Bands of Charah: Playlist for Chuck & Sarah

Versus The Snow Patrol

Blogger's Note: It comes as no surprise to you guys that I obsess over many aspects CHUCK constantly, one area in particular is the music which I think is brilliant; I have yet to meet or speak to a fan of the show that doesn't agree. I am at the point now where I hear a song and think..."you know what? This song would be great on CHUCK!"

However, the Bands of Charah blogs are a little different, they will focus on two songs from one band (or singer)...each of the songs describe the Chuck and Sarah relationship but one will be Chuck's point of view and the other from Sarah's!

Just like at their wedding; each had different vows to put into words the depth of love, honour and respect for the other. The choice of songs will reflect that, the songs may reflect how they've felt about each other now, previously or always...anyways if I do my job and write it properly; you will understand what I mean!
Ok so the first band to get the Bands of Charah treatment is Northern Ireland's own Snow Patrol, I could have chosen any number of Songs from the album "Eyes Open" in particular Chasing Cars and Open your eyes are both great songs but neither were chosen only 2 tracks could make the cut...I am so sure of the two songs I have chosen that I believe you could read the lyrics of both songs and instantly see Chuck and Sarah written all over them!


Chuck's Choice: Signal Fire
Album: Spiderman 3 Official Motion Picture Soundtrack

The Perfect words never crossed Chuck's mind...'cause there was nothing but Sarah!!

Right from the moment Chuck downloaded the intersect he found himself wrapped up in a world of lies, spies, death and mayhem...a world Chuck was not equipped to deal with! But through it all Sarah (and Casey) has been there to help him to deal with it and not freak out!



The only resolution and the only joy...Is the faint spark of forgiveness in your eyes


Early on Sarah realised just how different Chuck was from any other asset and more so than Casey she took it upon herself to make sure she guided him to safety on each mission. Sarah's investment in both the physical and mental well-being of the Human Intersect in the early days of Operation Bartowski saved Chuck more time I think then any other regular handler. It was of course not the Human Intersect who was Sarah's main concern it was Chuck the man..."her Chuck" but Beckman and Casey didn't have to know that!!

The world of lies, spies and national security can change people no matter how honest or heroic they may be...Chuck is no different; but luckily he's always had Agent Sarah Walker!




Hold me close, 'cause I need to guide me to safety


She is Chuck's "Signal Fire" and despite her willingness to do whatever it takes to takes to save the day she knows Chuck is not wired that way and she has ALWAYS been there to be his moral compass...like in Versus the Tic-Tac where Chuck could have easily killed the ring agents going after Casey's ex-wife.

In many way's Sarah's belief has made Chuck a better man... a great man even! Chuck will be the first to admit he couldn't do it without (his Signal Fire) Sarah holding him close and guiding him to safety.




Sarah's Choice: You're All I Have
Album: Eyes Open

This song just has primal urgency and passion that I associate with Sarah's love for Chuck...it is like Chuck's love has created a chance for Sarah to live the life she always wanted but never knew she could a have. After Chuck is her home...and always has been!

This song is about Sarah never wanting to lose this and the intense feeling of desperation that the thought of losing Chuck creates my favourite examples are Versus the Marlin and Phase 3. When this does actually occur; Sarah gets all fight and no flight...I mean bad ass does not even come close to describing it!! She tore up an entire freaking country for him and I can guarantee you no pita girl is safe... Sarah has no fear because Chuck is all she has and quite frankly she is not sure a life without him is a life she wants to live!




Just give me something to hold onto...


From what we can tell Sarah never had a great family life and whilst Chuck's family wasn't exactly perfect either he had Morgan, Ellie and Devon to lean on when time got tough...Sarah never had this luxury, she had the CIA. But now Chuck's family is her family and she has no plans of letting go...ever!

She knows how much of a gift and blessing both Chuck and his family (...HER family now too) are. Family is what you make of it and you will have to go a very long way to find one as loyal and committed to each other as the extended Bartowski (Woodcomb, Casey & Grimes) family; this for me was my favourite part of Versus The Business Trip.

These songs tell the story of why the Chuck and Sarah relationship is so great...epic even!!

