Oh man, what an episode! Last night’s Chuck saw Stone Cold Steve Austin and Smallville’s Kristen Kreuk guest star, and yet even without them it would have been an amazing episode.
We follow Chuck on his first solo mission, despite Sarah’s protests. Is he ready to fly solo? Well, he’s certainly ready to fly first class. Almost.
Austin as Hugo Panzer was well cast for his imposing figure, but anyone hoping he’d use some of his moves – as The Rock did when he guest starred in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager – would be let down. A bit of swordplay, a couple of punches and a chokehold in the seats are as much as you get.
Things stepped up at the Buy More following the shenanigans of last week. Morgan turns to Casey for help because the Buy Morons don’t respect him, so how does Casey get their respect? John Casey doesn’t command their respect; he takes it!
Of course all of this is paving the way for things to change in the store. First we have Casey becoming Morgan’s right-hand man, now Lester will be like putty thanks to some disturbing(ly funny) NSA tactics! Kreuk’s character Hannah will be joining the Herd for a stint; Jeff will most likely treat her like a replacement Anna, and we all know how that went!
Loved some of the little touches, a mention of ‘The Beastmaster’ as a sort of in-joke. Chuck is becoming a real spy; getting his vodka martini shaken, not stirred – which I’m sure no one actually does – the second Bond reference in the episode. We also had a brilliant girlish scream, as predicted by Casey in his oh-so-inspiring pep talk. I also have to say how brilliant it was that Chuck flashed on using the nunchucks, warms up using them as the bad guys get taken out behind his back by falling luggage, then turns around prepared to battle using his skills only to find there’s no need to use them. The slight look of disappointment on his face just adds to the amusement for me.
Have to mention how cocky Shaw came across this episode. “I should tell you I’m always right,” is what he says at one point. Considering that we learn at the end of the episode that the one agent he lost was his wife, as was hinted at last episode, it’s a little surprising. Maybe his arrogance is his way of covering his insecurities, whereas Chuck embraces them.
Luckily Team Bartowski comes through in the end with the help of some of Shaw’s Agency contacts and a little flight sim work from Sarah.
It’s also good to see that despite everything he’s been through, Chuck has lost none of his wide-eyed enthusiasm and innocence. The signature ‘Carmichael’ faux suave reassurance that he’d get the job done, followed by his giddiness regarding the lobster made me smile.
Oh, and as I mentioned on Twitter – along with many others – I really want to know about ‘The Volleyball Incident’!
Next episode: Chuck vs. The Nacho Sampler, which features Sarah Walker in a cut-off BSG ‘Frak Off’ T-shirt, looking VERY hot!
My slightly rubbish blog about the awesome NBC show 'Chuck'
Wednesday 27 January 2010
Wednesday 20 January 2010
Chuck Vs Operation Awesome
Monday night saw one of the best Chuck episodes I have seen to date, and the buzz from most fans is the same – Operation Awesome lived up to its name. Again, not going to do a synopsis as they can be found anywhere, such as in much better blogs than this.
Last week took a break from the Buy Morons and the pop-culture references, so it was nice to see them back this week.
The truly brilliant comedy came from Captain Awesome though. The scene with Julius was well pitched, and the courtyard scene where Awesome tries to lie with Chuck miming behind Ellie’s back was so funny I had to go back and watch it again because I laughed so hard I missed some of it.
Some have said that the Buy More scenes were pretty much throwaway references to things like Fight Club, Steven Seagal, etc. However, I think they just failed to spot the change in dynamic at the store. With Chuck absent more often, Morgan’s promotion to Assistant Manager, or Ass Man (how I have to stop myself around the Assistant Manager at my own work!), a gap was left in the team. Somehow Lester and his Fight Club filled that gap and he became the one the rest of the staff looked to. Morgan had to change his perception of, and relationship with, the rest of the group. Of course he still asks for help from the two biggest inspirational figures in his life; Chuck and Big Mike. But the last Buy More scene sees Morgan man up and take charge. The future looks quite bright for the little bearded one.
