Chuck: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''Don't freak out.''}}

Chuck suffers from frequent flashes where he spots something or someone that seems innocuous at first, but the Intersect stuffed into his head [[My Significance Sense Is Tingling|identifies the object or person as Very Important]]. Chuck and his minders must find a way to act on Chuck's information, all the while keeping Chuck's family and friends in the dark about his special abilities and new status as government agent/prisoner. Among these friends and family members are his loving and protective big sister Ellie and her Significant Other, Devon (jokingly nicknamed Captain Awesome), his best friend Morgan, and Chuck's underlings in the Nerd Herd at the Buy More.

** After {{spoiler|Bryce dies in the season 2 finale}}, we have Daniel Shaw. Not quite a [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]], but definitely replacing Bryce. {{spoiler|Especially once he appears to be paired with Sarah}}.

** By season 4, this trope has pretty much been subverted as Chuck has become a much more capable spy. He's even done well for himself in periods where the Intersect can't be relied on. Even then, though, this is played with with the introduction of {{spoiler|the Intersected Gretas--technically more competent but unable to think outside the box the way Chuck can}}.

*** In "Chuck Versus the Frosted Tips" {{spoiler|[[Brought Down to Normal|Intersect-less]]}} Chuck is shown to be an even match for {{spoiler|Morgan}} using an Intersect in hand to hand combat. Similarly, in "Chuck Versus the Santa Suit", Chuck was able to hold his own against {{spoiler|Daniel Shaw}}.

** Gertrude Verbanski and her company seems to be this for Carmichael Industries, the freelance spy service that Chuck and Sarah founded in season 5.

* [[Action Mom]]: {{spoiler|Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Bartowski!}}

* [[Action Survivor]]: Chuck, {{spoiler|until he learned Kung Fu at the end of season 2!}}

*** FULCRUM agents seem to have this as a hat. Case in point: {{spoiler|In "Chuck Versus The Suburbs," every agent living in the neighborhood behaves like this, even once their cover is dropped.}}

** Alexei Volkoff, one particularly notable example being at {{spoiler|Chuck's Thanksgiving dinner.}}

* [[The Alcoholic]]: Jeff

* [[Almighty Janitor]]: Chuck is ostensibly just another member of the Nerd Herd and not any kind of manager or supervisor at the Buy More. However, due to the manager's laziness and the fact that everyone looks up to Chuck as the leader, he pretty much runs the place. ''Especially'' now that {{spoiler|Morgan is the <s>assistant</s> manager}}. Even more so at the end of season 4 when {{spoiler|Chuck has bought the store with Volkoff's money}}.

* [[Almost Kiss]]: Chuck and Sarah, a lot. {{spoiler|Even after they finally got together.}}

** Tuned up to eleven at the season 4 finale when {{spoiler|it is hinted that everything they've done for the past four years has been manipulated by some bigger organization.}}

* [[Amazon Brigade]]: Sarah's old CIA team, the CAT Squad, consisting of Sarah, Carina, Amy and Zondra.

** The Bartowskis. Chuck's spy work outshines trained professionals, Ellie {{spoiler|is rapidly becoming a [[Badass Normal]]}}, and Stephen {{spoiler|was on the run from the government for ten years}}, while Mary {{spoiler|has been in deep cover for twenty}}.

* [[The Beard]]: For the first three seasons Chuck and Sarah pretended to be boyfriend and girlfriend, which is complicated by them being [[Just Friends]], to each other (one of them more convincingly than the other). They have feelings that they're hiding from each other, while simultaneously faking a relationship for the outside world. Lampshaded in "Chuck Versus the Beard," by {{spoiler|Morgan, which makes it particularly funny}}. During the third season {{spoiler|the pretend relationship became real}}, and in the fourth season {{spoiler|[[Squee|Chuck proposed and they became engaged and then married]]}}.

