Chuck Review: Shaken and Stirred Up

It was about the moment where Chuck found himself in the back of a sheep truck, headed off to slaughter, with James Bond, that I realized that this show isn’t always as fantastic as I think it is. Don’t get me wrong. I love the idea of the show, the action, the mystery, the humor. I love the quirky, distinctive characters. The writing is mostly funny where it should be and heartwarming when it needs to be.  For my tastes, I would categorize Chuck as a great show. After this week, I needed to step back and admit Chuck is a really good show, but if every week were like this week, THEN it’d always be a great show.

“Chuck vs the First Fight” was always going to be a big episode. Still, WOW! Every aspect was firing on all (and every) cylinders.  For me, Chuck is at its best when it satisfies all of the aforementioned: mission, plot development, emotion, great guests and zingers. And I got a resounding yes, on all counts.

THE MISSION

With Chuck’s mom in jail, Sarah and Casey still extremely distrustful and Beckman keeping Chuck away at all costs, our nerd wonder was only that much more determined to clear his mother’s name. This resolve emboldened Chuck. He’s gone on solo missions in the past, but never has he been so responsible for the outcome and in charge. He was more proactive than reactive which imbued the episode with some forward momentum. So often the jokes make me laugh or the story draws me in, but the missions will lag here or there, become predictable or boring. Not this week.

Chuck snuck his way in to see his Mom, who directed him to find her old handler, a bumbling, nervous man named Tuttle, who turned out to be as vehemently determined as Chuck to help his mother. The two embarked on an exciting goose chase. They were kidnapped by Volkoff’s people, interrogated unsuccessfully, overcame an Indestructible Woman and, well, a really huge, burly man, parachuted out of a plane, hitched a ride with some sheep, got trapped in a bank and killed some baddies. PHEW! And that wasn’t even the whole story. That was just the mission.

The episode had action and excitement. I wanted for nothing. The moments of fun and exhilaration were so fluid and never fleeting, just like a good spy rollercoaster should be. And when we finally reached the end, after Tuttle helped Chuck find the disks of information that would exonerate his mother, I felt fulfilled. I’d wanted more action and answers, and this mission actually made me feel like we worked for it and deserved it in the end.

GREAT GUESTS

Of course the writing is only one component. It couldn’t have been pulled off without spot on acting. You all know my opinion of the adorable Zachary Levi and the rest of the cast. Hilaaaarious. And while Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak clearly love their guest stars, none have ever held such genre gravitas as the two in this week’s episode. Linda Hamilton, in my opinion, hasn’t been given very much to do. They plopped her into the Chuck-verse with a bang and followed up with whimper after whimper. Still, they’ve evenly ramped up her involvement, and this week, she managed to be involved in EVERYTHING. She got emotional with Ellie when she convinced Sarah and Casey to set up a meeting with her. In turn, she’d tell them what path she’d sent Chuck down on. Hamilton was fantastically stoic and hard but motherly and soft. (Very Sarah Connor-esque). And I also cherish the use of Ellie in a way that is relevant.

Timothy Dalton was more than the icing on the cake. By the end of this episode, I wanted to keep him and never let him go. Tuttle reminded me a lot of an early Chuck in an older body. (Still quite dashing though.) All of his excitement due to finally being immersed in the spy world was adorable and refreshing. Yes, I love where Chuck has gone, but that doesn’t mean I don’t miss the original flavor. Plus, Dalton was extremely funny. His timing was fantastic. The overlying ode to Bond was the actual icing on the cake.

PLOT DEVELOPMENT

The best part of all was that the writers pulled one over on me. Neither of these characters were what they appeared to be. Chuck’s mom did truly turn to the bad side. Let’s rewind. After the baddies were defeated, Tuttle leapt in front of Chuck and took a bullet for him. They left Tuttle on the bank floor to be picked up by Casey and Morgan. But when they arrived, Tuttle was nowhere to be found.

In the meantime, Sarah had begun to trust Chuck’s mom and the three of them returned to Orion’s base to extract the information. It was on a rare type of disk, but fortunately Chuck remembered that his dad owned one of the few computers that could play it. While Chuck and Sarah tried each disk, which only turned up a no data error, Chuck’s mom and Tuttle wired the base with explosives. We’d ALL been duped!

Still the reveals were not over. It’d become obvious that it was all a nefarious plot to destroy Orion’s lair and all the information within it, especially the Volkoff stuff. Chuck’s mom flashed something in front of Chuck which gave the impression that she removed the intersect from his brain. She said his dad wouldn’t want him to see what she’d just shown him which hints that there’s way more to it. Tuttle had no clue about the relationship which showed that she really did care for her family deep down. Still, he wanted them dead. Frost proved she really is a mom (kinda) first when she slipped Sarah a blade to help escape from their binding ropes and told Sarah to protect Chuck. She set them up, but she also saved their lives. Oh, Tuttle revealed himself in a dapper suit and a lot less yammering to be Volkoff. I didn’t see that one coming. It also means we’ll have to get some more Dalton.

EMOTION

It was nice to share some screen time with people who don’t dominate the story. When it’s about things that matter, it doesn’t appear so sewn in after the fact. The reunion between Ellie and her mom fit organically into the episode and provided one of the meatiest scenes of the season. Ellie was so silent and timid. You could tell she held her guard up high and rightfully so. Her mom did walk in with handcuffs on. Her mother was pained yet painfully honest as well. Ellie had even more to do when she figured out an ad about a Ford for sale was a message, just like her dad used to send. She followed it to a car and a letter. It was his last gift to his daughter, and it also looked like the car was hiding the last bit of Orion’s work left intact.

Chuck and Sarah had a dreaded squabble, but this time it wasn’t central to the story. This time it was actually cute and silly and not annoying. Sarah betrayed Chuck’s trust by capturing his mom without warning, and Sarah just wanted to protect him. She believed he could have been blinded by his feelings while he just wanted her to believe in him whether she felt he was right or wrong. She rarely shared her emotions, and he blabbed about his to everyone! It seemed like something a fairly new couple would argue about…something normal (underneath all the crazy CIA stuff).

ZINGERS (and oodles! Thanks, Dalton.)

“The thing only takes triangle-shaped discs!” – Chuck

“We should have a mixer or something, a little get-to-know-ya? We can exchange fake names and backgrounds…” – Chuck

“But he always wants to talk about…anything!” – Sarah

“Morgan, please don’t touch my chest.” – Sarah (He was going for her heart, but you know…)

“Do I get to parachute out of a plane on a wild horse?” – Morgan
“No you do not. Because nobody ever does.” – Chuck

“What are you looking at?” – Volkoff Operative
“Not that scar. Or that scar. Neither one of those scars. Or that mole.” – Chuck

“I had my first sexual experience watching Lawrence of Arabia. I’m not proud of it.” – Tuttle

“Oh cool! A tiny weapons standoff!” – Tuttle

“There’s not another one, I looked everywhere!” – Tuttle
“What are we going to do?” – Chuck

“I’m just taking the piss out of you! Of course, there’s another parachute. Who ever heard of a plane with only one parachute?” – Tuttle

“Where are we going?” – Chuck
“Well, this lot are going to the lamb chop factory. So don’t say anything about mint sauce.” – Tuttle

”You might as well have posted about our fight on Friendster!” –  Sarah
“Friendster? Honey, people stopped using Friendster five years ago.” – Chuck

I can’t wait to see how this all plays out next week! Most importantly, what’d you think?

Season 4, Episode 7: Chuck Versus the First Fight (originally aired November 1, 2010)

For more on Chuck, click here.

Mondays at 8/7C on NBC

Images courtesy of NBC and Michael Ansell.