Chuck is back this week with an episode that finds Chuck getting a little more responsibility and maybe even a little dark. Team Bartowski travels from Burbank to Dubai on a mission, while new castmate Hannah (Kristin Kreuk) fends off pursuers and openly pines for Chuck.
Such is the life of an international superspy.
See my review after the jump.
Synopsis: While all Hannah (Kreuk) wants is Chuck to explain the Buy More way to her, he is tied up with his responsibilites as a budding CIA agent as he tries to convert an asset from The Ring to their side. Sarah and Casey of course have to intervene, and much shenanigans transpire.
Plus, Awesome starts melting down from having to lie to Ellie and Morgan tasks his best men (Jeff and Lester) to do some recon work to help him with Hannah.
What Was Good: Let’s see: you had a fairly entertaining premise featuring a new version of the intersect, the repeated tranqing of the asset (to much comedic effect), Sarah’s “Frak Off” persona (mother of god), Chuck reading Y the Last Man, and Chuck’s continued growth as a spy. Definitely a lot of good here and the basis of a potentially good episode.
What Was Bad: This was a strangely only decent episode. The Buy More material wasn’t great – the creepy stalking was fairly funny but perhaps too creepy, Morgan’s desperation was maybe too desperate, and Ryan McPartlin’s performance as Awesome was sub-par this week. Plus, the plot’s execution didn’t necessarily match the quality of concept.
The biggest negative though was that Chuck as a character is starting to get fairly dark. Dark is not what this show needs, and seeing Chuck burn an asset and then brood while drinking some Johnny Walker Black was moderately disturbing.
Overall: An okay episode with some fairly entertaining bits. By far the worst episode this season, and most of that is stemming from Chuck’s move down a dark path. I never thought I’d say this, but this episode really missed Shaw (Brandon Routh). If Chuck continues down that path that Sarah is clearly against, it’ll be no surprise and work very naturally that Sarah pursues Shaw. Maybe that’s what Schwartz and Fedak are going for though.
