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- "When we get back, we need to have a serious talk about the benefits of tranq guns."
- ― Chuck before Mary kills a henchman in Template:413.
Charles Irving "Chuck" Bartowski is the protagonist of Chuck, on NBC. He is portrayed by Zachary Levi.
Chuck is presented as a twenty-something underachiever who lives in the Echo ParkSection of Los Angeles, California and works at a dead end job at the Burbank Buy More in its Nerd Herd division (a fictionalized Geek Squad). Chuck's life stalled after his college roommate, Bryce Larkin, planted test answers under Chuck's bed and then reported him to the officials, which led to Chuck's expulsion from Stanford University (where he was a scholarship student) in 2002; only twelve credits shy of completing his Bachelor of Engineering degree. For a long time, Chuck hated Bryce for his betrayal, but he later learns that Bryce got him expelled to protect him from being recruited into the CIA because he knew Chuck wouldn't survive in the field. He also lost his college girlfriend, Jill Roberts (Jordana Brewster).Following his expulsion, Chuck moved in with his sister and began working at the Burbank, California branch of Buy More. At some point over the next five years Chuck becomes the Nerd Herd supervisor.
That's his job at the time of the pilot, when the viewers are introduced to the key people in Chuck's current life: his older sister, Eleanor Fay "Ellie" Bartowski, M.D. (Sarah Lancaster), her live-in boyfriend, Devon "Captain Awesome" Woodcomb(Ryan McPartlin) and Chuck's best friend since childhood, Morgan Grimes. Very little else is known about his family. His mother left when Chuck was in the fifth grade and his father was "never really around" even before he also left (roughly eleven years ago), so Chuck and Ellie increasingly had to fend for themselves.
On his birthday in 2007, Chuck opens an email from Bryce Larkin that causes Chuck to download into his brain the full contents of a CIA/NSA supercomputer known as the Intersect, which has served as a database for their combined collected intelligence. Unbeknownst to Chuck, the Intersect computer has been destroyed, making his brain the only location of this top-secret information. The government learns that Chuck Bartowski was the last known person that Bryce Larkin contacted, so both the CIA and NSA (independent of each other) send agents to find him. The CIA dispatches field officer Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski) to retrieve a copy of the Intersect, while the NSA sends then-Major John Casey(Adam Baldwin) to capture Chuck. The two agents eventually cross paths, and Sarah fends off Casey. They then discover that Chuck is a human version of the Intersect who sees a rapid-fire series of images (or "flashes") of intelligence from the Intersect database whenever his brain recognizes a bit of related information with his own eyes or ears. The two agencies conclude that Chuck must be protected and assign Sarah and Casey jointly to the task.
He subsequently becomes Sarah's husband. He's also the best friend of Morgan Grimes.
Chuck falls in love with his CIA handler Agent Sarah Walker the first time she walks in the "Buy More". The two are romantically involved since the third season and are married in the fourth season finale.
Character History
In the first two seasons, Chuck Bartowski is presented as a 26 year-old underachiever who works at the local Buy More in its Nerd Herd division (a fictionalized Geek Squad). Chuck's life is stalled after his college roommate, Bryce Larkin (Matthew Bomer), planted test answers under Chuck's bed and then reported him to the officials, which led to Chuck's expulsion from Stanford University in 2003 [1] — only twelve credits shy of completing his bachelor's degree. He also lost the love of his life: college girlfriend, Jill Roberts (Jordana Brewster).[2]
Following his expulsion, Chuck moved in with his sister and began working at the Burbank, California branch of the Buy More.[3] At some point over the next five years after Stanford and Jill, Chuck became the Nerd Herd supervisor. In the pilot, which picks up five years later, the viewers are introduced to the key persons in Chuck's current life: his older sister, Eleanor Fay "Ellie" Bartowski, M.D., (Sarah Lancaster), her live-in boyfriend, Devon "Captain Awesome" Woodcomb, M.D., (Ryan McPartlin), and Chuck's best friend since childhood Morgan Grimes, (Joshua Gomez). Little else was known of Chuck's family at the time except that his mother (Linda Hamilton) left when he was 9 and that his father (Scott Bakula) was "never really there"[4][5], and left for good when he was 13.
