Since the series finale (and probably before then), I've been thinking about what could have been for the show Chuck. There were parts of the show that were good like the comedy, the action, and the heart. But there were other parts like areas of plotting and character development that I felt rushed or could have been taken in a better direction. These thoughts led me to write down ideas of an alternate version of the show Chuck. For those of you who can remember, I did a thread a long time ago about an alternate version of the show Smallville which I look back with pride. I did three more threads afterwards on alternate versions of Buffy, Lost, and Andromeda. The AU Buffy and Lost threads were between a hit and a miss. The AU Andromeda thread was sadly a miss. I'm hoping this AU Chuck thread will be a hit for those of you interested in exploring the road not taken with me.
This AU Chuck series will be three seasons long. Here's the first:
CHUCK SEASON 1
· Like on the original Chuck, Chuck Bartowski works in an electronic store called the Buy More. He is the head manager of the Nerd Herd, the Buy More’s technical support division. Morgan Grimes is his childhood friend and Buy More co-worker. Big Mike is the manager of the Buy More. Jeff and Lester are the Buy More’s bumbling duo. Chuck has an older sister named Ellie who’s a medical doctor. Ellie is engaged to another doctor named Devon whose nickname is Captain Awesome. Chuck is haunted by failed dreams and past regrets. He is still recovering from his breakup with his girlfriend Jill. Chuck met Jill in college and it was there that she left him for his former friend Bryce. Chuck also met Bryce in college.
· Unlike on the original Chuck, Chuck and Ellie’s father, Stephen, never left them years ago. He stayed in their lives and maintained a close relationship with them while working for a computer company. Because of work, Stephen has had his share of absences throughout Chuck and Ellie’s lives. When they were little kids, Morgan’s mother was the one who babysat them while their father was away. By now, Chuck and Ellie have gotten used to their father not being around 100% of the time.
· Chuck and Ellie’s mother, Mary, died in a tragic car accident twenty years ago.
· It is revealed in the series premiere that Stephen isn’t really employed by a computer company. He is a scientist recruited by the SPM (Special Projects Management). The SPM is a top-secret government agency which focus is on special projects. Special projects are advanced technologies that would have the most profound impact on the world and society like weapons that can level an entire city in seconds or a chemical that can manufacture real water in the most inhospitable of places. The SPM’s focus involves creating these projects, utilizing them in the field of espionage, and defending against special projects of other countries that pose a threat to the United States. The agency has a division of brilliant scientists and field agents chosen from the most elite agencies, from the FBI to the CIA to the NSA. General Beckman is the director of the SPM.
· The reason why Chuck’s father joined the SPM was because of his wife’s death. The truth is that her death was the result of being an innocent bystander in a Fulcrum agent’s pursuit. Fulcrum is a global organization founded in the belief that special projects shouldn’t be under the strict control of governments and that they should be free to everyone. But their idea of everyone is the highest bidder in the black market. Fulcrum has no problem selling special projects like advanced weaponry to warlords and criminal organizations that can cause great terror and chaos with them, making them considerable threats to the United States. Fulcrum is SPM’s Number 1 enemy.
· It was through the tragedy of his wife’s death that the SPM became aware of Stephen Bartowski and his scientific brilliance. They recruited him with the promise of revenge against the organization responsible for his loss.
· In the series premiere, Chuck’s father disappears for a mysterious reason. But before he vanished, Stephen got hold of the Intersect. The Intersect is a computer program invented by Chuck’s father. It can store a vast amount of information in a person’s subconscious. The possessor of the Intersect can access the information by flashing. Flashing is when images of the Intersect’s database flash in front of the person’s eyes. The flashes only occur when the Intersect possessor set his or her eyes on an object or person identified by the database. Stephen created the Intersect for the purpose of advancing education and a means of repairing the mind like curing it of illnesses like Alzheimer’s. But the SPM only saw its military and clandestine possibilities. Stephen removed the Intersect from SPM custody and secretly sent it over to his son for safe keeping. Stephen downloaded the Intersect on computerized glasses. Once Chuck had put the glasses on, he was instantly downloaded with the Intersect. Stephen knew Chuck would put the glasses and get downloaded with the Intersect. That was the plan. Stephen would rather the Intersect was in the head of a good person like Chuck than that of a cold, ruthless operative.
