Geekshow

TV Review: Chuck

Not Shaken . . . Just Nerd.

I am gonna go out on a limb here and say it: Chuck is the most fun show on TV today. That being said, I can see how some people who want a little more depth to their story or more serialized television might not have been a big fan of Chuck in its early days. But to you I say: It’s time to play catch up.

Chuck started out with a rather simple premise. Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi), leader of the Nerd Herd (i.e. Geek Squad) at his local Buy More (i.e. Best Buy) is pretty much a college drop-out slacker-type who lives with his sister. He has a best friend, Morgan Grimes (Joshua Gomez), who is his childhood friend, gaming buddy and all around hanger-on. Then he opens an e-mail from his former college buddy, Bryce Larkin.

And Chuck becomes the most valuable secret the U.S. Government has.

Chuck has downloaded all of the Nation’s most classified and Top Secret projects and personnel into his head. He is now guarded around the clock by his cover girlfriend, the beautiful but deadly Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski), and his cover co-worker and neighbor, the stoic and gruff John Casey (Adam Baldwin).

Admittedly, I watched this show in the beginning for two reasons: 1)It looked to be a fun show and 2) It had Adam Baldwin in it. And I have made a solemn vow to try watch everything Firefly alumni get a role in (Thank you SciFi channel for making me watch some truly craptastic movies). But I digress.

For the first half of the season or so, it was a pretty formulaic and episodic show. But after they came back from the writer’s strike, the show really took off. It is still formulaic, but there is a serious heart to the show now that wasn’t there previously.

I think that charm comes from two things. First of all Chuck has some of the most amazing stunt casting seen today: Melinda Clarke as a deadly seductress (Hey, it’s Nandi – more Firefly!), Michael Clarke Duncan as dangerous villain (The Green Mile), John Laroquette as a former spy and ladies’ man (Night Court), Bruce Boxleitner as Chuck’s sister’s soon to be father-in-law (Scarecrow & Mrs. King) and probably my favorite: Reginald VelJohnson as a doughnut munching cop outside a hostage situation at the Buy More (Die Hard, as a doughnut munching cop outside Nakatomi towers). Each actor and actress just adds a little something to the series as a whole.

The second though, is Yvonne Strahovski. Yes, she wears ridiculous outfits and has fight scenes that make fanboys everywhere melt. But the heart she puts into Sarah makes her more than your average two-dimensional cover girl. We watch Sarah slowly fall for Chuck, and watch her heart break when she realizes that nothing can possibly ever work between them. In a recent episode where she thought Chuck had been killed was some of her best work to date. The utter shock, disbelief, horror and grief that struck her in those few seconds were absolutely overwhelming. She, like so many other genre actresses, ranks among the most underrated in television.

While the show has been a little stale over the last few episodes, news from Chuck’s creator, Josh Schwartz has me more psyched for the show than ever. They have a game-changing ending for this season of Chuck which will lead to one of two things. If Chuck doesn’t get picked up for a third season, this ending will send the show out with a bang. If they are renewed, the show will go a whole new direction next season. I, for one, am good to go either way. I’ve enjoyed the show from the beginning, and am pretty sure I’ll continue to enjoy it through its conclusion, now, or hopefully a few more years down the road.