# Chuck (10/20): "Chuck vs the Cougars" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2008, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843 "2008-10-21T02:15:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/1 "2008-10-21T02:15:29Z")
So find out a little bit more about Sarah’s past, though it’s a little bit more complicated than she lets Chuck believe. It was a bit of an interesting role reversal with Sarah - er, Jenny - being the geek and Chuck being the secret agent - at least to the nerdy husband. I like how Casey came up with the “Mad Dog” nickname during the interrogation. Plus, catfight in the shower. Go Cougars! ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/2 "2008-10-21T04:22:59Z")
Sarah was reminding me of Hilary Swank a lot in tonight’s episode, both in the past and present. I rolled my eyes at the shower scene, but have to admit a pavlovian response to Sarah boxing. I have a thing for midriffs. ---
**Author:** ![Pollux\_Oil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/858c86/32.png) [@Pollux\_Oil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pollux_Oil)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/3 "2008-10-21T04:53:16Z")
I liked this episode. The shower fight was gratuitous, but I’m not complaining. I will admit a little smile broke out on my face when “Smack My Bitch Up” started playing. It’s nice to see Corey still gets acting work, he’s perfect for a show like Chuck. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/4 "2008-10-21T05:46:57Z")
I loved the way Casey played the good cop to “Mad Dog”'s bad cop. He was going all chameleon on us throughout the episode, too, which is always fun. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/5 "2008-10-21T09:08:53Z")
That was great! An excellent episode. And it was good to see Kurn back, if only in the past. ---
**Author:** ![Valerieblaise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@Valerieblaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valerieblaise)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/6 "2008-10-21T19:22:06Z")
I really want to understand why Nicole Richie gets cast in anything. Other than that, loved the episode. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/7 "2008-10-21T19:26:20Z")
Am I over interpretating this or was the clean up of the Buy More a shout out to Risky Business. I mean when Tom Cruise buys all the stuff back intercut with his parents getting closer to home and finally, when all seems well, the mother complaints about a crack in that glass egg thing (going from memory here). I just knew how that whole scene was going to play out. Other than that - Richie is really tiny, right? 'Cause during the fight scene, the shots made it out to look as if Strahotski and Richie are about equally tall. NR didn’t make a fool out of herself either, but she sure is weird looking. Does anyone actually find her attractive? I loved Baldwin as DJ. It’s fun when he gets to show more acting chops than just repeating Jayne, even if he does that really well. Also, no Awesome or sis this week. Saving that for a Halloween party maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/8 "2008-10-21T19:34:35Z")
Well, we did see Awesome and sis on the monitor Chuck was looking at in the Juicy Juice when he wasn’t supposed to be touching anything. “Awkward!” One thing that bugged me a little was Chuck being surprised at Casey being the DJ. Dude, he is ALWAYS at the scene of an operation; why the surprise? (But I loved Baldwin as the DJ, too, being all friendly and hip.) I also loved Casey getting turned on by the video of the spyplane - was he planning to name it…VERA? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/9 "2008-10-21T19:52:14Z")
I don’t think Chuck was surprised that Casey was there, I think he was surprised to see Casey “raising the roof” and “gettin’ the party started” as the DJ! I thought it was an excellent episode. I thought they did a great job showing Sarah as a geeky high school girl, I agree that Nicole Ritchie is just odd looking, loved the fake-out with the name Jennie and adored the hamburger-split ending. For me, Chuck is just getting better and better. Still mad that we lost half a season last year to the strike! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/10 "2008-10-21T20:24:19Z")
When I was a kid we had some of those “stuck up popular girls” who, like Nicole Ritchie, were just not attractive in any objective way, looks, personality, whatever. I thought she was well-cast because of that. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/11 "2008-10-21T21:01:19Z")
I really enjoyed the episode. It had me laughing at many times, especially with all the fun they had with Casey. They showed the bomber and he did a little “oh Yeah!” type exclamation like he was seeing a hot chick. His DJ’ing was funny and him playing good cop to the scary Mad Dog. The shower seen was very gratuitous but they include at least one very gratuitous scene per week and I am not complaining. As to Nicole, no she is not beautiful but she is also believable as a somewhat hot and popular high school girl ten years later. She is definitely not bad looking. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/12 "2008-10-21T21:01:30Z")