· While Chuck deals with the wonders of this change in his life, the SPM sends two agents to retrieve the Intersect: Sarah Walker and John Casey. They are among the SPM’s most skilled operatives. But they don’t find the idea of working together pleasing, being used to working solo. While looking for the Intersect, Sarah and Casey are ordered to keep an eye out for Fulcrum. Fulcrum has been hearing whispers of the Intersect project. They are bent on having the unique item which would become their most prized possession.
· When Sarah and Casey track down the glasses, they find out that the Intersect is no longer on it which leads them to the conclusion that Chuck is downloaded with it. So they go to get him but they run into a Fulcrum agent who gets his hands on Chuck. A showdown ensues between Sarah/Casey and the Fulcrum agent with Chuck helplessly stuck in the middle. But thanks to a bumbling act on Chuck’s part, he was able to get himself out of the way for Sarah and Casey to take out the Fulcrum agent.
· Afterwards, Chuck learns from Sarah and Casey his father’s true employment, his mysterious disappearance, and his creation of the Intersect in his head. Chuck finds all this information hard to fully process.
· The SPM decides to use the situation with Chuck as an opportunity to test the Intersect in the field. When Chuck refuses to be used as some kind of guinea pig, General Beckman tells him that they can’t let him roam with the Intersect firmly attached to his mind. Either, Chuck becomes a willing asset to the SPM or he will be held in confinement. Chuck chooses the former.
· A SPM field team is formed with Chuck at the heart of it. Sarah and Casey are members of the team. But what surprises Chuck the most is the person selected to be its leader: his old friend Bryce. Bryce is a SPM agent. Their meeting in college wasn’t an accident. He was sent to look after Chuck after the agency heard about Fulcrum sending one of their own to get close to him. They wanted to use Chuck as a bargaining chip against Stephen to force him into joining them. Bryce discovered that the Fulcrum agent was Jill. Bryce was able to remove her from Chuck’s life while making up a cover story of her leaving Chuck to be with him. Jill was held prisoner by the SPM. They interrogated her for information but Fulcrum had her killed before she had a chance to spill any beans on the organization. After the Jill incident, the SPM increased the level of covert security for Stephen and his family. But that didn’t ease Stephen’s concerns for his family’s wellbeing.
· Chuck is shocked by Jill’s death and the other revelations about her. Bryce and Jill being spies makes Chuck question how much his life has been affected by his father’s line of work.
· Chuck also learns that Sarah and Bryce used to be intimately involved some time ago back when they were partners. But their relationship ended when Sarah felt it was compromising their professional judgments. Bryce is the reason why Sarah prefers to work alone.
· Bryce, Casey, and Sarah are assigned to be Chuck’s handlers. They are also given the job to maintain Chuck’s cover so no one can suspect him of being involved in spy work. Sarah does this by pretending to be Chuck’s girlfriend and Bryce and Casey does this by going undercover as Buy More employees. Bryce is the new assistant manager. Sarah’s cover job is a Subway’s employee.
· Chuck’s team’s secret base of operations, the Castle, is built and located under the Buy More. The idea behind its location is for the Buy More to be the Castle’s cover and to better secure Chuck’s safety.
· Chuck and his teammates go on various missions. Chuck is assigned the codename Charles Carmichael to conceal his identity.
· Chuck is determined to find his father even though the search has been assigned to another SPM team. In the meantime, he has the heavy burden of lying to Ellie about what’s going on with their father. He also has to lie to her and the other people close to him to conceal his spy activities.
· In the field, Fulcrum tries to manipulate Chuck into seeing things their way to bring him and the Intersect over to their side. Bryce, Casey, and Sarah are ordered to keep an eye on Chuck and to keep him from straying to the other side. The moment they spot any chance of that happening, they are ordered to kill Chuck to keep the Intersect from falling into enemy hands.
· Through working together, Chuck and Bryce’s friendship is healing from the scars of the past. But Chuck is falling for Sarah, creating a level of awkwardness between him and Bryce.