 Sarah helped unlock Chuck's potential (and in many ways his true calling) as a hero and a leader; it was Sarah who always there to guide him along the way and we've lost count of the number of time she has saved him (physically & emotionally)!!

Chuck has shown Sarah that she not only can have a real life with the man she loves... but that she DESERVES a real life with unconditional love and a family to boot! Chuck showed her the power of love and trust, why it is so special and how it can spur you on to greater heights.




Under your skin feels like home...


Together they have saved each other countless times and best of all the make each other a better people!  Without a doubt Charah is so much more than the sum of their parts; what they have is so brilliant I have created a word description in their honour... Reciprocally Awesome!!


ALERT: Moggy's Public Awareness Soapbox

PS: I also wanted to give a shout-out to all other Movember participants; congratulations on a job well done! With the month coming to the end tomorrow...I am definitely looking forward to shaving off my terrible excuse for a moustache!! But it was definitely worth it to raise awareness (and money) for such a worthy cause, men's health issues are not often discussed; issues like Prostate Cancer and Male Depression need to be talked about more often!

It is still deeply ingrained in the male culture (especially in Australia) that to suffer in silence is a sign of strength and to speak about you problems is to show weakness...but to me wanting to stick around with those you love no matter how difficult it may be takes courage!!

So guys out there get checked out and stay healthy or if you are feeling down...talk to somebody!!

You owe it to yourself and you it to those who love you!!

Five chunks of CHUCK

Versus The Business Trip

Bloggers note: At the very top of this post I want to give a shout-out and dedication to one of this Blog's best supporters Lianne (aka @breddgal); I really appreciate the kind words and this is the best way I could think to say thanks...much of the material I expand on in these posts begin from tweets and discussion with brilliant Chucksters like you!! I also can't let the opportunity pass without saying congratulations on your re-tweet from Nerd 01...Mr Zach Levi! Any of you fellow CHUCK fans reading this who don't follow her...you should! Because quite frankly... she is FRAKKIN' Aces!!  

A re-tweet from Zach...you better frakking believe it!!

1. Smoke and mirrors with the bait and switch


The group of Chucksters which I like to call the "one word review crew" are some of the coolest CHUCK fans in the twitterverse who like to come together at the end of each new CHUCK episode and use just one word to sum up our personal thoughts on the episode. It really is a great way to look back on each show and on the words of others I find myself re-watching these episodes to see what others see and it really is such a great experience.


If ever there was a Zen Master of Chuck it would be @dren-lla and his one word contribution for this ep was "shell-game" which is a great summary of how the episode played out. Business Trip was a really good episode but it seemed to get carried away with the bait & switch tactics, even to the point that some of the plot moves were telegraphed well in advance.  I like that this episode of CHUCK attempted to do something a little different...it may have fallen a little flat in this area by trying a little too much to engineer plot twists and suspense but this just one small facet of a good episode that got it right in many other areas!



2. Who needs normal?


One of the central themes of CHUCK versus The Business Trip is the yearning of Sarah and Chuck to be normal people and a normal couple but seriously can Chuck and Sarah every really be normal?

Chuck is a guy who had the intersect downloaded in his brain when nobody else could, he was willing to risk his life day in day out despite any spy train; not because he is crazy (but you could argue he is just a little bit) or fearless but because of sense of honour and obligation. Once he found out what failure to stop Fulcrum or The Ring meant he laid it all on the line...that ain't normal!

Sarah Walker (Bartowski) was raised partly by a con-artist Dad and spent much of the last half of her life as a CIA agent training, fighting, throwing knives, quelling rebellions, stopping terrorists and dancing with Mikael Gorbachev...that is just the fun stuff! In truth her character had to battle a lot of hardships and she is only just adjusting to a stable life with Chuck and his (and now her) family. Keeping an asset that important to the enemy alive for as long as her and Casey did is not normal; it really is pretty freaking fantastic!

Then I think back to the wisdom of Dren_lla's shell-game analysis, the show is presenting us (and Chuck & Sarah) with the question of what normal life is for them. They are doing it in a Socratic method of sorts; by asking all the questions and allowing themselves to come to the right conclusion in their own time. In time they will realise that the normal is really abnormal for them! Plus who in their right mind wants to be normal when they could be awesome...like Chuck and Sarah!



