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CHUCK |
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Series Overview
Chuck Bartowski - Zachari Levi John Casey - Adam Baldwin Sarah Walker - Yvonne Strahovski Morgan Grimes - Joshua Gomez Ellie Bartowski - Sarah Lancaster 
OTHER SEASONS Season 1 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 
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Chuck vs The First DateChuck is getting used to the idea that the new intersect computer might be finished and the government no longer need the secrets in his head. He has plans of what to do with the rest of his life. Unfortunately, Casey has plans to end the rest of his life and there are some new goons in town who want what Chuck has. CHUCK comes roaring back with confidence, brio and the same sense of fun that marked the first season out as such good entertainment. This establishing plot is snappy and simple enough, but leaves plenty of space for the appealing cast to work their stuff. Zachari Levi is as charmingly vulnerable as ever, Yvonne Strahovski as gorgeous as ever (and with an obligatory and unnecessary shot of her in her underwear) and Adam Baldwin playing it straight, as ever. It's a great cast and they make a witty script sing. There are plenty of good lines, some nice situations and a classic way of choosing the new store assistant manager that ought to be adopted throughout the business world. Suffice to say that CHUCK is back, everything is present and correct and a good time was had by all. TopChuck vs The SeductionA vital part of the new intersect machine is tracked down to the possession of a gorgeous eastern european killer. The only wat to get it, though, is through seduction, so the greatest ex-secret agent is brought in to teach Chuck to be a seducing machine. Another excellent episode with a cracking script that plays with the relationship between Chuck and CIA handler Sarah by introducing the seduction element. Melinda Clark makes a very unconvincing east european, but then she just has to look like a woman you would want to seduce whilst John Larroquette is much more successful as the booze-sozzled ex-spy who's still the smoothest. The Buy Mart staff walkout subplot is irrelevant, but there is just too much fun going on for that to matter. TopChuck vs The Break UpBryce Larson is back in Chuck's life, or more accurately back in Sarah's life, which makes the situation between them difficult at best. When the mission means that Brice and Sarah are going to have to pose as man and wife and her relationship with Chuck causes conflicts with her professional judgment, decisions have to be made. First up, how long are the makers of this show going to keep the whole Chuck/Sarah thing at the forefront of each episode. Sure, it's at the heart of the show, but that doesn't mean that it has to rule every single episode. That said, their relationship is more complex than you would find in most light-hearted sci-fi related shows like this. Second up, how did they get away with stealing the whole Brice/Sarah dancing at the party scene almost verbatim from TRUE LIES. It may have worked, but that's just theft. One thing that isn't working is the ongoing travails of the other staff at the Buy More. Their story doesn't intersect (no pun intended) with Chuck's at all and is merely a distraction. If they can't be integrated into the main plots then they ought to be just sidelined. Fortunately there is enough fun stuff going on in the main plot to get over that flaw. TopChuck vs The CougarsA nerd from Sarah's High School is about to sell secret plans to the Russian Mob. Chuck and Sarah have to go undercover at her ten year reunion to expose the plot. Chuck gets to see some of Sarah's real life background in what is otherwise an uninspired and uninspiring episode. Fortunately, the sight of Yvonne Strahovski in braces trying to look anything other than gorgeous and the witty banter of the script make up for that and the wholly pointless Buy More secondary story. It's just a good thing that the cast and characters are so likeable. TopChuck vs The ExThe girl who dumped Chuck following his being thrown out of Stanford and went on to sleep with Bryce Larkin the man who got him thrown out of Stanford comes back into his life when he answers a tech help call at a local conference. She is there with her boss who is potentially about to loose a deadly virus onto the world and Chuck must put aside his bitterness and reconnect with her to find out what she knows. After a disappointing episode, CHUCK bounces right back to form with a script that is fizzing with wit and gives the cast more to work with in both the comedy and the drama departments. The introduction of Jordana Brewster as Jill, Chuck's ex, throws in a whole new dynamic to the Chuck/Sarah love story and actually gives our boy something to be happy about for a change. The mission of the week is fairly standard, but it gives Adam Baldwin especially some good moments (waiter, interrogator, kisser) and promises more good stuff to come. TopChuck vs The Fat LadyChuck is trying to learn to enjoy having a