(S01E07) "What? Slingshots too ineffective?" - Chuck
Oh it is good to be back after a week of absence! I know you guys missed me so much, but I think that Will O'Brien did a great job with his review of last week's episode.
One note from last week's episode that Will didn't cover... Captain Awesome's name is Devon? I had to rewind the video three times just to make sure. What a lame name (no offense to any Devons out there). I was really hoping for a Hoyt or Blakely or Mortimer.
I really needed this episode of Chuck to happen. Many of you have agreed that the show has been kind of meandering without any sort of larger story arc or forward movement. It looked like Chuck would just be a series of lets-solve-the-case episodes, week after week.
However, in this episode we finally return to some of the larger questions left open by the first and second episode. Namely, why did Chuck get kicked out of Stanford and what did Bryce Larkin have to do with it? The sequence where Chuck flashed on himself was pretty cool (that sounded a little dirty). I didn't necessarily think that the end result would be that Chuck was originally meant for the C.I.A.
It may be a little cheesy (you can't escape your destiny), but it really kind of makes Chuck a little more heroic. He is not really some nerdy computer guy, who was accidentally turned into an agent. He was a soon-to-be agent, saved from the dangerous life by being turned into a nerdy computer guy. This sort of ruins the "Chuck is an average Joe" aspect of the show, but it makes the bumbling seem a little more purposeful.
The new question is what is the Omaha project? And we are still wondering why Bryce gave (and felt like he needed to give) to Chuck?
I don't know if the writers will ever answer the first question (because it doesn't necessarily seem relevant to the story), but I have a theory on the latter. Professor Flemming mentioned that Chuck had a 98 percent retention rate when it came to the subliminal images. Maybe this number is extremely significant and Bryce knew that Chuck was one of the few people that had the mental capacity to retain the Intersect information. But this still doesn't answer why Bryce had to destroy the Intersect in the first place? Traitor government spies? Corruption? Lost a Super Bowl bet?
The gain in story came at a loss to baddy quality. After Lo Pan and Laslow, which were both decent attempts at villains, this week's evil-incarnate came off as contrived and superficial. The entire episode could have been done sans mercenary if they didn't need a way to kill off maim Fleming and give Team Bartowski some sense of urgency. The writers didn't really seem to even think out these characters. Yes, Iceland + Crossbows = funny, but how did the main baddy get thugs? Did he import them from Iceland? How did he know that Fleming created a disc? What were they planning to do with the disc? Why the hell was the disc created in the first place?
However, the loss of a decent antagonist was severely mitigated by the awesome background info we learned about Chuck.
The accompanying side story proves that Morgan deserves his own half-hour sitcom spin-off to Chuck, tentatively titled Morgan... premiering this mid-season. Who cares if the writers go on strike? A show like this will practically write itself. And by the look of this strike, it may very well need to. This week's Morgan would have been named "Morgan Versus the Monster."
For some reason I held on to the hope that Harry Tang would not take over the Buy More assistant manager position. That somehow it would have all been a nasty dream and that Chuck would ride in to save the day. But alas, the conniving punk started his reign of terror this week, complete with yellow, monogrammed polo (with dictator-esque military shoulder loops).
The multiple references to Lord of the Rings were nice, if not a little heavy-handed (One remote to rule them all). The best part is seeing Morgan with a spine, being a leader. Sure he gotta a little help by a nerdy seductress, but he proved this week that he is his own man. Harry Tang proved this week that he is a great villain. I am convinced he would be perfect across from Daniel Craig in the next Bond movie. Although I don't think you can get away with calling Craig pudding. Gotta respect a man with a 12-pack of abs.
Hopefully, the show will continue to explore some consistent story arcs with the Buy More and Bryce Larkin. It has been a positive change from the plot-less stumbling of the past couple of episodes. To put it shortly, this episode was good and we could use more like these from time to time.
Oh Snap Award
There really wasn't that much fighting this episode, which I missed. If I have to hand out the award this week, it would go to Bryce for shooting Chuck directly between the eyes. The man was smooth enough to hide a disc, distract Charlie-boy with a Gynecology textbook, and deliver a death blow in a span of twelve seconds.
