Quadruple Z Episode #018 – Review of Chuck S2x14 – Chuck vs. The Best Friend

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Join Tabz, Kim and Garrett as they discuss Chuck Season 2, Episode 14, “Chuck Vs. The Best Friend.”

When Anna’s new boyfriend turns out to be connected to the Triads, Chuck is ordered to spy on him by becoming his friend, thereby endangering his friendship with Morgan.
Meanwhile Jeff and Lester want to perform at Ellie and Devon’s wedding with their band called “Jeffster!” (from TV.com)

Jeffster at ComicCon 2009 (YouTube)

This episode was edited by Heidi

Chuck Vs. The Hack Off

In the episode, “Chuck vs. The Hack Off” we learn that Chuck is much more than the Intersect, he’s got crazy computer skills (even without the Intersect) and he uses them to bypass security systems allowing the team to infiltrate and grab the computer super virus, the Omen virus. It’s a great episode to explain why Chuck can be a spy even without having his brain hijacked. It also explains why he was able to be a great spy without the crazy training that other agents had to go through.

 

While I don’t have great hacking skills I often feel like Chuck when I start a new job. I usually was the person to fix the computer problems or make a program work. Once, one of the people working me said, “all your problems today have been solved by Tabz, a computer and God.” It’s something that’s happened ever since I went to college. As I was moving in to my dorm one of the upper classmen was making a terrible row. When I investigated I found out that she couldn’t save a file to a disk (yes, back when we had disks). I did it for her in two seconds flat and became the best person since Santa Clause. It was highly amusing. So, I may not be able to go head to head with Chuck like the episode, but I do think I’d be happy with a place on the Nerd Herd team.

 

It was one of my favorite episodes of Season 5 and I wish we would have seen more of Chuck’s computer skills at work during the show.

 

Want Chuck Season 6 on DVD? Use the  promo code  (c5wbwrd) to score 20% off + free shipping  from wbshop.com

Chuck on DVD

I have been hired by Warner Bros WBWord division to raise awareness for ‘Chuck.’

Chuck Series Finale (Warning: Spoilers)

Warning: This Post Contains SPOILERS for the Series Finale (Season 5).

Chuck on DVD

One of my favorite quotes about series finales actually comes from the Season 5 finale of Supernatural. In it, Chuck (not this Chuck, the “prophet” and writer of books featuring Sam and Dean) says one of my favorite lines about writing:

Endings are hard. Any chapped-ass monkey with a keyboard can poop out a beginning, but endings are impossible. You try to tie up every loose end, but you never can. The fans are always gonna bitch. There’s always gonna be holes. And since it’s the ending, it’s all supposed to add up to something. I’m telling you, they’re a raging pain in the ass.

The reason I love this quote is because it mitigates some of the fan hatred of series finales. With rare exceptions, I’m never entirely satisfied with the series finales of TV shows. I think most of the time it’s because what I thought the show was about doesn’t jive with the finale. For example, I didn’t hate the finale of Lost. It did resonate with the message of the show: we’re all connected and it’s kind of weird how we are all connected and maybe there’s something that’s driving that connection.

In the season finale of Chuck, Sarah and our good hearted hero find themselves sitting on a beach side by side. It’s a bittersweet moment because it reflects the pilot episode where Chuck is the one sitting on the beach and is kind of lost. Sarah comes to him and explains how his life has now changed because he is the intersect. Now, at the series finale, it’s Sarah who is lost. Her memories are gone and Chuck is pained, but resolute that everything is going to work out and, at Sarah’s request, he tells her everything about their lives together. The audience has been waiting for the moment when Sarah’s memories return the entire episode. But, even after Chuck’s heartfelt and adorable moments trying to win Sarah back, she’s not there.

Then Chuck says that Morgan has a crazy idea that if they kiss, everything will come back. A magical kiss, Sarah says. The two kiss, one of those “Princess Bride” kind of kisses, and that’s where the episode ends. There’s the implication that Chuck is right, that everything is going to be fine and that Sarah’s memories will be restored, but it’s not explicit. Yet, despite the bittersweetness of the episode, it’s classicly Chuck. The adorable geek, with the heart of gold, who falls in love with a spy who thought she could never love. And, the romance is helped by Chuck’s best friend, Morgan, who is goofy and crazy, but usually right. In the end, the resolution resounded with the message – sometimes when we expect victory, we get defeat, but good friends and love win out every time. That’s the show I fell in love with back before the Pilot even aired and that’s the show I’m going to miss.
Want to relive Season 5? Order now at the WB shop and use the promo code(c5wbwrd) to get  20% off + free shipping: http://bit.ly/HCQtVe

 

I have been hired by Warner Bros WBWord division to raise awareness for ‘Chuck.

 

Chuck Season 5 and Christmas

In the episode of Chuck, Chuck Versus the Santa Suit, things get a little out of hand with Christmas shopping at the Buy More. This panic just so happened to be caused by a computer virus, but it doesn’t take something so drastic to make holiday shopping a perilous event.

I once worked in a store that had a different toy sale every couple of weeks leading up to the holiday season. $0.99, $2.49, $5.99, and $9.99 were the different sales. These toys were extremely discounted, and people went absolutely nuts over them. The line would start outside a couple hours before the store opened, then when the doors were open the hoard of people would run down the aisle to the toy department. Here they would just start grabbing whatever they could and loading up their bags or shopping cart. After the initial craziness, they would choose an aisle of the store and sort through what they had grabbed to decide what they wanted. Sometimes there were fights. I always wondered why some people would bring their children to this event as they would usually get lost in the crowd. Ah, the joys of holiday shopping.

You can see it doesn’t take anything out of the ordinary to turn holiday shoppers into a sort of zombie shopping creature. Instead of “brains” they crave “deals.” Have you ever been involved in the holiday shopping craziness?