· While pretending to be in a relationship with Chuck, Sarah finds herself slowly opening up to him in a way she never could fully with Bryce. This increases the level of awkwardness already established between her and Bryce.
· Not having any friends outside of work and curious about Chuck’s new girlfriend, Ellie seeks to bond with Sarah. Sarah is forced to adapt to the situation. She initially rationalizes it as a way to appear more normal. The more normal she appears, the stronger her cover becomes. But Sarah slowly develops an emotional investment in her friendship with Ellie. Like with Chuck but differently, Sarah feels things with Ellie that she has never felt before or hasn’t felt in a long time.
· Ellie is happy that Sarah is in Chuck’s life and how her presence is helping him climb out of his rut.
· Ellie grows suspicious of her father’s latest absence when it is the longest he has been gone from home. She goes to Chuck with worries about something bad may have happened to their father. She confides in Sarah about the same thing. Chuck and Sarah think of ways of keeping her suspicions at bay.
· Morgan is jealous of Chuck spending some much time with his old friend Bryce and how surprisingly good Bryce is at his job. Jeff and Lester are also not fond of the new guy which is why most of their antics this season are directed towards him.
· Morgan suspects Bryce of being attracted to Chuck’s girlfriend Sarah and fights to protect Chuck’s relationship from that.
· Casey is finding it hard not to lose his patience with Buy More life.
· Chuck’s struggle to keep his spy life and his personal life separate results in complicated, hilarious situations.
· In the season finale, the search for Chuck’s father comes to a climax when he ends up in the clutches of a Fulcrum team. The team is transporting him to a Fulcrum facility for questioning. It is the mission of Chuck’s team to extract Stephen in the midst of transportation. Stephen is rescued by Chuck and his teammates. Bryce, however, is killed in action.
· Stephen reveals to Chuck the reason why he left. He did it to find another way to bring down Fulcrum without the SPM’s help. He has reached a point in which he could no longer trust his superiors, believing that their agenda for the special projects under their control isn’t what is best for the country or the world. During his travels, Stephen has found something that can bring forth the end of Fulcrum. But it will a while until it can be able to make that happen. Stephen doesn't go into the exact details of his discovery for now. He needs Chuck’s help with it but Chuck needs keep all of this a secret from the SPM, especially his handlers. None of them are to be trusted. Chuck gives his father his word with some reluctance.
This AU Chuck series will be three seasons long. Here's the first:
CHUCK SEASON 1
· Like on the original Chuck, Chuck Bartowski works in an electronic store called the Buy More. He is the head manager of the Nerd Herd, the Buy More’s technical support division. Morgan Grimes is his childhood friend and Buy More co-worker. Big Mike is the manager of the Buy More. Jeff and Lester are the Buy More’s bumbling duo. Chuck has an older sister named Ellie who’s a medical doctor. Ellie is engaged to another doctor named Devon whose nickname is Captain Awesome. Chuck is haunted by failed dreams and past regrets. He is still recovering from his breakup with his girlfriend Jill. Chuck met Jill in college and it was there that she left him for his former friend Bryce. Chuck also met Bryce in college.
· Unlike on the original Chuck, Chuck and Ellie’s father, Stephen, never left them years ago. He stayed in their lives and maintained a close relationship with them while working for a computer company. Because of work, Stephen has had his share of absences throughout Chuck and Ellie’s lives. When they were little kids, Morgan’s mother was the one who babysat them while their father was away. By now, Chuck and Ellie have gotten used to their father not being around 100% of the time.
· Chuck and Ellie’s mother, Mary, died in a tragic car accident twenty years ago.
· It is revealed in the series premiere that Stephen isn’t really employed by a computer company. He is a scientist recruited by the SPM (Special Projects Management). The SPM is a top-secret government agency which focus is on special projects. Special projects are advanced technologies that would have the most profound impact on the world and society like weapons that can level an entire city in seconds or a chemical that can manufacture real water in the most inhospitable of places. The SPM’s focus involves creating these projects, utilizing them in the field of espionage, and defending against special projects of other countries that pose a threat to the United States. The agency has a division of brilliant scientists and field agents chosen from the most elite agencies, from the FBI to the CIA to the NSA. General Beckman is the director of the SPM.