The only other part that was close to Oh-Snappyness was when all the other spies showed up and that one hot girl kicked the smoked salmon out of our Icelandic fiend. I wonder if the show writers will ever return to the Stanford spies. I really don't think they will, but it would be cool to give Chuck some colleagues.
Other thoughts:
- Favorite line of the night: "I hate Stanford, because they suck so hard" - Captain Awesome
- Did they have to make Chuck a frat boy? Gamma Delta Phi? Is there some joke I am missing?
- NBC is really pushing the environmental week thing really hard. The plant a tree bit felt a little shoved in there, but I guess it is for a good cause.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-06-2007 @ 12:45AM
carterman said...
I loved it when Casey threw the tree to the ground. This stupid "OMG GO GREEN" crap NBC is parading annoys me.
This was one of the better episodes so far, especially with the revelation that Bryce might not be the bad guy he was made out to be, and in fact was trying to save Chuck from his destiny. Now, I wonder when we'll find out why Bryce sent Chuck the intersect data...
Also, next week promises to be a great episode, with a lot of Yvonne Strahovski action. VERY NICE! HIGH-FIVE!
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11-06-2007 @ 12:48AM
KevinInChains said...
i don't know if you saw the preview, but next week seems to be about Sarah and Chuck consummating their relationship. That should be all sorts of awkward.
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11-06-2007 @ 1:58AM
lladnar said...
in the preview for next week did anyone else catch the GTA "Hot Coffee" reference? Brilliant. This show is really turning into one of my favorites.
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11-06-2007 @ 2:03AM
Bill said...
I thought Awesome's line was something like "it's hard to hate Stanford because they suck so hard, I wish we were playing USC."
The environmental stuff is pretty weak, because it's so forced, but it's awfully nice to see commercial breaks without those insidious Bee Movie ads and Seinfeld moments or whatever.
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11-06-2007 @ 3:06AM
mike said...
Captain Awesome can't throw a football, making him a bit less awesome. Oh yeah, Stanford looks alot like UCLA...wait, that IS UCLA! I liked this episode.
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11-06-2007 @ 9:00AM
horsenbuggy said...
Oh snap moment to Bryce? I don't think he hid a disc at the same time that he grabbed the dart to shoot Chuck. I think what Chuck remembered was that Bryce was complete ly out of "ammo" until he stood in that particular spot. Suddenly, he had one final dart. After Chuck knew that he was a spy and that he used a spot in the library as a "drop", Chuck figured out how that dart materialized from nowhere.
I was a little surprised to find out that Chuck was in a frat - it seemed out of character. But I think we will find out that he settled in to being a cool guy with lots of friends because he was Bryce's best friend. I assume that Bryce was either already a member of the frat or talked Chuck into pledging with him. Bryce seems like the kind of guy who could talk Chuck into doing things he would never have done on his own. And then once Chuck was accepted into that atmosphere, he would do well because he is a genuinely nice guy.
While I agree that the Icelandic baddie wasn't fleshed out very well, I thought it was hilarious that he was from Iceland. I don't think the story could have handled a fully detailed bad guy - too distracting. So only telling us that he was from Iceland and liked to use crossbows was a humorous consolation prize. It worked on me. I was much more interested in Chuck's backstory. Although, I am getting tired of Ellie bossing Chuck around, even though she does it nicely.
"Morgan versus the Harry Tang" was a nice B story.
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11-06-2007 @ 9:10AM
Mary said...
I really liked this episode. However I am concerned about the whole premise of the disc. Doesn't anyone else think that it is a little too convenient that the professor kept information incriminating to himself for four years and them copied it to a disk to give to Bryce - now! Could it be a set-up by Bryce or even Sarah to gain Chuck's sympathy for other plans?
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11-06-2007 @ 9:26AM
carol pennington said...
I enjoy the show and will continue to watch.
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11-06-2007 @ 9:56AM
Eric J. said...
Mary, I don't think this show is interested in taking it's conspiracies that deep. (It ain't Alias.)
