Chuck Episode Recap: "Chuck Versus the Suburbs"
It's time for Chuck to venture into the deep, dark, scary...suburbs!? How bad can that be? If we know Chuck and the missions, there are certainly going to be a few obstacles along the way. So jump in your minivan and let's see what this California subdivision is all about.
As we see an unknown man being "clockwork oranged" — strapped to a chair in what looks like a laboratory — Sarah and Chuck uncomfortably dance around making Valentine's Day plans.
At Buy More the Valentine's Day sale is in full swing, except Big Mike is taking his frustrations out on everyone. It turns out he's getting divorced from his wife who served papers to him on Valentine's Day. Thrown into the mix is an unusually sweet Emmett Milbarge who dons a new 'do (more like a hairpiece) and has baked cupcakes.
Cut to Casey and General Beckman as she delivers their next mission — venture into the deep, dark, scary suburbs to uncover a sleeper cell that left former agent Yeager incapacitated. Sarah and Chuck must pose as a married couple.
Chuck, driving his Saab wagon, pulls into his driveway. Kudos to David Byrne and Talking Heads for bringing a little montage hipness to the uniformity of the suburbs. Chuck enters his new house and sees his life in photos — wedding, vacation, and even a dog. It looks like Sarah, mixing about 50 pounds of potato salad, has invited the neighbors. Jenny McCarthy enters ("Fever" playing in the background) with her cougar claws sharpened for her next conquest: Chuck.
Back at Buy More, the guys all try to get a little love for Big Mike on the Internet — anything to keep from doing work. At first he's resistant, but after viewing a few sexy ladies' photos, he's excited. They boys tell him he must lie to get the best encounter so they construct a story that claims Big Mike is a wealthy shipping magnate.
Back in suburbia, Chuck arrives downstairs for breakfast in a pajama suit. He's a little too into this playing house. Sarah has cooked a gourmet meal, he's got his travel mug full of hot coffee, and she's even given him a list of grocery items to get. Casey pulls him back into reality as he decodes a message on the back of said innocent grocery list. It turns out that husband of the cougar lady (Jenny McCarthy) was a former CIA player who not only planted a bug in their house but also recently purchased too much specialty cabling which might allow him to break into secure government websites. The plan: Chuck must get closer to the former CIA and current cougar hubby by pretending to want to have sex with McCarthy.
Jenny McCarthy doesn't waste time as she pulls Chuck upstairs into the bedroom and quickly removes his clothes and handcuffs him to the bed. He nervously tries to delay consummating anything so he gets her to grab her a bit of liquid courage — scotch. Chuck gets out of the cuffs and ventures around until he finds the special bad guy cabling. You can tell the cable must be high tech by the inner red glow it gives off — very sci-fi super computer-esque. Connected to the cables is a computer screen that simply asks for a password. Figuring out it must be salamander, Chuck types it in and gets a serious super flash leaving him incapacitated.
McCarthy's husband races home and confronts McCarthy about the status of Chuck. As they both make their way upstairs, Chuck wakes up and escapes from the house via the roof. He exposes himself to the rest of the neighborhood as he awkwardly runs home. As it turns out, Chuck survived the computer experiment after getting a download ala Bryce and the Intersect. Now McCarthy and husband want him.
Now that Chuck is safe, General Beckman is very upset that Chuck was exposed and put in danger. She decides to pull him out and let Sarah and Casey focus on the McCarthy couple as spies. Chuck cannot make sense of what info received, so this plan will have to work for now. The Carmichael's are getting a divorce!
Back at Buy More, Chuck goes into his locker and finds a Meadows Branch brochure and flashes on it. This time he sees that the entire cul-de-sac is Fulcrum, not just McCarthy and her husband. He tries to call Sarah to warn her but it's too late. The neighborhood has transcended on Casey and Sarah and captured them. Chuck makes it back to the suburban house but is also captured.
Chuck wakes up strapped to a chair as Sarah is confined in another room. The Fulcrum agents try to recruit Chuck to their side and are going to perform a few more experiments on him to see if he can survive. It seems like they are trying to rebuild the Intersect program to gain all the CIA secrets. They just haven't found anyone who has survived the experiment except for Chuck. So Chuck is their new guinea pig.
After several keyboard clicks and slipping on dark sunglasses for the white-coat-wearing Fulcrum neighbors, Chuck is subjected to a super version of the test. Thinking his brain is toast at first, Chuck seemingly becomes robotic and under Fulcrum control. Next they want to experiment on Sarah. Unknown to the other Fulcrum agents, Casey has escaped from his room and sneaks into the control room. With perfect timing, Chuck asks if he can have a few last words with Sarah. He whispers to her to close her eyes and Casey pulls up the same test. This time though, all the agents are in the experiment room and unshielded from the pictorial test.
Reminiscent of climactic scene where Indiana Jones and Marion shield their eyes from the opening of the Arc of the Covenant, the super Fulcrum test incapacitates everyone in the room except for Chuck and Sarah.
Back at Buy More, Big Mike decides to confront his Internet date by telling her the truth. As this sexy Hispanic woman walks down the linoleum, Mike asks for her forgiveness. She admits she also inflated her personal info and thought he figured this out and that's why she's at the Buy More. After all, that's where her son works. What?!? This is surely dishy news. Exactly who is her son? As the camera pans the staff Mike murmurs, "Please let it be Bartowski." Out pops Morgan. As Morgan exasperates "You're banging my mom?!?"
It was certainly a very revealing episode on many levels. What did you think about Chuck and Sarah's attempt at playing a happily married couple? Was it the American dream or the American nightmare?