** After the new Intersect is installed in his head, Sarah is clearly Chuck's. It is important to note that Chuck has a bit of [[Power Incontinence]], though: he has trouble flashing if he is under emotional duress. So, Sarah can be a bit of a [[Power Limiter]] at times as well. Of course, there are exceptions: {{spoiler|as Shaw's fate proves,}} if you're about to kill Sarah, Chuck won't bother trying to flash if he's got a gun. He'll just kill you. Note that this is pretty much the only situation in which he would kill.

*** In "Chuck Versus the First Date," when it looks as though Chuck has been dropped off a high building by [[Scary Black Man|Michael]] [[The Big Guy|Clarke]] [[Rule of Three|Duncan]], Sarah goes into [[Unstoppable Rage|rage mode]] in attempt to avenge her lost love and manages to hold her own for a bit.

*** As well, in {{spoiler|"Chuck Versus Santa Claus"}}, when a [[Nebulous Evil Organisation|FULCRUM]] agent tells her that her reluctance to kill him in cold blood (we've only seen her shoot people in combat at this point) will ensure that all of FULCRUM knows Chuck's secret, Sarah pulls the trigger with little hesitation {{spoiler|not knowing that Chuck saw her. Chuck freaked out watching Sarah actually kill someone.}}

*** Sarah [[Roaring Rampage of Rescue|went totally off the reservation]] while trying to find a kidnapped Chuck in "Chuck Versus Phase Three," even going so far as to threaten a diplomat with death by lethal injection if he didn't tell her where his employer was keeping Chuck.

** Casey has several, notably {{spoiler|insinuating that he likes Chuck (at least at the start of season 2).}}

** By the start of season 4, Casey {{spoiler|has grown fond enough of Chuck that when it appears that he's just been killed, he tells the man who made the order that he's "going to rip [him] limb from limb... from limb"}}.

** Chuck frequently carries the [[Idiot Ball]], but he also has a government intelligence database in his head; Sarah is frickin' Yvonne [[Fan Nickname|Strahotski]], and Casey is, [[Badass|well]], [[Adam Baldwin]]. Of course, being TV spies, the relative Beauty/Brains/Brawn quotients of [[Action Girl|Sarah]] and [[Even the Guys Want Him|Casey]] are all well above average. To be fair, Casey and Sarah also happen to be well trained spies who know a lot about technology, politics, and espionage. And since Chuck {{spoiler|[[Took a Level In Badass]] at the end of season two}}, the whole dynamic is completely screwed to hell. [[Beauty, Brains, and Brawn]] may be the specialty of Sarah, Chuck and Casey, but they're not [[Crippling Overspecialization|overspecialized]] to the detriment of everything else.

** Season Three: {{spoiler|Daniel Shaw}}

** Season Four: Alexei Volkoff

*** And later, {{spoiler|Vivian Volkoff.}}

** It's revealed in "Chuck Versus the Lethal Weapon" that {{spoiler|Chuck has one hidden on the back of his ''[[Tron]]'' poster.}}

** Also {{spoiler|Jeff's}} big board in "Chuck Versus the Kept Man".

* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: {{spoiler|1=Quinn has been killed, but Chuck needs to reupload the Intersect to disarm a bomb at the cost of potentially being able to use it to restore Sarah's memories; Team Bartowski/Carmichael Industries disbands, but Beckman leaves the door open for them to return to the CIA; Subway purchases the Buy More; Alex and Morgan move in together; Devon and Ellie take new jobs in Chicago; Jeffster! [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|is signed by a German Record Executive]], and Casey leaves to take up Verbanski's offer; Sarah still has no memories of the last 5 years, but Chuck promises to stay with her and it's implied that her memories may return in time.}}

* [[Blessed with Suck]]: The Intersect really messes with Chuck's life, with little personal benefit. He and everyone around him is in constant danger (even his handlers might "disappear" him), leaving him in fear and anxiety. He's seen others get tortured, shot and/or killed by people hunting for him. He's forced to lie to and disappoint his friends and family, he has no privacy at all, and he has no shot at a real romantic relationship while he remains cursed. Spy business and Chuck's potential to carry the Curse led to betrayal or abandonment by at least {{spoiler|his father (after his mother had already left), his girlfriend and his friend, who got him kicked out of Stanford, which is what put his life on hold in the first place}}. He does get a few fringe benefits from his undercover work, though, such as finally getting his degree, and getting to hang out with Sarah Walker. At the end of season 2 {{spoiler|the curse gets a little more awesome when the Intersect 2.0 gives him enough kung fu skills to disarm four armed combatants, some of them across the room, and who knows what other powers.}} but also needs to be constantly controlled or he'll lose his mind.

