Chuck Vs The Suitcase

Chuck is in fashion!

Photo: Dean Hendler/NBC

 Monday night’s episode of Chuck was definitely one for the guys; a former Victoria’s Secret model in the shower, Sarah in her underwear (again - although not that you'll get any complaints from me!) and a good old high-kicking chick fight between the two of them. Of course, the ladies were treated to a shirtless Awesome, which kinda compensates! It begs the question, why NBC have done so little to promote this season, especially this episode with so much flesh on display?

 The suitcase of the title we found to be both what Sarah has been living out of, since she has a fear of settling down given both her childhood and her job, and also a reference to her emotional baggage. This is keeping with trend that some episode titles, correct me if I’m wrong, but not all titles, have a double meaning.

 We got treated to the fact that Casey was banned from going to fashion shows, in a professional capacity at least, because of ‘The Yves St Laurent Incident’, although we were informed of some of what happened, unlike the famous and mysterious Buy More ‘Volleyball Incident’!

 In the world of the Burbank Buy More, Morgan got promoted to manager in order to protect its cover. He pointed out that it was too efficient to be realistic, enemy agents would instantly know it was more of a ‘Spy More’ than a ‘Buy More’ – not his words, my rubbish pun!

Of course we had the return of the Buy Morons, along with the ubiquitous ‘wind machine entrance’, this time provided by Morgan with a large fan, a little humourous nod to the entrances of a number of characters to the store.  The question is, will Morgan be able to keep the Buy Morons from finding out the truth about the store and their highly efficient co-workers? He’ll have help from Team Bartowski no doubt, but Lester is naturally suspicious most of the time, or maybe he’ll be too busy wrangling Jeff to notice.

 Speaking of Jeff and Lester, I liked the continuation of the ‘Buy Hard’ video diary aspect, linking those in with the show. We also got given some classic Jeff, first his tolerance to tranq darts – how many did it take?! - and his creepy come-on to a pregnant Ellie. Oh, and I can’t not mention the classic squeal from Lester when Casey turns up at their van – it’s like a distressed hamster or something, and very funny!

 A question that I find I’m asking myself now is how long will it be before Morgan hires back Big Mike to run the store, because we all know that Mark Christopher Lawrence is back at some point this season as our favourite donut-eating boss.

 We got a little hint of what may be ahead; Morgan has had more contact with Casey’s daughter Alex than he has, and Casey is none to pleased. I did like the fact that he was comfortable enough (eventually) to phone her and call himself ‘Dad’, with a little smile even. So it seems that both Sarah and Casey have something to tie them to Burbank, not just as a cover any more.

 We saw the Achilles Heel that Morgan informed Chuck existed in every relationship. Chuck is happy with the idea of getting married to Sarah and starting a family, whilst Sarah is uncomfortable with the idea. She was barely comfortable enough to unpack for eight months, so it’s not to be unexpected that talk of settling down like a normal couple wouldn’t freak her out a bit.

 On a final note, I think it was a pity that Bronson Pinchot’s role lasted only for a few seconds on screen. Whether the rest of his role ended up on the cutting room floor or if it was just a quick turn, I think to have a big(ish) name like that and not really use him was a bit of a waste.

  As always, I recommend checking out the latest ChuckYouTuesday podcast – just click the link to the Chuckgasmic blog in the side bar, but remember, it contains strong language.

 Next week we have ‘Chuck Vs The Cubic Z’ which features the return of Nicole Richie and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. Not only that, but we got legs aplenty in the shape of Stacy Keibler as Greta #3.

Chuck Vs The Anniversary

Welcome back Kotter Chuck!

Photo by: Jordin Althaus/NBC

 I’m a little late writing this blog post, so I expect most of you have watched the season opener a half-dozen times by now!

 This season started a little differently; no flashbacks to last season, no “Hi, I’m Chuck…” recap of what has happened previously. Straight into establishing that this is about the search for Mama Bartowski.

 I think it would be possible for people to jump in and be introduced to the series in this season. It felt, possibly because the lack of recap, that no back-story was needed in this case. It may have been simply that there wouldn’t have been enough time to do a recap. Of course, and I’m not trying to be pessimistic here, but it could be that they’ve realized, given the ratings (and you may know my feelings on those!), that the audience they have will be pretty much the audience they’ve always had. Unfortunately, the stunning lack of promotion by NBC won't do much for the viewing figures either! :(

 But back to the episode, and what a start to the season it was! It was the right mixture of what Chuck does best – comedy, drama and action. Chuck has a real heart in the stories; something that Bond, Bourne and Get Smart lacked, and it’s what puts this show above them in my opinion.

 There was a minimal main cast in this episode, no Awesome, Big Mike, Jeff or Lester. That may be due to the fact that they had not only Linda Hamilton, but also Dolph Lundgren and Harry Dean Stanton, so budget may have played a part.

 There were a number of references to get during the episode. There was, of course, the ‘Rocky’ reference – “I must break you” which most people expected. I thought it was brilliant that they not only had Harry Dean Stanton guest star, but had him play a Repo man. That was intense! True, it didn’t add much to the story, but if you’re gonna have a Repo man, might as well have the Repo Man!  If you haven’t seen the film ‘Repo Man’, then I’d recommend you rent it. It is very good, and you’ll also get the reference in this paragraph.

 With the lack of comic relief from the Buy Morons, it was up to Morgan to provide the humour, and he didn’t disappoint. The whole thing about the sexting was great; only Morgan would think that SOS could stand for Skin On Skin!

 I also liked the fact that despite his lack of experience in the spy world, he sees himself less as the assistant he claimed he was in ‘Vs The Other Guy’, but more as an equal, less an Alfred to Chuck’s Batman, but more as a Robin.

 I do wonder, now that the Buy More is a CIA/NSA substation filled with spies, gadgets, guns and trapdoors, how they will re-introduce Big Mike, Jeff and Lester. Surely you can’t have Jeffster in a spy base? Will Big Mike be working for Diane?

 One thing that I found interesting is that although Mama B was captured by Volkoff, she appears to be working for him in some capacity. All will no doubt be revealed as the season progresses.

 And finally, we have a new phrase to enter in the fandom – Tangiers – file it under ‘T’ in the Chuck-tionary!

 As I usually recommend, check out the latest ChuckYouTuesday podcast – just click the link to the Chuckgasmic blog in the side bar, but remember, it contains strong language.

 Next week, Chuck vs The Suitcase guest starring model Karolina Kurkova and Lou Ferrigno as well as Isaiah Mustafa as Greta.