These two a normal couple?...I doubt it!


   3. JEFFSTER...no more?


Wow...who would have thought after so long together something as minor as attempted poisoning could separate this duo!! I like the idea of the new calm, insight and frankly less-stalkerish Jeff; especially its impact on Lester who feels he has lost his best buddy in the whole entire world.

I guess for Lester he feels a little like Chuck did in the last couple of eps, he is slowly losing (or has already lost) his best friend. But a word of advice Lester...perhaps you should have taken a page out of the Chuck playbook and pantsed Jeff rather the attempting to poison Jeff (and others) with carbon monoxide!! That actually may have prevented the cops being called...

OK everybody if this is to be the last we see of Jeffster as duo, what's your favourite memory...no doubt many will say "Mr. Roboto" at the Woodcomb Wedding (Take 1) but for it will always be Jeffster kicking it old skool and unplugged with "Leaving on a Jetplane..."

Man... Peter, Paul & Jeffster sure has a certain ring to it!!

Jeffrey, get the turtle-necks...tonight we go unplugged!

4.Schwartz, shorts and long long legs!

Holy Smokes... Yvonne Strahovski turned the awesome dial up to 11 and blasted out the awesome amp and speakers!  Back by extremely popular demand came Nerd Herd Sarah...ready for any computer (or swimming pool) emergency.

This episode also has me reflecting on how awesome shorts are especially when worn so remarkably by one Yvonne Strahovski in the hotel and pool scene! Then I remembered...hang on I have seen similar short shorts stylings recently; it was Rachel Bilson on Hart of Dixie.

What do these show have in common besides impeccable leading lady fashion (to this fashion Luddite at least)? The answer is of course...Mr. Josh Schwartz!!

I am loving your work Schwartz...carry on!!

As long as Sarah Walker's legs looked in shorts, they looked much longer contorted in her Lotus Sportscar...yowza!! Maybe that is what Buzz Lightyear means "To infinity and beyond"...actually that would explain a lot!



Honey, you obviously didn't buy the Lotus for the  leg room



5. Semper Fidelis & family values

This was actually my favourite part of the episode...for me it went right to the core of what the whole show of CHUCK is about...family, loyalty and the devotion to those you love and the ideals you hold close to your heart. In fact, my one word review for the episode was "Devotion"...

• You had Chuck and Sarah who are devoted to not just making a life for each other but both are willing to risk it all for the safety of the other as Chuck and Sarah did in this ep (and every other ep!)
• Chuck was willing to become the "Human Target" and assume Morgan's identity so his bet buddy was no longer at risk of being whacked!!
• Devon is willing to forgo his happiness as a stay at home dad with Clara so that Ellie can spend quality time with her daughter and re-connect as mother and child.
• Perhaps the bravest and most faithful to his values as always was Casey; both he and Sarah knew for the team and most importantly the family to be safe the viper needed to be taken care of by any means necessary! Casey knows that the taking of a life is not something to be taken lightly especially now he is a civilian but he did it for the safety of his daughter, his partners and his best friends...

Why do they do all this? Because they are family, a family that is always faithful to each other no matter what!! Semper Fi for better or worse that is one of the things that I love the most about the show, it is a show about family that the whole family can watch...not many like that anymore! It is a topic I could go on about forever and it might be a theme I devote a whole post to in the near future...

My final thought on the Chuck ep is this...showing the CHUCK family at it's best right before Thanksgiving, the family holiday that means so much to those who celebrate the holiday in the US was a true masterstroke.

Family is one of life's great joys and we can never have enough reminders of how important family is to us all no matter how unconventional they may be. At the end of the day it is just great to know that there are people on your side willing to fight for you and we can all be thankful for that!

Till next time...stay awesome!!




Semper Fi...We got your back


Ps: You know where to find me on Twitter (@moggyvouk_82)...I would be happy to hear (and re-tweet) any of your CHUCK one word reviews!

Five Chunks of CHUCK

Versus The Bearded Bandit/The Frosted Tips

Bloggers Note: Seeing as I was on holiday last week, I am doing a supersized post of FCoC this week, encompassing both Bandit & Tips which are parts 2 & 3 of the first CHUCK story arc of the season.

