First off, let me apologize for the latency here on the site lately.

It seems our hosting company had a major meltdown of some storage devices and the system is limping along right now while they transfer some data around.  It may lead to some more downtime and slow going here for a day or so.  Sorry about that.

With that out of the way — We’ve added 40 new screen captures to the gallery from Episode 2.05 — “Chuck Versus Tom Sawyer.”

It was a pretty Yvonne Strahovski lite episode, but there were still a few gems to be had.  The Buy More outfit was to die for, and her smiles at the end when Chuck gets the kill screen are some of her most beautiful smiles to date.

No Chuck next week, but I’ll wrack my archives to see if I have some stuff that isn’t in the gallery yet.  I’d hate for a week to go by without an Yvonne Strahovski fix when we’re in the middle of the season.

Enjoy!

Here we are fifth episode of the season and the writers are finally shaking things up.

Although it isn’t quite as conducive to seductive shots of our favorite Yvonne Strahovski, it’s a real treat to have a ’spy story’ that also ties in some of the minor Buy More characters.

I also enjoyed getting a little more Ellie.  I don’t want to detract from the beauty of Yvonne, but Sarah Lancaster isn’t exactly hard on the eyes.  I’m happy to see her integrating more into the main plot.

It was also pretty fun to get into some hardcore geekery with Atari and Missile Command.  I played that game on my Atari 2600 when I was a kid so that was instant nostalgia at the very mention of it.

But let’s get to Yvonne — Yvonne Strahovski in Buy More hotness?  Yes please.  Of all the outfits they’ve put her in for these many episodes, I think this might have been the biggest fulfillment of nerd fantasy… except maybe the Princess Leia outfit.

Anna is usually the sole champion of nerd hotness, but now Yvonne has slid in to show her what’s up.  I say Sarah ditch the Orange Orange gig and join the Nerd Herd.  Sarah Walker + Anna Wu = for the win.

(And not to digress again, but hula skirt?  Can we get Yvonne in that please?)

It’s true that it wasn’t an Yvonne Strahovski heavy episode, and those who primarily watch the show for the romance may be a tad disappointed, but this episode is distinguished for its departure from the formula.

Our spy of the week took a back seat to some old fashioned geekery, leaning on some of the traditionally more minor characters to help develop things just a little further for all involved.

Also, those who love music should appreciate that the entire episode revolved out of a single Rush song.  Though I’m not a fan, I’m sure there were lots of Rush afficionados out there dancing in their living rooms.

Most importantly, the episode ends with a major plot advancement in Chuck’s degree.  That could ultimately change the whole direction of Chuck’s life, and Sarah got that for him. Superb.

Sounds like no Chuck next week due to the election, but screenshots for this week should be up tomorrow afternoon.  Until then, check out our forums and discuss the keen fashion sense of Sarah and Anna here!

We’ve added 50 new screen captures to the gallery from Episode 2.04 — “Chuck Versus the Cougars.”

As I said in my review, this is absolutely one of my favorite episodes of Chuck ever.  I feel like it’s the first time we really got a full-fledged Sarah episode which means more Yvonne Strahovski to go around!

I would have liked to have snapped some more shots of the shower fight scene, but the motion was all too fast.  I only got blurry images.  Nonetheless, I think you’ll be impressed with the results.

Also, Rob has thrown up a couple of new interviews in the Interview section of the site.  One is with TV Guide and the other is with BuddyTV.  Some good info can be found within, including info about a 3-D episode of Chuck coming up later in the season!

Enjoy!

Wow.  Absolutely wow.  This has to be the best episode of Chuck to date.  Not only was it funny, but it also puts our girl Yvonne front and center for some backstory on her character, Sarah Walker.

Not only that, but we were treated with not just one, but two guest stars in Nicole Richie and Ben Savage.  I realize some people may consider Mr. Savage a bit player, but I was a total “Boy Meets World” fan in my younger years.

Who would have thought that Sarah was such a nerd in high school?  I was impressed with their ability to take someone as beautiful as Yvonne Strahovski and make her so awkward.  No doubt, Yvonne’s acting chops kicked in on that one as well.

So much of the mystery and intrigue of Yvonne is finally melting away.  From a previous episode we learned that her middle name was Lisa.  So there we have her full name, right? Jennifer Lisa Burton.

But no! So close.  Had me fooled right up til the end.

Nicole Richie actually did an admirable job much to the relief of many a Chuck fan, I’m sure.  Hopefully her appearance has brought in a few viewers to up the ratings.  It seemed pretty clear she was a bad guy from the beginning, but that didn’t make the reveal any less fun.

I also applaud the writers for getting away from the Chuck/Sarah relationship for an episode to really delve into something entirely different.  I can only hope that we get similar backstory on Casey, Awesome, and a few others in the gang (I still secretly hope we’ll find out that Awesome is an undercover secret agent; so deep that not even the Intersect knows of him).

Oh and one more tiny little thing.  Yvonne Strahovski.  Shower.  Fight scene.  I thought a fight with Michael Clarke Duncan would be the best of the season, but I’m in love all over again.

