Chuck vs. The Dream Job

Scott Bakula arrives to save the day, using his considerable appeal and likeability to create the most watchable episode of Chuck since I don’t know when. Looking hardly a day older than he did in his glorious Quantum Leap days, Bakula appears as Chuck’s long-MIA father Steve. Chuck has been trying to track him down for eons, and thanks to Sarah and her covert government voodoo, now he finally has.

Thus the episode begins, with Chuck and Sarah sitting in his dad’s trailer while he tries to make coffee. Chuck’s impetus for tracking Steve down was Ellie, who is inexplicably marrying the biggest tool around and secretly wishes that daddy would walk her down the aisle. Of course, now that Chuck has unexpectedly found his father, he wants answers too. Chuck tries to convince Steve to come home for Ellie’s wedding, but Steve is reluctant. Chuck yells at him and Steve reluctantly agrees under one condition: that they wait until dark to leave, because he claims he is being watched by everyone. So ostensibly not all of Steve’s dogs are barking, but I figured there was probably more to it than that. That’s why I get the big bucks.

Chuck brings Steve home and little Ellie throws a hissy fit, but eventually everyone starts trying to get along. At the dinner table, we learn that Steve has basically invented everything from plasma television to touch-screen technology, but Ted Roark, his ex-partner, stole all of his ideas. Chevy Chase has returned from the dead to play Roark, though why I don’t know. It’s a thankless, unfunny character. But gee, don’t you think this week’s mission will somehow involve Chuck having to infiltrate Roark’s company and steal back some of his father’s ideas and stop Roark from doing some evil voodoo?  You’re right!

The CIA believes that this new software dealio that Roark is about to release may have some virus that will “cause irreparable damage to the world’s computer network.” Sounds plausible to me…yeah. So Chuck gets hired at Roark Industries and his mission is to prevent Roark from pushing a button and releasing the software. Again, Chuck has never had great plotting, especially in the second season. I’m almost used to it by now. You just have to kind of go with it and accept that the mission each week is just a MacGuffin and is not really important.

As it turns out, Roark may not just be a hapless tech guy. On his own, Chuck starts to think that Roark may be working for Fulcrum and believes that Roark has the second Intersect. He tries to tell as much to Casey, but without revealing that Orion contacted him and is his secret source. In a surprisingly good scene, Chuck disobeys Casey by force and knocks him out with tranquilizer darts when he tries to stop him. It’s refreshing to see Chuck take charge of a situation.

I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who actually cares, but suffice it to say that Scott Bakula is not who he appears to be, and what really makes this episode enjoyable to watch is that it becomes an emotional father/son story, with Chuck and Steve working together toward a common goal. The ending is emotionally involving, and this truly is the best episode in a very long time. It makes me wonder how the writers could have gotten it so wrong for so long if they got it right this time. But the season (and series) is almost over, so I guess it doesn’t matter anymore.

Season 2, Episode 19: Chuck vs. The Dream Job (originally aired April 6, 2009)

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Photographs courtesy of NBC Universal