Of course, we can’t talk about this episode without mentioning Shaw. Superman star Brandon Routh kicks ass as the guy we’re going to love to hate. Calm, prepared, and although he doesn’t like guns, he knows how to use them. Essentially he’s what Chuck could be, only Bartowski could be so much better. Shaw’s entrance was audacious, as was befitting for someone set to rival Chuck. He needs to be what Chuck needs to be to upset the team dynamic enough, to drive forward the plot, to bring out Chuck’s inner Bond.
Chuck had a couple of Intersect mishaps within seconds in this episode, scaring off the Thai lady and kicking Lester unconscious. Both were examples of when Intersect works correctly, but Chuck doesn’t; he accessed the ability to talk Thai, but said completely the wrong thing, then he accesses a martial arts style and Lester meets the floor. When he met up with Emmett in ‘The Pink Slip’ he was able to control, to a degree, the Intersect abilities, but under stress, he can barely control himself. This may very well be why Shaw has come in, Beckman and he have some devious plan up their collective sleeve, how this pans out, we’ll have to wait another 7 episodes to find out.
One small thing, however, that has been explained away in an interesting fashion, is that so far this season, The Ring – a highly organized collection of badass spies – somehow don’t know about the Burbank branch of Buy More.
If a Fulcrum agent entered the home of our beloved Nerd Herd and Green Shirts for anything more than to pick up a new iPod, it meant they were either going to be captured or killed.
Since we can assume that Fulcrum were part of The Ring, why was this information not passed around? They lost agents there for almost 2 years, quite a strike rate for a big box electronics store!
The explanation is that The Ring operates as a network of de-centralized cells, meaning that what one knows, the others don’t until information is shared between them. Since we can assume that Fulcrum were one such cell, why did nobody mention that something was amiss in Burbank?
No-prize nitpicking, I know. I’ll shut up now!
Thursday 14 January 2010
Chucking Awesome! Part II
Posting this a little later than I’d anticipated – spent most of the last few days either voting for Yvonne on the E! online poll or re-watching the season openers!
Now that we’ve had episode 3 – Chuck vs The Angel de la Muerte – a few seeds have been sown with regards to themes for the season. Certainly the first half is set to end with a division in fans ala Twilight; I’m sure we’re going to see Team Chuck vs Team Shaw arguments on Twitter in the not too distant future!
As for this episode, it has something happening that Chuck wanted to avoid if at all possible – more of his family getting involved in the spy world. Devon becomes crucial to the mission, and, since Chuck is now uber-Chuck, we had to have someone screw up, espionage newbie Captain Awesome was there to create the ‘whoops’ moment by getting Casey captured.
In this episode Devon learns a valuable lesson; espionage is not all it’s cracked up to be, that he’d rather stay in his own awesome world and leave the spy stuff to the professionals, and Chuck.
It’s quite unfortunate then, that The Ring have other plans for him. The assassin that Devon managed to foil by taking down Casey is at the hospital where he works, and is revealed to be holding a syringe of poison.
It won’t be giving much away if you’ve seen the promos for the next episode (way to go NBC – airing it seconds after the episode finished and ruining a cliffhanger for those who stay away from spoilers!), or the season, or know the name of the next episode, that Devon is still alive. I loved a lot of the buzz after the episode aired with so many people believing him to be dead, based on the little scene at the end between Sarah and Chuck.
The relationship between those two has taken one step forward by taking two steps back. She opened her heart for the first time in ages and got hurt, so now they have to reset the relationship and build it back up again, this time, from a proper starting point. Although the road ahead for them may be rocky, you know they’ll end up together, and who knows, maybe there will be a Chuck Vs The Wedding, mmmm.
Or not, I’m just saying.
Next episode – Chuck Vs Operation Awesome. Bring on Agent Awesome!
