When I mused on this season’s new iteration of Chuck, I hadn’t really considered needing to follow the subject up. At least not so soon. But I wrote about my displeasure with the change before this week’s episode, “Chuck vs. First Class” aired, and as many of you promised, I definitely saw something different this time out.
First of all, the return to the Buy More was fantastically done, and I greatly appreciate the considerable effort made to bring us, and the staff at the store, back into the swing of things. I’m with Jason in imagining/hoping for some really odd friendship between Morgan and Casey, mostly because I’d love to see Casey’s brilliance utilized beyond just scowling at his co-workers. I’m disappointed in Lester’s spin over to the dark side, because I used to really enjoy his comedy, but maybe now that the mutiny has been quelled he’ll get back to his old self.
I too loved the introduction of Hannah (Kristin Kreuk), and I hope she both sticks around and is not a Ring operative. As much as I hate Rachel Bilson, her Lou was amazing for our hero, and Chuck needs another lady to play off of. Sarah’s boring in that respect.
I’m still in the same place on Shaw (Brandon Routh) — I dislike how he’s inserted himself on the team and into the lives of Sarah and Chuck (who could gain the inside track on Casey?). And while I think Chuck does need more support to grow, throwing him to the wolves like that was arrogant and irresponsible. Shaw’s move was just the opposite extreme from Casey’s and Sarah’s.
I preferred the absence of Awesome and Ellie … not because I dislike them, but because I think Awesome has played too large a role in Chuck’s spy side so far this season, and he needed a drastic pull-back on his meddling.
So, pretty good so far, right? Yeah, except for the major problem I had with Chuck 2.0 in the first place — his ability to overcome insurmountable obstacles by learning skills in an instant. That was still front-and-center! I would have hated to see Steve Austin slaughter Chuck, but Chuck’s head should have been rolling around the floor of the cargo hold after being chopped off by Austin’s Hugo. Or at least Chuck should have been doing a ton of ducking and girl-screaming, leading Hugo to miss and cut the rubber straps himself, inadvertently trapping himself under a pile of suitcases. Sure it’s clumsy, but Chuck becoming a master fencer in the blink of an eye has already gotten old.
But aside from that little sticking point, and Shaw, who I think is lying about his past (explain the sequence of events that would lead to his wife’s engagement ring being inside a sealed box for five years, the key to which was suddenly being transported by The Ring just as Shaw joined our team), I did really enjoy the course-correction I saw this episode as.
Hannah is a great path for Chuck to follow, Morgan as assistant manager is going to be a ton of fun (as long as the mutiny is dead and Lester’s back to his old self), and the promise held in this Casey/Morgan friendship … that’s the kind of stuff that got me into Chuck in the first place.
I’m looking forward to next week.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jan 28, 2010 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
I agree with most of what you said, except the Intersect 2.0 thing. All your points are valid, I just like the new physical abilities. I hope they keep the abilities as fun as they have in the first part of this season.
I agree with you about Shaw hiding something, though for some reason I didn’t think about the 5 year old ring part. I hope he’s not a Ring agent (same w/ Hannah). I think maybe his wife didn’t die, but she switched sides on him.
Yeah, I’m worried that something’s fishy about Shaw and he really was the polar opposite of Sarah and Casey’s coddling of Chuck, so he was just as bad for our titular anti-hero as they were. In fact, more so because he put Chuck in a situation that could’ve killed one of the CIA/NSA’s greatest assets. I have to agree it would’ve been better if Chuck had ducked and Hugo cut the straps, thus taking himself out, but they did let the turbulence to the dirty work, so it wasn’t all bad.
I’m also worried that Hannah showed up at a much-too-convenient time and that she’ll be another Ring agent. Or maybe she’ll be Shaw’s wife who had to fake her death for some reason that will be explained when the two reunite, thus quashing any potential romantic interludes with Chuck. I’m sure that’s way off base, but I think she’s more than just a chance encounter with a beautiful fellow geek.
And having Casey and Morgan form some sort of a 21st century “My Bodyguard” (who remembers that movie?) relationship could be great. It definitely would be a nice change from Casey’s “scowl and grunt” maneuvers that are really overplayed.
I know we’re going to see Lester back to his old self. We were promised more Jeffster this season so we couldn’t have it without our two strangest Buy More employees back to their old selves, could we?
Awesome was really overused in the first few episodes, but I wouldn’t have minded a little snipped of he and Ellie. He can be great comic relief and Ellie keeps everyone grounded, so a few minutes would’ve been nice, but again that’s probably more from a limited budget than anything. (I’m still waiting for Ellie’s “lingerie moment” or “bikini event” since Sarah seems to steal the show with those bits too exclusively.)
ARGH! First sentence, last paragraph: snippet (not snipped). Still bad at proofreading!
*POST AUTHOR*
Don’t worry about that stuff – we do a lot worse in our pieces! :)
*POST AUTHOR*
Interesting thought on Hannah, which goes to what Stan said above. Maybe she is Shaw’s wife who faked her own death and switched sides five years back. Or more recently, and sent him her ring as a symbol of her leaving him and the CIA. I hope not, because she seems good for Chuck.
Definitely looking forward to a heavy emphasis on the Buy More, if the Morgan/Casey thing, and Jeffster all work out. Plus I think Chuck is going to be training a new Nerd Herder (I assume Hannah) this week or next, so that’s great too. The store is definitely a major strength of the show’s.
No, but it wasn’t as terrible as the previous episode. More Buy More/Casey stuff always helps.
Presumably once last week’s attempt to kill Shaw failed, The Ring needed to get the key out of LA right away, since they knew he was closing in and he is apparently unstoppable. My only question is how the intelligence on the discs that Eve apparently gathered five years ago will not be completely out of date.
*POST AUTHOR*
Well that too. Which kind of supports the idea that Shaw is lying….