Early on in the series, Casey’s personality is reflected (literally in one screen shot) in both his name and his Crown Vic. A character who ‘encases’ his emotions, he hides behind an outward armor plating to protect his feelings even while using a fully stocked arsenal of sarcasm, dismissiveness, and physical intimidation as weapons to keep others at a distance. …
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Chucktoids: The Loves of Morgan Grimes
Morgan’s path from pathetic to respectable over the course of five seasons perhaps best mirrors itself in the upward progression of his romantic relationships. At the outset, the hapless Buy More green shirt continues to suffer from a hopeless infatuation with his best friend’s sister, Ellie. But neither body language nor words have any effect in dissolving his delusion. After …
Read More »Chucktoid: The Tragicomic Childhood of Jeffrey Barnes
Jeff spends the first four seasons in a very different place than the viewer finds him for the bulk of Season 5. Frankly, no one would wish to model a life after the Buy Moron during these years. The closer one looks, though, the reasons behind his substance abuse and oftentimes bizarre behavior can be traced back to a decidedly …
Read More »Chucktoids: Health & Fitness Tips from Captain Awesome
Much of the series portrays Devon as the nearest thing to human perfection, a status implied by his former modeling stint with Abercrombie and Fitch as a college frat boy (vs. Bearded Bandit), his turn as Adam, the pinnacle of creation, at a Halloween party (vs. Sandworm), and the Marble Me sculpted at the bequest of Premier Goya (vs. Coup …
Read More »Chucktoids: Tron Poster
The Tron poster proves more than just a father’s nerdy gift to his son or a nostalgic pop culture reference. Originally given by Orion to a young Chuck, it also hints at their shared secret identity as Intersects. Not only did Chuck accidentally download a prototype of the program as a 12-year-old child before stumbling upon the 1.0 as an …
Read More »Chucktoids: 6 Old Testament Parallels for Charah
When viewing Seasons 1-3 as a whole, several compelling parallels emerge between Chuck and Sarah’s romantic journey and archetypal elements of the Old Testament: Not only does Chuck shepherd a flock of misfit Nerd Herders at the Buy More (owned by Moses Finkelstein, no less), but he ends up marrying a wife named Sarah who initially scoffs at the thought …
Read More »Chucktoids: Lester of the Literati
Though it may surprise some fans, Lester, yes one of the Buy Morons, proves the most literary-minded character on the show. Indeed, the Brown Beauty quotes from at least five different classic works over the five seasons, each time his recitation accenting the scene: Lester twice cites a portion of Walt Whitman’s poetic eulogy of Abraham Lincoln, “Oh Captain, my …
Read More »Chucktoids: Flat Screens
Scenes filmed in the Buy More often include background projections on the flat screens that metaphorically accent the events at hand. At series’ end, when Jeffster leaves the big box store for the final time to pursue a musical career in Germany, their departure notably coincides with the scene of cowboys riding off into the sunset. Earlier in Season 5, …
Read More »Chucktoids: An Axe to Grind
“Chuck vs. The Living Dead” opens with a pronounced focus on Orion sharpening an axe with a whet stone in his cabin hideaway. To what purpose? It serves as a controlling metaphor for an episode in which Orion clearly has an axe to grind with the espionage life in general and the CIA in particular, given the separation & endangerment …
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