Screen captures should be up tomorrow afternoon.  Until then, hang out on our forums or talk about this episode by commenting on this post.  I know I could talk about it for ages.

Go Cougars!

It’s been exactly one year since our first post here at Strahotski.com, and Lykaon and I thought we’d write a quick self-indulgent post to share a few interesting stats.

Over the past year, we’ve had almost 145,000 people come to Strahotski.com, and have served up nearly 2 million page views. More than 60% of our visitors are from the US, but we’ve had visitors from 159 other countries as well. The forums have become a great place to discuss Yvonne and Chuck, with 124 members participating in 220 threads.

Not surprisingly, the most popular feature on the site is our photo gallery, where we have over 1,000 photos of the beautiful Ms. Strahovski, most of which are screenshots that Lykaon has painstakingly captured and uploaded.

To make it easier to find the best pictures out of those thousand, and to celebrate one year of Strahotski.com, Lykaon and I have created a “Hall of Fame” album. We’ve carefully selected the best 30 or so pictures of Yvonne, no easy task when they are all so lovely, and put them all in their own gallery. We’ll periodically upload new Best of Yvonne Strahovski pictures as we come across them.

We’ve added 40 new screen captures to the gallery from “Chuck Versus the Break-Up.”

Bryce is back which means we get some emotionally conflicting screenshots of Sarah and Bryce living it up on the dance floor.  At least Yvonne Strahovski is as beautiful as ever!

Enjoy!

Here we are in week 3 of Season 2 with Episode 2.03 - Chuck Versus the Break-Up.

Yvonne Strahovski was in fine form this week dealing with the turmoil of Bryce showing back up right when things are heating up with Chuck.

For the entire second season, something hasn’t been quite right with me.  It was just too much direct confrontation of a relationship whose tension is one of the most defining traits of the show.

The real Season 2 started this week.

It was good for the show to own up to the relationship that has been forming for Chuck and Sarah, and then give us a plausible reason for them to stay at arm’s length.

I was worried that Bryce coming back would stir emotions in Sarah.  We’ve been there and done that.  It wasn’t a plot device I was ready to buy.

Luckily, Bryce’s use in this episode was much more subtle.  There was no point where Sarah actually was on the verge of falling for Bryce.  She had already chosen Chuck.  No reason to try to convince us otherwise.

It’s hard to come up with a viable way to forego love, but the writers found a way.

Protection of life and limb are about as motivating a factor as one can find.  When you love someone, you want to protect them.  And the best way Chuck can protect Sarah is to stay away from her emotionally.

Brilliant.  I love the tension this set up for the rest of the season.  Best episode thus far in my opinion.

Yvonne Strahovski is as hot as ever, but I have to say that I miss the Wienerlicious outfit from last season.  Although the orange tank is attractive, it just doesn’t have the same fanboy appeal.

And Devon is absolutely awesome as his nickname implies.  The scene with him and Bryce in the hospital was hilarious. My single favorite scene of the week.

I also liked how they made sure Ellie never quite got close enough Bryce to recognize him. We can assume Ellie knows Bryce from Chuck’s college days so keeping them apart was absolutely vital.

The Buy More stuff was a little disjoint at times, but overall this was the best episode of the season.  It was the first to truly move the plot along so that we can get on with the business of Chuck.

Screen captures should be up this afternoon.  Until then, hang out on our forums or talk about this episode by commenting on this post.

We’ve added 65 new screen captures to the gallery from “Chuck Versus the Seduction.”

It just doesn’t get much better than Yvonne Strahovski crawling around on the floor in a tank top, does it?  When that opening sequence of Yvonne’s entrance started I knew that it would be screen capture heaven.

Enjoy!

Another episode down and now we’ve hit the ground running.  John Laroquette makes a hilarious guest appearance as our wayward hero has to learn the art of seduction.

Though this episode was pretty good, I hate to admit that it wasn’t as good as the season opener.  It had its moments, but the Buy More segments once again felt tacked on while the Sarah/Chuck will they/won’t they drama is wearing thin.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love the chemistry between Zach Levi and Yvonne Strahovski.  It’s absolutely adorable.  The scene where Laroquette makes Chuck practice on Sarah was priceless.

I do feel, however, that they could be a little bit more subtle.  Although there will always be that subtext of them not being able to actually date, it doesn’t always have to be at the forefront.

Of course, with the big shocker at the end maybe it will fall by the wayside for the time being.  That should make for good times; but we’ve been there before and what exactly is going to make this time different?

Those plot points aside, however, Yvonne is in true beautiful form always able to pull off the perfect amount of angst and yearning whenever Chuck is nearby.  Her bickering with Laroquette on the validity of Chuck as a charmer was pretty funny stuff.

And, as they did last week, the writers have included that moment that was pretty much just made for hot screen capturing.  Her crawling into the Buy More in Chuck’s fantasy was definitely a calculated ploy for fans just like us.

Overall, Seduction was a pretty funny episode but the multiple plot lines didn’t integrate as well as they should have.  Not as good as the opener, but an enjoyable advancement in the plot we all love so much.

Screen captures should be up this afternoon.  Until then, hang out on our forums or talk about this episode by commenting on this post.