CHUCK Episode 1 - Pilot

CHUCK SEASON 1 - EPISODE 01



Chuck Bartowski is an average computer geek until files upon files of government secrets are downloaded into his brain. He is soon scouted by the CIA and NSA to act in place of their computer.

Read episode recap - Below


Cast and Crew

Writer: Josh Schwartz, Chris Fedak

Director: McG

Star: Zachary Levi (Chuck Bartowski), Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah Walker), Joshua Gomez (Morgan Pace), Adam Baldwin (Major John Casey), Sarah Lancaster (Ellie Bartowski).


Recurring Role: Julia Ling (Anna Wu), Vik Sahay (Lester), C.S. Lee (Harry Tang), Ryan McPartlin (Captain Awesome), Mark Christopher Lawrence (Big Mike)

Guest Star: Mieko Hillman (Young Woman #2), Kristine Blackport (Young Woman #3), Don Abernathy (Traveler), Diana Gitelman (Young Woman #1), Mel Fair (Newscaster), Scott Krinsky (Jeff), Bonita Friedericy (General Beckman), Matthew Bomer (Bryce Larkin), Bruno Amato (Security Agent), Nicolas Pajon (Ominous Customer), Wendy Makkena (National Intelligence Director), Tony Todd (CIA Director Graham)

Episode Recap
Pan over Los Angeles
Two voices whisper back and forth as they put on gloves and zipping up bags, about escaping and surviving. There is knocking on a door. A bearded man says that they have been compromised and climbs out the window leaving another man sitting on the floor. The man on the floor begs Morgan (the man climbing out the window) not to leave him. The door opens and a long haired brunette asks what Chuck (man on the floor) is doing. Chuck tells her he is trying to escape. She questions why he is trying to escape his own birthday party. Morgan compliment's Ellie (the brunette girl) as he "dangles" outside the window. Chuck explains to his sister (Ellie) that he doesn't feel comfortable at HIS party because it is composed mainly of her friends and doctors. Ellie gets serious saying that she has invited "real live women for you" to get him out of his room but tells Morgan to stay put.

While Ellie walks Chuck out into the party she tries to pump up his self esteem by telling him how awesome he is. Chuck points out a guy he calls "Captain Awesome" who talking to Chuck about the prospects he has picked out for him. He gets introduced to a group of girls who ask him an array of quest from what he is wearing, what he wants to be doing, why he as band aids on his fingers, etc. He sheepishly answers them. Then one girl brings up Stanford and how Chuck used to go there. She says she used to know this great guy who had Chuck's same major. Chuck instantly knows who she is talking about. Bryce Larkin, his roommate back at Stanford, who according to Chuck is an accountant.

Jump to Washington D.C.
A man in a suit falls from the ceiling and identified as Bryce Larkin. He is NOT an accountant. He get up from the floor in the completely white room and runs over to a solitary computer. He hacks into something called the Intersect and starts to download stuff onto a small hand held device. He puts on sunglasses ad then hits enter. The room begins to flash with hundreds and thousands of different pictures and a security system screeches that there has been a breech.

Back in LA, Chuck is asked if he has a girlfriend or not. This launches him into a long talk about his ex-girlfriend Jill from Stanford and how Bryce stole her away and he got kicked out of Stanford. Ellie and Captain Awesome (who appear to be in a relationship) looking on as the girls that were surrounding Chuck wander away from him as he continues his sad story of the past in a lifeless voice.

In DC, Security is pounding on the door trying to get in. Bryce puts a explosive device on the side of the computer and runs towards the door as it explodes. The explosion blasts open the door, knocks over the security officers and Bryce runs out kicking and punching his way through the building. He gets chased on the roof tops till he lands on the ground and starts to go through names to e-mail the downloaded files to. All of a sudden a shot rings out and Bryce falls to the ground. The man with the gun tell him not to move but Bryce says "it is too late, Casey." The hand held device beeps and sends the email to "CHUCK" before combusting.

Chuck's birthday party is over and he is sitting on the fountain in the Courtyard when his sister walks up to him with a beer. Ellie tries to tell Chuck that he needs to let go of his Stanford days and move on with his life but Chuck does not seem to interested in hearing about it. He gets up and leaves her sitting there while Morgan comes out and sits next to her. Ellie is obviously not pleased.

Morgan tries to cheer Chuck up in his room while playing video games when a message pops up on his computer from Bryce. Chuck clicks on it and up pops the words, "The terrible troll raises his sword." Chuck explains that this is the old text based game Zork and that he and Bryce made their own version of it while at Stanford. He can't remember the next line though. After thinking a bit he tells Morgan that it is time for him to go home for the night. He goes back to phrase and types "Attack troll with nasty knife" and then tons of pictures start to flash on the screen. Chuck goes into a sort of trance and continues to stare at the images all night until his alarm goes off the next morning when he falls to the floor. Morgan comes in and finds him on the floor. Upon waking Chuck does not know what happened during the night.

