This Chuck review brought to you by your favorite Matthew as David recovers from getting scurvy at ECCC!
As is par course for this season of Chuck, tonights episode brought the show once again into new and strange territory. As we had learned a tad bit of Sarah’s past, we now have a glimpse into the life of John Casey, as well as continuously pushing Chuck down a strange and new darker path. How does NBC’s best comedy/action show hold up in the tenth episode of the third season?
As a note, spoilers abound.
Synopsis
While honing Chuck’s skills with the new intersect and spy proofing an important CIA installation, Casey becomes compromised when he is tapped in to steal a new drug for the Ring. Betrayed by Chuck and arrested, Sarah and Chuck are left to find out if Casey is really the Ring’s latest recruit, or a patsy in a larger scheme.
What Was Good
The fact that the show is going in two directions I never really imagined is obviously a good thing. It shows that Chuck is unafraid to take chances overall as a show, and that’s highly important to it maintaining a good run and not floundering to the same old dynamic over and over. As soon as things “wrapped up” with Season 2 and the show moved from the dynamic of “Chuck flashes on guy, mysterious spy thriller ensues, expect comedy” episode per episode and actually gave Chuck the ability to grow, I knew we were off to a good “start” for a new direction.
What I didn’t really see coming was the increasing development of his partners, Sarah and Casey. We learned Sarah’s real name and know a bit about her past, and she has always been an overall mysterious character. Casey we took at face value I’d say, and we’ve seen bits of his past despite never really asking for it. Then, earlier this season, we saw a blanked out face and a mysterious name that Casey refused to comment on. I saw that as “Casey being Casey” and didn’t expect that to be a pay-off. Well guess what! It is!
Tonight’s episode revealed a good deal about Casey, and considering he is my favorite character on the show I’m glad we beefed him up a bit. I can tell that I’m really into the show by the fact that for a minute there, I really was worried. I was worried Casey would betray everyone to join the Ring due to the ominous “origin” at the beginning of the episode where he was recruited by the T-1000 Col. Keller (more on that later). Adam Baldwin has done such a great job with his role on the show because Casey is a very compelling character, yet for most of the time he just grunts and speaks in a growling monotone. So kudos to the entire team on a great Casey episode.
On top of that, the Ring is really being a great villain and I like how the characters are being pushed forward. Morgan and Captain Awesome have a great dynamic together, and Morgan trying so hard to fit in with Chuck and Chuck’s spy lifestyle works really well per Morgan. I feel like that could become an issue later as this element progresses, but right now it’s rather cute. Bringing Beckman on the show as more than a figure on the screen is great, because she really doesn’t get enough “screen time.” I like the feeling that she is a larger character on the show and is more than just the Charlie of the cast (that’s a Charlies Angels reference, kids).
Plus, when it’s all said and done, Casey isn’t an agent any longer (which made me literally gasp) and Sarah might be leaving for DC pending the next episode. As I was watching it, I obviously felt “oh, it’s going to be OK next episode,” but lately with Chuck I feel that it might not be that simple. Yes, Casey will assuredly be a CIA agent by the end of the show at the end of the season, but do I think he’ll be back by the next episode? No. If Chuck continues down it’s more daring stretch, there’s a good chance that he’ll be “jobless” for a little while now. I can’t wait to see more of what Sarah is doing too.
Continued belowWhat Was Bad
First, let’s touch on what I commented on earlier: the “origin.” When Col. Keller contacted Casey as Alex Coburn, he offered him the opportunity to join this cool black-ops team. Soon we learn that Coburn “died” and became Casey. This led to a REALLY interesting opportunity to why Casey would help the Ring. Perhaps this is some crazy new covert super team angle to the show, and Keller is using the Ring as a means to an end in order to do some sort of larger goal (perhaps he hates the government and is trying to take it down or some other cliche of that kind). There were so many opportunities there to develop a cool angle as to why Casey would actually help the Ring.
Why did Casey help the Ring? Because they threatened his fiance from when he was Coburn?
Really? I mean… ok, I can understand this “logic,” but introducing a long lost fiance (which is a backdoor to long lost daughter)? That to me is a bad sign. That’s the point where we start adding in too much unnecessary backstory which can hurt a show and ruin characters. The “mysterious Coburn” angle was cool. The “black-ops team” angle was cool. A long lost love, and a SECOND long lost love at that? Not so cool. We already brought back an old Casey girlfriend once. Twice is pretty lame.
On top of that, the choice of casting for “younger Casey”… that just seemed superfluous to me. I understood it, but I don’t see why they couldn’t just tell Baldwin to act younger and give him a wig and some make up. Maybe I’m just being odd about that.
Secondly, the dark direction thing. Tonight we saw Chuck itching to and then taking a pain that makes him numb to feelings and emotion and then nearly killing a character. Next week features Chuck maybe shooting someone. These are all good in that they are showing the show is, again, not afraid to take risks with it’s characters. They may not push Chuck to his breaking point, but they keep us on a thread. What I don’t like about this is that, as much as Chuck needs to develop as a character, I feel like there are better things to do with the character than push him down a dark path. He has a brand new intersect and he is having problems with that. He needs a love life and he has a will they/won’t they with Sarah. He has to deal with Morgan (who knows he is a spy and loves it) and Awesome (who knows he is a spy and hates it). There are so many interesting angles to work with Chuck/Zach Levi that I feel that if they attempt to push his character in the wrong direction, it could be disastrous.
Basically, remember when Sylar started as a villain, and then ended up in an odd place of “conflicted hero/still evil dick”, and then became a villain again, and then became a confused amnesiac, and then became a villainous emo whiner, and then became a “hero”? This is what I’m afraid of. Chuck, as a nerd trying to be a hero, is a great dynamic and Zach Levi pulls it off astoundingly. It’s the whole reason I started watching (besides the fact Jayne Cobb is on it). But Chuck as a nerd trying to be a hero pushed to the point of a “soulless CIA agent” like everyone he works with? Please no. You can walk the line, but we’re getting to an uncomfortable point.
Overall
Overall, Chuck still rocks. There are only two shows I get really riled up when watching to the point where I can’t even multitask. This is one of them. I really openly gasped at the end of this episode. Chuck has been one of the most consistent shows on television, and I always look forward to Mondays because of it. This episode is no exception, and next week’s episode looks good as well. Kudos to all involved with the show.
On top of that, I totally saw some comic books on a rack in this issue. Seriously. It was The Outsiders. No joke.
