Recap

Jeff and Lester are filming the cleavage of the Pita Palace delivery girl. Chuck walks by and starts to reprimand them, but he is interrupted by Awesome who comes to ask him for some advice. Chuck flashes when he notices a hidden bug near by. He takes it and tells Awesome that they will chat later. Chuck walks towards the storage room and sees Jeff and Lester fiddling with the vent. He finds Casey and tells him about the bug. Morgan asks Chuck to loan him the new Call of Duty video game. Chuck says no and asks Morgan about Awesome's whereabouts. Awesome asks Chuck for his blessing in marrying Ellie. He then gives Chuck the wedding ring for safe keeping. Casey visits Sarah at the Weinerlicious and shows her the bug. They contact the General and the Director who inform them that the model of the bug is apparently being used by Fulcrum. Chuck puts Awesome's ring in his locker at Buy More. Big Mike walks in to the Buy More the next day and sees that all the products are gone, including his stuffed Marlin. Lester and Jeff are worried about the police presence in the Buy More. Big Mike walks by with police officer Conway (Mark Derwin) and threatens them. Chuck walks in and Morgan fills him in on what happened. Chuck runs to his locker, but the ring is gone. He gets a call from Awesome who has decided how to pop the question to Ellie. Chuck tries to stall him. Big Mike and Officer Conway have all the Buy More employees in a line. Mike asks Chuck to find Casey who is missing. Chuck calls Casey who tells him to leave and find Sarah and himself. Chuck finds Sarah and Casey at a hanger with all the Buy More products. They however, have not seen the wedding ring. They inform him that they did not plant the bugs and that it was probably Fulcrum. They look at some video footage from the Buy More which shows Jeff and Lester turning on the store cameras after they had been turned off by an infiltrator. The pair thought they were turning them off. They are shown stealing Big Mike's Marlin which contains the transceiver that is used with 29 bugs planted at the store. Sarah and Casey tell Chuck that if Fulcrum finds out he is the Intersect, the CIA/NSA will move him to a secure underground location forever. Chuck and Casey return to the Buy More to find Jeff and Lester thumb wrestling. They take the two to the back and interrogate them. It turns out that they attempted to turn off the Buy More cameras to steal liquor from Big Mike's office. They confess to hiding the Marlin at Chuck's apartment. Sarah is at hanger, talking on the phone with the General. The General tells her that they have decided to move Chuck ahead of schedule. Casey and Chuck are searching for the Marlin. Ellie walks in and tells them that Morgan took the Marlin from the apartment the night before. Conway and Big Mike question Morgan who denies knowing anything about the Marlin. Conway and Big Mike interrogate Chuck next. They leave him in the office with Big Mike turning up the heat (literally) to make him sweat. Morgan tells Casey that he broke into Chuck's locker and took the Call of Duty game. He went to Chuck's room to play it, but found the wedding ring. He mistakenly assumed that Chuck was going to propose to Sarah. The Pita Palace girl arrives with another delivery. Chuck overhears her from the office saying "29 deliveries". He remembers the 29 bugs and makes the connection. Unable to leave Big Mike's office, he climbs through the ceiling and finds the hallway vent where Jeff and Lester's video is hidden. He takes it and watches the video, noticing that the girl leaves a bug after she delivers the food. He emails the video to Sarah, right before Conway and Big Mike walk in. Casey is up next for questioning after Chuck. Outside, Morgan tells Lester and Jeff that he hid the Marlin at the Weinerlicious. The Pita Palace girl, named Lizzy, overhears this and walks away. Lizzy goes to the Weinerlicious and fights with Sarah who won't letter have access to the freezer. Lizzy points a gun at Sarah. At the Buy More, Morgan finally realizes that the ring is for Ellie and not Sarah. Chuck asks him where the ring is. Morgan says he placed it in the Marlin at the Weinerlicious. Awesome calls Chuck and tells him that he needs the ring for tonight. Lizzy locks Sarah in the freezer and talks the Marline. Chuck shows up and sees the Marlin broken in half. The ring and transceiver are both missing. He tries to free Sarah by shooting the freezer lock with a gun, but Conway appears and takes him away. Casey frees Sarah from the freezer. In Conway's car, Chuck flashes and realizes that Conway is not a cop. Sarah and Casey contact the Director and General. They are ordered to take out Lizzy. They are also informed that Conway is a CIA agent and that Chuck is no longer their concern. Casey tells Sarah to go find Chuck while he looks for Lizzy. On the roof of a building, Conway is waiting for a helicopter to take Chuck to "safety". Sarah finds them and she exchanges a teary moment with Chuck. The two confess feelings for each other. As they're about to leave Lizzy shows up and shoots Conway. She is wearing the wedding ring and starts to shot at Chuck and Sarah as they flee. Sarah and Lizzy finally square of on the roof. The two fall off into a dumpster, with Sarah getting the upper hand. Big Mike walks into the Buy More the next day and finds his Marlin back in place. He also sees that all the stolen merchandise has been returned. Awesome and Ellie have been up all night. Without the ring, Awesome proposes, but Ellie has fallen asleep. At the dumpster, Chuck and Sarah are looking for the ring. They finally find it and race home. Chuck gives Awesome the ring and waits outside with Sarah. Awesome pops the question and Ellie says yes. Chuck goes inside and congratulates them. Casey shows up and reminds Sarah that eventually Chuck will have to be moved.

