Chuck is a lot of fun. The basic premise is kind of silly; A computer geek gets government secrets downloaded into his brain and becomes a spy. He is paired with two veteran agents. John Casey, a no nonsense NSA agent with a love for Ronald Reagan and inflicting pain on terrorists. And the beautiful CIA agent Sarah Walker, who may or may not love Chuck. Hilarity, of course ensues. Watching last night's episode, I couldn't help but think about why Chuck isn't more popular. It has a procedural aspect, which is a format designed to attract casual viewers, while providing enough mythology that makes tuning in on a weekly basis highly rewarding.
Fulcrum
Chuck has slowly been building an interesting mythology. This year the writers have advanced the whole idea of the "evil CIA" group Fulcrum, begun in season 1. I think that has really strengthened the mission-a-week format of the show. Fulcrum is more of an old school spy group: Less SD-6 and more SPECTRE. This weeks episode featured Chuck and Sarah going undercover in a neighborhood that turned out to be a Fulcrum installation, which set up an interesting path for the show as the season winds down. Chuck isn't just about the spy stuff though,
It's Really Funny Too
What is great about Chuck, is that it does an excellent job at balancing the serious with the absolutely silly. Jumping between tones is really tough to do well. It usually leads to wildly uneven television. Chuck keeps it light without taking away the dramatic stakes of the human relationships and missions. Most of the really silly stuff takes place at the Buy More (basically Best Buy) where Chuck works. Here is a great example of the kind of humor the show loves to do. Note the Pop Culture reference as well:
Goes Beyond DeLoreans and Back to the Future
While many shows are self-aware and include a lot of pop-culture references, Chuck is perhaps the most unabashed about it. From missions that take place at Nakatomi Plaza to characters named Ned Ryerson, the episodes are jam-packed with references to other material. Last nights episode ended with a great homage to not one but two of the Indiana Jones movies (in the same scene no less). If you don't find that impressive then you probably wont find this blog at all interesting... sorry.
So if that is your first taste of Chuck I hope it encourages you to give the show a shot. For those who have watched before, I hope I captured some of what you love about the show. You can find all of the season 2 episodes here and you can buy the first season for under $20 here. The Show is on Mondays at 8 p.m. on NBC
Leave a comment