Chuck season 2 episode 21 review

Things happen in this penultimate episode of Chuck that are totally pivotal, so if you have it recorded and haven’t watched it yet, then please don’t read my spoilers.

For those that don’t care or can handle knowing, things happen in this episode where Chuck Versus The Colonel that strongly hint that the show is nearly done from a story standpoint. An official announcement on next season for Chuck and pals hasn’t been made, but lots of plot elements are terminated in this 42 minutes, so many, in fact, that if it did get another season it would be radically different.

The story starts where it left off, with Sarah and Chuck escaping from the CIA/NSA and now ‘Colonel’ John Casey who has been sent to bring them back ‘dead or alive’.

They’ve travelled to the secret ‘Blackrock’ Fulcrum base to find Chuck’s dad, but all they find is an old drive-in movie theatre. I’m not sure if this was a reference to the classic Spencer Tracy movie, Bad Day At Black Rock, maybe.

They can’t find a way into the base, so they head to a local motel. When they wake they have the uncontrollable urge to make love, which I was waiting to discover was another dream. It isn’t, but it becomes a nightmare for Chuck when he discovers that Morgan has replaced the condom he carries in his wallet with an IOU!

Talking of Morgan, things aren’t going well back at the Buy More, where Emmett has made the little guy his assistant or ‘ass-man’ as he likes to refer to him. Continuing the references from last week they keep using music from The Godfather, and recreating scenes where Morgan tries to explain to Big Mike, or step-father, why he helped Emmett become boss. This element is nicely played out to the point where Morgan finally realises what are the most important things in life, and he resigns to go to Hawaii with Anna and become a Benihana chef .

Before Chuck can find that vital condom, Casey turns up and Fulcrum aren’t far behind him. Lots happen here from an action sense, but the upshot is that Casey captures them both and transports the couple to the cells inside the Castle.

And that’s where they would stay until Jeff and Lester, messing with explosives they found in Casey’s locker, blow up the local sub-station and cut the power to the whole of Burbank. They escape also because Casey is forced to go back to his own apartment where Devon is trapped after triggering his security system.

Casey arrives, followed by Chuck and Sarah. Soon the secret of his dual existence isn’t as complete as it once was. The bit where Chuck asks Devon ‘to be awesome’ and keep a secret is superbly funny, as is his attempt not to tell the truth to Ellie later. Ryan McPartlin, who plays Captain Awsome, is a great comic actor, and he’s quite brilliant in this role.

Chuck and Sarah head back to Blackrock, where they meet Casey who has decided to join rather than hunt them. The movie theatre lot fills with identical cars driven by agents of Fulcrum, all to be turned into human intersects using the computer that Orion (Chuck’s dad) made for them. What Fulcrum doesn’t know is that General Beckman has dispatched a squadron of bombers to destroy everything at this location.

But the big twist is that when the intersect images appear, they don’t turn all the people looking into intersects. What it does is erase the one from Chuck’s head!

The bombers arrive and trash the place, but not before Chuck, Sarah, Casey and Orion escape, together with Ted Roark (Chevy Chase). The good news for the final episode next week is that Chuck’s dad is back to walk Ellie down the isle, and the bad news is that nemesis Ted Roark has invited himself along too.

I really enjoyed this Chuck, but I wonder if it’s blown too many of the crucial elements a little ahead of the finale. If Ellie can get married and Roark can be stopped then this could be tied up so easily, but knowing Chuck as I now do, somehow I don’t think things are actually going to be that simple.

I’m actually expecting Ted Roark, Emmett Milbarge and General Beckman all to get their just deserts, and I won’t accept anything less!

Check out Billy’s review of episode 20 here.