** In the fifth season, {{spoiler|the Intersect really wreaks havoc on Chuck's life, but this time with his closest friend Morgan and loving wife Sarah in the crosshairs. With both Morgan and Sarah, the Intersect<ref>Or, in this case, a tainted variation...</ref> nearly destroyed their minds<ref>Though with Sarah, it's far worse, as she lost all memories of the past five years or so.</ref>.}}

* [[Brought Down to Normal]]: {{spoiler|After Chuck gets hit with the suppression flash in "Chuck Versus the First Fight," he spends at least a month trying to reactivate the Intersect, including getting a trainer that forces him in extremely dangerous situations.}} [[Don't Be a Hero|This does not end well for him.]]

** Not to worry, {{spoiler|Orion left a with a reactivation flash. Chuck knows kung fu... again.}}

** Done again in {{spoiler|the season four finale. During his attempt to save Sarah he makes enemies with the CIA and they remove it. This time he isn't as lucky and Morgan got it instead.}} Fortunately, at this point, Chuck's regular spy training means he was brought down to [[Badass Normal]] instead of his old level of normal.

* [[Butt Monkey]]: Morgan. Before he {{spoiler|found out Chuck was a spy he had to be kept away from all the spy stuff}}, and every time the easiest way to do that just happened to result in humiliating him. His ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend is involved with the Triad? To keep the Triad from killing him, Chuck tells them he's a stalker. Chuck drugs him to keep him out of a fight? Morgan assume he fainted in fear and Chuck lets him think that. During and after he {{spoiler|found out Chuck was a spy, he's trying to get involved and help out, which he is totally unqualified for}}, so if he merely gets yelled at and treated like a buffoon he's lucky. "Chuck Versus the Honeymooners" had Morgan get shot down when trying to hit on someone {{spoiler|who turned out to be an assassin}}, need to be pushed into a train because he's carrying too much junk, gets used for [[Grievous Harm with a Body]] by Casey, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|yelled at by the general]].

'''Casey:''' Brilliant deduction, Nancy Drew. }}

'''Carina:''' Thanks for being on the case, Nancy Drew. }}

** "Don't freak out," and more frequently, some variant of "Chuck, stay in the car." The latter is also a [[Running Gag]] because he never does.

*** On one occasion he did stay in the car, and the car turned out to be the worst place he could have been.

*** Hasn't been used since Season 3, {{spoiler|now that the Intersect 2.0 has made Chuck a competent spy}}, but invoked when Ellie orders Chuck ''out'' of the car in "Chuck Versus the Ring, Part II."

** Also, Devon's "Awesome!" (Hence the nickname.)

** "Come on, flash!" Chuck, attempting to focus his flashing capabilities. Mostly used in season 3, and a little in season 4.

* [[Celebrity Paradox]]: The [[James Bond]] franchise as well as shows like [[The OC]] and [[Smallville]] all exist in the Chuck universe yet they never notice the likes of Rachel Bilson, Kristin Kreuk and Timothy Dalton walking amongst them.

** Perhaps the biggest: Chuck & Morgan are huge ''[[Star Wars]]'' fans & Casey's familiar enough with the series to {{spoiler|torture Morgan by having him watch ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'' first & then spoiling that Vader's the father of Luke & Leia}}, but none of them notice that they're stealing a vase from Luke freakin' Skywalker at the start of season 5.

