Chuck: 2.01 ‘Chuck Versus the First Date’ Recap

Original Air Date: September 29, 2008

The second-season premiere of Chuck is very bittersweet because although it initially seems our favorite nerd is finally going to get the chance to live a spy-free life, that isn’t meant to be. As a result, all of the plans that Chuck slowly musters the courage to develop — such as leaving Buy More and perhaps returning to college — are dashed.

And, the disappointment is all that big goon Colt’s (Michael Clarke Duncan) fault, for the most part. When Chuck, Sarah, and Casey manage to retrieve the stolen artificial brain of the new Intersect, code named Cipher, from the thief, the trio assume the new electronic intelligence means no more espionage work for Chuck in the near future.

Casey is the first to learn the situation isn’t that simple when he gets a message from General Beckman at home with the order to terminate poor Chuck at once. Since he’s no longer needed to provide critical information, Chuck’s existence poses a grave security risk. To Casey’s surprise, doing what he’s wanted to do from the very beginning, meaning kill Chuck, isn’t as easy as he would have expected not so long ago. Chuck has obviously rubbed off on him.

Meanwhile, completely unaware of the danger his life is in, Chuck gradually builds up the confidence to consider an existence outside the confines of Buy More and eternal geekdom. He even works up the courage to ask out Sarah, who’s now working undercover at the frozen yogurt shop Hello Orange Orange (it’s in the same location as Wienerlicious).

Convinced he’ll soon be free again, Chuck passes on the Assistant Store Manager position at Buy More to pursue something better. But Big Mike puts him in charge of selecting one of the other employees, and Chuck ends up choosing what seems like the least ill-prepared applicant (which isn’t saying much): Lester.

Sarah and Chuck’s date, which goes surprisingly well until disaster strikes, is the first indication to them that Chuck’s Intersect days aren’t over yet. During the meal, he flashes on every patron in the Chinese restaurant and realizes they’re all undercover operatives assigned to take him and Sarah out.

Casey comes to the rescue after Colt’s partner tricks him into handing over the Cipher at his apartment by pretending to be a colleague. The mark that Colt’s ring leaves on Casey’s face at the restaurant following a punch later makes Chuck flash again, and he identifies the organization that Colt belongs to based on the ring’s emblem.

Later, there’s another extended capture scene with Colt, who lures Chuck by baiting him with a fake computer service call. Mustering all of his limited bravery, Chuck shows what he’s learned over recent months when he morphs into Agent Charles Carmichael and starts improvising pretty darn good. At least his act is good enough to get the Cipher back from Colt before Casey and Sarah show up to take care of the butt-kicking part.

Too bad Chuck doesn’t catch a deserved break after the victory. Casey does, though — much to his relief — because when CIA Director Graham and his men prepare to launch the new Intersect with the Cipher, it explodes after coming online. As Sarah explains to a really, really disappointed Chuck, the Cipher was a Trojan horse deliberately planted to sabotage the Intersect project, so back to Buy More for both of them and Casey.

This episode couldn’t have been anything less than assuring for fans of Chuck, especially those worrying the show might suffer from a dreaded sophomore slump. So far, all signs seem to indicate that’s nowhere near happening, and showrunners have obviously been listening to followers clamoring for a Chuck-Sarah hookup. Let’s just hope if it happens, the romance doesn’t mess up the rapport between the other characters.