Chuck (TV series)

This article is written from a real-world point of view.

Chuck was a fictional action-comedy television program from the United States, created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak which aired on NBC.

The series focuses on "incredibly intelligent computer-whiz-next-door", who went to Stanford University yet has become an underachiever working in an electronics store 'Buymore'. Now a skilled spy, Chuck Bartowski ventures into the world of espionage, with the help of his father's top secret government database; the Intersect.

On missions, he is partnered with lover and handler CIA Agent Sarah Walker, NSA agent Colonel John Casey, and his childhood friend and later CIA agent Morgan Grimes. As of the final season, they now have their own spy firm, Carmichael Industries.

The series begins when Chuck receives an embedded email from old college roommate Bryce Larkin, who works for the CIA. The email contains the government's intel database, the Intersect. Throughout the first three seasons of the show, Chuck tries to find what to do with his life, before finally deciding to become a spy, while trying to get over college girlfriend Jill Roberts.

Series Plot

Season One

See Also: Season One

Chuck Bartowski is a twenty-something year old in Burbank, CA who works as a computer expert at the Nerd Herd at his local Buy More (a parody of Best Buy and their Geek Squad), a large retail consumer-electronics chain, with his best friend, Morgan Grimes. Chuck's sister Ellie, is a doctor who is constantly encouraging him to make progress in his professional and romantic life. Also joining the cast is Ellie's now-husband, Devon "Captain Awesome" Woodcomb, also a doctor looking out for Chuck's social life. On the night of his birthday party, Chuck receives an e-mail from Bryce Larkin, his former Stanford University roommate, who was considered a "rogue" Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent from the events of Season One. When Chuck opens it, the entire database of all the US government's secret information—a neural supercomputer called The Intersect—is subliminally embedded into his brain. Both the National Security Agency (NSA) and the CIA want the intelligence returned to them and dispatch agents of their own. Major John Casey and Sarah Walker were sent to retrieve the data.

Since the information was stolen by Bryce and the government's copy is destroyed in his attempted escape, and since Chuck experiences "flashes" of information from the database activated by certain triggers around him (such as faces, voices, in-context keywords, and various objects), he must use the knowledge he now possesses to help the government thwart assassins and international terrorists—upending his previously uneventful life. In order to preserve their safety, Chuck must keep his new-found occupation a secret from his family and friends, forcing Casey and Walker to establish an uneasy alliance and secret identities; Walker poses as Chuck's girlfriend and takes a cover job at the local restaurant next to the Buy More (formerly the Wienerlicious, currently Orange Orange) while Casey gets a job at the Buy More, with the shared goal of protecting Chuck at all costs.

In the meantime, the government attempts to rebuild the Intersect computer. As it nears completion, Casey is ordered to kill Chuck as soon as the new Intersect is ready. However, in the premiere of Season Two, it is sabotaged by the rogue CIA spies' organization; "Fulcrum", keeping Chuck alive.

As the series progresses, it is revealed that Bryce is still alive and that a rogue spy agency called Fulcrum, is searching for the Intersect, which they believe to still be in the possession of Bryce, not Chuck. Several Fulcrum agents have independently discovered that Chuck actually is the human Intersect, but all have been apprehended or killed before they could pass the information on.

Season Two

See Also: Season Two

It is also revealed that Fulcrum is attempting to build it's own Intersect, as Fulcrum believes the CIA has stopped trying to rebuild theirs. In the episode Chuck vs. the Suburbs, (aired February 16, 2009), the collection of all secrets from Fulcrum's own Intersect testbed project was implanted into Chuck's head. Eventually, (presumably) all of the Intersect information is removed by Chuck's father who is also the Intersect's chief designer, Stephen Bartowski (a.k.a. "Orion", played by Scott Bakula); however, in the Season Two finale; Template:222, (April 27, 2009), Chuck voluntarily uploads the newest version of the Intersect (Intersect 2.0) into himself which allows him to flash on many skills à la The Matrix, rather than just the raw information and computation of previous Intersects.

Season Three

See Also: Season Three

As of Season Three, Chuck is now officially a CIA agent, as he successfully completes his spy training when he tries to impress Sarah as she was dating Daniel Shaw, another CIA agent. Later on, he begins to have a romantic relationship with Sarah Walker.