real girlfriend again, even if it is his ex-girlfriend from Stanford, Jill. When a list of all the enemy agents from secret criminal organisation Fulcrum working inside the US government is learned to have been in the possession of a casualty of recent events, a mystery chase is on to solve a series of clues leading to the whereabouts of the list, a chase that will need the skills of the whole team, including Jill. They are not the only ones looking for the list, however. With a title like that you know the opera's going to show up somewhere, but this is another fizzy, entertaining episode that takes a slight premise and fills it with so much fun that you can't help but have a good time. OK, it's just moving from one clue to the next, hardly the strongest narrative construction ever, but narrative has never been what CHUCK has been about and the script gives everyone lots to make the most of, whilst once again going out of its way to play to Adam Baldwin's strengths. The inclusion of Jill continues to add some depth to the character of Chuck and also keeps the will they/won't they story of the relationship with Sarah moving right along. Even the story of the Buy More crew manages to be entertainign rather than distracting. TopChuck vs The GravitronWith Chuck's girlfriend Jill revealed to be a Fulcrum agent, Chuck is tasked with finding out who her contacts are without arousing her suspicions. The bigger question, however, is who exactly is playing who. After last week's simplistic join-the-dots storyline, this week's plot has more twists and turns than the fairground rides in front of which part of it plays out. Jill is not all that she seems, but is she more than she seems or is she less? Things change so often that by the end it's impossible to tell. Add to that a whole Thanksgiving dinner subplot with Chuck's sister that is charming despite being overly familiar and some nonsense with the Buy More crew that is quite fun no matter how irrelevant and some cracking dialogue and this is an episode that sees CHUCK at the top of his game. TopChuck vs The SenseiEllie panics when her fiance's awesome parents come to town on a surprise visit. Chuck, meanwhile, has to deal with John Casey's mentor, now a rogue agent stealing top security weapons to sell on the black market. Casey can't deal with the betrayal and his team rally behind him, whether he wants them to or not. This episode falls a bit flat, especially after the last three weeks. The set up is perfectly good and ought to add some depth to Adam Baldwin's Casey character, but it really doesn't manage to do that and is also lacking in the usual quota of witty situations and funny lines. TopChuck vs The DeLoreanSarah's father, a notorious conman, comes to town having recently scammed close to a million dollars from an arab sheik. As the sheik is suspected of funding terrorism, the team is asked to play along to get his financial information, but can Sarah's father be trusted even when there are lives on the line? Gary Cole (AMERICAN GOTHIC) guest stars as Sarah's father and proves to be more the loveable rogue than the twisted thief. The con they pull is fairly straightforward, but fun enough, especially Chuck's attempts at being German. The title comes from Morgan's girlfriend wanting him to get an apartment with her, but him spending the money he borrows from Captain Awesome on a DeLorean car that can only do 22 miles per hour. For once, this side story isn't intrusive or annoying. TopChuck Vs Santa ClausIt's Christmas Eve and that means huge profits at the Buy More, or at least it would do had an incompetent gunman not just taken the staff and first customers hostage. Now Chuck has to deal with the seige situation without anyone getting killed, but does he really understand what's going on? Locking up all the characters in one place offers up all sorts of opportunities for comedy and the episode takes a lot of them with its usual charming gusto. The twist halfway through is hardly unexpected, but it does set up an interesting development to be sorted out in future episodes. It also means that there's no annoying Buy More subplot as the whole thing is set in the store. TopChuck vs The Third DimensionThe tattoos on a pop star's body carry the key to information smuggling and Chuck is given the job of keeping the performer under wraps whilst Casey and Sarah track down the man who is out to kill him. That's something that's easier said than done when the singer is out to party and the groupies that he wants to party with are knife-wielding assassins. First up, as the name suggests, this is CHUCK in 3D. Why? Because they can. There is no need for the gimmick. It serves no purpose in the plot and the glasses that you have to wear are distracting. Also, after a week of adverts seeing Chuck get slapped for being lascivious about seeing Sarah's assets in 3D the opening scene lasciviously displays Sarah's assets in 3D. There are lots of COMIN' AT YA! moments (knives, boxes, donuts), but on the whole that side of things isn't overused as the plot settles down to the usual stuff. Dominic Monaghan reprises his pop star persona