On his 26th birthday in 2007, Chuck opens an email from Bryce Larkin that downloads the entire Central Intelligence Agency/National Security Agency database into his brain, a database known as the Intersect making him into a Human Intersect. Unbeknownst to him, the Intersect computer has been destroyed, making his brain the only location of this top-secret information. The government learns that Chuck Bartowski was the last known person that Bryce Larkin contacted, and so both the CIA and NSA (independent of each other) send agents to find him. The CIA dispatches field officer Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski) to retrieve him, while the NSA sends Major (now Colonel) John Casey (Adam Baldwin) to assassinate him. The two agents eventually cross paths, and Sarah fends off Casey's assassination attempts when they discover that Chuck is a human version of the Intersect and sees a rapid-fire series of images (or "flashes") whenever he sees something that is in the Intersect database. The two agencies conclude that Chuck must be protected and assign Sarah and Casey jointly to the task.[2]
Series Development
Chuck is the lead character on the show. Thus, major seasonal plot arcs generally revolve around the weekly missions that Chuck, Sarah, Casey and occasionally Morgan engage in, as well as Chuck's relationships with Sarah and Morgan, his fellow Nerd Herd and co-workers, his sister Ellie Bartowski, M.D. (Sarah Lancaster) and her husband Devon "Captain Awesome" Woodcomb, M.D. (Ryan McPartlin). Chuck also worried about his future and wanted desperately to remove the Intersect from his brain. Chuck is often involved in the major and secondary episodic plots and the two sometimes intertwine.
However as of the third and later seasons, Chuck is officially a spy. He then becomes less worried of his spy life intertwining with his normal life.
The Intersect
See main article: The Intersect
Flashes from the original Intersect,(top) FULCRUM Intersect (middle) and Intersect 2.0 (bottom)
Events in the series largely revolve around intelligence Chuck "flashes" on via the Intersect. Initially, Chuck is in possession of the original version destroyed by Bryce in the pilot. It is later upgraded in "Chuck Versus the Breakup." After Chuck passes Fulcrum's Intersect's test upload, he is forcibly uploaded with the Fulcrum Intersect in "Chuck Versus the Suburbs." Afterwards, flashes consisting of Fulcrum data are differentiated by a slight reddish tint. Stephen Bartowski manages to over-write at least some of the Intersect in "Chuck Versus The Colonel" (the over-write may not be complete, as Chuck had his eyes closed during the first part of the databurst). By the end of season two, Chuck chooses to download Intersect 2.0.
In many episodes Chuck, Sarah, and Casey work with other federal agents, or occasionally agents of allied foreign governments. Unless compelled to reveal the truth, Casey and Sarah almost always identify Chuck as an "analyst", not trained for field operations (to cover his lack of spy training); the Intersect information is so highly classified that even among federal government employees the knowledge that Chuck Bartowski is the Intersect is on a need-to-know basis. When initially trying to determine if the Intersect information could be removed from Chuck's mind in "Chuck Versus the Helicopter", they contacted Dr. Jonah Zarnow, who had worked on the Intersect project, and set up an elaborate system that allowed him to test Chuck's Intersect abilities without learning Chuck's real identity or even seeing his face; this proved a wise precaution because the doctor went so far as to fake his own death and kidnap Sarah Walker in an effort to force her to reveal the Intersect's identity. Chuck is painfully aware that possessing the Intersect information not only potentially puts him in great danger, but also threatens the lives of his family, friends and those around him.
The CIA and NSA were working on replacing the destroyed intersect, at which point the government would no longer need him. Chuck believed that when that day came he and Sarah would be free to pursue a "real" relationship and he would have his "normal" life back. However Casey was secretly assigned by Graham and Beckman to kill Chuck once Operation Bartowski was completed. When the new electronic intersect was about to be activated in "Chuck Versus the First Date", Casey's orders reverted to the elimination of Chuck to protect the information in Chuck's brain. Although Casey appealed the mission and noted Chuck's honorable service, he reluctantly prepared to assassinate Chuck and was visibly relieved when the mission was canceled at the last moment following the destruction of the intersect computer. As revealed in "Chuck Versus the Suburbs", the NSA and CIA have officially abandoned the Intersect project, however the series has not established whether Casey's termination orders are still in effect.