1. Chuck and Morgan: a bro-mance put to the test?

Who would have thought that in the space of two episodes, TV's nerdiest bro-mance could go through the wringer like this; and who knew it would involve Morgan getting pantsed?!

I feel a bit silly as I seemed to be one of the few who didn't go into these episodes thinking that the Intersect glasses Morgan put on were corrupted with a virus! I was one of those who was conflicted with the "bearded bandit" getting the intersect, I actually would have preferred no intersect at all. But if you think about it Morgan's incessant curiosity allowed Chuck to dodge a bullet.

Morgan did get an intersect and gained new abilities...to augment his already established great spirit and big heart. But Morgan has always wanted to show everybody his worth as a spy and let's face it... he really is a little eager in general. The question I have is this...how much of Morgan's behaviour in Bandit & Tips is down to his character traits and how much is due to the virus in the intersect?

We have seen in series 5 so far how Morgan acquiring intersect skills has left Chuck struggling with his inadequacies of being de-intersected and as a rookie handler to Morgan; and without a doubt some of it is jealousy. However Chuck's sense of duty and responsibility comes into play here, he feels the intersect should be his cross to bear, as it may be too much for Morgan to take.

Some of us CHUCK fans can be a little harsh on Morgan, many still struggling to come to terms with what occurred in Chuck versus the Colonel. However, many of the the Bearded man's actions prior to and after this event have proven just how much Chuck means to him. Which is why the intersected Morgan's actions in these two episodes have been so upsetting...especially to Chuck.

By the end of Tips the friendship is very much still on...but I wonder now that Sarah has had a creative hand in the new look of her and Chuck's apartment;

• are there any game consoles left...
• and if not will she allow Morgan to set one of his up?
• As much as he loves Chuck and Sarah; will Morgan be able survive without gaming?

2. The Verbanski effect

This comes as a surprise to many other Chucksters out there, but I wasn't too sure a character like Gertrude Verbanski would be a good fit for CHUCK, I honestly thought the casting of Carrie-Anne Moss was a bit gimmicky for my tastes as well...Oh boy was I wrong, I have actually really liked it!

The Verbanski angle brings many new dynamics to CHUCK, a great potential love interest for John Casey, business competitor for Chuck (and Sarah) but in my opinion the most interesting is as female rival to Sarah for the "Kick-ass lady spy" title belt!

There have been other lady spies on the show before like Carina, Zondra etc. but Gertrude is the first to NOT actually be a friend (or Frienemy) of Sarah; she is a full-on rival who is actively seeking to put Carmichael Industries out of commission or beatdown (or worse) Sarah to win a bounty or contract.  We all know it is no contest, Sarah is the most kick-ass spy out there but it is great for her just to have a worthy challenger step into the ring!

A lot of interesting potential with the character, I hope we see a bit more of her!

How about the Sarah-Verbanski smackdown towards the end of Tips...pretty awesome right!! All I can say is flying back from holiday a few days ago, none of the flight-staff with the airline I flew with looked as awesome as those two! Not to mention we didn't even get to see a well-choreographed fight scene either...ah well you win some, you lose some!

3. Devon + Buy More = More Awesome

I have never been a big fan of the secondary CHUCK plots that involve the Buy More; Don't get me wrong Big Mike, Jeff and Lester (and Skip and Fernando) are pretty awesome, but the introduction of Devon (aka Captain Awesome) to the Buy More crew has been an inspired move by the writers.

I mean it is funny how things fall in to place; I think the idea to bring Devon and the Buy-Morons together was necessitated (or at least fast-tracked) by Sarah Lancaster's (Ellie) limited availability thanks to real-life pregnancy and recent addition to her family. But the way Devon played off Jeffster and Big Mike in these two episodes was fantastic. I especially loved the Buy More ad flashback (I am old enough to remember BetaMax...barely), it seems as if this move has really paid off.

For Devon being awesome is a way of life, it is nice to see him struggle a little every now and again. It is even cooler that the Buy More in some strange way is helping him along on his journey into the unknown!


