Chuck: Chuck Versus the Imported Hard Salami

ORIGINAL EPISODES, MONDAYS @ 8PM ON NBC

Lou is the best! Come on, how many girls do you know would make you a mouth-watering sandwich on the first date? Probably none. She's totally cool, funny, makes incredible sandwiches, and is not above making out in a car for an hour. She's pretty damn awesome if you ask me. Too bad it didn't work out for the two of them, I thought they made a great couple. At least she now knows the truth behind his secret identity, an undercover FDA agent in search of illegally imported deli meats. That was hilarious but Rachel Bilson played that with more of a straight face than I ever could have.

Speaking of Chuck's undercover persona, Lou ended up dealing with her ex-boyfriend to smuggle in precious deli meats. Unfortunately, Chuck happened to catch them in the act, putting an end to her devious plan to take over the world with delicious sandwiches. At least she didn't turn out to be a terrorist or another undercover spy. I really wish I could taste one of those sandwiches; that meat looked incredible. I think at this point though they need to get Chuck just one normal girl. So far Lou has been the least of his problems (and she had a criminal of an ex-boyfriend lurking around) and clearly Sarah isn't all that normal or easy to handle. This guy deserves to have someone normal in his life; hopefully Sarah will realize she has the chance to be that person. I'm going to miss Lou being around; it could be cool to have her come back somewhere down the road. These two are great together and if he can never have anything with Sarah then he should at least get the chance to be with Lou. Even their moment in the deli when he apologized to her and she forgave him was amazing. Definitely one of the best moments so far and the comedic aspects were some of the best yet.

As for Sarah, I think she definitely realizes how she feels about him, at least to some degree. That kiss didn't come out of nowhere and she's definitely been jealous about Chuck and Lou the last couple of episodes. The bigger problem now is that Bryce is apparently still alive; which I'll put to the side for a minute because my rant may go on for a bit. Obviously things are not going to progress for the two of them as long as Bryce is around, if ever. It's unfortunate because the two of them make for a great couple and even better viewing. They're always funny together and as the sexual tension grew so did the funny in their relationship. I hope they get a chance down the road (as I'm sure the will), it's just a matter of when and how long down the road.

Now to Bryce; what in the world were the writer's thinking when they stormed up this doozy? This is one of the worst plot ideas so far this season and possibly over the last few seasons. This was the dumbest and most ridiculous idea ever. I don't care how they end up explaining it, it is never going to be alright with me that they did this. The only reason I'll keep watching this show and not storming off in protest, is because I'll keep my hope going that he'll be gone soon and we'll have things back to normal. There is absolutely nothing interesting or intriguing about Bryce coming back. The only thing we cared about was whether he really set Chuck up or not and we already know the deal with that. This was a stupid idea and hopefully it won't be around long enough to ruin the show.

With my rant and the ridiculousness of the final plot aside, this was a decent episode. Not the best but certainly up there with the better episodes of the show so far. Keep it up "Chuck" and hopefully we'll see Bryce gone soon. Until next week, enjoy the review!

Chuck: Chuck Versus The Truth

ORIGINAL EPISODES, MONDAYS @ 8PM ON NBC

"Chuck" so far in it's inaugural season has had some good and some very bad episodes. Tonight was not one of the bad ones. It was packed with action (the ridiculous and humorous kind that we could only get from "Chuck"), drama, emotion, and a brand new, shiny guest star in one of my favorite actresses Rachel Bilson. Clearly, her appearance in this episode is not a coincidence - Josh Schwartz was the creator/writer of "The O.C." too. Nevertheless, I will ignore this bit of friendship nepotism and revel in the fact that I love these two teaming up together again and I love Rachel Bilson being on a fun show once again. For how long, I'm not quite sure yet especially with the writer's strike in full swing but I do know that she is just a guest star, possibly recurring. Whether the recurring role lasts for a long while or only a few episodes I will try to find out for you but lets all enjoy the time we have with Rachel, I mean Lou (great character name by the way; the last great Lou was in Doc Hollywood; anyone else remember that?).

Speaking of Rachel Bilson, she came into Chuck's life as a nervous wreck. Her Blackberry was on the fritz and like the rest of us that are married to our electronics she freaked out when she couldn't get it working. Chuck sweet talked her into calming down and the next thing he knew they were flirting with each other. The only problem of course is the fact that Chuck is dating Sarah, or at least he has to pretend to be. So Chuck was stuck between wanting to date Lou and his obligations to the government. Well, not so much stuck since for him it was a clear choice - no matter what happens, he wants to have a life with someone else in it. Basically, this meant that that the real problem was the fact that Chuck couldn't decide between two women; Lou and Sarah.