** Morgan is also being dragged kicking and screaming down this path, mostly at the urging of Awesome. Arguably, he's the one with the most character development. {{spoiler|He is also slowly becoming a competent member of Team Bartowski, starting from "Chuck Versus the Honeymooners".}}

* [[Chekhov MIA]]: Stephen Bartowski {{spoiler|as well as Mary Elizabeth Bartowski.}}

* [[Chekhov's Gunman|Chekhov's Assault Squad]]: See [[Big Damn Heroes]].

* [[City of Adventure]]: A ''staggering'' number of terrorist plots focus on or are based in the greater Los Angeles area, or just have leaders who have vacation homes or functions to attend there. And by the end of the second season it becomes apparent that at least some spy activity is taking place there because that's where the Intersect is.

* [[Cloak and Dagger]]: The Good Guy agencies are nominally the CIA and the NSA, though they bear little resemblance to their real-world counterparts. The Bad Guy organizations, FULCRUM, {{spoiler|The Ring}}, and Volkoff Industries seem largely made up of rogue espionage agents.

** Played straight in the "Chuck Versus the Ring, Part II," as Chuck is wearing a white shirt, and {{spoiler|Shaw}} is wearing a black shirt.

** Similarly any electronics used by the bad guys will be in their standard colors (FULCRUM Red and Ring Green). Even {{spoiler|Chuck's FULCRUM intersect}} shows up in red.

* [[Commuting on a Bus]]: Beckman in season 5.

** In "Chuck Versus the Truth", under the influence of poisonous [[Truth Serum]], Sarah claims to have no feelings for Chuck. {{spoiler|He doesn't know she can resist truth serum, so he believes her.}}

** In "Chuck Versus the Nacho Sampler", {{spoiler|Captain Awesome}} is stunned with how easily Chuck can lie to Ellie.

* [[Cool Big Sis]]: Ellie

* [[Cryptic Background Reference]]: References to the Bartowski parents early in the series. Until the end of the first season, all we know about them is that the mom had left while the dad was perhaps mentally ill ( {{spoiler|actually [[Properly Paranoid]]}}) before he too left.

* [[Cut Short]]: Averted, and this will take a while. Season 1 was initially ordered for 13 episodes, and 9 more episodes were ordered but unmade due to the Writers Strike; NBC ordered a second season (With 22 episodes off the bat), which ended on a major cliffhanger that appeared to be going unresolved until a last minute renewal spurred by the campaigns of the passionate fanbase. Seasons 3 & 4 were initially ordered as 13 episodes, but after seeing the quality of what was being filmed, NBC ordered more episodes (6 in Season 3, 11 in Season 4) after the intended finale (Which had been written as a potential [[Grand Finale]]) begun production. Towards the end of each season, fan campaigns started up again & NBC anounced the renewal before the season finale had aired, which ended on a cliff hanger. After the anouncement of the fifth season, again lasting 13 episodes, it was quickly revealed that it was also going to be the final season, finally averting this trope.

* [[Death of the Hypotenuse]]: {{spoiler|Daniel Shaw, in the third season. Was there really any other way that was going to play out, though?}}

''Does the terrorist have a vagina?'' She will engage in, and ultimately lose, a physical fight to Sarah. Both will be in skimpy, possibly wet clothing. [[Panty Shot|And do lots of flips]]. }}

** Not that this is a hard-and-fast rule; {{spoiler|"Chuck Versus Operation Awesome" features a female agent who is simply shot dead.}}

* [[Different in Every Episode]]: The wall of TVs at the Buy More tend to display images relevant to the episode. For example in "Chuck Versus The Fat Lady", the TVs show [[What's Opera, Doc?]].

** Volkoff Industries' logo is red with a fist holding a hammer. Also, the passphrase to Volkoff's Hydra computer network is a (fictional) quote from Joseph Stalin.

* [[Disappeared Dad]]: Stephen Bartowski, played by the awesome Scott Bakula, tried to take care of his son and daughter after his wife disappeared but ended up vanishing himself for years on end. This might also be a [[Shout-Out]] to [[Quantum Leap]], the show for which Scott is most widely known, as the father of his character in that show was this trope, too.

