Chuck

Chuck

Episode 4: Chuck Versus the Business Trip

By: Carlos Uribe

Chuck is a show about Chuck Bartowski, an average nerd turned spy.

Spoilers Ahoy!

There's now nine episodes left until the series finale. It's just so sad and odd that I can only look forward to nine more episodes. That there's less than ten episodes before the 2-hour series finale in January. This episode of Chuck wasn't as good as the last three episodes, but it did have one of the best non-season finale cliff-hanger ending for this show. It's not really a game-changer, but unlike last week's cliff-hanger, I'm actually left wondering if the show is actually going to do. In other words: it's a cliff-hanger that actually left my jaw dropped. I'm hoping the show doesn't decide to hit the big old rest button in the beginning of the next episode, because that would be disappointing. This is the the final season Chuck: now is the time to be bold.

The episode begins by having Chuck save Morgan from the car-bomb; the expected conclusion to last week's cliff-hanger. After that, the only way to get the kill order to be rescinded is to remove the intersect from Morgan. General Beckman does just that, and after a silly last minute “zoom”, the show is intersect-free for the first time in the series run. That was a bit surprising, but it also made sense. In order to truly succeed, Chuck can't have the intersect nor can it be in his team. The team is going to have to work hard, it's going to have to earn all of their missions. It sets the stage for the rest of the episode: neutralizing an enemy without the intersect.

As it turns out, one assassin is still hunting Morgan. This assassin has never failed and always goes dark after cashing the check, which the assassin has already done. This means that Chuck and Sarah have to lure the killer out until the killer agrees to not kill Morgan. The two decide that the best way to do so is to have Chuck attend the Buy More Salesperson Convention while pretending to be Morgan Grimes. Throughout the episode, Chuck and Sarah talked about what it is to be a normal married couple. This helped influence the mission, and the main plot, because Sarah wants a real friend. She does meet someone who is willing to be that friend, who is seemingly willing to just be there for her. It clouds Sarah's judgement that this person is the real killer. To be fair to Sarah, the friend managed to lie convincingly to pass a secret lie-detector test. At the convention, Chuck and Sarah capture the wrong assassin, as he was meant as the decoy.

It's interesting to me to see Chuck and Sarah having to deal with not being a normal couple. It's something that's apparently the theme of the season: that they want to be more normal. It's evident at this point that the series finale is going to involve them quitting the spy game, moving into the American dream home. The idea, right now, is influencing the main plot. At the Buy More convention, the couple manage to bond with other Buy More salespeople over how every Buy More apparently has it's own Buy Morons. Also, am I the only one who thinks it's funny that tech support has enough sales to qualify as salespeople? That's not really relevant to the story, but it's a thought that came to me. The two had a fun time in the convention, but their not there to live a life. They are there to be undercover spies.

When it's finally revealed that the real killer is still out there, the show makes sure that it can actually put Morgan in danger. Thanks to the Buy More sub-plot, Casey is stuck in Castle while Morgan is up inside the Buy More. Sarah has to deal with a car bomb, while Chuck is forced to defuse it. Morgan also happened to get his ex-girlfriend, Alex, to the Buy More to try and win her back-by telling parts of the true story. Morgan has to get Alex to safety before running away and waiting to be saved by both Chuck and Sarah. The killer is brought down to Castle and is told, by Decker, not to kill Morgan anymore. She seems to accept, and the mission seems to be over. Casey and Sarah don't trust Decker and Casey says he's not on it.

That apparently involved finding the assassin and her team, listening to Decker telling the team to kill everyone but Chuck and Sarah, and then Casey wiping out the whole team rather easily. At the end of the episode-when the spy team, Chuck's family, and Alex are there-Casey is actually arrested for murder. I'm guessing he's going to please self-defense. This was simply a shocking ending. Oh yeah: Alex decides to be just friends with Morgan, which is an improvement over refusing to ever talk to him. She likes that he saved him, but is angry that he lied about being in the spy game.

The Buy More sub-plot is that Lester has lost his old best friend Jeff. The new Jeff isn't willing to be number 2, or to partake in Lester's shenanigans. Lester overhears that the reason Jeff has recovered is because he is no longer taking in carbon monoxide. So he has a brilliant plan: fill the break room, which has Jeff in it, with carbon monoxide. This plan ends up completely backfiring, and the fire alarm gets pulled. The fire alarm ends not only leaves Morgan and Alex alone in the Buy More with a deadly assassin, but also temporarily traps Casey in Castle. At the end of the episode, Lester gets arrested for attempted murder. That's right: the cliff-hanger ending of both episodes happen to coincide with two main characters getting arrested for both eerily similar charges.

Just because this episode wasn't as good as the last three episodes doesn't mean I recommend skipping it. It had a lot of great moments, and in general I enjoyed myself a lot.