Now that we’ve had episode 3 – Chuck vs The Angel de la Muerte – a few seeds have been sown with regards to themes for the season. Certainly the first half is set to end with a division in fans ala Twilight; I’m sure we’re going to see Team Chuck vs Team Shaw arguments on Twitter in the not too distant future!
As for this episode, it has something happening that Chuck wanted to avoid if at all possible – more of his family getting involved in the spy world. Devon becomes crucial to the mission, and, since Chuck is now uber-Chuck, we had to have someone screw up, espionage newbie Captain Awesome was there to create the ‘whoops’ moment by getting Casey captured.
In this episode Devon learns a valuable lesson; espionage is not all it’s cracked up to be, that he’d rather stay in his own awesome world and leave the spy stuff to the professionals, and Chuck.
It’s quite unfortunate then, that The Ring have other plans for him. The assassin that Devon managed to foil by taking down Casey is at the hospital where he works, and is revealed to be holding a syringe of poison.
It won’t be giving much away if you’ve seen the promos for the next episode (way to go NBC – airing it seconds after the episode finished and ruining a cliffhanger for those who stay away from spoilers!), or the season, or know the name of the next episode, that Devon is still alive. I loved a lot of the buzz after the episode aired with so many people believing him to be dead, based on the little scene at the end between Sarah and Chuck.
The relationship between those two has taken one step forward by taking two steps back. She opened her heart for the first time in ages and got hurt, so now they have to reset the relationship and build it back up again, this time, from a proper starting point. Although the road ahead for them may be rocky, you know they’ll end up together, and who knows, maybe there will be a Chuck Vs The Wedding, mmmm.
Or not, I’m just saying.
Next episode – Chuck Vs Operation Awesome. Bring on Agent Awesome!
Monday 11 January 2010
Chucking Awesome!
As most people who've seen my posts on Twitter will know; I'm a Chuckaholic. That is to say I am crazy about the NBC series Chuck.
Last night I watched the 2 hour season premiere - twice. This season is a different animal, the kid gloves are off as was proven in the first episode. Sure, the comedy, angsty-romance and action we know and love is still there, but because Chuck has the upgraded Intersect (a computer holding all the worlds' Top Secret info) in his brain, the show has upgraded with him. Now his 'flashes' (things trigger the computer and accesses the relevant information) give him physical abilities, which work more often than not, but it's the not that keeps that elemnt of bumbling Chuck that we've grown to love.
If you haven't seen the episodes, then first of all, why the hell not? Secondly, this next bit contains spoilers, and although I'm not going to do a blow-by-blow account of the episodes, there will be nuggets of information that might ruin it for you.
----------------------------
Okay, as I said, the kid gloves are off, and no scene slaps that in your face like the one outside the Buy More, where obnoxious, underhanded manager Emmett Millbarge confronts Javier Cruz. Of course, Emmett doesn't realise that Javier is an assassin, and taunts him. Bad move.
Despite being a character you're meant to hate, I doubt most people would have expected them to kill Emmett - it came as quite a shock to me, especially the close-up of his broken glasses with the bloody bullet-hole in one lens.
The upgraded abilities and Chuck's ability or lack thereof to use them has added an extra element to an already great show, who wouldn't want to learn to play guitar by looking at the instrument, and as for the scene in the second episode in the vault where he has to avoid the moving lasers - I grin like the village idiot every time I see that, it is that good!
No longer is he just the flesh-covered computer, he is now an active member of the trio with all the super skills this new Intersect has given him. However, his emotional state affects his ability to 'flash', this means he can still be a liability in the field when his gut or heart override his brain.
During the second episode we see that he hasn't changed that much, his big mouth jeopardizes the entire operation - spilling his deepest feelings to Sarah, who isn't even there, and blowing the cover of the agents. We get to see the security tape of what he said, and Sarahs reaction to it at the end of episode 2, and it was such a sweet moment. It shows that he wanted to do right by his heart, for her, his friends and family, and that meant giving up, again, the one thing that he truly wanted. From the last episode of Season 2, right through the first 2 episodes of Season 3, sacrifice has played a big part in Chuck's life - everything he wants for himself must be sacrificed for the greater good. What a noble sentiment, and yet how heartbreaking at the same time.
