12 January, 2012

21-Days of CHUCK! Day 8: Buy More, 'Til You're Poor


The biggest character on the show is a bright, shiny, loud, and sinister place. Where evil resides, waiting to ambush your hard earned money. Sucking up your will to live while enticing you with new gear that promises coolness and fun but only delivers heartache and broken promises as it inevitably stops working.

And when that happens, you have to bring it back to this hell hole and give it to any number of dimwitted underachieving nerds who enjoy gathering into herds.

Welcome to the Buy More, bitch!

For five glorious seasons, this enemy to Large Mart was home to Chuck and Morgan; Jeff and Lester; Big Mike and Emmet Milbarge; green shirts; nerd herds; some hotties; lots of Subway sandwiches; debauchery; a job interview featuring super models; GRETAs; a spy team; the CIA; the Intersect; and dozens of deadly fights.

The store also acted as a host to a bachelor party; Christmas celebrations; Halloween parties; a fan meet and greet with a druggy rock star; and various other events I have likely forgotten.

Mostly, the Buy More was where the writers tossed in the wackiest of jokes, or geekiest of references, and allowed for the most slapstick of story lines. And while some fans found ways to have a problem with it, even after it burned down to the ground, it was simply resurrected by the CIA and weaponized.

What doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger.

Eventually, the Buy More was taken over by a secret, silent, not-so-deadly owner named Chuck Bartowski and his much deadlier wife Sarah. Morgan Grimes would become store manager. The Bartowski's would use the store as both a cover and a revenue stream for their private spy operations.

I always rather enjoyed the Buy More and would have loved to have seen it utilized more. The antics of the crew and how Team Bartowski negotiated around their cover jobs and their spy world was often my favorite little side elements of the show. In later seasons, these things became less of a focus but we still got great episodes like Chuck Versus the Beard, which occurred mostly in the store. Granted, some of my least favorite episodes also had a heavy focus on the Buy More or its underworld, Castle. But I don't blame the store for the misdeeds of the writers. Everyone has a bad day or five.

Were you a fan of the Buy More? What was your favorite episode centered around it? Who were you favorite Buy More characters? Comment below or I will cut someone!