General Beckman made it clear to Chuck in "Chuck vs. The Predator" that she doesn't want the Intersect removed from his brain, and that she expects him to become a spy. Chuck promptly begins this new phase of his life by hiding intel on the original design of the Intersect sent to him from Orion (later revealed to be Stephen Bartowski, his father). Orion also indicated that the Fulcrum Intersect could possibly be used to remove the Intersect from Chuck's brain.
In "Chuck vs. the Colonel", Chuck locates the base where Fulcrum has hidden the newly-developed Fulcrum Intersect Cube that was being programmed under duress by Stephen Bartowski. His father is able to remove the intersect from Chuck's brain using this Intersect Cube. However he subsequently downloads it again before destroying it in "Chuck vs. the Ring", this time uploading physical skills as well, such as advanced martial arts.
It is discovered in the Season Three finale that Chuck had accidentally downloaded an earlier version of the Intersect being created by his father, in his childhood.
In "Chuck Versus the First Fight", Chuck's mom, Mary, uses a portable device on Chuck to suppress the Intersect. This stops it from functioning correctly. In the episode after, Chuck is kidnapped by a Belgian who wants the secrets in the Intersect. The suppression issue hangs around for a few episodes until Chuck activates a laptop from Stephen, who left it to Ellie. This laptop resupplies the Intersect 2.0, or maybe even updated it. Not much is known because it has not been discussed by Team Bartowski yet. Once Chuck was shown the images that activate the Intersect, he falls down (like in other episodes when an Intersect machine is activated). Then, he jumps up and says "Guys I know Kung-Fu..... again". This refers to "Chuck vs. the Ring", when he downloaded the Intersect 2.0 and took on the Ring agents in which he said the same quote to Casey and Sarah.
During the period in which the Intersect was suppressed, Chuck believes that Sarah would not love him without it. This thought is evident by his dreams. And according to Morgan, his ultimate proposal plan, that had been worked on since before he met Sarah, was last worked on before his mother had suppressed the Intersect.
He later regains the intersect in Template:410 from his dad's laptop after Ellie fixed it.
After going rogue to save Sarah and being fired from the CIA, Chuck had the intersect unwillingly suppressed by Clyde Decker.
Sarah Walker
See Also: Sarah Walker
Chuck & Sarah
A major romance throughout the series is Chuck's romantic feelings for his CIA handler, Sarah, who was posing as his girlfriend as part of her cover. During Season Three, Chuck and Sarah begin their long term relationship. In Template:413, Sarah agrees to Chuck's proposal and is now his fiancée. In the season four finale, Template:424, Chuck and Sarah are married.
Sarah's own feelings for Chuck were a recurring side plot. She maintained that it would be unprofessional of her to actually engage in a real relationship with Chuck while she is serving as his CIA handler. Sarah and Chuck have shared kisses under unusual circumstances in Template:109 and Template:202. In the latter case, CIA seduction trainer Roan Montgomery (John Larroquette) quickly discerned that there was more than a professional relationship between Chuck and Sarah. Complicating the developing relationship between Chuck and Sarah is Chuck's nemesis Bryce Larkin, who was previously partnered with Sarah and developed a romantic relationship with her which he still wishes to pursue. During Bryce's return in Template:110, Sarah is clearly conflicted between Larkin and Chuck. However, when he later reappears in Template:203, Sarah's feelings has changed. Sarah chooses Chuck's safety over their assigned mission objectives, and when later confronted by Captain Awesome (who correctly and unknowingly recognized that Sarah's feelings for Chuck are genuine and not part of her cover), Bryce realizes that Sarah has chosen Chuck. At the end of the mission Bryce warns Chuck that her feelings nearly got her killed, and may reach the point that they interfere with her ability to function effectively. Chuck later tells her regardless of how they feel towards each other, they could never be together. Despite this decision, Chuck and Sarah's feelings for each other remains. The conflict with Bryce and the relationship between Chuck and Sarah was brought to a close in the season two finale when Sarah tells Bryce she won't be going with him on their next assignment.
