Oh Chuck Me, we’re back! After a far too long of a break (and a scary bit run in with near cancelation) we start up again with season three of Chuck, and it’s almost as if we never left off.
After a couple of quick flashbacks to the season two finale, we find Chuck captured somewhere in Prague, going under the name Charles Carmichael. Here we get a glimpse of his ability to pull up skills that he’ll need in the field via his intersect brain. The whole sequence has a serious (and likely very intentional) Matrix vibe to it. I guess I should have figured it was a training op. There’s no way that Chuck would suddenly be so smooth under real pressure. It was nice to see that our lovable Chuck isn’t going to be shooting anyone anytime soon.
Also, I guess even if Chuck has all the intersect in his head, he can’t pull it up on demand as well as he needs to to be effective. It’s these failures that will keep Chuck, and the show, as goofy and lovable that we’ve come to expect.
The episode over all was a bit franticly paced as they attempted to get a lot of information into the first hour. Intercutting flashbacks of the last six months does a decent job of setting up the events leading to Chucks misery, but you have to wonder if the whole flashback thing is a bit tired.
Of course after getting captured for real, Chuck has to use his skills to rescue himself and Sarah, with Casey coming to the aid of the extraction. There wasn’t very much action in this first part, but plenty of story and character development.
The big part of this episode is the massive amounts of emotional tension between Sarah and Chuck. It’s pretty obvious Sarah is deeply hurt by the events of the last six months. Basically the show is right back to where we started, full of tensions and unspoken feelings. Morgan and all are back at Buy More, the new baddie is “The Ring,” and the whole gang is back, mostly the same. It works.
Observations
- Why the hell does Buy More sell Cheese Balls?
- Buy More security wear Matrix agent style shades
- Chuck’s new nickname is “lemon” as in a failed car.
- Jeff and Lester are still both very very creepy.
- I’m surprised that Casey was so careless to allow Chuck to see the mission brief.
- Casey: “Why’d you knock him out?” Sarah: “It was a slap” Casey: “Lemon’s got a glass jaw.”
- The intersect is good for more than just combat and technical skills.
- Devon: “Still playing the looser cover? You’re nailing it!” Chuck: “It’s not a cover.”
- “Does the CIA just leave you like that. Don’t they send someone to kill you or something?” – Devon
- Morgan was living in the Buy More for how long before Emmett saw him?
- Anna dumps Morgan, poor guy.
- Casey: “I’m gonna miss this.” Sarah: “What?” Casey: “M134 Machine Gun. 134 rounds a minute. Never got to use her.”
- “I’ve seen men have fingernails pulled off teated more humanely than you treated that kid” -Casey
- “I think I have documentation somewhere that proves I’m an official nobody” -Chuck
- Where were the shell casings for the mini gun?
- “I have dibs on Ellie’s room!” – Morgan on moving in with Chuck
- Poor Emmet is dead because he couldn’t shut up. Interestingly, the CIA cover him as taking a new job instead of a robbery or something.
- During the first commercial break, there was a seamless cut to a Honda commercial with Ellie, Devon, and Morgan. At first I thought it was a cross commercial for the Winter Olympics, but it was a Honda commercial in disguise…I feel slightly deceived.
Songs of the week:
- Wait It Out – Imogen Heap
- Just Dropped In (For The Good Times) – Kenny Rogers
- My Backwards Walk – Frightened Rabbit
- Eye of the Tiger – Survivor
Skills of the week: Kung Fu, Neck Choke, Mariachi Guitar playing, Boxing, Zip-lines
Gratuitous shot of Sarah: Golden bikini pool shot
