Each Chuck story has a pivotal theme, and the one in this story is Valentine’s Day and the finding of love associated with it. I knew this was a classic when Chuck first arrives at his undercover suburban home, and waves at all the neighbours while Once In A Lifetime by Talking Heads plays. The words “not my beautiful house” and “not my beautiful wife” get a whole extra dimension, when he walks into the home to find photoshoped images of his marriage to Sarah, her making potato salad, and even a dog! Unfortunately, he gets the keys, gets loose and powers up the PC nearest the net connection. After entering a password he guesses (so much for ‘security’) an intersect-style data blast is projected at him and Chuck passes out. Coming around, he makes it out of the house, although he’s seen by all his neighbours in a state of undress before being slapped by Sarah on the front door for effect. So far this was an OK story, but two extra elements send the plot off like a rocket. Chuck comes back to the Buy More and then flashes on a real estate brochure for the development he’s been living in, which, with the extra information he’s been given, tells him everyone in that close is a Fulcrum agent. He rushes back to save Sarah and Casey only to be captured. Fulcrum want to build a new intersect, but they also want to use the technology Bryce unleashed on Chuck with their own agents, so they’d like to experiment with him. There is a very The Ipcress File scene where they all put dark glasses on while Chuck is bombarded with reprogramming images. While they’re doing this Casey is escaping his handcuffs by, you guessed it, breaking his thumb! What I’ve left out here is the underlying emotional story about how Chuck really feels about Sarah, and vice versa, and how the house in the suburbs is where they really want to be – even if they can’t admit it to each other. It looks like their fake relationship is going to hit some more bumps, as Chuck accepts the reality of the situation. It’s sad, but we all know that Chuck will be happy one day, when the show ends presumably. I can also see a springboard for what happened in this story, as Bryce obviously chose Chuck for a reason when he sent him the intersect. Perhaps there is something special about Chuck, that even he doesn’t know. Okay. I left it till the end, because it made me laugh out loud, something I don’t normally do at TV. Big Mike goes on his ‘hot date’ and is successful, although he does tell the women he’s a shipping magnate. The next day, he’s unhappy with the deceit and invites the woman to the Buy More to tell her the truth. She’s okay with the fact that he’s not a ‘boat captain’, but she wondered if he knew she had a 26-year-old son, that works at the Buy More. Hello, Mrs Morgan! Next week Chuck is up against his Best Friend, which knowing his luck recently, is Sarah! Check out Billy’s review of episode 12 here.