Sarah's feelings for Chuck and their ramifications for their mission are the focus of Template:218, when Beckman decides Sarah and Chuck are too close emotionally, leading her to temporarily replace her with Agent Alexandra Forrest (the 49B). After the mission takes a turn for the worse, it becomes clear that the strong emotional bond between Chuck and Sarah is an asset rather than a liability, leading Beckman to reinstate Sarah's position.
At the end of Template:220, Beckman orders Sarah to lure Chuck to Castle so he could be taken into custody and returned to Washington. Faced with betraying him, Sarah instead warns Chuck of the plan and reveals that they had to flee. In "Chuck vs. the Colonel", Chuck and Sarah could not keep their feelings from each other and they have an intimate moment in their room. However, John Casey arrives and interrupts Chuck and Sarah.
Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak have suggested Chuck re-uploading the Intersect may have implications for his developing relationship with Sarah.[6]
During Season Three, Chuck and Sarah decided to be together, continually debating on whether or not to quit being spies and run off together. They ultimately decides to stay spies, and pursue their relationship, which their co-workers approve of, including General Beckman. Sarah accepts Chuck's offer to move in together at the end of Template:315 and suggesting Sarah wants to continue their relationship and be closer to Chuck.
In Season Four, his relationship with Sarah has progressed since the Season Three finale. In Template:404, he has been deeply hurt from Sarah, who has not said anything as she saw an engagement ring fall into Chuck's hands, even though the ring actually belonged to Big Mike, who was considering proposing to Morgan's mother, Bolonia Grimes. Throughout the episode, he questions Sarah on important subjects under advise from a book at the Buy More, 101 questions before "I do". Their dynamic as a couple is also further developed in Season Four, one of the aspects being their tendency to resolve their issues while in tense situations, as shown in "Chuck Versus the Coup d'Etat", "Chuck Versus the First Fight" and "Chuck Versus the Seduction Impossible".
In Template:409, Sarah lies down in Chuck's bedroom under incredible stress as she was unable to find Chuck, who had been kidnapped. She looks over to his Nerd Herder shirt, and finds a map. Completely unaware of what it is, she asks Morgan if he knew what this is. At first Morgan was reluctant to tell her what it is, but shortly explains it to her. He tells her that the map is Chuck's proposal plan and that it was last worked on before Chuck's mother had erased the Intersect from him. Sarah realizes she had not expressed herself to Chuck about her feelings and why she loves him. After rescuing Chuck, Sarah tells him that she does want to marry him, even if he doesn't have the Intersect.
In Template:413, Chuck and Sarah becomes engaged. In Template:414, Chuck and Sarah come to a disagreement when Sarah wishes to elope as she has no one to invite to their wedding, while Chuck wants to have a big family wedding as he had gotten his family back together. Chuck looks to Roan Montgomery for advice on letting her agree with him. Roan simply tells him to seduce Sarah, however Sarah was doing the same to him as well by dressing up as a belly dancer. Eventually, Sarah explains to Chuck why she wanted to elope and agrees to have the family wedding. At the end of the episode, Chuck offers to help her reconnect with her family, she reluctantly agrees.
As of Template:424, Chuck and Sarah are now married.
Spy Life
Chuck discovers he learned Kung Fu from the Intersect
In many episodes Chuck has adopted a fantasy alias, "Charles Carmichael," who is endowed with all of the characteristics he believes a super-spy should have, except he doesn't really have the physical abilities to go with the skills. "Imagine Clark Kent removing the eyeglasses, but still wearing kryptonite underwear." Carmichael has been referred to as where Chuck thought he would be by this time in in his life had he not been expelled from Stanford: a millionaire semiretired software magnate.[7] Ironically, his fantasy alias has gained actual respect in the spy community: in "Chuck Versus the Predator", Fulcrum agent Vincent told Chuck he's heard of him. His operational aliases are numerous; various false passports and identity documents are stored in a shoebox under his bed, as seen in the beginning of "Chuck Versus Tom Sawyer." Charles Carmichael is also a character referred to in a Dr Seuss book. Carmichael could also be a reference to the Secret British Agent Henry "Fakir" Carmichael from the Agatha Christie Novel "They Came To Baghdad." This reference makes a little more sense as Chuck's alias namesake was going up against a big shadowy organization and was known for his ability to make friends and encourage them to protect him. As early as "Chuck Versus the First Date", Mr. Colt compliments Casey on "your boss"'s skills.
