Chuck -2x14 -"Chuck vs. The Best Friend"-Discuss/Grade <SPOILERS>

[the Dagman]

"Again?"

"This time for sure!"[/rockyandbullwinkle]

Tonight we finally get to see the episode that was originally set to air two weeks ago. The one that President Obama's speech pre-empted in the Eastern and Central time zones, and replaced by a rerun of "vs. The Cougars" for the rest of us. Silly me, I thought that they were going to air it last week, which led to general confusion in last week's Chuck thread. This week, I made no such assumptions. I have checked imdb.com as well as nbc.com/chuck to confirm that we are getting "vs. The Best Friend" as well as ANNA'S RETURN! Are they going to mention her prolonged absences? I don't know either, so watch it with us tonight.

Here's the official episode synopsis:

Spoiler: tonight's episode

While helping a depressed Morgan spy on Anna, Chuck flashes on her boyfriend; Jeff and Lester beg Ellie to hire them to play at her wedding.

As always, I will be on after Chuck and Heroes airs here on the west coast.

 

[Thrall]

I'm preparing to gush. Stand back everyone. Dangerous amounts of "Awwwww..." will be heading your way if you aren't careful. For your own safety I suggest participating in counter-gushes to deflect any other gushes from harming your person.

Thank you.

 

[the Dagman]

Another awesome episode!

They really did a fine job of intertwining the Buy More gang, Captain Awesome and Ellie, and our three leads of Chuck, Sarah and Casey. Everyone had their moment to shine, and there was some great character development. Even the General! Loved it. If you missed it, it will be on www.nbc.com/chuck tomorrow. The only thing that I noticed wrong was no one mentioning Sarah's facial cuts and the big bruise on her cheek. But I can forgive that. Morgan and Anna were too into each other at that moment, and of course there was "Jeffster" doing their rendition of the old 80s song "Africa". So there were a lot of distractions. And I did get a kick out of seeing Fernando, the Morn of the Buy More, lip synching along with Lester too. Great stuff.

 

[Thrall]

Lovin' the Anna. That girl is so crazy.

 

[Darth_Daver]

It was an average episode of a fantastic series.
Toto bumped it up to above average. That was AWESOME!

 

[BigFoot]

Another awesome ep, man I love this show. Casey's semper fi speech was great.

 

[TheBrew]

I definently "awwed" at the end.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Definitely awesome. Amazing how much story they pack into 42 some odd minutes - setting aside the trivial spy story, this episode wove practically everyone (no Big Mike) into a multifaceted exploration of all the aspects of friendship. This is a deceptively well-written series (deceptive because the subject matter and tone aren't the type you'd associate excellent writing with).

Lester and Jeff are definitely the best thing about this show. And I started out loathing them! Captain Awesome never fails to amuse, and Casey is always great. Chuck: "I've been thinking..." Casey: "Stop it."

 

[Michael Chris]

How can this show be so awesome?

 

[Thrall]

This is the best genre show on TV. Period. End of story. It's silly, light hearted fun that has way more cleverness to it and depth then it has any right to have. And I love the way it just totally takes the piss out of Alias and JJ Abrams without any remorse. I tried watching Burn Notice awhile back, but just couldn't get into it because Chuck tears apart the whole genre with such glee that anything else just seems mediocre.

BSG, Lost, and Heroes all jumped the shark years ago. They're all parodies of themselves. Everything now has to be heavily serialized and dark and mature and all the characters have to be so flawed to the point that they're barely human anymore. Character conflict is the norm. Grityness is the standard. I'm tired of it quite frankly. Chuck breaks the mold with such irreverent courage, it's impossible not to love it for that reason. Because people can be decent and still be heroes. Because having flaws doesn't make someone a bad person. Because ordinary people can do amazing things in extraordinary situations.

And yeah, I totally dig Chuck and Sarah. It's strange. I didn't care about Buffy and Angel. I didn't care all that much about John and Aeryn. I really hated Clark and Lana. But I love these two. I don't know why but I do.

I still think the heads of Fulcrum will be Chuck and Ellie's parents. Or one of them anyway. Just to keep up with the Alias mocking anyway.

 

[TGTheodore]

Great episode but Jeff had WAY too many lines. The less he speaks the better I like his character. Not because he's a bad actor, but he has more of a mystique when he just looks at the others without chiming in. And when he DOES finally speak it means more.

--Ted

 

[Thrall]

Great episode but Jeff had WAY too many lines. The less he speaks the better I like his character. Not because he's a bad actor, but he has more of a mystique when he just looks at the others without chiming in. And when he DOES finally speak it means more.

--Ted

Like Kevin in The Office.

I tried describing this show to a buddy of mine. "It's Buffy with spies, instead of vampires, and Xander is the main character".

 

[RoJoHen]

I got halfway through the episode thinking, "This is going to end badly for at least a few of the characters." I thought either Morgan and Chuck wouldn't make up, or Anna would get hurt, or Jeffster would get their hearts broken because nobody wants to hear them play.

But then it ended so happily. I literally yelled when Morgan and Anna got back together!

This is just my favorite show ever.

 

[Aragorn]

It's being reported that, despite going up against mostly repeats, Heroes and Chuck did their all-time worst on Monday, raising speculation about their longevity. Though there is a chance NBC could keep Chuck on the basis that it's critically-acclaimed despite low ratings, which they've done with other shows before (most notably Homicide).

 

[BigFoot]

^ What kind of numbers did it (Chuck) do?

 

[Aragorn]

2.2/6, 6.5 million viewers

 

[BigFoot]

Well, unless I'm mistaken the show usually gets about 7 million viewers. So I'm hoping that as long as it stays above 6 million, it'll get another season.

 

[Sakrysta]

You know, one of the nice things about Chuck is that I'm not heavily dependent on its continuation. Don't get me wrong - I love it, but I love it with a sweet fondness that just enjoys each week's offering without latching onto it in desperation. Maybe that's just the voice of time & experience, I don't know. But the ongoing storylines, while interesting enough to make them not seem intrusive, could go without being resolved, and I wouldn't storm and rage like I might at another series.

I love this show. I love the tone. I love the characters. I love the premise. But what I really love is that I can love it without needing it.

 

[RoJoHen]

^Honestly, I think it's the kind of show that never needs to wind down. As long as the eventual finale is good and makes sense, we don't really need episodes leading up to it.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Well, unless I'm mistaken the show usually gets about 7 million viewers. So I'm hoping that as long as it stays above 6 million, it'll get another season.

The Chuck-Heroes-Medium lineup on Mon nights is doing well by NBC standards, meaning it's not a total frakkin' disaster. That's good news for all three shows; networks generally avoid messing with lineups that appear to be working.

I still think the heads of Fulcrum will be Chuck and Ellie's parents. Or one of them anyway. Just to keep up with the Alias mocking anyway

The weird way they abandoned the kids sure makes me wonder...

So who agrees with me that Chuck should at least be nominated for a Best Comedy Emmy? Now that Pushing Daisies is history and I've finally lost interest for good in 30 Rock (too hit or miss for me), it's the only comedy I'm still watching, except I guess Entourage, which is more of a dramedy anyway.