I liked the initial meeting of Bryce and Chuck - Notice that Chuck talked about wanting to write a text adventure. They did eventually write it, and that's what was wrapped around the Intersect.
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11-06-2007 @ 10:00AM
Lenny said...
Captain Awesome's full, real (character) name is Devon Woodcomb.
http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/chuck/cast/287885
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11-06-2007 @ 11:06AM
George said...
I really enjoy 'Chuck', but sometimes I think the show's writers skimp on their research. I couldn't think of any plausible reason why Chuck would've joined a frat, other than the fact that the final scene would've been harder to stage if Chuck had lived in a dorm or an apartment. Obviously there are geek frats (my college had a couple of them, anyway), but this didn't look like one.
Props to horsenbuggy for coming up something that makes sense.
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11-06-2007 @ 11:18AM
Robbie said...
Well there sure are a lot of fraternity haters out there, which is sad since every fraternity is not just a replica of Animal House or Old School. I think the fraternity actually says more than a lot of other clues given in this episode, like why Bryce never said anything and protected him to begin with. There is an extra bond that makes their friendship just that much deeper and more complex. Even if they weren't friends they were still fraternity brothers forever. Love them or hate them fraternities exist and many do great things.
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11-06-2007 @ 11:58AM
Ari said...
Bryce didnt hide the disc. that was recently done by the professor, for Bryce to find if necessary. Overall a good episode, and i can look past the weak villains, this isnt meant to be heroes, where you dissect every line.
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11-06-2007 @ 12:24PM
Mike McNamara said...
I didn't find the fact that Chuck was in a frat that out-of-character. It's been established for a long time that he's straddled the line between "geek" and "non-geek" based on his relationship with his sister and Awesome; in fact, it was in the very first scene in the pilot -- him trying to climb out the window at his birthday party. Even though he's a geek, he's also totally cute/hot, and he's definitely the type who wants to belong if he can find a place where he fits in.
I always thought that was why the betrayal of Bryce and getting kicked out of Stanford completely destroyed him. He had found a place where he could be himself but also fit in/be popular/have the girlfriend. He could be himself but also be the person his sister wanted him to be.
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11-06-2007 @ 12:24PM
Mike McNamara said...
I didn't find the fact that Chuck was in a frat that out-of-character. It's been established for a long time that he's straddled the line between "geek" and "non-geek" based on his relationship with his sister and Awesome; in fact, it was in the very first scene in the pilot -- him trying to climb out the window at his birthday party. Even though he's a geek, he's also totally cute/hot, and he's definitely the type who wants to belong if he can find a place where he fits in.
I always thought that was why the betrayal of Bryce and getting kicked out of Stanford completely destroyed him. He had found a place where he could be himself but also fit in/be popular/have the girlfriend. He could be himself but also be the person his sister wanted him to be.
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11-06-2007 @ 12:32PM
Mike McNamara said...
Sorry for the double post. Now it's a triple but I meant to point out -- it's "Alma Mater" not "Matter"
Now I feel like a bigger douche than Awesome -- God knows I'm always making errors and typos -- but I saw somebody making fun of this on another site so I thought I should mention it.
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11-06-2007 @ 1:02PM
richard said...
Pretty good ep.
I had 2 questions though, when he was looking through the disk one name that showed up was Sarah Young. Is that sarah? I thought that wasn't her real name?
And at the end Bryce said there was some cool girl inot Zork as well whose name was Jill. I wonder if that is Sarah's real name?
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11-06-2007 @ 1:29PM
Lenny said...
You can't seriously expect someone whose vocabulary includes the phrase "oh snap" to actually be able to spell very well at all.
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11-06-2007 @ 1:30PM
vacelts said...
Okay, I get that Bryce really didn't get Chuck kicked out of college to be mean, but to protect him. But didn't he steal Chuck's girl?
And I thought Sarah said Fleming was in the hospital, I missed the part where he died.
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11-06-2007 @ 1:45PM
Barry Wilhelm said...
Previous episodes told us Jill was Chuck's girlfriend at Stanford who he's had a terrible time getting over. We learned that Bryce fixed the two of them up. Jill is not Sarah.
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