While police and operational backup personnel have supported Casey and Sarah in various episodes, Chuck is revealed near the climax of "Chuck Versus the Ex" to have gained the contact information required to summon such teams on his own initiative. Moments later, it is further revealed that Chuck carries a badge and credentials which give him some degree of authority over local and federal law enforcement agencies, including the police and FBI. This is demonstrated in the episode when, upon arriving at an emergency situation where an assassin released a biological weapon on a scientific conference, Chuck promptly assumed command of the operation without dispute from the senior officer on-site.
Chuck has been charting every piece of information he can find on Fulcrum and the Intersect on a board hidden behind the Tron poster in his bedroom,[8] and continues to express a desire to have the intel removed from his brain.[9] Using the data, Chuck built a bot to search the web for Orion, which he can be seen using in the opening scenes of "Chuck Versus the Predator." He succeeds in doing what the CIA and NSA could not; he gets the attention of Orion who recognizes Chuck as the Intersect and thus wants to meet him. Orion reveals it is possible to remove the Intersect from Chuck's brain before being apparently killed when he turned his MQ-1 Predator drone on the helicopter he was being loaded aboard after he was captured by Fulcrum. It was later revealed in "Chuck vs. the Dream Job" that not only did Orion survive, but was actually Chuck's father.
In "Chuck vs. the Ring",Chuck downloads the modified Intersect 2.0 after Bryce was killed before destroying the computer system with the Intersect destroyer. When confronted by agents belonging to The Ring intent on taking control of the system, he uses the knowledge received from the Intersect to quickly disable them in hand-to-hand combat. Earlier in the episode, Ted Roark reveals that Fulcrum has specifically ordered that Chuck be killed regardless of whether they recover the Intersect.
Chuck was fired by Beckman after failing his spy training in Template:301, but by the end of the episode proved his value and was reinstated on the team. He was sent on his first solo mission by CIA Agent Daniel Shaw in Template:305. Throughout the third season, Chuck continued to train with Sarah, Casey, and Shaw. In Template:310, Chuck completed his last tests, the Red Test (with Casey's help), and was activated as a full-fledged spy by Beckman and ordered to report to Washington, D.C. for induction.
Later on in season three and throughout the series, Chuck has developed more and more into an agent. In Template:413, Chuck makes a plan all by himself on a rogue mission with Morgan to bring down armsdealing organization, Volkoff Industries. He does so by pretending to be Orion, hacking into the computers in the office of Alexei Volkoff, which scares Volkoff into leaving and staying mobile with the Hydra Network. Chuck successfully brings down Volkoff Industries by having Volkoff's voice to access the passcode to begin transferring the Hydra Network to Orion's computers, later to be sent to the CIA.
Family Life
Chuck had been attempting to locate his father for Ellie's wedding but had met with limited success, as Stephen Bartowski (Scott Bakula) didn't want to be found. However, his search ends in "Chuck vs. The Broken Heart" when Sarah uses her access to the CIA databases at Langley to run her own unauthorized search. She successfully locates him in a trailer in a field 100 miles east of Barstow, CA and takes Chuck to see him. In "Chuck Versus the Dream Job," Stephen reveals his identity as Orion and said he had allowed Sarah to find him. Chuck went to work for Stephen's rival Ted Roark to help the CIA stop a major virus attack. After Stephen's capture by Roark he convinced Beckman to assign them the mission to rescue him.
Due to his "exceptional field service," Chuck received his Bachelor's Degree in Engineering from Stanford, a degree he was only 12 credits short of earning when he was expelled.[10] Sarah and Casey both played a significant role in this development. In "Chuck Versus The Dream Job," we learn that Stephen (his father) is really Orion, the Intersect's creator. Although Stephen Bartowski would appear in "Chuck vs. the Dream Job", no real information about their mother has been given, except that she left them at a young age. Chuck and Ellie celebrate "Mother's Day" each year with dinner to celebrate the day they both learned to take care of each other.[11]
In the finale of Season Two, Chuck initially had quit the Buy More as a wedding present to Ellie, who has been encouraging him to live up to his potential, which she doesn't believe he can accomplish there. However, Chuck rejoins the Buy More in Season Three after volunteering himself to be a spy again.