The Good

The best "Chuck" episode so far. The writing was great, the jokes were awesome (pun intended) and the action was just right. If all the episodes could be like this one, all us "Chuck" fans would be in heaven.

The Bad

I am happy to report that we can finally leave this section empty.

The Ugly

There was plenty of shameless promotion for the new Call of Duty video game. We all know that advertising pays the bills, but this was just too blunt and obvious.

Quote

You bought the fish on Ebay? What did you use as bait, PayPal?

-Morgan to Big Mike

Recap

Chuck Versus the Undercover Lover is perhaps the first episode to revolve around a secondary character. In 2004, John Casey was under cover in Grozny, Chechnya as an energy consultant. He fell in love with Ilsa Trinchina; a photo journalist who is a member of the French secret service. She apparently dies in a coffee shop bombing. In the present day, Chuck flashes while fixing a computer. He sees a guest list with several Russian criminals of various types. He also flashes on Ilsa's name and confronts Casey about it. Casey, thinking that Ilsa is dead, chokes Chuck and nearly suffocates him. Sarah and Chuck go undercover at the Grandsaville hotel, where the Russians are having a party. Casey shows up and spots Ilsa. She explains to him that she survived the explosion. A man by the name of Victor Federov announces that he has brought everyone from Russia to America so they can attend his wedding. He is marrying the love of his life, Ilsa. Chuck and Casey discuss Casey's past at length afterwards. The two appear to be bonding and developing a friendship. Chuck convinces Casey to fight for Ilsa. Chuck and Casey go to the Grandsaville hotel to look for Ilsa. Chuck sneaks into Ilsa's room, only to have Casey and Ilsa walk in after him. They discover Chuck hiding under the bed. All three realize that they are on the same side. Victor Federov walks in, but passes out drunk. Ilsa meets Casey at the Buy More and says it won't work out between them. She gives Casey back the necklace he gave her years before. Later that night, Casey is getting drunk with Chuck, when Chuck flashes on an audio transmitter that falls out of the necklace. They think that Victor is spying on Ilsa and run to warn her. Chuck and Casey get caught and tied up by Victor's goons. There is a fantastic scene where the two struggle with the goons and then are pushed out of the window. They luckily fall into a pool right beside where the wedding is taking place. Sarah and Ilsa quickly stop Federov. The next morning, Ilsa says goodbye to Casey, as Chuck tries unsuccessfully to spy on the two. Ilsa leaves and Chuck tells Casey that the two will have a great friendship. They walk towards Casey's apartment when Casey pushes Chuck to the ground and shuts the doors behind him. This is all done very comically.

The secondary plot is the relationship difficulties of Awesome and Ellie. The two want to buy themselves an anniversary gift. Ellie wants a big screen TV, where as Awesome wants a washer and dryer. Morgan acts as the couple's therapist. Awesome finally buys the big screen TV. Morgan sleeps with Ellie, but nothing happens between the two. She was totally drunk the night before. It seems like everyone was drunk in this episode.

The Good

Adam Baldwin did a fantastic job in this episode. I hope we get to see more of him in the future, rather than just hanging in the background like he has up until now.

The Bad

No enough comedy. I get the impression that Josh Schwartz wants viewers to take "Chuck" seriously, but part of the show's appeal is its light hearted nature. I don't think you can have it both ways and the writers are going to have to decide eventually which path they want to take and stick to it.

The Ugly

There is a strip poker game scene at the Buy More. Morgan, the Nerd Herd and Awesome are the ones playing. I know it was supposed to be funny, but it was also creepy. None of the characters in the game are guy, so this makes the scene even more baffling.

I am having trouble respecting the "Chuck" villains because they are repeatedly being defeated in record time. It gives viewers the impression that the bad guys are incompetent. Victor Federov was billed as the worst of the worst, yet his plot was foiled with juvenile ease.

Final Verdict

The sole bright spot in Chuck Versus the Undercover Lover was John Casey. If it wasn't for him, this episode would have received a failing grade.

