CHUCK
Season 1 Episode 8
“Chuck Versus the Truth”
Written by Allison Adler
Directed by Robert Duncan McNeill
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

Alias’ Kevin Weisman stars as Reardon Payne, a former Olympic gymnast who now sells secrets to the highest bidder, and when he poisons Mason Whitney (Judging Amy’s Sanjay Chandani) in an attempt to get the codes to the US nuclear arsenal, Ellie winds up getting poisoned herself. Before anything else though, the victim is forced to tell the truth, which becomes the hook of the episode, as Chuck, Sarah, and Casey also subsequently get poisoned.
So a lot of truths emerge, and some lies as well, as Sarah has been trained to withstand sodium pentathol, so when Chuck asks her, right before they down the antidotes, if they have any chance as a couple, Sarah says, “Sorry, but no.”

See, Chuck’s just met Lou Palone (The O.C.’s Rachel Bilson; yahoo!), who owns a sandwich shop at the mall, and comes into the Buy More to have her phone fixed.
Lou up front tells Chuck she likes him, a lot, but the thing is, he’s got a girlfriend, or so Chuck’s cover goes.
Sarah even sleeps over in Chuck’s room, if only to make Ellie and Awesome think Chuck’s finally getting lucky with her. Actually, the evening is Sarah’s idea, ostensibly to further the integrity of their cover.
After Sarah’s “confession” though, Chuck fake breaks up with her, so he can start seeing Lou, something that clearly troubles Sarah.

The Buy More subplot meanwhile, effectively writes C.S. Lee off the show, as he actually stumbles into the TV room, thinking to catch Morgan diddling his wife (Emy Coligado, from Malcolm In The Middle and Crossing Jordan), but instead barges into one of those spy meetings.
Casey pulls Harry aside and sends him off to Oahu, making Harry believe he’s now working for the US government.
Harry’s sudden relocation makes everyone happy, except for Big Mike, who, as it turns out, was the one diddling Lady Tang.

Again, the personal character bits are what sell Chuck, and watching the whole Chuck-Sarah-Lou thing unfold should prove to be interesting.
This episode also works as we finally see Chuck experience collateral damage as Ellie gets affected by all the spy stuff going on.

There are some ruptures in logic though, as a) if Morgan made that innocent assignation to meet Lady Tang—as part of getting a surprise birthday present for Harry—where was Morgan and why was Chuck and company in the TV room at said time?; and b) after Casey and Sarah—Sarah in a wig, both toting guns—chase Payne down the hospital corridor, why does no one make any comment about this later on?
But hey, Chuck’s still entertaining me, and Rachel Bilson’s here (again, yahoo!), so I’ll try and overlook those loopholes.

(Image courtesy of nbc.com; image of Zachary Levi with Kristen Bell on the Heroes set courtesy of gregbeeman.blogspot.com.)

CHUCK
Season 1 Episode 4
“Chuck Versus the Wookie”
Written by: Allison Adler
Directed by: Allan Kroeker
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

Trouble breezes into town in the form of DEA agent “Carina” (Mini Anden, seen in the “Malibooty” episode of Entourage), who needs Sarah’s help to steal a diamond from Peyman Alahi (E.R.’s Iqbal Theba), a hairy little man who’s got some seedy connections to opium cartels.
Chuck’s needed on this one to scope out Alahi’s security set-up while the proper agents suss out the diamond’s exact location. The actual procurement of the diamond is meant to take place at a later date.

But as Sarah and Casey know only too well, Carina’s a wild card given to improvisation. She also shows an interest in Chuck, while Morgan shows an interest in Carina. When Morgan asks Chuck to get him a date with Carina, Sarah thinks it’s a good idea, if only to keep the DEA agent busy. The two couples double date with pizza and The March of the Penguins on DVD.
Later that evening, Carina gets Chuck to her hotel room under false pretenses, and tells Chuck that Sarah and Bryce were an item. (Earlier on, when Chuck asks Sarah about her relationship with Bryce, Sarah tells him they were just partners.)

Before the mission, Sarah tells Chuck not to trust Carina. Relieved, Chuck tells Sarah what Carina said, and when Sarah seems taken aback, Chuck asks her if Carina was telling the truth. Sarah says her relationship with Bryce was “complicated.”
When everyone gets to Alahi’s party, Chuck is pissed at Sarah. (He also dubs Alahi “Senor Wookie,” due to the man’s excessive and unsightly body hair.)
Carina then improvises by grabbing the diamond. Then, thanks to Chuck, Carina makes off with the diamond, leaving Chuck and Sarah to Alahi’s goons. But Casey arrives just in time and gets them out. And when Carina calls Sarah on her cell, Casey traces her to her hotel room. As Sarah needs to get back to Wienerlicious or possibly get canned (oh, the woes of having a McJob), Casey says he’ll get the diamond.

Just as Carina is about to get out of the hotel though, Morgan shows up with flowers. So does Casey, with a gun. Carina kisses Morgan (secretly slipping the diamond into his bag), then tells him she can’t be with him, pushing him back into the elevator.
Casey takes Carina back to her hotel room at gunpoint, but when Carina starts getting undressed, Casey winds up handcuffed to the bed in his four-leaf clover boxers, once again falling for Carina’s charms.
When an hour passes and Sarah still hasn’t heard from Casey, Sarah goes to Carina’s hotel, and tells Chuck he’s been benched, till they can talk about the whole Carina/diamond debacle.

Back at Casa Bartowski, Morgan is mooning over getting dumped, and when Chuck goes into Morgan’s bag for a computer game, he finds the diamond, and the Intersect tells him it’s going to be used to fund some Afghani terrorists (so it’s an even bigger deal than drugs).
When he calls Sarah though, it turns out that Alahi’s got her at gunpoint, and wants the diamond back, so Sarah tells Chuck to find Carina and have her bring the diamond to the hotel.
When Carina tries to steal the diamond back, Chuck convinces her to help Sarah (since Sarah saved her life in Pakistan once). So Carina and Chuck go to the hotel, and as Carina weapons up, she tells Chuck that agents always keep their lives secret, that no truth is ever really revealed to those around them.

Shortly thereafter, with the help of Sarah and Casey (who finally breaks the bed’s headboard and uses it as a handy bludgeon), Chuck and Carina catch the baddies and secure the diamond, which Chuck inadvertently Fed-Exes to Director Graham (Tony Todd).
Before Carina leaves, she invites Chuck up to her hotel room. He declines, of course, and when he asks her why, she says it’s because she’s always liked taking the things that Sarah wants. When Chuck doesn’t quite believe her, Carina says Sarah definitely wants him, she maybe just doesn’t know it yet.

The episode closes with a great scene as Chuck goes to Sarah’s hotel room, with an olive-less vegetarian pizza, the only true thing about Sarah that he knows (and that, from observation), that she doesn’t like olives.
He apologizes for not trusting her and asks to know only one true thing about her. Where she grew up, her real name, her real middle name, anything. But Sarah remains heartbreakingly silent. So Chuck drops it, but when he’s out of hearing distance, Sarah says, “Lisa. My middle name is Lisa,” which only we can hear…

So Chuck continues being this great mix of comedy, action, and human relationships, the complex relationship between Chuck and Sarah developing nicely.
There are also nice touches in this show, like Morgan’s really close friendship with Chuck and his jealousy over Sarah’s encroachment on that, and that during the recon to Senor Wookie’s lair, it isn’t the Intersect Chuck relies on to scope out the security system, but rather his retail knowledge from all the tech equipment they have in stock at Buy More.
So, good stuff, people. Keep it coming.

(Image courtesy of nerdherdhelp.com.)