Chuck Versus the Bearded Bandit

Who's Luke Skywalker?

Photo Credit: Danny Feld/NBC

This week was the 80th episode of Chuck! In it, we saw the introduction of Gertrude Verbanski (guest star Carrie-Anne Moss), with whom Casey has a ‘past’ (and he seems to have a 'past' with a number of spies!). We also had Chuck stepping, not entirely successfully, into the role of Morgan’s handler. To be fair he isn’t entirely to blame.

Morgan has been feeling sidelined as an asset, so it makes sense that he wants to prove himself to Chuck as well as to Casey and Sarah that he can be a competent spy. He feels that he should be the essential component in each mission because he is the Intersect now. It’s a clever mirroring of Chuck during the earlier episodes of the series, dealing with having the Intersect for the first time, yet being made to stay in the van/car most of the time. The problem with Morgan, however, is that he’s far more impulsive and enthusiastic, something which Chuck can’t get under control.

The introduction of the rival Verbanski Corp. and of Gertrude Verbanski herself was well done. It felt like a legitimate one-upmanship that paid off later in the episode.

She has been described as being very much the like Casey, although since she was meant to be ex-KGB, so why does she have the photo of Reagan in her office?

Not only does Verbanski and her company pose a threat to the success of Carmichael Industries, the threat is also a more personal one with her trying to recruit Sarah, as a possible ploy to get to Casey. Of course, by the end, the team is facing an even worse problem with Morgan defecting to the dark side (not that he’d get that reference at the moment) and joining the rival team.

Guest star Justin Hartley, known to Smallville fans as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, was hardly on screen at all. It was a role that could have been filled by anyone, but I was hoping that, since he has a bit of experience in action, that we’d get to see some of that. In Smallville, he was often the equivalent of Captain Awesome, with the writers or directors using any excuse to have him shirtless as often as possible. There were no nods thrown in, or any real use of his skills. In my opinion, he was woefully underused.

Seeing Chuck kicking some butt without the Intersect was great. The fight against the guards in Karl Sneijder’s HQ was pretty good, although it bugs me slightly that the stunt double for Josh Gomez, even for the brief glimpses on screen, comes across as being clearly not Gomez, and that spoils it a bit for me. You can include Morgan’s little kung fu ‘wah’ and ‘hi-yah’ noises, but it still feels a little off compared to Chuck’s earlier fight scenes.

The scene where Morgan takes out Wesley Sneijder’s guards at the compound was pretty good. With it being done either in silhouette or off-screen, it made it that little bit more amusing.

I noticed that Morgan’s ‘zoom’ face has become more pronounced this week. To me, it’s a look of concentration/trapped wind. However, he still needs to get a handle on not telling everybody that he just ‘zoomed’. As Chuck said, it’s top secret for a reason!

So, the Intersect is causing a problem with Morgan’s memory and it seems to be affecting his behaviour as well. For any Stargate fans, like myself, we’ve seen something similar to this in the Ancient database.

When Jack O’Neill downloaded it into his brain, it started to overwrite his language centres and reprogrammed his behaviour. It had to be removed or it would have eventually killed him.

I think the Intersect is reprogramming Morgan’s brain, overwriting bits of his memory and altering his behaviour, yet while it may not go as far as killing him, his behaviour could end up getting him killed. He has always been more of the gung-ho type and it seems that his newfound feeling of invulnerability is amplifying that.
I was concerned when Morgan got the Intersect at the end of last season as I thought that only a select few could download it. It seems that it takes a certain kind of brain to handle it without it controlling them. Both Chuck and his father had incredibly special brains to be able to handle having the Intersect without major side-effects

Let’s hope that when all is said and done, the Morgan that we all know and love is restored to his bumbling self!

I enjoyed the goofy Buy More sub-plot, although it seems to be portentious for things to come on that front. Big Mike ends Lester’s audition saying he’s over the Jeffster! thing, to which Lester replies “Me too.” Is this the beginning of the end for our favourite fake band?

As well as the meta reference to Ryan McPartlin’s earlier career as an Abercrombie & Fitch model, it was amusing to see Devon’s Buy More badge in the advert read ‘Captain Awesome’!

The one thing that did bother me slightly was the way a particular line was put.

Big Mike to Devon: “Look around. This is your brother-in-law’s place of business and it’s empty…. but your creamy skin and unusually high cheekbones can change that. And you were taking time off to help your family. Isn’t Chuck your family?”

To me, that came off as if Big Mike knew that Chuck owned the Buy More. I think it’s probably just the way it was phrased, because it’s not common knowledge that he bought the place.

Other points I liked:

* Morgan takes out Sneijder in the Buy More by flying across the main aisle with a yell and knocking him out in one punch… and nobody notices!

* During the attempt to be super-nice to their new client, Casey offers him a muffin, baked freshly that morning. “Please, take a muffin.” It just seems so unlike Casey. Mind you, we also know that he makes quiches.

* When Morgan apologizes for taking out all of the guards, Wesley doesn’t seem that fazed by it. Obviously it’s completely believable to him that a short bearded guy could take out a team of armed guards when 3 trained spies couldn’t.

* Casey ‘sharing’ a little too much in the car with Sarah. “You ever have sex with someone who just tried to kill ya?”

Update: Ratings are in and not looking good. Chuck scored a preliminary 0.8 in the all important 18-49 category. I hope people aren't deserting because they don't like the Morgan as Intersect storyline. Just because it's the last season, doesn't mean ratings don't matter. Let's give it a proper send-off - remember to tell your family and friends to watch LIVE.

Next week: Chuck vs. the Frosted Tips

Chuck worries Morgan is letting the Intersect change his attitude for the worse. Sarah gives Casey relationship advice on Gertrude Verbanski. Captain Awesome discovers shocking news about Jeff and Lester.

Here’s the trailer, take a look: