CHUCK: “Chuck Versus the Business Trip” – RECAP

When you’ve been watching Chuck since its first season, as I have, watching each episode becomes more about the characters and the fun they have then the missions. Overall there’s a pretty obvious template for the spy missions, turning what is usually considered a plot twist into the logical next step. Take for example the defeat and capture of the Viper’s decoy assassin. It was a very easy take down, leaving no doubt he was impersonating the Viper just as Chuck was impersonating Morgan. It’s too bad these twists can be seen coming from very early in the episodes, but Chuck has the decency to at least make the journeys a blast to watch.

“Chuck Versus the Business Trip” stumbled through its logical inconsistencies (Why did Chuck think posing as Morgan would work? Surely she would have seen Morgan’s face even before they photoshopped Chuck’s onto all his pictures) and still delivered a rad time. The Buy More Employee of the Year Convention was fun, even if David Koechner basically played the same guy he always does. The feeling of “why can’t we be normal?” that Chuck and Sarah share is threaded through out the episode, showing up in all the storylines, but plays most prominently during the hunt for the Viper.

When Sarah met Jane (Catherine Dent) AKA the Viper, she appears to be a normal person wanting to be friends with our leading lady. Sure, it was fishy how quickly she warmed to Sarah, but I wanted to believe Sarah could make a normal friend. When they discover the truth, Sarah is both hurt and impressed (“You’re amazing at what you do. I really trusted you.”), but it helps her to realize she doesn’t have to search for friends to feel normal. She is completely surrounded by friends, whom she toasts at the end of the episode. It might have seemed clear to us watching who Sarah’s real friends are, but we have to keep in mind how alien normal lifestyles are to her. It makes total sense she wouldn’t recognize what she has right away.

I’m a little surprised Morgan lost the Intersect so quickly, and I’m happy the effects haven’t entirely worn off. He’s back to his loveable self, but still having memory gaps, which Casey takes full advantage of (ruining the “I am your father,” scene from The Empire Strikes Back) to avenge Alex’s broken heart. To show us Morgan really is back, he does his absolute hest to win Alex over. While at first she thinks he’s insane for claiming a computer melted his brain, she comes around (pretty quickly in fact, once the Viper enters the Buy More to kill Morgan), though poor Morgan still strikes out. This time though, he’s okay with it. He lied to her about getting out of the spy game. He admits his guilt for that and the two remain friends. Casey rewards Morgan by offering him a place to live and giving him the Indiana Jones trilogy, insisting there are only those three. That’s probably the nicest thing Casey has ever done.

The episode featured two arrests: Casey and Lester. Casey is taken for killing the Viper and her crew, as Decker had rehired her to kill everyone who knows her identity.  It’s a total badass moment for Casey, reminding us why we love him. Lester gets the cuffs for attempted homicide after filling the Buy More with carbon monoxide in hopes of returning Jeff’s intelligence to normal. With this episode, the season is starting to feel like it’s moving toward something, which both excites and terrifies me as it means we’re getting closer and closer to the end of Chuck.