4. Half Moon: A great Charah Song

Everyone has at least one of these (and in my case it may just be closer to one hundred); a song that will always be associated with Chuck and Sarah. Each time you listen you will be reminded of a certain time and place on the show. For me "Half Moon" by Blind Pilot is one of those songs, I knew this from the first time I heard it!

The song itself is brilliant in its own right but combined with the moment where Sarah diffuses Chuck's crisis of confidence in his abilities both in the field and as a handler sends the song in the Pantheon of Charah songs in my humble opinion.

Sarah verbal affirmation of Chuck's growth is a really import moment for Chuck and I feel it allows the Chuckster to walk taller in a situation (sans intersect) that he is struggling to deal with, I just think the song really works.

Most of all it is showing further personal development of Sarah the person (and wife) which brings me to...

5. Sarah: The heart of Carmichael Industries?

I have often said that Sarah's development away from the spylife has been one of my favourite parts of the show and I am glad that it continued in these two episodes!

She is still willing to put her partner's feelings ahead of hers and play wingman (or is that wing-person) for Casey's romantic endeavours despite her dislike for Gertrude Verbanski!

She was also willing to swallow her pride and hire Verbanski Corp. to assist in the retrieval of Chuck and Morgan in Bandit. I doubt the old Agent Sarah Walker would have done these things; but even if she did...boy would she have been pissed off!!!

But now Sarah is the glue that holds this team together...she was the only one not to totally give up on Morgan, she realised just how deeply hurt by Morgan's actions Casey and in particular Chuck were. She continued to battle on the bearded one's behalf partly because she has grown to love him as a friend but mostly because she knew that if Chuck or Casey did anything to harsh they may never be able to forgive themselves afterwards. She did it by getting to the bottom of the intersect mess, Morgan owes her big time!!

As you guys realise by now I am a huge sucker for the Charah moments (even the little ones) and these eps had a few nice ones from Bandit's morning run in the park where she affirmed her eternal belief in Chuck to consoling a shattered Chuck reeling from the betrayal of his best buddy in Tips!

Not bad for a girl previously convinced she will never be a normal girl...probably because nobody that awesome could ever be normal!

Don't think I forgot the Charah kiss on the roof at the end of the Zorn mission, it could have been even hotter than the flaming wreck of the exploded chopper... Holy smokes!! ;-)

Five Chunks of CHUCK...

Versus The Zoom

Bloggers Note: I realise there is a whole lot of reviews out there for CHUCK episodes, So I wanted to try something different with mine...I will post up just five random points or observations on the CHUCK eps we see and focus on those rather than the whole episode itself. I liked Chuck Versus The Zoom but like a few others I felt it could have been better, but honestly any CHUCK is better than no CHUCK at all...So I'm just glad to have the show back.

I also want to give a shout-out to each any everyone of my twitter follower Chucksters, I really love chatting about CHUCK to each and everyone of you guys and girls during the week; for those you reading the blog...Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy!

BE WARNED THE BLOG DOES CONTAIN SOME COARSE LANGUAGE & RACY SARAH BARTOWSKI... So read on, you know you want to!! ;-) 

1. No Money...More Problems?

I admit I would enjoyed seeing Carmichael Industries spend their money a bit more, you know fly the Gulf-Stream Jet to missions and see what cool & nerdy gadgets Chuck (and Morgan) would have equipped the team with. However when has anything ever come easy to Chuck (or Sarah for that matter)?

Having Decker freeze their accounts is probably a great idea for the show's storyline in the final season, but I would having loved to see the newlyweds spend some of the cash for a little while longer!

My gripe is we didn't even get a Honeymoon episode of the show; I mean we got versus the Ring I and II but no Honeymooners I and II!


2. Sarah always brings the heat for season opener

If  I was a Major League Baseball manager Sarah Walker would be my opening day pitcher every year, she brings the intensity and heat early and often, lets breakdown the numbers shall we...

Season 1 Opener- was the Vicki Vale moment
 Season 2 Opener- we had the date with Chuck (plus her getting ready for the date)
Season 3 Opener- ...the white swimsuit (Why Chuck...why? *Prague Face-palm*)
Season 4 Opener- All about the sexting photos and the bare foot texting!+
Season 5 Opener- "What is your secret Chuck?" (Do I really need to say anything more?)

I wonder if Chuck made this his phone wallpaper?

