Throwback Thursday, a weekly article in which we look back at our favorite TV episodes from over the years.
I was so excited about the idea of doing a Throwback Thursday, a review of an episode of a cancelled show. The show was easy to choose, because if there’s one I truly, dearly, miss it’s “Chuck.” The next order a business, though, was a greater, much more challenging task; choosing the episode rendered itself difficult. I wanted the perfect one, the best one and really, so I had to ask myself, what makes Chuck, Chuck? It’s the adventure, the drama, the romance, the comedy, the music. It’s the Chuck and Sarah, the Chuck and Morgan, it’s about friends, family, about Buymoria, and Buymorons. Choosing one episode that includes all of the above proved to be a challenging task.
The title says it all, my final vote went for “Chuck vs The Other Guy,” I decided to stop overthinking it and just go with my feel-good, go-to episode. The episode where Chuck finally gets to see Paris, finally gets the girl. Yes, I’m a sucker for the Chuck and Sarah of it all. “Chuck vs the Other guy” is the episode for beginnings, the official beginning of Chuck and Sarah, the beginning of Morgan and Casey and of Morgan and the CIA.
Chuck’s a show about a guy with a supercomputer stuck inside his head, one that can help him climb buildings, do gymnastics and speak Japanese. It’s great, but it’s not a show to be deeply analysed. It’s supposed to be fun, and that was what this episode was.
The previous episode left us, and Chuck, with the distinct feeling that Shaw was up to no good, that he had gone rogue, that he was after Sarah, that he was going to kill her for killing his wife. Chuck’s expecting the worst, and when Sarah’s life is on the line, he spares no expense; he’s not going to lose her. Without thinking twice about it, he launches a full-on tactical attack on the compound to get Sarah back, only Shaw’s hasn’t gone rogue. Or so everybody thinks.
Sarah panics, when she learns what she’s done who she’s killed. She breaks down as she sees her red test, her first kill, streamed on a loop, and Shaw’s arms are there to comfort her, and it breaks my little heart to see Chuck witness it, from afar.
He isn’t the hero, doesn’t save her. Instead, his rescue mission gets him into trouble, and the bill gets him into even more. It crushes him when Sarah agrees to continue working with Shaw, because he’s losing the girl. Chuck was such an easy character to get into, to root for, and it was hard watching him lose hope. Shaw and Sarah are being shipped to Washington, and Chuck’s to stay in Burbank, without her.
Morgan and Chuck have the kind of friendship I sometimes wish I had. Morgan’s a great friend, a little intense, but loyal. In this episode, he quits the Buy-More to be Chuck’s spy assistant full-time. And it’s such a stupid move, but it works, because Morgan is always in, always all-in. He’s always there for his friend, and that’s why I loved his character so much. He walks in on Chuck who’s given up, because he lost the girl, lost Sarah to the American hero. And when Chuck hits a low, what does he do? He mixes gaming with alcohol.
Morgan tries to put a stop to the massacre to get Chuck out of his slum, but Chucks wants to wallow, wants Morgan to leave him alone. He flashes and ties Morgan up, misquoting pretty in pink, and mentally torturing the little bearded man. Sarah walks in on the both of them, and frees Morgan from the controller restraints. I can’t be the only one to have gasped when Sarah cut all the controller cords. (With what are they going to play now?)
Morgan gets up, forgives his best friend, and leaves Chuck and Sarah alone. Chuck has nothing left to lose, she’s going and he’s staying, so he asks her the questions that’s been burning his lips, finally. They had been toying with this moment for so long, 2 and a half seasons, we all knew the answer, but what we didn’t know with certainty was if Sarah knew the answer. There is always something in the way with these two, ex-girlfriends, ex-boyfriends, a job, a cover, a Casey… It was time for them, and the moment was perfect. I was clumsy, it was simple, it was cute, it was Chuck. It was a perfect reaction from both the characters. Chuck was so happy, so relieved to final hear it. When I’m in a funk, I can go back to this scene, look at this face and just melt. (Helps that Zachary Levi is so darn cute!)
They have another mission, and at the sound of the word “mission” Morgan comes running back, in one of those moments you can’t help but laugh. He’s assistant to one Charles Irving Bartowski, and he’ll sober him up, get him ready for the field.
The mission consists of getting the cipher from the Director, through his personal elevator and when trouble arises, Shaw is there to save the day. Another laugh worthy moment, was Chuck thinking the racket is caused by Shaw who’s going to kill him because “He knows.”
Morgan Quote of the episode:
“You know what else he is? A stud. And 99 times out of ten, that guy gets the girl. We’re done here.”
Morgan is the one to see through Shaw’s game. With his extensive knowledge of Hong Kong action films, he comes to the conclusion that the fight was staged, that Sarah’s in danger. Shaw “killed” the director, but as Morgan said, if there isn’t brain matter, you can never be sure.
Of course Shaw is the bad guy for wanting to kill Sarah, for playing them all, but it’s also the human reaction to learning your partner killed your wife, if he hadn’t reacted to the news I would have suspected he was a robot, and in this show, pretty much anything s possible. Sarah and Shaw are sent to France run the trail to the cipher, and Morgan and Chuck need to save her before it’s too late. Beckman isn’t of much help; it’s the boy that cried wolf. There has been s much back and forth with Shaw’s intentions in this episode alone.
Maybe someone should count how many times Sarah Walker has said that line over the course of those 5 seasons. My guess is, a lot.
They need a team to save Sarah. Morgan and Chuck go to their third, go to Casey, the ultimate spy. Only he’s not a spy anymore, he’s been fired, if that’s how we call it, and he doesn’t want, don’t think he can help. But the thought of turning into Jeff or Lester can scare even the toughest out there. Morgan convinces him, wakes him up, makes him realise that the buy-more life isn’t what he’s meant to be, what he wants to be. He’s in.
Casey takes care of the Ring Director, his token in exchange for reinstatement in the CIA and for Morgan’s. This episode marks the beginning of a weird, but great friendship between the two of them.
Chuck and Casey fly to Paris, to get Sarah back from Shaw. There’s been Chuck’s internal trouble from the first episode of the first season about talking a human life, it’s not him. Add to that the fact that Sarah doesn’t want him to change, doesn’t want him to become like every other spy, like her, shooting Shaw is a big deal for him. He’s not a murderer, but he’ll do anything to save Sarah, his Sarah. He tries to talk Shaw out of it, lowers his gun, but Shaw is dealing with his own personal demons, he can’t let go of them. Daniel Shaw ultimately falls into the river, shot, and they finally get their chance.
The episode ends to one of my favorites songs, which I discovered thanks to the amazing "Chuck" soundtrack, “Bye, Bye, Bye” from Plants and Animals. Any favorite song discovered on "Chuck"?
The third season was initially supposed to be 13 episodes, “Chuck vs The Other Guy” was meant to be the series finale, before they got ordered 9 more episodes, and then two more seasons, and it was a strong enough episode to work as a finale. I love happy endings. But we’re still all happy to have kept the show going after the episode, though the actual series finale was a quite debatable episode!
The only downside of the episode is the lack of Jeffster songs, which is why “Chuck vs The Beard” was such a strong competitor for this review. What episode was your favorite? And how much do you miss "Chuck", anybody up for a marathon right about now?