* [[Disney Death]]: {{spoiler|Daniel Shaw. [[Unexplained Recovery|He got better.]]}}

* [[Dropped a Bridge on Him]]: {{spoiler|Emmett in "Chuck Versus the Pink Slip".}}

* [[Drop What You Are Doing]]: All the time. Chuck drops the phone when he notices Sarah for the first time, drops Morgan's grape soda {{spoiler|when Carina shows up in a ski mask to take a diamond}}, drops {{spoiler|1=the FedEx package with the same diamond in it when Casey suddenly slams a goon}}, drops his wallet when Harry Tang startles him, drops his phone again when {{spoiler|scary Mr. Bennett}} surprises him, drops a bottle of champagne when he sees Sarah dancing very affectionately with Bryce, drops a bottle of beer when Jenny McCarthy's character tries to seduce him, and drops his keys when Sarah walks into the living room in lingerie. In the Pineapple Incident, shortly after Morgan drops a box on Jeff's head, Big Mike drops his Danish to make a dash to keep people from leaving the store, and in a later episode he drops his tackle box when he receives word of a security breach at the Buy More.

* [[Enter Stage Window]]: Affectionately referred to as the "Morgan Door."

** Chuck has {{spoiler|Daniel Shaw}} as of the end of season 3.

*** {{spoiler|Shaw}} is also Sarah's EC in that they both hid their intense romantic passions behind a facade of professionalism.

** Most of the more competent non-main character spies have at least some measure of Bond in them (the rest by and large trend toward MiB [[Shout-Out|Shout-outs]]):

*** Cole Barker is Daniel Craig's Bond;

*** Roan Montgomery is Sean Connery's Bond;

*** Bryce is Brosnan's bond;

** In "Chuck Versus the CAT Squad", the all-female CAT Squad, Sarah's old team, is obviously based on ''[[Charlie's Angels]]''.

* [[Face Heel Turn]]: {{spoiler|Daniel Shaw}}

** [[The Hero]]: Chuck (Also [[The Smart Guy]])

** [[The Lancer]]: Sarah

** [[The Big Guy]]: Casey

** [[The Medic]]: {{spoiler|Devon (Captain Awesome), Ellie}}

** [[The Chick]]: {{spoiler|Morgan}}

** [[Sixth Ranger]]: Bryce Larkin<ref>Whilst he died when it was still a [[Power Trio]], he fits this role to a tee</ref>, Frost

** [[Sixth Ranger Traitor]]: {{spoiler|Daniel Shaw}}

** [[Eleventh-Hour Ranger]]: {{spoiler|Jeff and Lester}}

** [[Mission Control]]: General Beckman, Director Graham

* [[Five-Token Band]]: The Buy More lot. [[Perky Goth|Anna Wu]] is a token twofer being Asian, and a [[Bi the Way|bisexual]], [[Bollywood Nerd|Lester]] also a twofer (Jewish-Indian), [[Bald Black Leader Guy|Big Mike]], [[Token Minority|Morgan]], and.... [[The Last of These Is Not Like the Others|Jeff]]. Lampshaded by Big Mike when he said he couldn't fire Morgan because he was the Buy More's token Hispanic.

* [[Foot Focus]]: Sarah in "Chuck Versus the Nacho Sampler" (waking up Manoosh), "Chuck Versus the Tooth" (while she and Chuck are watching TV), and "Chuck Versus the Anniversary" (while Sarah is reaching for her dropped phone), and again in "Chuck Versus Sarah" (while the two of them are in bed together. This time it's actually a plot point).

* [[Freudian Excuse]]: {{spoiler|One is used to motivate Shaw's [[Face Heel Turn]]. It turns out that Sarah is the one who killed his wife while [[Just Following Orders]].}}

* [[Freudian Trio]]: Chuck = ID, Sarah = Ego, Casey = Super Ego

'''Casey:''' Well Chuck me... }}

* [[Girlish Pigtails]]: Sarah for her undercover job in season 1.

