Chuck Watch: Season 5 - Chuck Versus The Business Trip

With the Morgan/Intersect combo no more, for the first time since season 4 Chuck manages to provide the feel that it has in seasons past. Fun is to be had as the mission finally becomes an integral part of the story telling again, and the Buy More provides the arena for a large percentage of the hijinks once more.

Bye Captain Morgan

As expected, the “cliffhanger” ending of last week’s episode fizzles out without a bang as Chuck saves Morgan from the car bomb. Well, technically there is a bang, but that was in order to get rid of the, um, “douche-cycle,” as Chuck calls it. Who knows, maybe this was the intended target all along.

With Morgan’s limbs still firmly attached to his body, it is now time to get the brain melting Intersect out of his head. Five minutes in and the Intersect is gone. What will the show do now!? Turns out there is no need to panic; even without the supercomputer, Chuck is finally back to all its glory following the disappointing first three episodes of the season.

The Reeducation of Morgan Grimes

Whether it was the computer or the highlights that ruined Morgan, he is still missing the knowledge of all things nerdy that he once possessed. But fear not, considering he still managed to blow the car up and used his final moments with the Intersect to catch throwing stars, it’s safe to say that we will see Morgan in all his glory once more. Also, in these moments we got a glimpse of the Morgan / Intersect combo I had hoped for at the end of last season, instead of the d-bag we got.

For now, he has to relearn the common interests that he and Chuck shared growing up, providing ample opportunity for Casey to mess with Morgan. Without Verbanski to distract the big man, he can direct all his attention to hating Morgan for breaking up with Alex as he did, and that means messing with the things he once held dear. Starting with Star Wars, Casey convinces Morgan to watch Episode I – The Phantom Menace first because it is “the best.” Oh, pop culture digs. As most viewers would agree, the older trilogy includes the best Star Wars films, with the latter three being a mockery for many, so this advice from Casey really is evil.

As the episode goes on, Morgan continues to melt the hard exterior of the man he once built an oddly compatible relationship with. First, Casey eventually corrects Morgan by telling him the truth about the Star Wars films, but as any protective father should, he still ruins one of the best moments of Morgan’s new life by spoiling the family tree of the films. So harsh. However, come episode’s end, these two have managed to build a bridge over the last few weeks. Casey gives Morgan all three (*wink*) Indiana Jones films as a peace offering, as well as tells Morgan they can be roomies again. Unfortunately before we can get back to the great moments that come out of these two, Casey gets arrested for murder.

Family

With Morgan and Alex still broken up, and Casey being carted away to a holding cell somewhere, there are some obvious issues that are going to need to be resolved for our Chuck family to fully be together again. However, it was still great to see all of the main characters in the same room, even if it was short lived. As Sarah goes a little mushy explaining how grateful she is to have everyone in her life, I couldn’t help but agree. I have missed these moments, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is how the show goes out in its finale (with Sarah and Chuck possibly out of the spy game as well).

Also, with Awesome doing what he does best by being, well, awesome, Ellie is going to be home from now on taking care of the baby. Hopefully this means that we will have even more sibling time in addition to the larger gatherings.

The Mission

As the man with the threats at the end of last season, Decker decides to play his own game this week when he puts the word out that Morgan is a dead man. Oh yeah, and one of the assassin’s he hired cannot be stopped once the initial order has been given. How convenient. Technically this mission still revolved around Morgan because it is to prevent his death, but instead of being a storyline tacked on to the annoying character driven elements, this episode alludes back to the episodes when the characters revolved around the mission, with their subplots beautifully weaving through the main storyline of spy sleuthiness.

As Chuck pretends to be Morgan at a "Buy More Salesperson of the Year Weekend" in order to bring the Viper out of hiding (with Sarah in tow), they work their way around the crowd for some general good times. There is no overriding dark tone to what they are doing considering Morgan’s doppelganger is no more, and now we can go back to having random jokes at the expense of the single-episode characters, most likely made up gadgetry (good thing these people don’t mind being touched so much, or else those finger lie detectors would be a waste of money), and having what appears to be an attempted murder turn into a fully clothed pool party. It’s just simple fun. But best of all, it brings everything back to the Buy More.

Work and Play

Not to sound like a broken record, but in addition to the lack of mission hijinks and happy group time, the Buy More has been rather lackluster in the attempts to keep it in the show. Before, Chuck, Morgan, and Casey would always be going in and out of the store throughout the episode, and it was just as much of a character as the people that filled it. Then things changed.

With Jeff’s new turn toward being normal (normal for everyone else, that is), we are seeing a new side of the people inside the walls. Lester is forced to go on a solo mission as he attempts to get his old pal back, which is a great (and slightly sad) thing to witness for these second tier characters (and goodness knows what’s going to happen to Lester now that Jeff has had him arrested), but the highlight was when all storylines converge at this location. To break it down, as an assassin roams the aisles searching for Morgan, Morgan is trying to convince Alex to not completely shut him out, Chuck and Sarah are out in the back in a rather interesting position as Chuck attempts to defuse a bomb in Sarah’s car, and the store is being evacuated because of Lester’s gas leak that has knocked Big Mike out. This is the mayhem that this store was made for, and it’s good to see it back.

Final Thoughts

To sum it up to the best of my ability: Chuck is back! Not only that, but it did it sans Intersect. What did you guys think? Glad that Morgan is finally without the supercomputer? After Star Wars and Indiana Jones, what should he learn about next? What is going to happen to Casey? Why did Decker tell the assassin to kill everyone but Chuck and Sarah? What’s your guess on how Chuck disarmed the bomb this time (porn and juice boxes have already been taken)? Where is this Jeff thing going? Leave your thoughts below!