Zachary Levi of 'Chuck'

Credit: NBC

Monday (April 20) night's episode of "Chuck" was the penultimate hour of the season. Woe betide NBC if "Chuck Versus the Colonel" was also the series' penultimate episode, because it also happened to be one of the show's very finest installments.

The hour was so full of Moments of Awesome that I started jotting down quotes or throwaways that made me happy. And, wouldn't you know it, I ended up with exactly 50. I was so struck with the evenness of that number, and my ready availability of a blogging platform, that I thought I'd share those Moments of Awesome, rather than just doing a straight-forward recap.

With the season finale only a week away, expect to hear plenty more pleas for the future of "Chuck," both on this site and throughout the Internet. 

For now, though, click through to relieve "Chuck Versus the Colonel" and it's 50 Moments of Awesome.... [Spoilers, of course...]

I've listed these Moments of Awesome in chronological order, because I didn't have the heart to list them by merit. 

1. Casey gets promoted to Colonel!

2. Casey exits Chuck's room via his window.

3. The ol' "There's only one bed, whatever shall we do?" gag, only funnier than usual. 

4. "When the tests are complete, feel free to use whatever despicable acts of violence are in your nature. You can eat 'em if you want. I don't care." 

5. Sarah somehow thinking those were acceptable undergarments for bed-sharing with an asset.

6. "Really. Do all your friends give your mothers urinary tract infections?"

7. "Will you be my Ass Man?"

8. The ol' "About to have sex, but no condom" gag, only we really wanted them to get it on.

9. "IOU ONE CONDOM YOUR PAL MORGAN"

10. After last week's "Godfather II" kiss-of-death, we went back to the original "Godfather," tonight. Mark Christopher Lawrence makes for a brilliant Stepfather.

11. "I have very sensitive sinuses"

12. "You don't think I can kill you with my thumb or my elbow? Or bludgeoned by radiator?" 

13. "You can't kill me with that radiator. It is far too confined in this car for you to get the appropriate torque."

14. Cigar-puffing Fulcrum agents.

15. Chuck's dad using a Midnight drive-in showing of "Tron" as a signal.

16. Casey keeps a Chuck Diary.

17. "From one stalker to another, I'm impressed."

18. Jeff chloroforming himself to "get right" and falling sideways.

19. "So sorry, Colonel. But congratulations on that chicken franchise you always wanted."

20. Awesome plays spy.

21. Casey's brass bust of Ronald Reagan (later to be used as a weapon).

22. "What, we can't request a little cozy two-bed/two-bath cell?" "Two-bed?"

23. "Again, dude, there was a time in my life I didn't have a lot going on either -- Dead-end job, no girl." "Really." "Well no, John. No."

24. "What the... Sarah? Chuck?!?!?" "Devon... Don't freak out." 

25. Zachary Levi sells his soul in a Universal-affiliated "Go Green" Hybrid commercial. See NBC? These guys will sell anything you want. ANYTHING.

26. Two seasons of "Chuck" and the first person from his other life to learn the truth is Awesome. It's a nice reward for Ryan McPartlin, who keeps proving, week-to-week, that whatever they ask him to do, he can pull off.

27. "Devon, I need you to be cool about this. I need you to cover for me with Ellie. I need you to be awesome. Can you... be awesome."

28. "Wow... This is Awesome. I knew you weren't a loser who works at the Buy More."

29. Chuck keeping the drink he intended for Awesome and making the obligatory wince after taking the sip.

30. Chuck assuring Awesome that, indeed, the Buy More is real.

31. Lester's reference to the forbidden meat in the discussion of Morgan as a squealer. His Judaism deserves to be a full arc in Season Three.

32. Morgan's dream: To be a Benihana chef in Hawaii.

33. Morgan's limitations: "I'm way past my prime. I'm not Asian. And I don't even know where to get the knives."

34. Awesome trying to keep his secret from Ellie, leading Ellie to ask, "Can you be Awesome for me?"

35. Agent Imbecile.

36. Levi's spectacular delivery of "Casey, would you like to help us rescue my father?"

37. Chevy Chase's feigned disappointment at not being invited to Ellie's wedding. "I'm involved in a major conglomerate of bad guys. Few details escape me."

38. Chevy Chase going all "The Warriors" on the assembled drive-in group of spies with the repetition of, "Can you dig it?" Also love the identical silver convertibles. 

39. A bad guy with a plot that makes sense? He wants to use the Intersect to built an army of all-knowing super-spies, presumably with more field skills than Chuck possesses.

40. Chuck's windshield note - "Went to stop Roark. Be back in five."

41. "If this doesn't work, I'm afraid I have to go back to that bit where I kill everybody." "What if it does work?" "If it does work? Same result. But you know? You should root for it. nobody likes a cynic."

42. Fireballs! So many fireballs!

43. Daddy Bartowski programs the images to deprogram Chuck. "I feel different... lighter."

44. "She used me as bait. Like Casey just said. I was treated terribly, you know. She cuffed me and the chaffing on my wrists. I was malnourished. It was horrific."

45. "Mr. Bartowski, you are free to return to... whatever it is you do."

46. Morgan quits, strips off his Buy More shirt and tries to carry Anna out of the Buy More. [Chuck has missed every bit of the Buy More intrigue over the past couple episodes. It never ceases to amaze me that nobody questions his on-the-job performance.]

47. A slow clap. For a topless Morgan. "You're free, Morgan! You're free."

48. "Chuck, where have you been?" "I was getting your wedding present." Sarah Lancaster does teary-eyed like nobody's business.

49. "Open bar, I hope." A great moment of sweetness for Adam Baldwin, with Casey accepting Chuck's friendly invite to the rehearsal dinner.

50. "So how does it feel?" "It feels great, actually. Like everything is finally real." "It is real."

So what'd I miss?

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