+ - How sure are we Quentin Tarantino didn't direct Chuck versus The Anniversary...at least the scene with Yvonne Strahovski's feet?


3. Chuck has intersect envy

No surprises here...Morgan's got the ability to "zoom" and Chuck can no longer "flash" so no wonder Chuck feels kinda helpless, after all these problems never happened to Superman or Buffy!

I mean it's the whole Zeppo thing...Jimmy Olsen never took out Parasite with heat-vision++, same as Xander never had slayer strength to take down demons. How does the hero take it when he's lost his powers (or what HE FEELS makes him special) only to find your friend now has that gift? Of course you feel happy for them but jealousy has to be the prevailing emotion.

Now much of Chuck's existence (in-particular his livelihood) relies on Morgan's ability with the intersect...which must be immensely scary for the Chuckster!!

I did enjoy that Ellie (at the start) and Sarah (at the end) were there with the right words for Chuck during his struggles to cope with losing the intersect. I would like for Chuck to discuss the matter further with Sarah (and Casey) in the next few eps; I mean how did Sarah adjust to being saved (on occasion) by the man it was her job to protect...may not have been easy for her either; she is after all a kick-ass independent super-spy ninja!

++ -  That is my story and I am sticking to it unless my DC historians (@dren_lla and @jemjoven) tell me different!!

4. CHUCK Music...Still awesome!

I never doubted it; The music on CHUCK has set a high standard and the Season CHUCK 5 premiere delivered as expected! My favourites were...

New Young Pony Club track "Ice Cream" is not usually the kind of song I would like...but Yvonne Strahovski as Sarah Walker was able to make me an instant fan of the song! (not sure why that was though)

Simian Ghost "Take My Hand And Lead Me Home" is a nice mellow track to go along the deep and meaningful house discussion between Chuck and Sarah, I can find my self listening to this quite a bit.

Typhoon "The Honest Truth" was my favourite track of the episode might have been because it was where Chuck made the plan and followed through his running & jumping out the building window reminded me of Rodimus Prime transforming and rolling out through Unicron's eye in (the REAL) Transformers the Movie!!+++ The song itself seems like a bit of a rabble-rouser and tub-thumper of a track++++  befitting the leader of Carmichael Industries.

+++ - How good is Stan Bush?...Chuck versus Tom Sawyer anyone!!!
++++ - Bonus points for using the lyrics piss and moan

Don't try to fight it Chuck...your secrets are as good as hers!

5. The more things change; the more they stay the same

A new season sees Chuck now married with a Smokin' hot wife (his words) and they have their own business but as always it seems Chuck is still trying to find his place in the world. As happy as he is right now in his own skin he still isn't sure where he fits in; as has been the case since the show started.

What also hasn't changed is Chuck's need to make a better life for (and with) his wife Sarah, it appears to be his main mission in his life...which is pretty sweet when you think about it but I feel not everybody agrees.

As Chuck was getting to know Sarah in the first two seasons his gestures of affection started small and got bigger from food options like vegetarian pizza (no olives) and rare cheeseburgers (extra pickles) to homely knick-knacks like alarm clocks and eventually Jewellery in the form of his mother's charm bracelet. As time has moved on Chuck's gestures have gotten grander and more involved; let's face it they have not always been the most successful either...as we saw with Operation: Toes In The Sand.

Some people may feel Chuck is being a bit of an idiot with the number of grandiose schemes and plans he tries to implement to impress Sarah, to a certain extent I agree but...in Ellie's words to Chuck "you can never go too far". If the worse that could happen to him is public embarrassment in expressing his affection for Sarah, Chuck would take that just to see the mega-watt Sarah Bartowski smile!

Simply put, Chuck wouldn't be Chuck if he didn't continue to make the effort to express what Sarah means to him.  Also in Chuck's defense (and a point I have heard others make quite rightly) Sarah is not the most open with her feelings, even to Chuck. The moment she verbalised what her dream-house was to Chuck; he set the plan in motion and thus he has a new-submission for the season!

I think Sarah should have the final say on this; and despite his faults Sarah has made it clear she thinks Chuck is perfect...Even if Chuck Versus The Zoom itself could have been better!!