This led to a moment we've all been waiting for when Chuck seized the opportunity to ask Sarah about her real feelings while they were both under the influence of a truth serum. Unfortunately for Chuck, Sarah had been trained to withstand its effects and held herself together just long enough to turn him down in order to protect her job and her cover. I felt real bad for him because he finally put himself out on a very long limb. The truth is though that Sarah really does have feelings for him. You can tell all throughout the episode that she was jealous of his blossoming relationship with Lou. She comes with a lot of baggage though considering what happened with Bryce so it's understandable that she's hesitant to do anything. But I think that if she ever wants to be happy it might just be with Chuck and if that's the case then she needs to be honest. By the way, I totally didn't buy her explanation about the lingerie she was wearing. That was totally to get him turned on and away from Lou. She did look damn good, I'll give her that; I don't know how he would have been able to sleep next to her in that. Fake breaking up with Sarah was probably the best thing for Chuck to do whether things work out with Lou or not. I felt bad for Sarah but Chuck needs to be happy and if she's not going to step up then he needs to find it somewhere else. For the time being, he and Lou look great together but with this show I'm sure that won't last for too long.

The spy story line was also pretty decent tonight. Granted it's always a bit outrageous and never that serious but it was great seeing Kevin Weisman as the bad guy. For all you "Alias" fans out there you'll remember him as the lovable Marshall. He also made numerous appearances in "Felicity" in a recurring role. It was cool having Ellie tied up in Chuck's spy life although completely by chance. It's great seeing her get more and more screen time. Sarah Lancaster is a fantastic actress and deserves the increased time. Plus, I think she brings a bit of stability to the show. With all the craziness that takes place it's definitely a welcome sight when she's around to calm things down for a few minutes and remind us that Chuck still has a regular life to go home to.

Before I end the review for tonight lets take a moment to mourn the departure of our loved assistant manager Tang... With that out of the way, Tang is gone! Woohoo!! He was never that interesting and always more annoying than anything else. Maybe Chuck will finally get a shot at being assistant manager. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Until next week, enjoy the review!

Chuck: Chuck Versus The Alma Mater

ORIGINAL EPISODE, MONDAYS @ 8PM ON NBC

This was probably the best quality episode of "Chuck" in its short life to date. Usually we only get corny lines and cheesy, predictable stories. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the usual "Chuck," in fact I happen to really enjoy this show. Tonight though brought us an entirely new type of show and I definitely enjoyed it. We saw Chuck struggle with his past and confront the issues he's been dodging since the day Bryce had him kicked out of Stanford. Emotional depth, growth, and humor permeated the characters tonight especially Chuck.

The simultaneous occurrence of two events forced Chuck to return to Stanford for the first time since he was expelled. First, the professor that accused him of cheating on the exams was running for his life from spies hailing from Iceland. Yes, apparently they have spies too. Turns out, his professor worked for the CIA, recruiting college students to the organization. This put Chuck, Sarah, and Casey on the mission to find him. Second, UCLA was playing Stanford in a football game at Stanford. Captain Awesome and his buddies graduated from UCLA and wanted to head down to Stanford for the game. Chuck's first inclination was to stay as far away from that as possible but later events forced him to head down with his sister and Awesome.

What were those events? Well, we finally got the story behind Bryce's betrayal of Chuck back in college. It seems that the professor recruiting Bryce the year earlier and was planning on recruiting Chuck as well. Bryce found out but wouldn't let it happen. According to a video Chuck found, Bryce thought Chuck was too good of a person for that life and that it would ruin him if he were recruited. There was no way to stop the recruitment except to frame Chuck for cheating and get him thrown out of school. That way the Professor couldn't recruit him since he was no longer a college student. So, Bryce wasn't all that bad after all. This is probably why Sarah loved him so much. At the same time Chuck found out the truth Sarah realized that the whole time she's been angry with him for betraying the government she should have given him the benefit of the doubt. He probably had a very good reason for doing what he did, they just couldn't see it right now.

I think this changes a lot about the show and really puts it on course for discovering what Bryce's reason was for sending Chuck the intersect. It also sets everything up for a showdown between Chuck, Sarah, and Casey and whoever Bryce was trying to stop. I'm sure it won't be easy stopping that person or organization but with the knowledge Chuck has stored in his head, he's got a pretty good shot. I have a feeling that by year end these three will be on their own fighting against the government or at least a section of the government that's operating illegally.

