Chuck season 2 episode 16 review

Last week I complained that the simple premise that Chuck presented for the better part of two seasons was starting to creak. What’s unsaid between Sarah and Chuck has become something of a bowel obstruction in the digestive process of this production.

The writers seem aware of this and each time it becomes too much they’ve thrown a really weird story into the mix, distracting us briefly. But the story this week entirely altered Chuck at a DNA level and, hopefully, for the better.

Chuck Versus The Lethal Weapon starts out as a continuation of the story started last week when Brit Agent Cole Barker was abducted by Fulcrum. He knows that Chuck is the ‘intersect’, so it’s assumed that it will only be a matter of time before Fulcrum knows too.

Except Cole Baker is a super-spy and manages to escape their clutches, we’re led to believe. All these threats are playing havoc with Chuck’s relationships, as this means he’ll have to cohabit with Sarah so he can be protected 24/7. He hasn’t got around to telling Morgan, who assumes he’s going to be sharing living space with Chuck.

That problem curiously solves itself when Anna finds the paperwork for the new Chuck and Morgan apartment and assumes Morgan wants to move in with her.

Actually, that’s about the whole of the Buy More this week, as it takes a backseat to the bigger issues that having Cole Barker back creates. Cole’s very keen on Sarah, which is the cause of jealousy with Chuck.

But he also comes back with some information about a contact code-named Perseus, who Sarah and Casey go to track down while Chuck and Cole hang out in the Castle.

The contact turns out to be Dr. Howard Busgang, who bears an intentional and uncanny resemblance to Robert Picardo. But Fulcrum is also in attendance, and Cole and Chuck must ride to the rescue. Their rescue involves Cole taking a bullet in the arm meant for Sarah, and Chuck twisting his ankle coming through a window, dropping his gun and accidentally shooting Dr. Busgang in the leg, who then runs (hobbles) away.

It turns out that Dr. Busgang was on the original team that created the Intersect, and eventually Chuck gets to ask him if it’s possible to take it out. Busgang tells him that the only person who might know would be the team leader of the project, Orion.

Unfortunately, before he can say any more he’s shot and killed by Fulcrum, so Chuck is left with only that clue to removing the intersect.

But what really made this story different was the ending, where both Sarah and Chuck admit their feelings but not to each other exactly. Cole charms Sarah but is rebuffed. Intuitively he say’s, “Who’d have believed it, Cole Baler loses the girl to Chuck Bartowski.” Instead of rejecting this notion outright, Sarah tells him that once you meet someone you care about it’s hard to walk away! Wow, that’s major character development for this show.

And then Chuck does much the same thing when he tells Sarah that he can’t move in with her, because he still has feelings for her. She doesn’t tell him that it’s reciprocal, but that now seems a much lest daunting step than it was before.

He tells her that he’s going to get the Intersect out of his head and then he can live with the woman that he loves. Ah… I’m sure this clicked with some demographics, even if others then chose to switch away and check out what was happening on the wrestling channel.

Then, in the last minute, the episode went uber-cool. Chuck goes back to his room and takes the famed Tron poster down off the wall. On the back is a massive diagram he’s created with all the spies and contacts on it, and a space for him to write ‘Orion’. My geek-o-metre registered a major disturbance in the force.

It felt like Chuck was moving on and moving up, but where it’s going next I’ve no idea. It’s about time they taught Chuck to be a real spy, so that he’s not always on the edge of being killed or would that mess it up entirely?

From where it was last week, I’m significantly more interested to see the next story now. Chuck goes up against the Predator in the next episode, which doesn’t sound like it’s going to get easer for him.

Check out Billy’s review of episode 15 here.