Chuck 2.20 “Chuck versus the First Kill” Recap

Corpvandolay here with this week’s recap of Chuck. As we approach the end of the second season, these stories are increasingly “mythology-based”, building upon the storylines from previous episodes. If you’ve missed any of the last few episodes, I recommend catching up before you proceed. You can find those recaps here. Now, on with the show…

Who Guest Stars?
Well, this week we see the return of Chuck’s now-evil former girlfriend, played by Jordana Brewster. Now, is it any coincidence that the new Fast and Furious movie just opened in theatres? No? Didn’t this so. Anyhow, she is back, showcasing her nerdy hotness. To help balance the beauty out, we have Ken Davitian stopping by as Jill’s Uncle Bernie — a FULCRUM assassin.

Who Stars This Week?

What does DirecTV Say?
After Chuck’s father is kidnapped, Chuck is forced to turn to his ex-girlfriend Jill Roberts for help; Buy More employees try to sabotage Emmett’s evaluation.

What Is It Really About?
Buy More. Sarah comes in, delivering Chuck the latest flavor from the Orange Orange: Obama Guava. He is a bit pre-occupied though. He is worried about finding his dad, but doesn’t trust that the CIA is truly doing all they can to find him. He is the only one who can get the Intersect out.

Cut to Emmett talking to the assembled staff of the Buy More. It seems that he is going to be getting reviewed by the big boys at Buy More HQ. Everyone must be on their best behavior while the reviewer is in the store. As he continues, Casey comes up to Chuck — there’s an update on Orion and they need to go to HQ.

In the media room, Morgan rallies the employees to help and sabotage Emmett’s review. They will reign chaos on the store, ensuring that Emmett’s review is a disaster. However, unbeknownst to them, Emmett is watching the meeting via a webcam. He smiles as he hears their plan. The game is afoot!

HQ. The General’s update is that they have no news on Chuck’s father’s whereabouts. What?! This is unacceptable to Chuck. Given what he has had to endure over the past year, he cannot believe that this is the best the CIA can muster. So, he decides to take matters into his own hands and get a FULCRUM agent to talk. He turns to Jill, his ex-girlfriend who is locked up in a CIA prison.

The CIA prison, Chuck is talking to Jill. He fills Jill in on the details — FULCRUM is holding Chuck’s dad, forcing him to build the new Intersect. Casey and Sarah observe this discussion over the monitors. In order to secure her cooperation, Chuck makes a deal with her. She can go free if they find his dad. Unfortunately, this is all a lie just to get her to help.

Buy More. The place is chaos. Anna gives Morgan a note from Emmett, calling him to the stockroom. Morgan goes to meet him. It seems Emmett is there to make a deal with Morgan — if he gets the employees to behave, corporate will promote Emmett out of the store. This way, everyone will get what they want — Emmett a promotion and the Buy More employees will be rid of Emmett.

HQ. Jill tells Chuck that there is someone who might know where his dad is being held — Uncle Bernie. He might know where Chuck’s dad is being held. Uncle Bernie? We don’t recal ever hearing of an Uncle Bernie before. Well, because his isn’t a real uncle. He is her dad’s best friend; the man who recruited Jill into FULCRUM. Unfortunately, he is guarded almost 24-hours a day. The only time he gets away from his bodyguards is at family functions, but there are none of those coming up soon. I guess, a family function will just have to be made…

At Jill’s parent’s house, Chuck and Jill are engaged! They are at her parent’s house making the announcement to everyone. Sarah and Casey are outside in the van, listening to all the well-wishes and congratulations. Jill and Chuck were always such a great match! Sure enough, Uncle Bernie, codename: The Carnivore, stops by for the announcement. He congratulation the couple, as Jill’s dad imparts the sage advice that the key to a good marriage is trust. Your spouse must be the only person you rely upon; the one who will never betray you. Bernie asks to speak to the couple in private. As he takes them to another room, Jill’s dad ruminates about the fact that Uncle Bernie didn’t like Jill’s last boyfriend and, funny, that’s the last they ever saw of him.

Uncle Bernie, Jill and Chuck are alone and confide with Uncle Bernie about the need to find Orion. Uncle Bernie isn’t going to be very helpful and decides to pull a gun. Unfortunately for him, Jill’s mom interrupts, telling them dinner is ready. Chuck and Jill take advantage of the opportune distraction and run. They flee, eventually going upstairs. Casey and Sarah know he is in trouble, and go into the gathering as Chuck’s cousin and her boyfriend. Quite the beauty and the beast; Casey must be loaded! LOL. In the attic, Uncle Bernie corners the couple. Time to die. Chuck cowers into ‘the Morgan’, which is a position whereby you cover your head and genitals — the important areas. Just as he is going to kill them, Bernie dies of a heart attack. Chuck’s first confirmed kill!

Chuck, Jill and the others get the body out of the house, passing him off as being passed out. Jill takes a moment to say goodbye as they head off.

Buy More. Jeff and Lester are dressed in suits, behind the Nerd Herd desk. They are trying to impress the corporate evaluator. Emmitt comes by with the evaluator; Jeff, Lester and Morgan all heap praise upon Emmett. My gosh, I think all of this false praise made me puke a little in my mouth.

HQ. Sarah tells Chuck that they are taking Jill back to prison. The mission was a bust and all she did was put people into more danger. Chuck asks Sarah to trust him — he needs Jill to help him get his father. She says no and leaves. Morgan calls ands asks Chuck’s advice on something — what do you do if the person you trust the least is the one who can help you the most? (Coincidence here, huh?!) Chuck says that you have to just go for it. He then goes to Jill in the holding cell and they share a few words. Jill then aks Chuck, rhetorically, that they were never going to let her go, where they? Ever if they found his dad. (You are rioght on there, sister!) The CIA, FULCRUM — they are all the same; they all lie. They’ll lie to Chuck too, she says. She then warns him to watch his back.

