where to begin.

Alright, let me start with this. Top Chef seems to go in cycles, for me at least. Season One was my favorite because everyone was a little crazy, but they also seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves (junk food blind taste-test, anyone?). Season Two was boring, with the exception of Betty and Marcel, and even Sam’s hotness couldn’t spice it up enough for me to think fondly of that season. I didn’t watch much of Season Three, but Season Four was awesome and had lots of great personalities and a lot of food that I thought I might actually want to eat.

Which brings us to Season Five, this season. I think it’s more on the side of suck. I feel like the chefs weren’t as good, overall, as ones we’ve seen in previous seasons. I think they started with too many people, and I think they sort of shot themselves in the foot with little rules they made for challenges. Could be this has happened in the past and I’ve just forgotten about it by now, but I felt like a real turning point happened when they did the Super Bowl challenge and Jeff, Stefan, and Fabio were in the bottom three, and at that point, they were probably the three best OVERALL chefs (even if not really in that challenge). And I know, I KNOW, they don’t necessarily judge on overall (except you know they kind of do). And then they didn’t let Jeff stay in the finale, even though he did a better job than either Stefan or Fabio. And I feel like had they not made the “you have to win the elimination challenge” rule, Jeff might have actually taken it.

Read more

Chuck vs. The Best Friend

So, last night was one of the most ghetto TV watching experiences I’ve had in awhile (cable issues), and normally I’d just wait for the internet but I am dedicated to bringing you your juicy recaps, and so I watched a very fuzzy NBC on bunny ears and since the sound went in and out, I busted out my weather radio that also picks up TV audio. So the sound was actually really reliable, but I couldn’t see some of the subtleties, so feel free to add anything I missed in the discussion in the comments. Onward!

You know I love it when they combine the spy plot and the Buy More plot, and having the Nerd Herd plus Morgan doing spy work from a van was hilarious. And Sarah and Casey’s commentary on their spying was pretty hilarious also. Of course my favorite line of the episode was the one from the promo of Lester saying Anna’s lunch date could be her boyfriend, and then them making out and Jeff saying, “Well, it could still be her brother.” But I won’t get too mad at the NBC promo people for spoiling that one, because honestly, if I wasn’t already watching this show and I saw that promo, that line would TOTALLY make me want to watch.

Sidenote, I saw on the What to Watch post that NBC hasn’t picked Chuck up for a third season yet. And what I have to say to that is … ARE YOU KIDDING ME, NBC? What do you think you would put there instead? Maybe some Deal or No Deal? MORE Jay Leno (which, by the way, I am pissed at and boycotting out of loyalty to Conan, because that was a crappy thing to do to him)? Perhaps a Jerry Seinfeld “comedy” special? Why do you suck so bad, NBC? What is Ben Silverman still doing there? Do you think you can spend a little more time and money on the good shows that you have and developing new good programming, instead of just trying to fill time with crap? This is why you are the lowest ranked network IN THE UNIVERSE.

Renew Chuck, NBC, and I will take (some of) it back.

Read more

TOP CHEF Now Being Served

It wasn’t until yesterday that I realized that GMMR readers were such big fans of Bravo’s TOP CHEF! But with the comments that were flying around it was obvious that it’s a show we should be talking about here on the site.  I’ve seen the show and have always liked it, but it’s more of a show that I catch from time to time and as a result I’m not qualified to talk about it with any knowledge.  Lucky for all us, SB from Team GMMR is a huge fan.  Better late than never, SB is going to take on TOP CHEF duties for the rest of the season.

Over to you SB…

TOP CHEF! Big thanks to GMMR for adding it, even if we are at the end of the season. It’s never too late to join the party, I say! Just to give you a little background on where I’m coming from, I’m not a foodie at all, but I like the artistry and competition parts of the show, which I actually started watching because Billy, my boyfriend who can cook a mean chicken breast on the Foreman grill and not much else, became obsessed with the show out of the blue. He does like to eat, though, and he thinks Padma is the hottest thing on two legs, which just goes to show that men DO only think about food and sex. Thankfully, Top Chef is so entertaining that I can indulge him on this one.