Very much looking forward to the next episode, which airs as I type this, in just under 8 hours. In the meantime, for a much better Chuck blog, go to - http://chuckgasmic.blogspot.com/
------------
I've seen comments on the boards of people already dissing the show, despite several not having watched the episodes. 'I hated the rubbish writing. How can you watch this crap?', 'Unrealistic tension, no wonder it was canned'. A few words for these morons - don't waste your time writing why you don't like it and berate those who do, if you don't like it, say so and leave it at that, whilst you're welcome to voice your opinion, we are less than impressed by your spiteful comments. That's why Emmett got shot. Take note!
Oh, and a final two words for 'em, the second one is off, and you can work the rest out!
Last night I watched the 2 hour season premiere - twice. This season is a different animal, the kid gloves are off as was proven in the first episode. Sure, the comedy, angsty-romance and action we know and love is still there, but because Chuck has the upgraded Intersect (a computer holding all the worlds' Top Secret info) in his brain, the show has upgraded with him. Now his 'flashes' (things trigger the computer and accesses the relevant information) give him physical abilities, which work more often than not, but it's the not that keeps that elemnt of bumbling Chuck that we've grown to love.
If you haven't seen the episodes, then first of all, why the hell not? Secondly, this next bit contains spoilers, and although I'm not going to do a blow-by-blow account of the episodes, there will be nuggets of information that might ruin it for you.
----------------------------
Okay, as I said, the kid gloves are off, and no scene slaps that in your face like the one outside the Buy More, where obnoxious, underhanded manager Emmett Millbarge confronts Javier Cruz. Of course, Emmett doesn't realise that Javier is an assassin, and taunts him. Bad move.
Despite being a character you're meant to hate, I doubt most people would have expected them to kill Emmett - it came as quite a shock to me, especially the close-up of his broken glasses with the bloody bullet-hole in one lens.
The upgraded abilities and Chuck's ability or lack thereof to use them has added an extra element to an already great show, who wouldn't want to learn to play guitar by looking at the instrument, and as for the scene in the second episode in the vault where he has to avoid the moving lasers - I grin like the village idiot every time I see that, it is that good!
No longer is he just the flesh-covered computer, he is now an active member of the trio with all the super skills this new Intersect has given him. However, his emotional state affects his ability to 'flash', this means he can still be a liability in the field when his gut or heart override his brain.
During the second episode we see that he hasn't changed that much, his big mouth jeopardizes the entire operation - spilling his deepest feelings to Sarah, who isn't even there, and blowing the cover of the agents. We get to see the security tape of what he said, and Sarahs reaction to it at the end of episode 2, and it was such a sweet moment. It shows that he wanted to do right by his heart, for her, his friends and family, and that meant giving up, again, the one thing that he truly wanted. From the last episode of Season 2, right through the first 2 episodes of Season 3, sacrifice has played a big part in Chuck's life - everything he wants for himself must be sacrificed for the greater good. What a noble sentiment, and yet how heartbreaking at the same time.
Very much looking forward to the next episode, which airs as I type this, in just under 8 hours. In the meantime, for a much better Chuck blog, go to - http://chuckgasmic.blogspot.com/
------------
I've seen comments on the boards of people already dissing the show, despite several not having watched the episodes. 'I hated the rubbish writing. How can you watch this crap?', 'Unrealistic tension, no wonder it was canned'. A few words for these morons - don't waste your time writing why you don't like it and berate those who do, if you don't like it, say so and leave it at that, whilst you're welcome to voice your opinion, we are less than impressed by your spiteful comments. That's why Emmett got shot. Take note!
Oh, and a final two words for 'em, the second one is off, and you can work the rest out!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)