· The reason why Chuck’s father joined the SPM was because of his wife’s death. The truth is that her death was the result of being an innocent bystander in a Fulcrum agent’s pursuit. Fulcrum is a global organization founded in the belief that special projects shouldn’t be under the strict control of governments and that they should be free to everyone. But their idea of everyone is the highest bidder in the black market. Fulcrum has no problem selling special projects like advanced weaponry to warlords and criminal organizations that can cause great terror and chaos with them, making them considerable threats to the United States. Fulcrum is SPM’s Number 1 enemy.
· It was through the tragedy of his wife’s death that the SPM became aware of Stephen Bartowski and his scientific brilliance. They recruited him with the promise of revenge against the organization responsible for his loss.
· In the series premiere, Chuck’s father disappears for a mysterious reason. But before he vanished, Stephen got hold of the Intersect. The Intersect is a computer program invented by Chuck’s father. It can store a vast amount of information in a person’s subconscious. The possessor of the Intersect can access the information by flashing. Flashing is when images of the Intersect’s database flash in front of the person’s eyes. The flashes only occur when the Intersect possessor set his or her eyes on an object or person identified by the database. Stephen created the Intersect for the purpose of advancing education and a means of repairing the mind like curing it of illnesses like Alzheimer’s. But the SPM only saw its military and clandestine possibilities. Stephen removed the Intersect from SPM custody and secretly sent it over to his son for safe keeping. Stephen downloaded the Intersect on computerized glasses. Once Chuck had put the glasses on, he was instantly downloaded with the Intersect. Stephen knew Chuck would put the glasses and get downloaded with the Intersect. That was the plan. Stephen would rather the Intersect was in the head of a good person like Chuck than that of a cold, ruthless operative.
· While Chuck deals with the wonders of this change in his life, the SPM sends two agents to retrieve the Intersect: Sarah Walker and John Casey. They are among the SPM’s most skilled operatives. But they don’t find the idea of working together pleasing, being used to working solo. While looking for the Intersect, Sarah and Casey are ordered to keep an eye out for Fulcrum. Fulcrum has been hearing whispers of the Intersect project. They are bent on having the unique item which would become their most prized possession.
· When Sarah and Casey track down the glasses, they find out that the Intersect is no longer on it which leads them to the conclusion that Chuck is downloaded with it. So they go to get him but they run into a Fulcrum agent who gets his hands on Chuck. A showdown ensues between Sarah/Casey and the Fulcrum agent with Chuck helplessly stuck in the middle. But thanks to a bumbling act on Chuck’s part, he was able to get himself out of the way for Sarah and Casey to take out the Fulcrum agent.
· Afterwards, Chuck learns from Sarah and Casey his father’s true employment, his mysterious disappearance, and his creation of the Intersect in his head. Chuck finds all this information hard to fully process.
· The SPM decides to use the situation with Chuck as an opportunity to test the Intersect in the field. When Chuck refuses to be used as some kind of guinea pig, General Beckman tells him that they can’t let him roam with the Intersect firmly attached to his mind. Either, Chuck becomes a willing asset to the SPM or he will be held in confinement. Chuck chooses the former.
· A SPM field team is formed with Chuck at the heart of it. Sarah and Casey are members of the team. But what surprises Chuck the most is the person selected to be its leader: his old friend Bryce. Bryce is a SPM agent. Their meeting in college wasn’t an accident. He was sent to look after Chuck after the agency heard about Fulcrum sending one of their own to get close to him. They wanted to use Chuck as a bargaining chip against Stephen to force him into joining them. Bryce discovered that the Fulcrum agent was Jill. Bryce was able to remove her from Chuck’s life while making up a cover story of her leaving Chuck to be with him. Jill was held prisoner by the SPM. They interrogated her for information but Fulcrum had her killed before she had a chance to spill any beans on the organization. After the Jill incident, the SPM increased the level of covert security for Stephen and his family. But that didn’t ease Stephen’s concerns for his family’s wellbeing.
