Chuck vs. The Aisle of Terror

OK, you know what? Considering you left me when I was… Oh, I don’t know, nine years-old and I still don’t know if you’re good or bad, I think I have every right to have a mother issue or two right now.

And now that that teensy bit of exposition is out of the way, we can all dig in and enjoy “Chuck vs. the Aisle of Terror,” a terrifically funny 45 minutes that performs enough narrative cartwheels to leave us wondering where the episode will stick it’s next landing. This was a particularly tricky installment to pull off, the value of five weeks worth of build-up dependent upon the sparks that flew between a espionage entrenched mother and the adorable nerd turned super-spy son she abandoned, and for the most part, Chuck executed it in style.

Structurally, the key to this week’s story was Dr. Stanley Wheelright (Friday the Thirteenth’s Robert Englund) a mad scientist whose fear toxin (think The Scarecrow from Batman) serves as a McGuffin, driving all of the action forward without possessing any actual importance. It’s the toxin that brings Mary Bartowski (Linda Hamilton) back into Chuck and Ellie’s life, as she seeks her son’s help in bringing down Wheelright without exposing her status as a double agent. This provides the opportunity for Mary to discover her daughter’s pregnancy and dovetails nicely with Elly’s growing resentment towards her visiting busybody of a mother-in-law (Morgan Fairchild).

This mother-centric affair was more or less made by writer Craig DiGregorio’s smart script. Each act presented both Chuck and the audience with a solid argument for Mary’s side of the story, only to blow it straight to hell by the commercial break. Double identities are no stranger to Chuck, but this is the first time in a history of characters including Bryce, Jill, and Shaw that I feel genuinely at a loss as to what someone’s true intentions might be, and it’s absolutely thrilling. Some of the credit has to go to Hamilton, who plays her kick-ass character so matter-of-factly that even a gesture as small as playful pinch to Chuck’s cheek makes her seem so undeniably mom-ish.

Yvonne Strahovski and Adam Baldwin were also given a chance to shine. Sarah and Casey’s shared glance after the briefing in Castle wordlessly indicated a growing sense of unease regarding the operative formerly known as Frost, helping to pick up any slack dropped by the script in selling their episode ending abduction of Chuck’s momma. Baldwin’s best moments, however, were the ones he shared with Joshua Gomez’s Morgan, who’s unabashed enthusiasm for all things spy related (even after being used as “The Magnet”) forces Casey to walk the comically thin line between rage and affection. Morgan’s spy training is simply too funny for the show to keep allowing it to slip into the background, and I hope that they continue to touch upon it throughout the rest of season.

While the wonderful Robert Englund’s villain of the week storyline was, I think by design, slightly underwhelming, “Chuck vs. the Aisle of Terror,” had enough overall action, laughs, and intrigue to compensate. One of Chuck’s few failings has been its struggle to properly utilize all of it’s extraordinarily gifted cast, but so far this season has managed to weave individual storylines that interconnect with and impact one another.  I’m anxious to see how all of the episode’s big reveals, including Chuck’s revelation to Ellie that their mother is a spy, continue to up the season’s stakes for all of the characters and propel Chuck into it’s winter hiatus. 

Chuck vs. The Coup D'Etat- Review

“Bring me my husband’s head!”

The average American male has been desensitized by enough domestic sitcoms to dismiss the above as playful hyperbole on the part of our better halves. It’s only when uttered by a shrieking woman waving a machine gun that we tend to sit up a little straighter. It’s the fine line between the semi-real and surreal that NBC’s spy dramedy Chuck has walked for four seasons now, the delightfully ridiculous effect of which was on full display in Monday’s “Chuck vs. the Coup D’Etat.”

This particular episode found it’s footing through the use of a strong central theme, the presence of which was obvious from the outset of each of the main storylines. Chuck and Sarah are unsure where each of them stands on the issue of marriage and embark on a series of self-help exercises meant to bring them closer together (the importance of communication). Elly is feeling overwhelmed by Awesome’s baby-mania and asks him to go on one final romantic getaway (the importance of communication). The wife of a dictator is feeling stifled in her marriage and stages a military coup to throw him out of power (the importance of communication…?).