In Season Four, Chuck pursues his search to find his mother, Mary Bartowski (Linda Hamilton), whom his father had supplied Chuck with enough intel to begin the search as of the Season Three finale. Stephen had
spent his entire life searching for Mary, and to bring down Volkoff Industries. Chuck manages to meet his mother in Template:406, who shoots him in the chest to prevent Volkoff from finding out that Chuck is her son. In Template:413, Chuck, Sarah, Morgan, and Mary all manage to bring down Volkoff and his Hydra Network. They later arrive to Westside Medical just in time for Ellie to give birth to Clara Woodcomb. Mary reunites with Ellie and comforts her through it.
Character Development
Zachary Levi was the first actor cast for the series, and was announced as starring in the title role on February 7, 2007. On January 16, 2009 it was announced that Scott Bakula would be appearing as Chuck and Ellie's father in a three-episode story alongside Chevy Chase. Mr. Bartowski is being identified as a software genius, with Chase's Ted Roark as his rival.[12]
SciFi Wire reports that English actor Jonathan Cake will be joining the cast for a three-part arc as Mi-6 agent Cole Barker, described as a "James Bond" type. Unfortunately for Chuck, Agent Barker will be catching Sarah's eye, and will be leading to a heated rivalry between the two. This will most notably be on display in Part Two of the arc, in which each will be actively trying to "Out Hero" the other. Chuck will also be involved in a mission to track down the creator of the Intersect, a man who may be able to help him find a way to remove the computer from his head and give him back his normal life.[13]
Previews for a future episode following the initial airing of "Chuck Versus the Lethal Weapon" show Chuck taking a much more active role, including donning body armor and confidently wielding two guns.
Zachary Levi has indicated that by the beginning of Season Three, if the show continues, two characters will have discovered Chuck's secret life.[14] In "Chuck Versus the Colonel," Chuck reveals his work as a spy to Captain Awesome, but implores him to keep it secret. [15]
Interviews with Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz have likened Chuck's development in the first two seasons to an origin story, describing Chuck as Luke Skywalker and born into his role as opposed to Peter Parker who stumbled into it. Season two especially has focused on Chuck's evolution from a regular guy to show that he has the potential to be a true hero.[16]
Zachary Levi has suggested that the new skills Chuck learns from Intersect 2.0 will fade again after use.[17]
He loses the intersect again in Chuck versus the Cliffhanger.
Personality
Chuck is a smart, witty, honest, friendly, good-hearted, caring, generous, and personable boy. Because of the danger and reality of his secret life, Chuck struggles with maintaining his honesty and integrity, and has frequently been at odds with the deceptive side of his government work. Chuck typically plays the role of a peacemaker and to some degrees a negotiator, preferring to find a peaceful resolution to conflicts (such as during the hostage situation in the Buy More in "Chuck vs. Santa Claus.") He also has a deep sense of personal responsibility, leading him to facilitating the defection of a Chinese agent after mistakenly allowing her brother to be taken hostage.[11] Chuck strongly believes in doing the right thing, but objects to means that violate his ethics, especially when he has been asked or ordered to take advantage of his personal relationships.[18] Chuck also always puts others before himself, and is rather protective of the people he cares about.
Chuck is highly skilled with computers and can solve any puzzle.[3] It is implied that he has knowledgeable-level intellect and has the ability to retain vast amounts of visual information, possibly suggesting he possesses a photographic memory.Chuck has shown the ability to mentally download the Intersect and the Fulcrum program (which had killed or mentally damaged all previous subjects). He has excellent problem-solving skills. Even without the Intersect information, Chuck is highly observant, and he has a great deal of familiarity with a wide variety of electronic devices, their capabilities and limitations due to working at the Buy More rather than the Intersect information, and demonstrated the ability to recognize advanced surveillance equipment while casing a mansion for a mission (because they sold that model of surveillance camera at the Buy More). Chuck has admitted to a low tolerance for pain in several episodes, and is particularly afraid of needles. Although he tends to be visibly frightened in situations involving guns and danger, he has a deep reserve of courage, and almost always summons the nerve to risk his own life during the course of a mission if he deems it necessary (such as if Sarah Walker's life is at risk).