So it’s Part One of the finale, and my first thoughts are … CARLA! Why did you do that to your hair?!?! And FABIO! Why did you do that to your hair?!?! But they don’t leave me a lot of time to think about it before jumping right into the Quickfire Challenge, where none of the final four would be participating. Instead, they brought back Leah, Jeff, and Jamie for another shot at the finale.

Now I will say that I hated Leah (or GonnoLeah, as she is known at my apartment) because she was so damn whiny all the time. I couldn’t believe that she stuck around as long as she did, and I think Tom Colicchio hated her almost as much as I did. And she’s one of those girls who obviously thinks she’s prettier than she is and that that should get her through life. I’m sure she’s a decent chef and she certainly wasn’t the worst, but my personal hypothesis is that the producers angled for her to stay until they were sure they’d milked the HO-sea (as he’s known in my apartment) drama for all it was worth.

Read more

CHUCK vs. The Suburbs

CHUCK! I was so glad to have it back after last week. I felt like NBC was toying with me by giving us a new Heroes but not a new Chuck, and yeah, I know, the President has things he wants us to know, but seriously, couldn’t he just implant the intersect in all of our heads instead of depriving us of Chuck? I thought so, anyway!

As I was sitting here pondering the episode last night, I briefly considered who was the cutest in last night’s episode, and I really and truly almost went with that beautiful golden retriever, but Casey pulled me right back in when he sprayed Chuck with cologne on the naughty bits. It was so obviously ad-libbed and Casey looked SO pleased with himself that Billy and I actually backed it up and watched it again. And I was so impressed with Chuck holding it together enough to yell “WHY THERE?” I was so happy that didn’t end up on the cutting room floor, and it reinforced my belief that I NEED these DVDs because I’m positive that the outtakes alone would be worth the cost.

Once again, I thought the guest stars were outstanding. You’ll never hear me complain about Andy Richter (unless it was about his show that was on a few years ago, which was terrible), and even though it makes me feel a little bit old that Jenny McCarthy is playing a cougar, she was outstanding. And I have no idea who it was, but her partner was so scary looking that I think he might figure into my future nightmares.

The Buy More plot was a little weird for me this week–I think it might’ve been a little too much Big Mike and maybe not quite enough Lester and Jeff, but I did get a kick out of Emmett’s hair, and I was surprised that they made Big Mike hook up with Morgan’s mom when I was really expecting Emmett’s (although that may have been a little too Arrested Development/mommy issues to be original). And I loved how Big Mike was hoping and praying after looking around that she was Chuck’s mom. He loooooves Chuck! Maybe Chuck can become the next Lady Big Mike. Hey, I don’t judge.

Read more

Chuck vs. The Third Dimension

Oh, how I have missed Chuck! (And Casey. Did you see him beating up that girl? So hot!) And I missed all of you, too! Despite my best laid plans, you may have noticed that I did NOT get around to watching the CHUCK webisodes over the break. So forgive me, friends! But that just means we have something to look forward to later, am I right?!?!

Alright, so let’s talk about this episode. I love me some 3-D. I was right there on opening night for My Bloody Valentine 3-D and I’ve even been known, on occasion, to go see movies I didn’t really want to see just for the third dimension. Which is why I was a little sad that I never did figure out where to get the 3-D glasses from and I had to watch this in the regular two dimensions. Drag! I even tried my glasses from the theater, but since they weren’t the two-toned kind, they didn’t work. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the episode and promptly forgot about the 3-D.

I’ve got to admit, I wasn’t that into the spy plot this week … someone wants to kill a rock star blah blah tattoos etc. It was all mostly a vehicle to get from Point A to Point B, but I totally forgive that because I think this episode was loaded up with more references that I loved than any other. Shall we?

• Arrested Development—“NO TOUCHING!” I saw Buster/Emmett yelling it in the preview and was in love from there. Billy also pointed out that playing “Final Countdown” during the sandwich race was an AD reference. I missed that, but apparently that was Gob’s magic show tune.

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory—a golden ticket! Are you kidding me? I even loved how they stood over Morgan all excited, just like in the movies!

• Sixteen Candles—The Molly Ringwald Underwear Challenge! I could watch Sixteen Candles on a loop for weeks, I swear. And when the Bus straight ripped off Lester’s panties, I about peed mine. Hysterical.

Read more

« Previous Page