Elly’s getaway is provided by Generalissimo Goya, played with gleeful gusto by guest star Armand Assante, who somehow makes it seem bone chillingly plausible that a man who performs operatic renditions of “Beso Me Mucho” at state dinners is also at the head of a country with nuclear capabilities. As a thank you for the lifesaving medical care Awesome provided almost a year ago in “Chuck vs. the Angel de la Muerte,” the trip to the fictional Costa Gravas provided an opportunity for the show do what it does best, allowing Chuck’s two worlds to collide into comedic chaos.

Chuck’s core strength has been it’s willingness to push and evolve it’s core dynamics, arranging and than rearranging them to find the most potent combinations. When Elly discovered Chuck’s secret at the end of last season, her subsequent demand that he quit the spy life for his own safety was simultaneously understandable and grating to fans who felt that Elly over-mothers her little brother. This made it all the more fun when Chuck finally got to show-off for his sister in a terrifically executed kung-fu sequence where he helps take down three Costa-Gravan soldiers. The moment was terrifically played by Sarah Lancaster, who’s wide eyes hinted at a newfound respect for her brother’s capabilities. I’m interested to see how this impacts her future feelings towards Chuck’s alleged retirement.

Things continued to evolve on the home front as well, as a new wrinkle occurred in the relationship between one of television’s all-time great odd couples. Morgan’s discovery of Chuck’s secret and his adoption of John Casey as his espionage idol was one of season three’s most gratifying developments. His passionate kiss with Casey’s long lost daughter Alex not only opened the door for some hilarious future complications, but also helped to integrate the occasionally shoehorned Buy More subplot with the rest of the episode by suggesting that too much talking is just as detrimental as not enough. Which is a sentiment that will mean little to Casey once he discovers exactly where Morgan’s beard has been.

As for the final scene between Chuck and Sarah, I saw it coming from the moment our hero mentioned that one of the relationship exercises was talking to your lover while they were asleep… But Sarah’s nocturnal declaration still got me. So much for my worldly cynicism. Such is the power of Chuck (or the sappiness of this writer). A great installment in what has so far been an enjoyable season, “Chuck vs. the Coup D’Etat advanced each of the year’s arcs, and much like it’s titular character, left me smiling at the though of what’s coming next. 

Chuck

Since this is the first time I'm going to review this show, I'd just like to provided people who haven't seen it with a cliff notes version of the past three years. With the understanding that I'm about to lose all of my objectivity, I want to urge you guys to watch this show, even if it sounds too convoluted to just jump on board. It's a blast, and once you start you'll figure things out pretty quickly.


Chuck follows Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi), Nerd Herder (think Best Buy's Geek Squad) turned super-spy thanks to a former friend who sends him an e-mail containing government secrets encoded in images that our hero unwittingly and subliminally downloads into his brain. Now a fountain of valuable information, Chuck is protected around the clock by Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski), CIA agent with a soft spot, and her NSA counterpart, the deadly and sardonic John Casey (Adam Baldwin).


After three seasons, one upgrade, and multiple romantic entanglements, Chuck is still struggling to balance his secret life, hiding his espionage activities from his sister Elly (Sarah Lancaster) and brother in-law Devon a.k.a Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin). His best friend Morgan (Joshua Gomez), now manager of the Buy More, the electronics store where Chuck works, has been let in on the secret and is now a part of Chuck's team. Plus Chuck and Sarah are trying to make a go of it as a couple. Follow any of that? No? Watch these clips from last season.

Chuck Trailer

Introduction

It took me an hour and a half to come up with the title for this blog. And it's not even a very good title. It seems kind of obvious, like "Oh, the kid who wants to be a screenwriter calls his blog The First Draft because..." Yeah. I guess we could consider it a metaphor, The First Draft being the beginning of my first attempt at critiquing anything, serving as the first step towards moving my writing in a different direction and taking my career to a whole new level... And I just lost myself.

I make a point of mentioning this because good writers show rather than tell and I want people to know what they're in for. My intention is to take this, my very first blog (as I've amply shown) and use it to review the weekly episodes of some of my favorite series. Shows like "Chuck," "Running Wilde," "Modern Family," "The Office," "Community," "Parks and Recreation;" maybe "30 Rock," I think "Bones" and probably "Smallville,"(more telling than showing, but to be fair, we're not playing charades). Is there anything else anybody watches that I should check out? I'm currently unemployed so I have the time (it's a close call, but definitely a show. Did we really not notice all of the TV I watch?).