Although he does not hold a management position at the Buy More, both the sales associates and Nerd Herd staff look to him for guidance and leadership. Co-worker Anna Wu (Julia Ling) explained to a corporate efficiency expert that the store's chain of command is "There's Chuck, then there's the rest of us. Oh, and then there's Jeff," and Lester Patel (Vik Sahay) reports that when unsure in a situation, asks himself, "WWCD, what would Chuck do?" When asked "Who personifies the Buy More ideal? Who makes the trains run on time? Who provides your moral compass? Who holds the team together?" the staff unanimously answer "Chuck."[3] Even Big Mike holds Chuck in high regard, and has frequently turned to Chuck when he has things that need to be done and done right, and would have preferred him as Assistant Manager over Harry Tang.[19] When his new girlfriend revealed her son worked at the Buy More, Big Mike could be heard pleading that it was Chuck.[20]
Chuck's friends and family are very important to him. He has disobeyed orders in order to protect Ellie,[21] Morgan and Anna,[22] and his own fate was of secondary importance to finding the ring Awesome intended to use to propose to Ellie when a Fulcrum agent stole it while recovering a listening device.[23] Once, when Ellie, Chuck, Sarah Walker and Casey had all been exposed to a substance that would kill them, and they had recovered only enough antidote to save one individual, Chuck, without hesitation, stated that he would use it to save his sister's life, though that would mean he would die; Sarah and Casey refused to let him do this, because his death would mean the loss of the Intersect secrets in his head (though Casey expressed admiration on a personal level for Chuck's willingness to sacrifice his own life to save Ellie's), so Chuck ran to Ellie and administered the antidote to her before they could stop him. He is highly sensitive and caring, and particularly in Season Two has been close to Sarah when she needed emotional support.[24][25] Chuck has also attempted to help Casey reclaim the woman he loved.[26] He has promised his sister that no matter what it takes, he would make sure their father was present at her wedding.[27]
Although often a strength, Chuck's affable, trusting nature has also gotten him into trouble. He almost allowed Laszlo Manhovski to escape custody,[19] and on numerous occasions been tricked into helping an adversary. Casey has also taken advantage of Chuck's naivete for his own purposes.[27]
Chuck frequently wears Chuck Taylor all-stars Converse shoes and enjoys "indie rock" music. Music supervisor of Chuck, Alexandra Patsavas, describes Chuck as a guy who might like The Republic Tigers and The National (both bands have contributed music to the show), and the character himself has made references to liking Arcade Fire Template:106. Chuck is a very big video game nerd. He has been seen reading Nintendo Power, playing Missile Command, Gears of War, Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4, and he is assumed to be a fan of The Legend of Zelda. He has demonstrated several other 'nerd' interests throughout the course of the show, such as an interest in (and extensive familiarity with the plot, characters and details of) comic books and graphic novels, genre movies (such as the James Bond films), and other typical 'nerd' entertainment interests. In the episode "Chuck Versus the Sandworm" Chuck's best friend, Morgan Grimes (Joshua Gomez) reveals that Chuck has a "wicked vinyl collection", part of which is seen in "Chuck Versus the Alma Mater".
Chuck tells Sarah that he thinks he found what will be her favorite song, Feeling Good which was revealed in the episode Template:314." This could also mean that Chuck is a fan of Jazz.
From the series we know Chuck was at the lowest point of his life for over half a decade. Five years at the Buy More after being kicked out of Stanford and breaking up with Jill. Followed by 2 and a half years of being the Intersect and was unable talk about it to his family and friends. During these 2 years of being under Sarah's protection, he had feelings for Sarah that was not directly reciprocated by Sarah.
Evolution
Orion's Wrist Computer
Chuck has continued to evolve over the course of the show. He was initially reluctant to participate in missions, but now has begun to look forward to them and has even been disappointed when they didn't have a new assignment for him.[28] He has also slowly begun to grow in confidence and is becoming increasingly more capable and self-sufficient. Although inexperienced, Chuck's natural intelligence and observational skills has steadily been making him a more effective agent. Sarah has frequently encouraged him in this regard, and even Casey has made observations on Chuck's abilities.[29][25] Even General Beckman was impressed that Chuck made contact with Orion, though she only admitted it to Sarah and Casey.