While in the shower he has a strange flash of memory and images, while listening to the radio but he shakes it off. Morgan talks about video games on the way to the car but Chuck is too tired and lets Morgan drive. He then mentions how the to stay off a certain road because the cops are in a phased deployment, something which came to him during the flash in the shower. Both seem confused with Chuck's choice of words.

At the Buy More where Chuck and Morgan work, Chuck is instructing his fellow Nerd Herders on a new computer virus that they are going to have to deal with. The Irene Demova virus, which is named after a Serbian porn star, can be contracted while trying to see her web page and it totally kills the computer. Morgan turns on the TV and it shows a news broadcast about the arrival of a general later that day. Chuck takes an unusual interest in this and has another strange flash of memories and mumbles how the man is already in LA.

Back in DC two people and the man who shot Bryce, Casey, are standing in the very room Bryce blew up. The agents talk about about how the computer was where all the CIA and NSA secrets and findings were filtered into so they could find patterns in the evidence and help the two branches work together. They say that whoever has the email has all of the government's top secret information. Agent Casey says that a trace on the email has been placed and it was sent to Los Angeles. He leaves to go recover the lost files and eliminate the threat.

Back at the Buy More, a beautiful blonde woman walks up to the Nerd Herd desk were Chuck and Morgan are standing. Morgan makes a reference to Vicky Vale walking towards them and Chuck starts a simple high pitch rap like song using the name. When he sees the woman he stops in shock and horror, dropping everything he was doing. Phone at his ear, papers in his hands, silly song; all fall stop short and fall. The woman's cellphone is broken and she asks Chuck to fix it. He knows the problem and fixes it on the spot for her. At that moment a man runs up asking for help. He says he recorded his daughters entire recital but it wont play back on his video camera. Chuck points out that he didn't put a tape in it. The man starts to freak out but Chuck helps him by setting up a fake recital in the Buy More and helps the guy record it. The blonde woman watches as Chuck helps out. Right when Chuck is about to go talk to the blonde woman again who is still waiting at the Nerd Herd desk, Harry jumps in front of him and berates him for the fake recital going on in the store. Harry says this is just further proof that he should be picked for the Assistant Manager's position over Chuck. This position was news to Chuck but he seems rather interested. By the time Harry leaves the blonde woman is gone. Morgan however has discovered that she has left her card for him.

Morgan questions why Chuck why he has not called the blonde girl from before as he follows him home. When they walk in they see a Ninja holding his computer. Chuck begs the Ninja not to take the computer when it sets the unit down and motions that it is ready to attack. Morgan starts throwing things but the Ninja just knocks them back hitting Chuck over and over. Chuck stumbles forward and the Ninja attacks him kicking him against the wall. Morgan lunges at the Ninja but get knock down and on top of Chuck. At that moment the shelf that the computer was sitting on collapses and the computer breaks on the floor. The Ninja abandons it's mission and leaves the house. It jumps into a car and pulls off the mask and reveals the blonde woman from the Buy More.

At the Buy More, Chuck is having what is left of his computer checked over by Lester and Jeff from the Nerd Herd but it can't be repaired. He goes over to the Large Mart next door to buy more locks for his house. He wanders through the vast store until he finally find someone. He starts to ask this man about the location of the locks when he has a memory flash on the man's face. He sees explosions, bombs, CIA documents, passport information; all dealing with the man he is staring at. He pardons himself and walks away but the man in the background keep picking up different tools and following Chuck step by step. Chuck makes a run for it and runs into a Large Mart employee. He describes what he saw but the woman points to a man smiling and buying something at the check out counter. Chuck sees it as the same man and is very confused and leaves. At that moment the man glares at Chuck and turns to leave and there is a glimpse of a gun in his jacket.

Back at the Buy More we see the blonde woman watching Chuck reenter the building. She is on the phone with her superior in Washington DC. They are CIA and they were trying to recover the email Bryce sent to Chuck. Her superior tells her that Casey from the NSA is taking over and that she needs to return to DC, but she says she needs 12 more hours. Inside she approaches Chuck and directly asks why he didn't call her. She asks him to show her around town because she is new to the area. After a little interference with Morgan he agrees to show her around that night. As she leaves the Buy More she is spotted by Agent Casey who is parked outside.