from LOST, but could have been anyone since the script gives him little to do. The with and charm of the show are also less on display for the main characters, although Chuck does get to dangle from an outside life and have an erotic nightmare. The gimmick is the main focus of the episode, so now that's out of the show's system we can go back to just plain old loveable CHUCK. TopChuck Vs the SuburbsAn agent whose mind has been turned to mush gives the location of a terrorist cell, but not the identity. Chuck and Sarah have to masquerade as a married couple in the suburbs to check out their new neighbours to find out who the terrorist is. What they find there is more dangerous than they could have imagined. CHUCK races back to the heights of the show's powers with this excellent episode that is funny, action-packed, surprising and a bit deeper than some of the others have been. The twists along the way are nicely judged and the final escape is harsher than most, putting some real meat on the emotional bones of the relationship between Chuck and Sarah. Zachari Levi proves to be even more irresistible than usual and is proving to be better than the simple slapstick episodes have suggested. The supporting Buy More story is fine, but manages to come up with a nice and funny twist in the tail. TopChuck Vs the Best FriendChuck and Morgan have been friends for, like, ever and so when Chuck is ordered to spend time with Anna, the girl who recently dumped Morgan, and her new boyfriend he feels a conflict of interest coming on. Bringing in Morgan to the central spy story is a fine idea as it focusses it more and again makes it more personal to Chuck, rather than just being some random spy story. It also allows more time for character interplay and witty dialogue, both of which are what the show excels at. That said, Sarah's battle in a confined space is inventive whilst the stories around Jeff and Lester in the Buy More are getting progressively sillier. This week, they're a band and you just know when they finally get to perform that they're going to be awful. Guess what... TopChuck Vs the BeefcakeChuck's feelings for Sarah are seriously messed up and they are about to get even more so as a Fulcrum agent they are tailing turns out to be a top MI6 agent who decides to turn the charm on Sarah big style. CHUCK is managing to spin out the will they/won't they of Chuck and Sarah quite well, but there is a strong sense of Deja Vu here as this reminds us a lot of the similar stuff that Chuck goes through every time rival in love Bryce Larkin pops up. Admittedly this guy has no previous connection to Sarah, but that's about the only difference. Even so, the winning formula keeps on winning with wit, charm, funny lines and yet another excuse to get Yvonne Strahovski down to her underwear. Really guys, aren't we past that now? There are even hints at a mini plot arc as the information from Chuck vs the Suburbs is what drives this episode and leads to the situation where Chuck and Sarah are going to have to pretend to live together. Let the good times roll. TopChuck Vs the Lethal WeaponThe British superspy escapes from Fulcrum's clutches and brings information that leads to a man who might be able to help remove the intersect from Chuck's head. Unfortunately, Sarah and Casey are captured and it's up to the superspy and Chuck to do the Lethal Weapon thing and rescue them. There are lots of amusing moments in this episode that make up for the fact that the story isn't really up to much. The way in which Cole the British agent manages to get shot or injured on every mission is fun, Chuck in a leg cast chasing STAR TREK VOYAGER's Robert Picardo with a gun wound is fun, the banter between the supersmooth spy and the nerdy geek is fun, the banter between Cole and Sarah is fun. All round it's fun. All the players are on top form and even the Buy More background story of Morgan trying to get Anna to not want to move in with him proves to be entertaining rather than distracting. TopChuck Vs the PredatorOrion is the only man who has the knowledge of the Intersect programme to be able to remove it from Chuck's head. Chuck manages to make contact with him, something that nobody else has been able to do and he supplies an advanced laptop computer through which they can communicate securely, but the machine falls into the hands of the Buy More team who fail to notice that the game they are playing on it is in reality controlling the destructive might of a predator drone aircraft. Arnold (THE MUMMY) Vosloo crops up as a Fulcrum agent who manages to get shot more in one episode than most people manage in a whole series. He's just one of the incidental pleasures in yet another funny episode of the accidentaly spy show. There are dark edges around Chuck not being able to trust his national security handlers and them not being able to trust Sarah's loyalty as her feelings for Chuck grow, but it's bright and breezy as ever and the cast are in full control of their characters. And the denoument doesn't fool us for a second. Orion's far to clever to be so easily taken and killed and isn't it just too