In this season, Team Bartowski begins cracking down on hostile organization, the Ring. The organization was revealed in the season two finale by Bryce, shortly before his death and the activation of the Intersect 2.0. Throughout the third season, Chuck faces his spy training and has to do most of the missions that Team Bartowski had to go through- by himself now. During this, he meets up with CIA agent, Daniel Shaw, who was ordered by the Ring to be assassinated under the hands of Devon, whom the Ring believes to be a CIA agent.

It is revealed in Chuck Versus the Final Exam, that Sarah was assigned by the CIA to kill a woman for her red test, the final stage of the spy training as to where the CIA trainee is to kill their target without questioning. In Chuck Versus the Other Guy, Shaw has joined the Ring under revenge as he was convinced by the Ring Director that his wife, Evelyn Shaw, was the woman Sarah had killed five years prior to the events of the season. Chuck manages to save a nearly unconscious Sarah from Shaw on their mission in Paris, of which Chuck was not part of.

Shaw returns just before the season finale as he kills Stephen Bartowski. Returning in the season finale, he manages to discredit Team Bartowski and General Beckman. He brings the Ring's main superiors; the Five Elders. Team Bartowski manages to identify the Ring leaders and proves to the entire CIA and NSA officials on Daniel Shaw's allegiance to the Ring. Shaw escapes and returns later at the Buy More where he plants explosives. Chuck engages into martial arts battle against Shaw, who is using the Ring version of the Intersect 2.0. After defeating him, Morgan accidentally blows up the Buy More.

Chuck then resigns from being a CIA agent under request from Ellie after she finds out about Chuck's secret spy life.

The season has also revealed Casey's daughter, Alex McHugh (played by Mekena Melvin).

Season Four

See Also: Season Four

In Season Four, Chuck is forced by General Beckman to rejoin the agency. In this season, Chuck begins his search for his mother, Mary Bartowski (played by Linda Hamilton) who had left the family when he was in the fifth grade. Chuck later discovers that Mary is the right hand man of international arms dealer Alexei Volkoff (played by Timothy Dalton). Mary manipulates Chuck into having him search for her supposed MI6 handler Gregory Tuttle, to help prove the CIA that she is a double agent working against Volkoff. When Chuck successfully brings the two together, they lead him to the intelligence that contains the proof needed, however the disc card is not compatible with a computer anywhere and that there is only one computer that can. Chuck brings his mother to his dad's secret base, where Stephen kept all the intelligence involving Fulcrum, Volkoff Industries and many more in an effort to find Mary. Mary betrays Chuck as she flashes a portable device which suppresses the Intersect in Chuck. Sarah who was accompanying Chuck, was shortly knocked unconscious by Tuttle, who then reveals himself to be Alexei Volkoff himself. The two then place detonators around the base, but while at it, Mary prevents Chuck from revealing Stephen as his father. While at it, Volkoff also seems clueless in Chuck being her son. Before departing, Mary gives Sarah a means of escaping the base. The base is later completely destroyed, leaving nothing behind.

Later in the season, Mary explains to Chuck that she was not assigned to find Volkoff, but his network instead. Volkoff also finally finds out that Chuck is the son of Mary and Stephen when confronted by her as he had held Chuck at gunpoint. He then forces Chuck into inviting him for the Bartowski family thanksgiving leftovers dinner, in an effort to get along with Mary's family to impress her. After they finish their dinner, Volkoff figures out that Chuck and Sarah had activated a silent alarm to the nearest CIA base. Volkoff has his men surround the courtyard, attempting to kill them. However, Mary prevents this by having him at gunpoint instead. Volkoff lowers his gun when Mary tells him that she could not love a man who would threaten her son. They then leave Chuck and Sarah unharmed as Volkoff pulls out of Burbank along with his other operatives.

In Template:412, Sarah begins to take dangerous measures in helping Chuck get his mom back as she joins Volkoff's organization, quickly earning the same respect and trust Volkoff has for Mary. When working for Volkoff, Mary and Sarah later find Volkoff's network, the Hydra Network, the reason of Mary being in deep cover for 20 years. They then find out that the Hydra's database is on a ship called The Contessa. Chuck and Morgan were then on a rogue mission to help his mom and Sarah. The Hydra network was then uploaded onto Stephen's computer at Orion's secret Pine Cabin household, as Volkoff comes over to the cabin thinking Orion had been alive, later revealed to be Chuck's clever manipulation. Volkoff was then arrested and the Hydra network is finally in the hands of the CIA.

Chuck then proposes to Sarah just after Ellie gives birth to Clara Woodcomb, where Mary was able to comfort her through after finally bringing down Volkoff Industries.