Buy Chuck Season 5 on Blu Ray or DVD to watch this episode and all the rest: http://bit.ly/HCQtVe. If you buy it from the WB Shop you can use this code c5wbwrd to get 20% off + free shipping from wbshop

Do you love Chuck? Check out this really awesome “Thank You” the Cast of Chuck did!

Chuck Vs. The Best Friend

Chuck on DVD

In the final season of Chuck they tackled the real life situation of a best friend radically changing in a very unique way. Chuck and Morgan were written as the ultimate bromance. They had been best friends from childhood and inseparable, but at the end of Season 4 Morgan is implanted with the intersect (which seemed like an awesome plot twist), but in episode 3 of Season 5 – it goes horribly wrong. The implant changes Morgan and challenge’s Chuck’s friendship.

It was kind of hard to watch those struggles because it reminded me so vividly of my best friend in high school. When things changed between us there wasn’t a TV style fix like there was for Chuck and Morgan. It profoundly impacted me and it took me a long time to forgive. Even today it’s painful to think of because it left me feeling entirely alone.

Thankfully, Chuck and Morgan are able to repair the damage to their own relationship (which, as a viewer, made me very happy). There’s something about prolonged tension between lead characters that just makes me turn off a TV show. I want friends to stay friends – not fight internally.

Chuck is one of my all time favorite TV shows and I’m glad it was able to have a complete story arch, strained relationship and all.

Have you picked up Season 5 of Chuck on DVD or BluRay? Check it out here: http://bit.ly/HCQtVe

 

I have been hired by Warner Bros WBWord division to raise awareness for ‘Chuck’.

Quadruple Z Episode #016 – Review of Chuck S2x12 – Chuck vs. the Third Dimension

Join Tabz, Kim and Faith as they discuss this very special 3D episode of Chuck.

TV.com recap:

Chuck has to protect rock star Tyler Martin, while Morgan wins two backstage passes to Martin’s concert, so he needs to decide who will become his “plus one”.

This is a special 3D episode.

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Quadruple Z Episode #014 – Review of Chuck 2×11 – Chuck Versus Santa Claus

TV.com Recap:

It’s Christmas Eve and the Buy More team works on the decorations for the annual sale while watching a live car chase on TV. When Devon and Ellie come for a visit, the car chase ends at the store with the perpetrator taking everyone at the store hostage.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode! Leave them below or email us at betweenthelinesstudios-at-gmail.com. We’ll read them on an upcoming episode!

(Photos: Screencaps.org)

Quadruple Z Episode #011 – Review of Chuck 2×9 – “Chuck Versus the Sensei”


TV.com Recap:
The team is assigned to survey the Global Launch Agency, when intel shows that someone might penetrate their security. During the surveillance someone intrudes the lab who turns out to be Casey’s former sensei Ty Bennett.
Meanwhile, Captain Awesome’s perfect parents decide to pay Devon and Ellie a surprise visit to help them plan the wedding, and Emmett Milbarge introduces an “Employee of the Month” contest to the Buy More, but the employees start their own contest instead.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode! Leave them below or email us at betweenthelinesstudios-at-gmail.com. We’ll read them on an upcoming episode!

(Photos: Screencaps.org)

Zachary Levi Earns Pole Position in Qualifying for the 2010 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race


(Photo: Albert L. Ortega)

Zachary Levi posted the fastest time of all celebrities to earn the pole position in the 34th-annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race. Levi, the star of the NBC sitcom “Chuck,” narrowly beat actors Adrien Brody and Brian Austin Green in the qualifying race. Levi will lead the pack tomorrow in what has become the world’s longest-running, most successful celebrity racing event. CART Champion Jimmy Vasser finished first among all drivers and won in the Pro category, followed closely by Formula Drift Champion Tanner Foust.

“Zachary put on quite a display this afternoon,” said Les Unger, national motorsports manager with Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. “The hard work and determination he displayed throughout our training sessions paid off. The commitment and enthusiasm of all the drivers competing in this event demonstrates exactly what the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race is all about.”

“I did it!” said an exuberant Levi at a news conference after the qualifying session. “This is a great race, with a terrific group of people, that benefits an amazing cause. I can’t describe how pumped I am for tomorrow’s race.”

As pole-position winner in the qualifying session, Levi designated his $15,000 donation in conjunction with the 13th-annual People Pole Award to the charity Operation Smile, which works to transform the lives of children who suffer from cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial deformities.

Furthermore, Toyota will donate $5,000 to Racing for Kids in the name of each celebrity racer and an additional $5,000 to the winning racer’s charity of choice. Racing for Kids is a national nonprofit program benefiting children hospitals in Long Beach and Orange County, Calif. Toyota has donated $1.8 million on behalf of the race and its participants to various children hospitals since 1991.

Saturday’s race starts at 11:50 a.m. PDT.

Quadruple Z Episode #002: Review of Chuck 1×1 – “Pilot”

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Buy Chuck: The Complete First Season on Amazon.com

quadz_logochuckJoin Tabz, Kim and Faith (the Vampire Slayer) as they discuss Chuck Season 1, Ep 1 – “Pilot”.

TV.com Recap:
Chuck Bartowski is an average computer geek until files upon files of government secrets are downloaded into his brain. He is soon scouted by the CIA and NSA to act in place of their computer.

This episode was edited by Tabitha Grace Smith

Love Chuck?
Check out these great resources:
ChuckTV.net
Chuck vs. the Podcast

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode! Leave them below or email us at betweenthelinesstudios-at-gmail.com. We’ll read them on an upcoming episode!

(Photo: ChuckTV.net/NBC/Warner Bros. Television)