convenient that Chuck's father has managed to elude all his attempts to find him for Ellie's wedding? This story still has time to run. TopChuck Vs the Broken HeartSarah's relationship with Chuck comes under scrutiny when another agent comes in to take over her job whilst she is assessed. A terrorist is awaiting heart surgery and Chuck's future brother-in-law is thrown a bachelor party as a cover to get hold of his key card so that a bug can be secreted on the sick man. When the bug is discovered, Chuck takes Devon's place to protect him. Tricia Helfer (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's Number 6) shows up as the super spy who gets under Casey's skin whilst ruining Chuck's life. The scene where she and Adam Baldwin clean guns as foreplay is brilliant and worth the watching of the episode for alone, but she then throws in a scene posing as a stripper that will make her fans foam at the mouth. Outside of Ms Helfer, the usual level of wit, warmth, charm and downright silliness are all present and correct from the fact that Jeff's sister provides the strippers through to Chuck being saved by laughing gas. It's all good and there's a cliffhanger as Chuck may (or may not) come face to face with his father. TopChuck Vs the Dream JobChuck finds his father at last and persuades him to come home to walk Ellie down the aisle, but when he has to go undercover as a new employee at the firm owned by the man his dad thinks stole all his ideas, Chuck learns a few things about his father's past that changes everything. Scott Bakula (STAR TREK ENTERPRISE) gives a killer performance as the slightly batty Bartowski senior, enlivening an episode that has a lot of character drama to deal with and not much in the way of the spy stuff - at least not initially. There is a wonderful 'Oh Boy' moment (it's from QUANTUM LEAP for those who don't know) to savour and the twist, however predictable it might have been, manages to still be fun. It's also nice to see that the characters (well Chuck at least) are being allowed to develop. Once a completely helpless nerd, Chuck is gaining in confidence, self-reliance and more than a few spying skills. The supporting cast get much less screen time because this is the Chuck and dad show, at least for this episode, and it's good enough that you won't mind for a moment. Chevy Chase also appears as the big baddie, but he must be popping up again soon because he makes absolutely no impact here. TopChuck Vs the First KillWith his father kidnapped by Fulcrum, Chuck has to turn to his ex-girlfriend and Fulcrum agent Jill for help. They pose as a newly engaged couple to get information from her uncle, but when things go wrong Chuck learns exactly who he can trust. CHUCK has come along in leaps and bounds since the early days. It's still as full of fun and wit and charm as it ever was, but it is also developing a deeper and harder edge as it progresses. The Buy More side story of the a corporate evaluation is time-filling nonsense, but the main story as Chuck learns more about those he opposes and those that he works for and gets more confused about who he can trust gets stronger, leading to a climax that takes the show into uncharted territory and is the kind of cliffhanger that would normally be a season finale. TopChuck Vs the GeneralThe General sends Casey after Chuck and Sarah who are on the run and tracking down the Fulcrum headquarters. As the upper hand changes between the two agents, it becomes clear that the stakes are far higher than just one man. CHUCK's story comes together in an episode that answers so many questions that the audience is left wondering whether this season will the last. Developments in Chuck's tangled relationship with Sarah, Fulcrum's plans, Chuck's father and the presence of the intersect in Chuck's head and Morgan's place at the Buy More all seem to be resolved to the point where you have to wonder where the show can go next. There are matters to be sorted out in the season finale, but they seem to be rather minor ones. What can the show come up with next to top this excellent episode? TopChuck Vs the RingIt's Ellie's wedding day and Chuck's desire that nothing spoil her special day is derailed when Fulcrum move in to try and steal the Intersect one more time. Having tied up all of CHUCK's storylines in a neat and tidy bow in Chuck vs the Ring, this season finale unravels the whole lot again. It's something of a reset back to where the show was, but there is at least one wrinkle to the new information in Chuck's head that makes for interesting potential developments when Season 3 rolls around. It works as a standalone episode as well, the balance of action, comedy and likeability just as it ought to be. There are also strong character moments such as Sarah deciding where her future lies and some very classic moments of comedy such as Ellie's stress management yoga and Casey's wedding planner technique and reactions to Chuck's new upload. And so Chuck sails off into the spy sunset for a while, but we can only hope that it is a very, very short while. Top |
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