> [@Glory](#): > > I thought they did a great job showing Sarah as a geeky high school girl Even though she really wasn’t. She was only acting the part as a cover. It’s interesting that they gave Strahovski braces, trying to make her look geeky, when in fact - IMO - she has one of those neutral faces, like Cate Blanchett, that will lend itself to anything, i.e. unkempt eyebrows and frizzy hair made her unattractive. I’ve said this before, Strahovski isn’t \*that \*beautiful, but she’s striking. This episode clearly showed that to be the case. An aside. I fell in love with the show early on and panned its counterpart, **Reaper** , also portraying low achieving geeks in retail hell. Chuck seems to be thriving but what happened to **Reaper**? ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/13 "2008-10-21T21:12:42Z")
> [@Charlie\_Tan](#): > > Even though she really wasn’t. She was only acting the part as a cover. > It’s interesting that they gave Strahovski braces, trying to make her look geeky, when in fact - IMO - she has one of those neutral faces, like Cate Blanchett, that will lend itself to anything, i.e. unkempt eyebrows and frizzy hair made her unattractive. > I’ve said this before, Strahovski isn’t \*that \*beautiful, but she’s striking. This episode clearly showed that to be the case. She also changed her stance and gait to something less confident and self-assured. You can see it quite distinctly at the reunion, where she looked like hot Sarah but walked like geeky Jenny. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/14 "2008-10-21T21:17:00Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > She also changed her stance and gait to something less confident and self-assured. You can see it quite distinctly at the reunion, where she looked like hot Sarah but walked like geeky Jenny. You’re quite right and I forgot about that (even though I learned it from Heinlein’s Double Star), i.e. the way a person walks says a lot about that person. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/15 "2008-10-21T21:29:45Z")
> [@Charlie\_Tan](#): > > An aside. I fell in love with the show early on and panned its counterpart, **Reaper** , also portraying low achieving geeks in retail hell. Chuck seems to be thriving but what happened to **Reaper**? I seem to remember reading somewhere that **Reaper** won’t be returning until January. I like both shows, but this season it seems like the Buy More subplots have gotten very strange. (Which is saying something, considering some of the things they did last season.) I still don’t understand why Chuck refused the assistant manager position when it was offered to him; the only thing I can see is it set things up for Patel getting it so the writers could play up his “delusions of godhood” managerial style. ---
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/16 "2008-10-21T21:56:44Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > I still don’t understand why Chuck refused the assistant manager position when it was offered to him; the only thing I can see is it set things up for Patel getting it so the writers could play up his “delusions of godhood” managerial style. I think he was expecting to be leaving the Buy More; wasn’t that decision happening right when they first thought the computer intersect was going to be finished, so he wouldn’t have to do the spy stuff any more? He suddenly started thinking that he could aspire to do more than head up the Nerd Herd for the rest of his life. And of course, Chuck not taking the position makes it so one of the other losers gets it. ---
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/17 "2008-10-21T22:00:44Z")
Oh, and I thought Nicole Richie did an OK job; she’s a better actor than Paris Hilton–and speaking of whom, did anybody else catch when she was asking Sarah where she knew her from, and got the responses, “I’ve tried my hand at acting,” and, “I was on a national commercial where I ate a messy cheeseburger”? ROFL. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/18 "2008-10-21T22:05:56Z")
> [@Geobabe](#): > > “I was on a national commercial where I ate a messy cheeseburger”? ROFL. She’s Rodney Allan Rippy! [showing my age] ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/19 "2008-10-21T23:17:31Z")
> [@Charlie\_Tan](#): > > Even though she really wasn’t. She was only acting the part as a cover. Her name was a cover, or at least fake, because of whoever her Dad was and presumably him changing his name as he moved from town to town. And though she was being trained by him, I don’t think her awkwardness was pretend - I think that was definitely her genuine self. Then she got hired by the CIA, and then the High School scenes happened soon after, so she hadn’t upgraded from her geekiness by then. It also goes toward an explanation why she likes Chuck so much - she totally identifies with him. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843/20 "2008-10-22T02:10:34Z")
Two chicks fighting to Prodigy’s Smack My Bitch up never gets old, does it? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-10-20-chuck-vs-the-cougars/468843.md?page=2)