For most of the series Chuck has been strongly pacifistic. He specifically told Sarah he dislikes guns[23] and showed a preference of avoiding or preventing conflict. Until the end of season 2, Chuck has displayed little fighting ability, and was deeply disturbed by Sarah's execution of Fulcrum agent Mauser.[30] During the events of "Chuck Versus Suburbs" Fulcrum was attempting to refine their own version of the Intersect. The device was flawed, and until it was tested successfully on Chuck either killed or inflicted lasting, if not permanent, brain damage on the victims. After the team was captured investigating the Intersect, Casey escaped FULCRUM custody to the system' control room while Sarah was being strapped into the device. Although fully aware of what would happen to the Fulcrum agents, Chuck signaled Casey to activate the Intersect.
This incident was the first time that Chuck has willingly and personally taken a course of action where he knew that someone was going to be hurt or even killed as a result. Additionally, Josh Schwartz has stated that Chuck will continue to evolve and gain confidence in his new role, and directly suggested that by the end of the season Chuck will have earned his first "kill."[31] This occurred in "Chuck Versus the First Kill," although ironically neither of Chuck's two "kills" were the result of direct action by Chuck. Chuck also deliberately ran down a crowd of Fulcrum operatives holding Sarah prisoner with a Dodge Challenger they were using to run from Casey in Template:221.
Chuck finally handled a gun for the first time on an actual mission in Template:216 Despite his aversion to firearms established in this episode and earlier in "Chuck Versus the Marlin," Chuck asked Sarah if he got to have a gun for their rescue of his father in Template:221 He also found out General Beckman was not willing to help him get the Intersect out of his head in Template:217 and told him he needed to become a spy. Chuck responded by hiding intelligence about the FULCRUM Intersect from her and his handlers.
Upon learning Beckman doesn't want the Intersect removed from him, Chuck has used the resources of Castle and the skills he's learned to defy the government. He hid information about the Fulcrum Intersect from his handlers in Template:217 and Template:218, and used CIA body armor and tranquilizer guns for a rogue operation to gain access to the Fulcrum Intersect to remove the one in his head in Template:219. He even shot John Casey with a tranquilizer.
After downloading the heavily-modified Intersect 2.0, Chuck becomes an expert in hand-to-hand combat and knows Kung Fu much to the surprise of Sarah and Casey.[32] Though in season 5 we can see Chuck without his intersect, he was still able to fight with Daniel Shaw with an upperhand and we could also see him blocking attacks from Morgan with the Intersect. So Chuck becomes a very good hand to hand fighter or he may have learned to fight that way from his experience of using intersect to fight.
Appearance
Chuck Bartowski is handsome and has olive skin with hazel eyes. At the start of season 1 Chuck's hair is curly in a fringe with thick sideburns, his hair changes throughout the next four seasons. Chuck has been wearing black and white Chuck Taylor Converse since he was a child.
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Trivia
- Chuck's original, core Intersect ability is essentially a modernized version of the capacity attributed to Mycroft Holmes, who, according to his brother (Sherlock) in The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, could best be described thus:- "He has the tidiest and most orderly brain, with the greatest capacity for storing facts, of any man living. The same great powers which I have turned to the detection of crime he has used for this particular business. The conclusions of every department are passed to him, and he is the central exchange, the clearing-house, which makes out the balance. All other men are specialists, but his specialism is omniscience.".
References
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External Links
- Bio on nbc.com
- Nerd Herd
- Inside Buy More
- ZACHARY-LEVI.COM
- Tony Hale, Emy Coligado, and Zach Levi in "Ctrl Z"
- Chuck and Sarah's Wedding Blog
| Main Characters | ||
|---|---|---|
Charles "Chuck" Bartowski • Sarah Walker • John Casey • Morgan Grimes • | ||
Anna Wu • Alex McHugh • Alexei Volkoff • Bryce Larkin • Carina Miller • Clara Woodcomb • Clyde Decker • Daniel Shaw • Diane Beckman • Emmett Milbarge • Gertrude Verbanski • Hannah • Harry Tang • Jane Bentley • Jill Roberts • Langston Graham • Mary Bartowski • Nicholas Quinn • Stephen Bartowski • Vivian Volkoff | ||