Chuck season 2 episode 14 review

I’ve enjoyed season two of Chuck; it’s been a generally more consistent experience than the first one. However, one of the issues it’s battled with is finding something interesting for the Buy More cast to do. The secret spy nature of the premise. by necessity. keeps all the people in Chuck’s life beyond Sarah and Casey outside the spy loop, and undoing that isn’t really an option.

As such. I think that Morgan’s character hasn’t been well served this year, and for a long list of stories Anna hasn’t appeared. It’s time for Buy More payback, and Chuck Vs. The Best Friend goes some way to address those deficits.

It starts with a flashback to when Chuck and Morgan where at school, and a young Morgan is set upon by a girl, and knocked to the floor in his Alf t-shirt only to be rescued by Chuck. It’s the hook on which their friendship is based, a bond that undergoes numerous challenges in this story.

Anna’s disappearance is partially explained when Morgan admits that he and she are no longer a couple, and that he’s going to spy on her to find out what she’s doing now. Jeff and Lester join in, as, rather scarily, Jeff has a van decked out for surveillance. So Chuck, Morgan, Jeff and Lester pursue Anna in their van, which is stalked by Sarah and Casey in theirs.

They follow Anna to a restaurant where she meets new love, Jason Wang. Obviously, Morgan takes this badly, but Chuck flashes on Wang and realises that he’s Triad connected. General Beckman then instructs Chuck to get close to Wang, which really causes problems between him and Morgan.

This story seems to want to push the line of how close Chuck can get to revealing his secret identity without actually blowing it entirely. There’s a somewhat lame subplot about the Triads wanting to kill a Chinese ambassador, which Chuck must foil while stopping the Triads killing Morgan, who they think is a spy.

But interspersed with this is a much funnier thread about Jeff and Lester, who have a band called unsurprisingly, Jeffster. Awesome and Elle are looking for entertainment for their wedding, and Jeffster desperately wants to get that gig. Vik Sahay is quite brilliant as Lester this week, who has imagined not only his and Jeff’s rise to stardom, but also their descent into drugs and ultimate break-up even before they’ve performed together live. He’s a wonderful foil for Scott Krinsky as the disturbed yet inspirational Jefferson Barnes, and all their scenes in this story are hilarious.

You know how it’s going to end, but it’s not less enjoyable to see Anna and Morgan reunite, and Jeffster playing their first public performance in the Buy More. Their rendition of Africa, originally performed by Toto, is different from any other you might have heard.

Ok, it was a tiny bit predictable, but fun in only the way that Chuck can deliver.

A last thing: one of the best things about Chuck is Zachary Levi, who, it’s recently been announced, has snagged a film deal. My excitement for him was, however, conflicted when I discovered that the film he’s signed for is the second Alvin And The Chipmunks, The Squeakuel. I know the temptation to get a motion picture on the resume is strong, but singing chipmunks? Please, no.

Check out Billy’s review of episode 13 here.