ChuckTV.net The CHUCK archive
Yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day, and I happen to be in New Orleans for work so got to experience quite the party, even with Mardi Gras fatigue. A lot of the lore surrounding the day has to do with luck, which got me to thinking, as lucky has Chuck has been in many ways, what are his unlucky charms?
- Brunettes – Jill, Bryce*, Lou, Hannah, La Ciudad, and the list goes on. Thank goodness Morgan and Ellie are around to tip the scales back in favored of the dark-haired. (*Yes, Bryce was vindicated in the end, but he was still responsible for 7 years of bad luck for Chuck.)
- Valentine’s Day – We’ve seen Chuck try to make Valentine’s Day special with Sarah twice, both as a cover couple and as a real couple. Neither time was all that successful. Maybe he’d have better luck with Sweetest Day in October.
- Morgan’s relationship advice – The bearded one may be the exception to the unlucky brunette rule in many cases, but relationship advice isn’t one of them. Chuck might as well walk under a ladder while breaking a mirror and crossing paths with a black cat.
- Vacations – It never fails. Chuck tries to take some time off to relax – maybe a nice train ride through Europe or a trip to wine country – and bad guys attack. Perhaps if he didn’t post his plans on Facebook ahead of time…
- Long-Lost Relatives – As happy as we are to see them, when long lost relatives appear on this show, it isn’t all puppies and rainbows for Chuck. First Sarah finds his dad, which is great! Until The Ring ruins Ellie’s wedding and sends him back into hiding, followed by his reappearance and heartbreaking murder. Sarah’s dad shows up and pulls a con. Chuck’s Mom is found after much searching, only to bring Chuck and Co. into Volkoff’s evil plot. At least Mama B’s return ended well. So far.
Got any more unlucky charms for Chuck? Or are five enough?
Cars…… “It’s never safe in the car!!!” ~ Chuck
“I just wanted to tell you – hmm? What was that you were starting to say? No, Sarah, honey, you go first.”
Let’s hope for everyone’s sake that weddings don’t prove themselves a hex for our hero. One spoiled Bartowski nuptual is bad luck, two is a curse.
Engagement rings?
Ellie’s got stolen by an enemy Fulcrum agent and lost in a dumpster.
Big Mike’s got lost in a Buy More party and created that whole awkward scenario in Castle.
Chuck actually held onto his, but for way. too. long. How many tries did it take him to get that thing on her finger?
Hopefully Chuck and Sarah finally getting engaged has broken that curse.
Chuck’s proposals to Sarah and before that the number of times that he tried to tell her his true feelings for her.
Pretty good list, the only thing I can think of is Nerd Herd emergencies, eg – Carina’s call in Wookie, and Colt’s call in First Date.
Well, Bryce was hardly a lucky charm. Every time he turned up it was bad news for Chuck. Even at the end he managed to spread his bad luck. If he hadn’t died Chuck would never have downloaded the 2.0 and it would have been ‘happy ever after’ with Sarah away from the spy life. :p
(Yes, I know they would probably been bored and we wouldn’t have got any more seasons.)
Chuck seems to live a charmed life. He seems to stumble into one bit of luck after another. That, coupled with his native intelligence, has served him well. The one consistant thread whenever things go wrong, his unlucky charm, is that he did not trust Sarah. We knew in the first two episodes that trusting her was the key to success. Of course, he had to get into occasional mischief for the sake of interesting plot lines, and it was usually a lack of trust, or at very least, impatience with Sarah that led him down bad paths. And she tried his patience time and again, so no-one is blameless here. Poor communication skills will do that, and the Chuck-Sarah relationship is a how-to handbook for raising miscommunication to an art form.
2nd episode wasn’t so much about Chuck’s lack of trust, but Sarah and Casey’s. The CIA vs. NSA jockeying left him in the middle and on the defensive. Sarah storming out into Zarnov’s clutches was the culmination of the lack of trust between her and Casey.
Sorry if I was unclear. I never meant to imply that there was no mistrust amongst other parties. Since the topic was Chuck’s unlucky charms, I merely zeroed in on the fact that his lack of trust in Sarah often led to misfortune, and that the first two eps set that tone. In ep.1 they sit on the beach and she says that he needs to trust her. In ep.2 she roughs him up in the bathroom and says that he didn’t need to believe her, just trust her. Chuck even apologised for not trusting her in ep.2’s final scene at the Wienerlicious. That’s how far back in the show’s mythology that whole concept goes.
speaking of charm… i wonder where the charm bracelet. i want to see sarah wear that bracelet.
yup, the relatives make for interesting shows…..remember Mr. and Mrs. Original Awesomes?
Sara’s mom is left though, and from what we’ve heard, to have married sarah’s dad, she must’ve been something!