By Buzz Byrne

The day after Thanksgiving is approaching, “Black Friday” as it is known in the retail world, and at the BuyMore that means all hands on deck. Even the Nerd Herd has to help out the sales staff. These are the times that try men’s souls and Chuck (Zachary Levi) is going to have to learn to swim with the shopping sharks or die a painful death.

And his chief nemesis and rival for Agent Sarah’s (Yvonne Strzechowski) affections, Bryce Larkin (Matthew Bomer), is back from the dead so there’s that too.

As much promise as this episode held, last week’s was better. Sorry CHUCK fans, but this wasn’t what I was hoping for, and putting aside my expectations, what was here tonight was pretty mundane.

So here we go. Bryce wakes up in Sarah and Casey’s (Adam Baldwin) custody. He asks for Chuck. Chuck is having second thoughts about breaking up with Sarah because of the world-ending kiss she laid on him last week. Morgan (Joshua Gomez) and Anna (Julia Ling) are an item but Anna is fiercely jealous of Ellie (Sarah Lancaster), who happens to be hosting Thanksgiving. Chuck is brought to Bryce who makes him prove he is the real Chuck by talking Klingon. Bryce escapes custody, but proclaims his innocence. All of the aforementioned, plus Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin), meet for Thanksgiving dinner at Chuck and Ellie’s. Well, Bryce is lurking in the shadows but when Chuck goes to the car to get the marshmallows for the sweet potatoes Bryce convinces him to get Sarah to meet him in Chuck’s room, which he does. But then he sees Bryce and Sarah kissing during the rendezvous. Acting impulsively he tells Casey in a not so subtle way, “I am thankful that Bryce Larkin is dead. And not currently in my bedroom, making out with my girlfriend.” Casey charges in but Bryce is gone. Chuck and Sarah find him in Casey’s place and when Bryce drops the name of his mission, “Sand Wall,” Chuck has a flash and is convinced Bryce is telling the truth. Casey charges into yet another room and shoots Bryce in the chest.


(Deep breaths…whew, deep breaths.)

Bryce is fine. He was wearing a Kevlar vest. Story is he was working with a special access group inside the CIA called Fulcrum. But they were actually a rogue element using him to get the Intersect. When he found this out he destroyed all the Intersect files and sent the main program to Chuck who now has it in his head. Bryce wants to come in but Fulcrum has people everywhere. They set up a meeting during Black Friday at the BuyMore and Chuck will vet the CIA ops. If he doesn’t flash on them, they are cool. During the meeting, Chuck and Bryce have a bit of a reconciliation. Bryce says basically, “Your life is totally better than mine, you have a ton of friends, blah,blah,blah.” Chuck okays the CIA guys but there is a double cross. Somehow Fulcrum got around the Intersect. Everyone is captured but Chuck calls on his trusty BuyMore pals to unwittingly save the innocent shoppers. Bryce and Sarah kick some Fulcrum ass, “Wow, they really are great together,” Chuck comments. The final moments involve Klingon speak and a Kevlar vest, of course, then Casey’s buddies at the NSA arrive and clean everything up. Bryce is debriefed and given a new mission to go as deep as need be to get Fulcrum. He invites Sarah along, giving her a code to meet him at a special time and place. When the time comes, she is getting calls from both Bryce and Chuck. What will Sarah do? What will she do?

The previews show her in next week’s episode so she doesn’t go with Bryce. Duh, the show’s not called BRYCE. Fulcrum might turn out to be a good adversary, sort of a more deadly updated version of KAOS. I hope so. The multi-layered CIA you never know who to trust spiel feels like an excuse for the writers not to commit to a position. Last week was fun and dangerous. This week CHUCK felt like the leftovers. Leftovers give me gas.