Buy More. Now that the evaluator is gone, Morgan asks Emmett when he is going to go. Not so fast — Big Mike must say nice things about him. He gives Morgan a small recorder to get Mike to say nice things about Emmett. To get Mike to talk to morgan, just grease his wheels a bit. What is his weakness? Morgan then shows up with a Subway footland to try and get Mike to talk. Think of him as family.

HQ. Casey and Sarah have Jill in chains and are going to move her. Suddenly, a cell phone is going off. It’s Bernie’s. FULCRUM is moving Chuck’s dad. They are moving Chuck’s dad. They trace the call to an office building run by FULCRUM. Jill knows the building and it’s layout — take her and she can help get them inside.

The office building. It is crawling with FULCRUM agents. They sign in — they tell the desk that they are here for auditing. They get into the building and proceed upstairs. Chuck’s dad is on the 8th floor. Before they can go into the lab, a FULCRUM guy comes along and asks what they are doing here. The audit. Well, they are on the wrong floor. He then leads them down to the testing room.

Testing. Chuck and Casey are there — they are going to have to take the test. It opens with a FULCRUM propaganda video, extolling how great FULCRUM is at protecting America. They then take the test, using interactive computer screens embedded in the desks. As they test on the screens, FULCRUM agents are viewing them — the screens have cameras in them. They run their identities: they know Casey is NSA and that Chuck is Orion’s son. Their cover is blown!

Buy More. The evaluator is impressed — everyone seems to like Emmett. However, he needs to interview Big Mike. Emmett produces a recording, with Big Mike saying kind things about Emmett. Things run so smooth with him that he’s going to take off and go fishing. The evaluator is stunned: Big Mike is off fishing?! The evaluator is really there to evaluate Big Mike’s performance and he is off fishing? Well, it seems that Emmett does a masterful job, so the evaluator gives Emmett Mike’s job as Store Manager.

Testing. The teacher comes and gets Chuck — he did so well that the head of recruiting wants to see him. However, Casey scored too low — he didn’t make the cut. They take Casey off. However, before they can dispose of Casey, he subdues the guards and escapes.

Sarah and Jill go into the facility through the back door. Unfortunately, the alarm goes off. Security breach! All of the employees are packing. This isn’t good. Gun fight ensues

Chuck is in the Director’s office. They know he is Orion’s son. The alarm — security breach. The Director leaves, but tells the guards that if Chuck tries to escape, kill him. He won’t try and escape — Scout’s honor. Outside the window, a window washer’s platform descends into view. The window washer is Casey — with his shotgun. He blasts the two guards through the window — you go Casey! Casey then goes to get Sarah and provide back-up — Chuck needs to stay in the office and use the computer to find his dad.

In the gun battle melee Jill and Sarah are separated. She hears that Orion is being moved to Black Rock.

The director comes back and finds Chuck. While Chuck’s dad is too valuable to kill, Chuck is not. He pulls the gun and approaches. Chuck deploys the Morgan move, the director slips and he goes out the window. What is it with that move? Jill finds Chuck and tghey go to find Chuck’s dad. Casey gets to Sarah, killing the teacher who flunked him along the way.

Jill and Chuck get to the lab, but his dad is gone. Jill tells him of Black Rock — Chuck flashes and knows exactly what Black Rock is and where. He then frees her of the tracking device. There was no deal, but he is upholding his end because he doesn’t want this whole Intersect thing to change him. He gives her the ring to help with expenses since she’ll be all alone — it’s worth a lot. She asks if he is sure Chuck can trust the CIA and NSA. He tells her to go.

Buy More. Emmett gives Big Mike a regular store employee shirt. The Godfather music plays. Big Mike grabs Morgan and kisses him, Freido style. Yes, it is the Godfather, Part II. He knows it was him. He broke his heart. As Morgan leaves, Big Mike tells everyone that nothing happens to him as long as he and Morgan’s mom are dating.

The General is shutting down the program. They are taking Chuck to a secure location and shutting down the program. Sarah is ordered to take the trust Chuck has in her and lure him to the HQ by lying to him. She is reluctant, but goes a head and does it. After telling Chuck the lie, Chuck then apologizes to Sarah — he was doubting that he could trust her. She always has his best interests at heart. Sarah hears this and leans in — telling Chuck the truth. It’s all a lie. Take off the watch — they need to run.

Sarah and Chuck are in her car, on the run

What are Casey and Sarah’s Covers?
Sarah is back to being the yogurt girl. Casey is a FULCRUM recruit, and apparently a bad one at that. They also pass themselves off as a couple when they go to Jill’s house. And finally, Casey does a brief bit as a window washer — one that packs some serious heat!

Is Awesome in This Episode?
Nope, not a peep. But, don’t fear. As the wedding will be in the season capper, I am sure we’ll get more of him soon.

And How Does Sarah Dress? Lingerie?
Nope. She is straight up covered in this episode. Why, I ask you?! WHY?!?!

Does Casey get Shot, Poisoned, or Otherwise Injured?
He gets into a scuffle and gunplay. However, he is dishing out the hurt as opposed to receiving it in this episode. It’s quite a refreshing change of pace.

What’s the State of the Chuck / Sarah Romance?
Hopeful. For most of the episode, they are still cool, not entirely trusting each other or being true to themselves. However, by the end, they are together, on the run. I mean, now all they have is each other. All of the time together bodes very well for some movement in their romance! ;-)

Where is FULCRUM?
All over the place. I mean, most of the episode is spent with a FULCRUM agent of one kind or another. Plus, we do go to a FULCRUM training and recruitment facility, causing all sorts of havoc.