** Chuck introduced the idea of Charles Carmichael ([[Marty Stu|the successful version of himself]]) in the third episode, "Chuck Versus the Tango". Over the course of season 2 it becomes so associated with him that it ends up as one of his operating aliases. In one episode people are congratulating him as both "Bartowski" and "Carmichael" as he walks through a crowd.

** Further down the line, {{spoiler|Morgan}} decides to take up the alias "Michael Carmichael," Charles's brother.

* [[Hero Antagonist]] / [[Villain Protagonist]]: John Casey really blurs the lines on these two. He's always on America's side, but it takes a while before he's on ''Chuck's'' side. He protects Chuck while threatening him with injury. He's a patriot who will serve his country... even if that means killing Chuck.

* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Chuck suffers this after {{spoiler|Shaw murders his father.}}

** Chuck and Morgan with the latter often interfering in Chuck's other relationships. (Morgan actually uses the phrase "life partners" in "Chuck Versus the Marlin.")

** Jeff and Lester

* [[Hide Your Pregnancy]]: Sarah Lancaster's real life pregnancy was hidden in season four. Ironically, the pregnancy was announced a day after her character, Ellie, gave birth to her first child, Clara.

* [[I Banged Your Mom]]: Big Mike hooks up with Morgan's mom in Season 2. Morgan does not take it well. ''At first''. By the end of the season, Morgan's accepted their relationship. By the start of season 4, the two have formed a father-son relationship, with Big Mike expressing pride in Morgan {{spoiler|being made the manager of the new Buy More}} and Morgan giving Big Mike his blessing to propose to his mother.

* [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming]]: Episodes are titled "Chuck Versus [X]". "X" is often a geeky shout out ("Chuck Versus the Wookiee," "Chuck Versus the Sandworm"). It's always something that's in the episode, even if it occasionally has [[Chekhov's Gun|little]] to do with the main plot (such as in "Chuck Versus the DeLorean") but sometimes is (such as "Chuck Versus [[Rush|Tom Sawyer]]," where {{spoiler|listening to Rush saves the world.}})

** Chuck grasps this firmly in "Chuck Versus the Beefcake" when he {{spoiler|tries to hack a FULCRUM data chip at the Buy More front desk when Sarah and Casey are half the city away trying to nab a FULCRUM agent. Needless to say, it goes poorly.}}

** He clings to it really hard in "Chuck Versus the Colonel" when he {{spoiler|goes off to try and stop the bad guy from creating an army of Intersects even though he has no plan, weapon, or backup, and even though ''he knows there's about to be an air strike on the site anyway''.}}

** General Beckman clings to a massive one in "Chuck Versus the Other Guy", when she keeps Shaw and Sarah on the same team after {{spoiler|she finds out that Sarah killed Shaw's wife for her red test. To paraphrase: Beckman: "I'm disbanding the team because Sarah assassinated your wife" Shaw: "Oh, no need for that. I'm totally cool with it. No need for a full psychological evaluation or anything. You can totally just take my word for it and have me go on a mission with Sarah by ourselves where she'll be totally at my mercy." Beckman: "Well gee, if you say so Shaw. You're such a professional, and not a psycho timebomb waiting to go off or anything. Chuck, you should be more like Shaw. Well, have fun!" }}

** In "Chuck Versus the Marlin," [[The Mole]] manages to shoot a [[Red Shirt]], then not hit Sarah and Chuck despite them having no cover for the best part of 10 meters, while only being about 10 meters away from them. On a helipad.

* [[Indy Ploy]]: Every episode can be described as "Mission to do X gets screwed. Plans reworked. [[Hilarity Ensues]]." In "Chuck Versus the Ring, Part II", Morgan alludes to this {{spoiler|while about to take on a group of Ring agents with only Awesome for backup...}}

* [[The Infiltration]]: Sarah in season 4 pretends to turn traitor from the CIA to undertake one of these.