I thought the action scenes and gun fights at the end were pretty cool. This show has done a great job making the action scenes look realistic and fun at the same time. The writers on this show are excellent at using Chuck to interject comedic humor into all these scenes. The gun fight in the classroom was especially cool. I also loved when the college girl saved Chuck from the spy/assassin. This guy needs to learn to defend himself a bit; I wonder why it hasn't occurred to anyone that a little self defense training may go a long way in making all their lives easier.

There's just a few things I want to bring up about this episode before we go. Tang has got to go! And not because he's an evil, dictating Assistant Manager but because he is damn annoying. I understand this story was supposed to be somewhat humorous but they've completely failed at accomplishing this. It has totally turned me off to anything that's happening at the Buy More. Given that this is a good portion of the show they need to fix this or the ratings are going to suffer even more.

Also, the "O.C." reference during the Fingers of Fury war between Morgan and Lester was great! Lester got the "O.C" and responded "O.C. Season Two - underrated." Josh Schwartz clearly had a hand in this and it was a masterful sneak in by this great creator/writer. Season two was actually underrated.

One thing that annoyed me was the security system at the Stanford library. What kind of library not only makes you scan your ID just to get in but also brings up a large photo on the computer to a sitting librarian waiting to catch people who haven't paid late fees? That was absolutely ridiculous and really annoyed me.

This was a great quality episode from "Chuck" and I'm glad we finally got some answers about what happened in the past. I wouldn't expect to many more episodes like this though. Chuck isn't the type of show that could compete with other natural drama's. It has its own niche as a quirky, outrageous drama and that's where it can be successful. For now though I'll enjoy what we got. Until next week, enjoy the review!

Chuck: Chuck Versus The Sandworm

ORIGINAL EPISODES, MONDAYS @ 8PM ON NBC

Surprisingly, I liked this episode despite its lackluster premise. The premise of tonight's episode found Chuck in the midst of Halloween. Unfortunately, he also discovered the presence of a rogue CIA technician who appeared to be extremely dangerous. All of Chuck's plans with Morgan and his sister got sidetracked as he pursued the technician. At first he appeared to be misunderstood as he explained he was taken at a young age by the CIA and lost his freedom to the wishes of the Agency. However, as Chuck later learned, he was seriously unstable and even attempted to blow up the Santa Monica pier as some sort of revenge for the how the CIA treated him. So, as I said the premise was basically lackluster.

Yet, I liked the episode. I believe it was the development of the Chuck-Sarah relationship and the Chuck-Morgan relationship. Chuck called Sarah out on her deceptive actions after he found out both she and Casey had each separately bugged his apartment. This really seemed to strike a nerve in Sarah and she started to realize that she cared about Chuck as more than just the person she was ordered to protect. I'm not saying she's fallen in love with him or anything but she certainly cares for him. As we learned about a spy, they never let any part of themselves come out or it may compromise their cover. Sarah, though, appears to be letting some things out and I don't think she's even realizing it. For instance, tonight she felt bad about bugging his apartment by placing a doctored photo of them from ComicCon in his bedroom. So she came over dressed up in the same outfit from the photo and took an actual picture of them for Chuck. Clearly, she was showing that she cares for him and I think as time goes on she's not going to be able to hide her feelings for him. I can't wait to see how and when she admits her feelings because the two of them are great together.

On a side note, I loved the awkwardness of the opening scene when Chuck asked her to hang out in his room because everyone thought he was getting lucky at the moment. The two of them were so thinking about them doing it and I loved the tension.

As for Chuck and Morgan we really saw how close they are. Morgan didn't have to but he stepped up for Chuck and gave a powerful speech when Chuck missed his interview to be Assistant Manager. Well, alright, not powerful but he meant well. I really enjoyed seeing Morgan all grown up and his scenes with Captain Awesome were hilarious. I guess it is true that there's a day that comes for every man when he finally becomes "a tucker." Chuck as "a tucker" was great and to be honest, I enjoyed his character a lot more when he wasn't so ridiculously outrageous but a bit more mature. He's definitely more tolerable when he's not so ridiculous.

Everything seems to be going steady for "Chuck." The ratings aren't where we'd hope they would be but it seems "Chuck" could get a shot at a full season. The talk in many sites is that it has a better chance than "Journeyman." I guess we'll see after November Sweeps. Until next week, enjoy the review!

