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'Chuck': Fear is never boring
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We got a good cliffhanger, the best Greta story to date and some decent comedy in the latest episode of "Chuck." But it also set up more than it paid off, and we'll be waiting at least a week to see if Chuck's Intersect therapy really works.It adds up to what may be the first real letdown in "Chuck" this season -- and not a major one at that. But because we're at the start of a new chapter in the story of Chuck Bartowski, Real Spy, and we don't know how long that chapter will last, it's tough to judge "Chuck vs. the Fear of Death" on its own.
The major hole in the story, as others have also noted, was that even though Chuck is without the Intersect (or more precisely, it's still in his head but has been suppressed), is that even before Chuck got his upgrade and could handle himself physically on missions, he still proved his worth to the team on a number of occasions. I understand that having your own mother shatter your trust could cause you to question a lot of things, but it seemed like neither he nor anyone else remembered the old Chuck resourcefulness.
Watching Chuck be scared and unconfident for an hour doesn't make for great fun, even if Intersect-retrieval specialist Jim Rye was loving every second up to the point where he got shot. I've never been a huge Rob Riggle fan, but he played the gung-ho part pretty well. His presence also laid the groundwork for Chuck and Sarah's "I'm a spy"-"No you're not! ... Not right now" exchange. It was a nice moment for Yvonne Strahovski to show A) how much she really cares for Chuck and B) how their relationship can create dicey situations like this. In her mind Sarah just doesn't want Chuck to get hurt, while in his she's saying she doesn't really believe he's for real without the Intersect.
Despite the terror of nearly falling to his death from a gondola above the Swiss Alps, Chuck never does flash and finds himself in the hands of The Belgian, played by former miniseries king Richard Chamberlain. He appears again next week, and we're eager to see him tear into his villainous role. The episode ends with Team Bartowski (Morgan included) setting off to find Chuck, and the affection they all have for him -- even Casey -- is obvious. We're very eager to see next week's "Kickboxer"/"Ong Bak"-inspired episode.
But before that, other thoughts on "Chuck vs. the Fear of Death":
- The Greta stories had thus far been an excuse for a couple of good cameo roles but not much else. That changed tonight with Summer Glau as a tightly wound, Subway-loving CIA assassin who took none too kindly to Lester and Jeff snooping on her (then again, who would?). And a legion of "Firefly" fans got to see a couple of scenes reuniting Glau and Adam Baldwin, who defuses the situation with a cover story about Greta being a thief. Their mutually shared growl as she was leaving the Buy More was one of the funniest moments of the episode.
- Watching Casey distance himself from the team and from Alex as he sees what looks like Operation Bartowski circle the drain allowed for some more subtle emotional work from Baldwin. He's a comedy and action machine, but watching him try to detach from people he genuinely likes made for a good undercurrent in his scenes -- and also could at least partly explain why he's so willing to join Sarah on her rogue mission.
- A jonesing Casey also had the episode's best line: "I haven't been on a mission in a month. I wake up with my trigger finger feeling itchy. Literally -- it itches."
- That month of downtime, though, brings up a slight timeline issue for the show. Based on Chuck saying he was on day 31 of Intersect testing before Rye showed up, that would put us at least a full month after the Halloween episode -- i.e., at least a few days after Thanksgiving. Yet the show is doing a post-Thanksgiving-themed episode in a couple weeks. We wish the show would have taken more care and maybe condensed the testing timeline to fit in the window between Halloween and Thanksgiving.
- The previous bullet point brought to you by Overthinkers Anonymous.
What did you think of "Chuck vs. the Fear of Death"?
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Hmm, I thought this was an "Ok" episode, not great - but the highlights for next week's show look amazing - don't mess with Sarah Walker!
Actually, the time line has been screwy since the season premier. Chuck Versus the Anniversary puts Chuck and Sarah together for 9 months (the end was their 6 Month Anniversary 3 months late). However Chuck Versus the Honemooners was timestamped by Chuck's train ticket as set in April 2010. That means that Anniversary ended no earlier than January 2011! Does this mean that the events of Season 4 up to this point have been spread out over another 8-9 months?
Chuck wasn't resourceful? What show were you watching? The whole scene with the diamonds.
Last night Chuck wasn't resourceful at all. Someone has forgotten the first two seasons. The true fans have not, thus the problem. Other than that it was ok. The show is better when he has the intersect and the problems it causes.
What happened to MANA Bartowski and the car with Ellie?
I disagree with Chuck not being resourceful, or helpful. He figured out the diamond stuff, and kept on mission while Fear Guy was obsessed with Chuck.
My problem was that fear was the trigger for the intersect. After all of last year being told that any emotion interferes with intersect and only a lack of fear and emotion can the intersect work.
That being, said they should have put Sarah in danger and I bet the intersect would work.
Still want to know what Mama Frost did to Chuck. Did she screw him up on purpose or was it a new layer of intersect coding that is causing his brain to freeze up.
I'm not a Rob Riggle fan either, but I did like his chracter and hated seeing him get killed. I thought he would have made a good recurring chracter.Still don't like the Buy More as the CIA headquarters. Stupid idea.
Oh my -- I did not catch that that was Richard Chamberlain. I'm glad his character is coming back.
I liked the episode. Not the best one but not worse either. It was fun and had a lot of good moments. But honestly the whole "Sarahs and Chucks love is the reason for the intersect striking" seemed forced.
My favorite thing, which is not story related, was the writing on the gondola "Bösewicht Berghütte", which means "villains chalet". That was a pretty good laugh for me, but maybe thats just me.
Summer Glauis fantastic! I ‘m so miss Cameron, but Summer in this new episode return me back to old good times.