TV Review: Chuck 2.4 – Chuck vs. the Cougars

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on October 21, 2008

Chuck, NBC, Airs Mondays 8/7c

Episode: “Chuck vs. the Cougars” (Season 2, Episode 4)

Synopsis: San Diego, 1998: A teenage Sarah drives home from school. She pulls up to see that ATF agents have raided her home and are arresting her dad. She speeds off, crying, and goes to a wooded area where she digs up a box. Inside are bundles of cash with a note that reads, “In case of emergency. Love you, Daddy.”

Review: Based on title alone, I would have though that this episode of Chuck had something to do with Agent Charles Carmichael going after a few aging, hottie super-spies. Unfortunately, it is more about the continuing awkward push-pull in Chuck’s relationship with Sarah. On a good note, we do get to see what Sarah looked like in high school — and I must admit that even with braces and frizzy hair, I am still way hot for Yvonne Strahovski.

But enough about what took place after the show, lets talk about what happened during this week’s episode. We shall start with some appreciation for this week’s celebrity guest stars. As you might remember, this season has been all about bringing in some fun cameos to help keep things fresh — though, I would argue that things were in good shape, especially since they’ve found a way to balance the sometimes sappy Chuck/Sarah relationship with the ongoing battle between Morgan (Joshua Gomez) and Lester (Vik Sahay) at the Buy More. That has always been a key to this show’s success, the ability to not linger in the love story and to keep the antics of Morgan weaving in and out of the main storyline. It appears, at least up to this point, that they’ve found a great rhythm with that this year.

It appears that I’ve lost track of what I was talking about — back to the guest stars. This week we saw an appearance from Nicole Richie, who is only bested in the ‘worst f*&king actress ever’ category by her Simple Life co-star Paris Hilton. Thankfully she stays out of her own way, and ultimately ends up in one of the episodes more titillating scenes, in which she and Yvonne Strahovski duke it out in the showers. But, since this is network TV, the scene was still laking something. And I think you know where I’m going here. Also, we got a guest spot from Ben Savage this week, which was pretty funny. His appearance just proves that only someone like Cory Matthews from Boy Meets World could believe that Chuck was a bonafide Secret Agent Man.

Overall, this episode saw its share of action, which is always good; its share of Morgan, which is also pretty good, seeing as he really brings the hilarity; and it saw plenty of Chuck and Sarah awkwardly trying to deal with their budding love for each other — which is sometimes a bit annoying, but I’m willing to overlook that on account of the show’s continuing commitment to being very funny. If you aren’t watching Chuck, then you’d really better have a good excuse — because there aren’t too many shows out there, save for Ben Savage’s older brother’s show It’s Always Sunny, that are funnier from week to week.

Up Next Week: Life in espionage takes its toll on Chuck (Zachary Levi) and everyone is taking notice. Chuck tries to explain his unusual behavior to Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) and to the quirky Buy More efficiency expert Emmett Milbarge (guest star Tony Hale), but a new assignment only complicates things. After a global terrorist comes searching for Jeff (Scott Krinsky), Chuck is forced to socialize with Jeff in order to find out what role the oddball plays in the mission. Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski), Casey (Adam Baldwin) and Chuck are all shocked when they discover that the fate of the world and the prevention of World War III rest in Jeff’s hands.

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Did you watch Chuck this week? If so, feel free to discuss below.

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