** "Chuck Versus the First Fight"

** "Chuck Versus the Push Mix"

* [[It Gets Easier]]: Pretty much the rationale behind the "red test", which forces wannabe agents to commit cold-blooded murder under orders and, in theory, make it easier for them to kill again when needs be. As demonstrated by the many kills by Sarah and Casey during the course of the series, including one additional cold-blooded kill by Sarah in {{spoiler|"Chuck Versus Santa Claus", in which she shoots an unarmed FULCRUM agent to protect Chuck}}.

* [[Killed Off for Real]]: {{spoiler|Bryce Larkin}} at the end of season two; {{spoiler|Emmett Milbarge}} at the start of season three; {{spoiler|Stephen Bartowski}} in the season three finale; {{spoiler|CIA representative Clyde Decker}} half-way through season five.

** In {{spoiler|Orion's}} case, [http://orionisnotdead.com/ some people beg to differ.] And [[Word of God|Word Of]] [http://twitter.com/TVTango/status/24494982740 God] is a little ambiguous on it, too.

** The purpose of Intersect 2.0, but also in "Chuck Versus the Honeymooners", {{spoiler|Morgan turns out to have possibly the best unhoned espionage skills of the bunch.}}

** {{spoiler|Ellie, Morgan, and Devon}} at the beginning of the season 3 finale.

* [[Limit Break]]: {{spoiler|Laudanol}} allows the Intersect to work full blast for Chuck.

* [[Locked Out of the Loop]]: Awesome stumbled on the spy stuff near the end of season 2 and Morgan was told about it all in season 3 but Ellie, the person closest of all to Chuck, was kept in the dark about it all at long as they could. Even after she knew there was a [[Secret Legacy]] of spy work in the family she was led to believe that Chuck used to work for the CIA but quit because she was concerned for his safety.

* [[Love Dodecahedron]]: During the first half of season 3, Morgan wanted Hannah wanted Chuck wanted Sarah wanted Shaw at one time or another. Yeesh. Ellie and Devon are worth fitting somewhere in there too. They might be happily married, but what Devon knew about Chuck was driving Devon insane and causing friction in the marriage, and concern about Chuck led Ellie and Morgan to work together amicably for the first time ever.

* [[Luke, You Are My Father]]: Played thoroughly straight with {{spoiler|Casey and the fiancée he left behind.}}

'''Stephen''': Don't worry, Charles. I'm not who you think I am either. {{spoiler|''* uses Orion's wrist device to disable a guard* ''}} }}

** A variant occurs in "Chuck Versus the Anniversary", {{spoiler|when it turns out that Chuck and Morgan's search for Chuck's mom has led them extremely close to Volkoff Industries, the arms dealers that Sarah and Casey have been tracking on their own. The Volkoff agent played by [[Dolph Lundgren]] assumes that their use of public transportation is an effective ploy to avoid being tracked, and believes them to be super-spies even better than Sarah and Casey, who he had just kidnapped with plans to torture them for information on the former two.}}

* [[Mistaken for Spies]]: For the first two seasons Chuck was not a "real" spy but was constantly getting mistaken for one anyway. It's not as if Chuck went out of his way to destroy that illusion. In fact, he often pretends to be the (made-up) Bond-like [[Memetic Badass|Agent Charles Carmichael.]]

** Morgan may be well on his way to becoming Casey's new [[Morality Pet]], now that he's gained his respect {{spoiler|by nearly sacrificing himself when he leads a ''Bengal tiger'' into an apartment.}} Casey's right; the furry little elf has balls. Solid diamond balls. Check out "Chuck Versus the Ring, Part II", where he {{spoiler|breaks his thumbs to get to a fire alarm}} to evacuate the Buy More, and "Chuck Versus the Couck Lock", where he {{spoiler|risks electrocuting himself to save Chuck, Sarah, and Casey}}.

** Casey

** Shaw

** Cole Barker

* [[Ms. Fanservice]]: God bless you, Yvonne Strahovski. Finally lampshaded in "Chuck Versus the Kept Man."