CHUCK on the Grind of Fame
Now that this (Fame) is happening I realize how topsy turvy your life and world becomes and your time is not your time anymore"¦and it's calmed down a little, but as the season went on, I would say the first month or two of our shooting CHUCK, we would consistently do like 16 hour days "" and that's with a 12-hour turn around as actors on set, right?

So let's say I get a 6am (call time for Monday), that means I can't stay out Sunday night doing anything cause I have to get to bed early because of the 6am call. Then it's 16 hours from that, which ultimately means by the end of the week we'd be finished at 7am on Saturday morning, which means you sleep away your Saturday"¦maybe your able to hang out a little on Saturday night..but your body clock is all messed up because you want to stay up all night but then you got to get to bed because you know you gotta get up really early to make a 6am call time.

Click HERE for the rest of the interview.

Airs at 8:00pm

Casey gets reacquainted with a lover from the past. Her name is Ilsa and she is an undercover Russian spy posing as a photo journalist. She is accompanied by her fiance, Victor Federov. Problems with Awesome and Ellie's relationship start to appear.

Episode 13: Chuck Versus the Marlin

Airs at 10:00pm

The spy world is after Chuck in full force. A gorgeous agent starts working at the Pita Palace near the Buy More. She quickly blows Chuck's cover. Another man is posing as a detective investigating a theft at Buy More. He proceeds to kidnap Chuck and keep him from his former life. Awesome plans to ask Ellie to marry him and Chuck is entrusted to keep the ring safe.

While these previews come from credible sources, some have a vastly different synopsis from each other. We should have more info as the air date approaches.

There are two questions that are begging to be asked however. Why two episodes on the same day and how long will this "Chuck" resurrection last? If this is in fact a one shot deal, it's odd that NBC would squander two episodes back-to-back instead of spreading the pair over a two week period. Stay tuned for more details.

While it does bruise my Nerd pride that "Chuck" lost, I am even more perturbed that a show with Christina Applegate won. Not that there anything wrong with her, but I kept waiting for Ed O'Neill to show up with women's shoes and a frying pan. It's never a good idea to be a sore loser however, so here goes. Congratulations Kelly Bundy!!!

Here is the link. Just click and vote. Help "Chuck" take this one home!

People's Choice Awards

When it comes to Hollywood gamers, sure, Vin Diesel has his own game company, Tigon Studios, but I've never met two more die hard gamers than the stars of NBC's hit action comedy, "Chuck," which also happens to be a show that features a lot of games. It's not a coincidence that Zachary Levi's Chuck and Joshua Gomez's Morgan are gamers in the show. They're the reason Gears of War was featured in the first two episodes and that other games have become a staple of the show.

"We're both HUGE Gears of War fans," said Gomez. "Halo was Halo...it will always be that, but as soon as I played the first Halo is how I feel about Gears. I anticipate the sequel to Gears like I anticipated the sequel to Halo. It's going to be tough to follow up on that. I understand why Halo kind of dipped. I don't know if Halo 2 could have ever lived up to the expectations, because they were so high, and I kind of feel like there's going to be a similar thing with Gears. I've taken a lot of heat from a lot of people because Gears was so hyped and so huge of a game, but to me I thought it lived up to it. And multiplayer-wise, that game is so much more up my alley. I actually prefer the smaller four-on-four combat because then I knew who I was playing with and you could communicate and I thought there was a lot more strategy and things like that to it."

Click HERE for the rest of the interview.

Production on the set of Chuck may have stalled, thanks to the ongoing writers' strike, but that hasn't kept its star Zachary Levi from setting some lofty goals during its hiatus: Namely, working his way into a rock & roll hall of fame "” through the videogame Rock Band, of course. Yep, seems TV's newest Everyman actually is more like his geeky character than you might think (minus that whole computer-for-a-brain thing, of course). Taking some time away from his Xbox to talk to EW.com, Levi tells us about life in the spotlight, the next project from his production company Coattails Entertainment, and how it felt to get a standing-O at Comic-Con.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So how has this year been for you, being thrust into the spotlight and all?
ZACHARY LEVI: You know, Less Than Perfect, even after four years, never really opened any doors in my career or built that big of a fan base, at least not one that I know of "” they might be in the Midwest or [exist] internationally. But with Chuck, it's definitely been this kind of overnight change in my life, where everyone recognizes you. I [also] don't have a life. That's probably the biggest thing: I don't have any time to do anything. With Less Than Perfect, with a sitcom, you can still hold down a regular life, but with Chuck, [I'm] working all day every day trying to figure out how to get everything else done. .

Click HERE for the entire interview!