Characters and Cast

See Also: A full list of characters See Also: A full list of Actors

• Charles "Chuck" Bartowski is played by Zachary Levi
• Agent Sarah Walker is played by Yvonne Strahovski
• Colonel John Casey is played by Adam Baldwin
• Agent Morgan Grimes is played by Joshua Gomez
• Eleanor "Ellie" Bartowski-Woodcomb is played by Sarah Lancaster
• Devon "Captain Awesome" Woodcomb is played by Ryan McPartlin
• General Diane Beckman is played by Bonita Friedericy
• Michael "Big Mike" Tucker is played by Mark Christopher Lawrence
• Lester Patel is played by Vik Sahay
• Jeffrey "Jeff" Barnes is played by Scott Krinsky

Save Chuck Campaign

For more information: Save Chuck

Save Chuck was the the 2009 fan Campaign to save the television show Chuck from being canceled at the end of season two, and for NBC to renew Chuck for a third season.

Changes made before the show

In early drafts of the Template:101 episode of Chuck, many things different were different from the aired episode such as:

• Kayla Hart - Chuck’s next door neighbor. Single, twenty-five and heavily into the indie music scene. Kayla was a potential love interest for Chuck. The character was removed completely.
• The scene where Bryce Larkin escapes from after stealing and blowing up the intersect computer that housed the First Intersect was extended.
• The Nerd Herd was originally to be called the Geek Force instead.
• Chuck and Morgan were playing the Xbox to avoid the birthday party rather than escaping it.
• General Diane Beckman was originally named as General Mary Beckman when she was originally portrayed by Wendy Makkena.

Quotes

See: Chuck Quotes

Spy Gadgets

Chuck being a spy show features quite a lot of gadgets, for a full list see: Category:Gadgets

Locations and Setting

There are many different locations frequently used in Chuck, for a full list see: Category:Locations

Episodes

See Also: Full Episode Guide

Chuck aired a total of five seasons. The first season of Chuck was originally aired back in 2007–2008, a total of 13 episodes. After the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike, NBC renewed Chuck for a second season instead of extending the first to a full season of 22 episodes.

Chuck: Other media

Link: Chuck Spin-off Media

A number of other media spin offs from the Chuck television series have been created. The main ones are listed below:

• Chuck Versus the Webisodes
• Meet the Nerd Herders
• Morgan's Vlog
• Buy Hard: The Jeff and Lester Story

Chuck Graphic Novels

For full information: Graphic Novel

Wildstorm, a DC Comics imprint, produced a six-issue mini-series written by Peter Johnson and Zev Borow, with art by Jeremy Haun and Phil Noto. It started in June 2008. A trade paperback collection was published in July, 2009. It also includes a public service announcement on brushing one's teeth from Captain Awesome and two gag adventures with Morgan based on film noir and The Odyssey. (WildStorm also releases Brian K. Vaughan's Ex Machina, a series that sees its main character fused with a technological structure, issue #39 of which is used within Chuck to conceal the Intersect operating manual from General Beckman, Casey, and Sarah for Chuck's studies from Season 2, episode #17 onwards.)

Music

For a full list of music that's been used in Chuck, visit: Music Used in Chuck

Like any television show, Chuck contains music or songs within it's episodes. The main example of this would be the show's title sequence (or theme tune) which is sample of "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" by Cake, which first appeared in Chuck Versus the Tango.

Trivia, Notes, Allusions and Pop/Geek Culture References

See: Trivia, Notes, Allusions and Pop/Geek Culture References

Podcast

For more information see, Gray Jones

Tie in Websites

A tie in website are websites created by the produces of a show which create real on the web sites to promote and give further information about the show to fans. Chuck has the following websites:

NBC Chuck:

• NBC Chuck homepage
• Chuck Spy notes
• Morgan's room-mate rules
• Casey Facts
• 22 Reasons Chuck trust Morgan
• Chuck's Fulcrum chart

Fictional sites:

• Inside the Buymore
• Nerd heard help

• Chuckssecret.com
• Chuck on stickam
• Chuck on Digg
• Chuck on last FM
• Chuck's Geek2Geek profile
• Chuck word press
• Chuck blogspot

Myspace:

• Chuck Bartowski on Myspace
• Morgan on Myspace
• Ellie on Myspace

Chuck Bartowski has an account on YouTube. As of July 2007, he hasn't uploaded any videos yet, but his favorites list includes "Brokeback to the Future", and clips of Beck and Pavement. It is safely assumed to be a fan made account. This profile can be found here