'Chuck': It's a Thanksgiving miracle!

Chuck does it again, deflating my major objection to the episode early on so I could sit back and enjoy the spectacle. There's carnival madness, Big Mike exhibits his skills, and the True Spirit of Thanksgiving shown to all and sundry. God bless us (with turkey and every starch known to man) every one!

Lady Big Mike won't abide by spoilers.

OK, so Jill's a Fulcrum agent. At this point, you could be forgiven for thinking every third person in the United States is a spy. But before I can throw up my hands and rail against the plot device, Chuck does it for me -- "Excuse me, I'm sorry, General, but who in my life isn't a spy. My sister? My best friend? Should I just start asking people that when I first meet them? 'Hi, I'd like the extra-value meal, and while we're on the topic, do you covertly work for a government espionage faction?'" And bam, I'm laughing too hard at the lines and at Zachary Levi's delivery to object too strenuously. They know it's ridiculous, they know we know it's ridiculous, they're asking us to just go with it. Well done, Chuck!

The General wants Chuck to stay close to Jill in hopes that she will take him to her Leader -- no, really, that's her handler's code name. Sarah and Casey object that Chuck's not ready, but Chuck is fine with it -- the woman betrayed him twice, and it's about time he got to return the favor! That's how they end up at a carnival, on top of a Ferris wheel, mirroring their first real date. It's very sweet -- until Jill pulls a gun on Chuck. She tells Chuck she has no choice. But when Leader tells Jill that she has to shoot Chuck, she turns the gun on Leader instead. Chuck flees and Leader follows. That leads to a fabulous horizontal chase in the Gravitron, and then pursuit through the hall of mirrors. But just as Leader is about to kill Chuck, Jill shoots Leader. Could she be good after all?

Casey and Sarah take Jill back to the Castle, where they hook her up to lie detectors for interrogation. She tells them where to find Leader -- and so they leave Chuck alone with her. Silly spies -- don't leave Chuck alone with the ex! Because if you do, he'll be fooled by her telling the truth to get Chuck to release her, only so she can pull a gun on him AGAIN. This was all part of the plan -- when Sarah and Casey bring Leader back for interrogation, Jill is waiting for them. Jill and Leader lock everyone up and go traipsing through the databases looking for the Intersect. But they make the mistake of locking Chuck up in the same room as the manual. Chuck wrests control of the station from them, but gives in when Leader threatens to blow up Sarah and Casey. He leads Jill and Leader to Buy More to escape. But tricky Chuck -- he's set a time-delay release on Sarah and Casey's cell. Release the Casey!

Casey and Leader are actually pretty well matched, and Leader gets the upper hand. But he hadn't bargained on Big Mike. Big Mike smash! Meanwhile, Jill stalks Sarah, but Chuck convinces her to flee. Take my Nerd Herd mobile! Jill asks Chuck to come with her, but Chuck declines -- and sends the car into detention mode. "You're under arrest, Jill. And I'm breaking up with you."

Thanksgiving Miracles!
Wondering what Big Mike was doing at the Buy More at that convenient time? Well, here's the thing -- Big Mike hates thieves. Every year, he locks couple of Buy More employees who don't have T-Day plans in the store to deter thieves who would clear him out before Black Friday. This year, the normal anti-theft contingent of Les and Jeff is supplemented by Morgan, who was uninvited from Ellie's Thanksgiving feast. See, La Famile Awesome plans to grace her humble abode that day, and since all the Awesomes are incredibly awesome, Ellie wants everything to be, um, awesome. That means no Morgan.

But Morgan won't give up without a fight. He saw Ellie discard a perfectly good test turkey, and he wants to retrieve it for his friends to show them the true meaning of T-Day. So he gets Jeff to short out the doors so he can escape. This sends an alert to Big Mike, who thinks the store is being robbed. That's why he's there for that convenient body blow against Leader. You don't mess with Big Mike!

Then Ellie gets fabulous news -- La Famile Awesome can't make it after all. Joy! So Ellie re-invites Morgan (who is, at that moment, rooting through the garbage for the test turkey), who convinces her to invite Jeff and Les as well. He also spills that Chuck has been seeing Jill, which worries Ellie to no end. That's why Ellie is so thrilled to see Chuck and Sarah together for the feast. Its a Thanksgiving miracle!

Highlights, thoughts and odds and ends:

• Chuck is tense when he and Jill arrive at the carnival, and he blames it on his irrational fear of carnivals. After Jill pulls a gun on him: "I think you should know that my completely rational fear of carnivals has spread to ex-girlfriends." Hee!
• Leader doesn't want to kill Chuck in the Gravitron -- what if a bunch of kids find him there? "Wow, that's strangely considerate of you," Chuck says.
• Sarah and Casey have Jill wired to the lie detector, asking her baseline questions like "Did you attend Stanford?" "Can I ask a follow-up question?" Chuck asks. "You're about to leave through that window," Casey growls." "I rescind my follow-up question," Chuck squeaks.
• Seriously, though -- WHY did Sarah and Casey leave Jill and Chuck alone? They HAD to know it was a bad idea!
• Casey is incensed that Chuck is looking at the Castle manual -- "That's top-secret!" "Yeah, I know," Chuck responds. "So am I."
• Ellie -- you do NOT throw out a turkey just because it's a little dry. That's what gravy is for!
• Ellie stresses about the Impeding Armadas of Awesomes: "They make their son look mildly impressive." I do hope we get to meet them someday.
• Morgan is in ecstasy as Ellie asks him to try the turkey, then crushed when she pitches is. "I'll do anything -- just don't hurt another turkey like that!"
• Hey, Ellie gets a slo-mo shot! Go Ellie!
• Morgan describes the joy of Thanksgiving to Lester -- "There's fun and food and friends and that's just the fs!" Wow. And he even left off football -- which I appreciate.
• Morgan jokes that he and Ellie need a "Thanksgiving miracle" for Chuck and Sarah to walk in happy and together -- which they immediately do. "I could have asked for anything!" Morgan whimpers. Later, we see him staring at the door, wishing away: "The Swedish Bikini team! A flying DeLorean!" Heh.
• I loved Morgan explaining the mechanics of Thanksgiving to Les and Jeff. "You say  turkey volunteers? " "It's more like a draft," Morgan says.
• It was a sweet episode -- and it's making me hungry. The only thing I would have liked was some Huey Lewis. Come on, music supervisors -- bring Huey back!

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