· Chuck is shocked by Jill’s death and the other revelations about her. Bryce and Jill being spies makes Chuck question how much his life has been affected by his father’s line of work.
· Chuck also learns that Sarah and Bryce used to be intimately involved some time ago back when they were partners. But their relationship ended when Sarah felt it was compromising their professional judgments. Bryce is the reason why Sarah prefers to work alone.
· Bryce, Casey, and Sarah are assigned to be Chuck’s handlers. They are also given the job to maintain Chuck’s cover so no one can suspect him of being involved in spy work. Sarah does this by pretending to be Chuck’s girlfriend and Bryce and Casey does this by going undercover as Buy More employees. Bryce is the new assistant manager. Sarah’s cover job is a Subway’s employee.
· Chuck’s team’s secret base of operations, the Castle, is built and located under the Buy More. The idea behind its location is for the Buy More to be the Castle’s cover and to better secure Chuck’s safety.
· Chuck and his teammates go on various missions. Chuck is assigned the codename Charles Carmichael to conceal his identity.
· Chuck is determined to find his father even though the search has been assigned to another SPM team. In the meantime, he has the heavy burden of lying to Ellie about what’s going on with their father. He also has to lie to her and the other people close to him to conceal his spy activities.
· In the field, Fulcrum tries to manipulate Chuck into seeing things their way to bring him and the Intersect over to their side. Bryce, Casey, and Sarah are ordered to keep an eye on Chuck and to keep him from straying to the other side. The moment they spot any chance of that happening, they are ordered to kill Chuck to keep the Intersect from falling into enemy hands.
· Through working together, Chuck and Bryce’s friendship is healing from the scars of the past. But Chuck is falling for Sarah, creating a level of awkwardness between him and Bryce.
· While pretending to be in a relationship with Chuck, Sarah finds herself slowly opening up to him in a way she never could fully with Bryce. This increases the level of awkwardness already established between her and Bryce.
· Not having any friends outside of work and curious about Chuck’s new girlfriend, Ellie seeks to bond with Sarah. Sarah is forced to adapt to the situation. She initially rationalizes it as a way to appear more normal. The more normal she appears, the stronger her cover becomes. But Sarah slowly develops an emotional investment in her friendship with Ellie. Like with Chuck but differently, Sarah feels things with Ellie that she has never felt before or hasn’t felt in a long time.
· Ellie is happy that Sarah is in Chuck’s life and how her presence is helping him climb out of his rut.
· Ellie grows suspicious of her father’s latest absence when it is the longest he has been gone from home. She goes to Chuck with worries about something bad may have happened to their father. She confides in Sarah about the same thing. Chuck and Sarah think of ways of keeping her suspicions at bay.
· Morgan is jealous of Chuck spending some much time with his old friend Bryce and how surprisingly good Bryce is at his job. Jeff and Lester are also not fond of the new guy which is why most of their antics this season are directed towards him.
· Morgan suspects Bryce of being attracted to Chuck’s girlfriend Sarah and fights to protect Chuck’s relationship from that.
· Casey is finding it hard not to lose his patience with Buy More life.
· Chuck’s struggle to keep his spy life and his personal life separate results in complicated, hilarious situations.
· In the season finale, the search for Chuck’s father comes to a climax when he ends up in the clutches of a Fulcrum team. The team is transporting him to a Fulcrum facility for questioning. It is the mission of Chuck’s team to extract Stephen in the midst of transportation. Stephen is rescued by Chuck and his teammates. Bryce, however, is killed in action.
· Stephen reveals to Chuck the reason why he left. He did it to find another way to bring down Fulcrum without the SPM’s help. He has reached a point in which he could no longer trust his superiors, believing that their agenda for the special projects under their control isn’t what is best for the country or the world. During his travels, Stephen has found something that can bring forth the end of Fulcrum. But it will a while until it can be able to make that happen. Stephen doesn't go into the exact details of his discovery for now. He needs Chuck’s help with it but Chuck needs keep all of this a secret from the SPM, especially his handlers. None of them are to be trusted. Chuck gives his father his word with some reluctance.