Chuck arrives home to tell his sister and Captain Awesome the good news about his date. Chuck discusses his up coming date with 'Sarah' with Captain Awesome and Ellie as they help him pick out the close he will wear. Meanwhile Sarah gets ready for the mission by adding small throwing knives around her ankles, sharp needles in her hair, and a bullet proof vest. As Chuck prepares to leave his sister runs out and gives him some flowers and some last minute sisterly advice before she is left alone with Morgan. As Sarah opens her door to reveal a grinning, flower bearing Chuck, her superior says that she needs to kill him if he tries to run.

On their date they talk about aspects of his life. He explains that Captain Awesome got his name from all the intense extra curricular activities he likes to engage in. They banter about the normal silly date stuff and Sarah's ex who she calls 'Bruce'. As they walk to the next part of their date Chuck sees a motorcade drive by and has another strange memory flash including the General, a building, and the explosives guy from the Large Mart. He continues on with Sarah to the club while Casey and other NSA agents tail them. Casey says Chuck is wanted alive but that Sarah can be killed. When Sarah sees the NSA agents she takes Chuck out onto the dance floor where she dance around him as he awkwardly stands there and she throws her hair needles and mini knives at the on coming agents. When she sees Casey she takes Chuck's hand and runs for it.

She asks for Chuck's keys but he wont give them to her but she opens the car door anyway, which greatly confuses him. Then a SUV come swerving towards them and he gets in the passenger seat. They start driving backwards trying to escape Casey. They accidentally turn down a stair well and land on a street below. Sarah tries to quickly explain that the NSA is after him and they will hurt him. But as they talk Casey's SUV speeds up and slams into the Nerd Herd car. They hop out as the SUV tries to circle back and make a run for it. Chuck falls and the SUV is heading right for Sarah. She notices a poll that will come up from the ground if she hit a button on the near by booth and uses her last throwing knife to hit the button. The steel pole pops up and protects her from the car that smashes into it. She grabs Chuck and they run to the roof of a building and she calls the CIA for an evacuation. She asks Chuck if he knew Bryce Larkin and this confuses Chuck, who had no idea that Bryce worked for the CIA. He tells Sarah about the email and how he saw the pictures. She warns him that she might have to aim her gun at him and for him not to freak out.

At that moment Casey appears on the roof. He demands Chuck as property of the NSA but Sarah aims her gun at Chuck and says that the CIA gets him first. This cause Casey to aim his gun at Sarah. Chuck ties to fun but has a memory flash when he sees the building from the pictures. He puts it all together and starts to try and tell the government agents that someone is going to try to kill the general. He explains how he sees things and remembers things he shouldn't and Casey and Sarah realize that all of their secrets that had been in the Intersect are now in Chuck's head, that he is the computer. They ask him where the bomb is located but Chuck starts to freak out and tells them to find Bryce. Sarah tells him that he died when he sent the files to Chuck. Chuck leads Sarah and Casey to the hotel, they try not to let him go in with them because of how valuable he is with all those secrets but he knows the quickest way to the room the General is currently in. They get there and figure out the bomb is in a catering tray. They open it up and find the bomb attached to a PC. Chuck doesn't remember anything else that can help them defuse the bomb. Right then Morgan calls to find out how Chuck's date's going. He is bored because Chuck is gone, Chuck's sister is out and his computer "has a case of the Demovas." This reminds Chuck of a possible way to defuse the bomb. He convinces Sarah and Casey to let him do it and he does a DOS override and gets onto the internet. He goes to the Irene Demova porn site and the computer crashes, preventing the bomb from exploding.

Outside Sarah and Casey are trying to decide what to do with Chuck. Casey wants to stick him in a room and use him when they need him but Sarah stresses that they don't know how the Intersect works in his head not to mention his connections here in town like his sister. Upon hearing them discussing his sister Chuck gets very defensive and stress that they need to leave his family and friends alone. Since they need him he is in charge.

Chuck watches the fun rise on the beach. Sarah walks up behind him, revealing that she has been there all night. He realizes there is no where he can run and is confused as to why this happened to him. He asks what will happen now and learns that he will keep living his life as normal but will help the CIA and NSA when he is needed. He can't tell his friends or family anything about it for their own safety. Sarah asks him to trust her.

At home he is greeted by Ellie and Morgan who freak out about him being out all night. He just hugs them. As Sarah gets into bed she looks through pictures of her and Bryce on her cellphone.

The next day at the Buy More, Chuck turns in his official application for assistant store manager to Big Mike. He is then told to go train the new employee. When he goes out on the sales floor he sees Casey is the new employee that he needs to train. Then he sees Sarah walking around the store. He sees a ring she is wearing and has a memory flash of Sarah killing several people and tells himself not to freak out.