"Chuck" Chuck Versus the Sizzling Shrimp (2007)

Director:

David Solomon

Writers:

Josh Schwartz (creator) &
Chris Fedak (creator) ...

TV Series:

"Chuck" (2007)

Original Air Date:

22 October 2007 (Season 1, Episode 5)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Chuck spots a Chinese spy in a restaurant. The agents want to find out why she's here in the US. Chuck goes on his first stake out, which is also a special occasion for his family. |

Plot Keywords:

CIA | Secret Agent | Beautiful Woman | Slacker | One Word Title

Cast

Zachary Levi	...	Chuck Bartowski
Yvonne Strahovski	...	Sarah Walker
Joshua Gomez	...	Morgan Grimes
Sarah Lancaster	...	Ellie Bartowski
Adam Baldwin	...	John Casey
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ewan Chung	...	Lee Cho
Creagen Dow	...	Teenage Boy
Bonita Friedericy	...	General Diane Beckman
Jesse Heiman	...	Fernando
Rick Hoffman	...	Agent Scary
James Hong	...	Ben Lo Pan
Scott Krinsky	...	Jeff Barnes
Julia Ling	...	Anna Wu
Vik Sahay	...	Lester Patel
Noel True	...	Meg
Victor Wolf	...	Juan
Gwendoline Yeo	...	Mei-Ling Cho

Certification:

USA:TV-14

Trivia:

James Hong also played a character name Lo Pan in Big Trouble in Little China (1986).

Goofs:

Continuity: After the limousine drives off, Mei-Ling is pointing two pistols at Chuck. The gun in her right hand has the slide locked back, a sign that it's out of ammunition. Her right finger is on the trigger. There's a cut to show Chuck, then a cut back to Mei-Ling: now, the slide is forward, and her right finger is straightened, pointing to the ejection port. Then there's a cut showing Mei-Ling from behind, with her finger back on the trigger.

Quotes:

Chuck Bartowski: [walking toward Mei-Ling with the clipboard] I believe you have something for me?
[she points a gun at him]
Chuck Bartowski: Please, tell me that's not real, the gun, not the clipboard.
Mei-Ling Cho: Real enough?

Movie Connections:

References First Blood (1982)

Soundtrack:

Lake Michigan

Chuck Verses the Sizzling Shrimp is a very good episode of "Chuck"

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

As Chuck, sister Ellie, and Morgan go out on the town to a restaurant in Chinatown, Chuck sees an Asian woman that reveals to his computer brain that she plans to kill someone. Later, while Sarah and Casey try to stop her, Chuck sees the man that the woman plans to kill get out on his wheelchair. He helps him to his limousine just as that woman comes out and sees her tied-up brother taken to the trunk of the car. Chuck inadvertently allowed the villain to escape! He vows to help her get her brother back with reluctant assistance from Sarah and Casey. Meanwhile, Ellie wonders why Chuck doesn't show up for "October Mother's Day" (won't explain it here) and Morgan is desperate to keep his job at Buy More...Lots of references to classic movies with my favorite line being the Star Wars one: "Help me, Charles Bartowski, you're my only hope!" from Morgan. The wheelchair man named Lo Pan also appeared in Big Trouble in Little China with that name. Loved the way Morgan got some good scenes like when he seemed to help a beautiful lady customer who in turn offered her number then asked for it back when his fellow Buy More workers embarrassed him by saying not-so-good things about him. Or the one when he and Ellie bonded over Chuck's absences. And then there's the Buy More manager who, since Morgan's the Hispanic employee, says, "If you had quit, Afirmative Action would have been all over me." This is the most smoothly run episode of "Chuck" yet! Hope the ratings are good enough for NBC to give this series a full-season pickup...