Chuck: Chuck Versus The Sizzling Shrimp

ORIGINAL EPISODES, MONDAYS @ 8PM ON NBC

Wow, alright then. I don't really know where to go with this review. If there was something to talk about that really mattered I feel like it would just come to me. After letting the episode sit for a bit, I still don't know what's all that important that needs to be discussed. While not a bad episode, it was sort of a middle of the road, filling the weeks type episode. Nothing huge in terms of character development occurred unless you want to count Ellie and Morgan calling it a truce, but even these two characters and their feuding weren't all that important to show.

Since I don't have too much to mention, lets start with tonight's mission. Chuck saw a Chinese military operative in his favorite Chinese restaurant and this led to the mission to capture her. As it turned out they ran into the Triad and figured out that the operative was in the U.S. to save her brother who was kidnapped by the Triad. We got to watch Chuck spend the night trying to balance his personal life and his secret-spy life yet disappointing his family and friends the whole way. In the end, Ellie and Morgan met him halfway and he finally found a way to be there for everyone in his life.

Ellie and Chuck have a special tradition where they celebrate their own form of Mother's Day. The day their mother left them all alone they had to stick together and fend for themselves. Since that day, they've celebrated it every year as the day they came together to survive. Unfortunately, Chuck missed the plans because he was off being a spy. He also missed his plans with Morgan who he was supposed to help become a better salesman to prevent his boss from firing him. I didn't mind the scenarios the writer's came up with to create family drama for Chuck but the Mother's Day scenario was easily the best. It was interesting to see a deeper side to his relationship with Ellie.

We didn't get much progress on the Sarah front. She's definitely falling for the deeper, softer side of Chuck. When he told her about the Mother's Day tradition and Ellie invited her, you could tell it hit her hard and she started to realize how much she cares for Chuck. She's starting to really like him rather than just pretending to as their cover.

By the way, Sizzling Shrimp? I'm interested to find out if that's even a real dish. I love shrimp but I don't know how great that looked.

Hopefully next week we'll get some more to talk about but overall I thought it was an enjoyable episode if nothing else. Keep watching, let me know what you think, and enjoy the review.

Chuck: Chuck Versus The Wookie

ORIGINAL EPISODES, MONDAYS @ 8PM ON NBC

I'm sorry to say this but this week's episode was just not good. I do like this show, I really do but if they can't do better than this "Chuck" may not be around for much longer. The one thing this show has going for it is the humor in the writing. The story lines are outrageous and in many ways so are the characters. Thus, if "Chuck" is going to be successful it needs to be funny while it embraces the outrageousness of its premise. Unfortunately, this week's episode was NOT funny and without that the show demonstrates its vulnerability. Without laughing for pretty much the whole episode I was bored during the entire hour. Granted the girl fights are awesome and Carina and Sara are gorgeous but aside from that the show doesn't do all that much when it doesn't bring the funny.

Tonight Sara got a visit from an old friend (if you can call her that), Carina. Carina works for the DEA as an undercover agent and needed Sara and Adam's help to recover a diamond from "The Wookie" (a man so nicknamed because he's cover with body hair). Now I have to tell you, Carina was absolutely gorgeous!! Which is pretty much the most I could say that's positive about her role in tonight's episode. The acting was mediocre but nothing special. With the funny missing, it basically spoiled any chance of this character being brought it on a high note. The girl fights between Carina and Sara were great though.

So Carina basically spends the episode playing with every one's mind especially Morgan who fell for her in about 30 seconds. More importantly she really got to Chuck when she told him that all secret agents never tell anyone anything real about themselves ever. Clearly Chuck felt he was getting to know Sara, even if it was just a little at a time. Even more damaging, was the fact that Sara dated Bryce which Carina let "slip" when they were talking. In the end, Chuck got over the fact that Sara dated Bryce but pleaded with her to tell him one real thing. She couldn't do it but came close when she whispered her middle name. He didn't hear it but we know that Sara is starting to fall for Chuck. Even Carina saw it. I do feel bad for Chuck though. He's trying so hard to get close to Sara but she won't and can't let him in.

The only funny moment of the night came when Adam was in the elevator handcuffed to the broken piece of the headboard. The mother and her daughter staring at him, clearly knowing what it looked like, was hilarious.

Let's see if next week gets any better. Until then, enjoy the review.

Chuck: Chuck Versus The Tango

ORIGINAL EPISODES, MONDAYS @ 8PM ON NBC

Average. That pretty much describes this episode. Not much changed since last week with the exception that we had a bit more buildup in sexual tension between Chuck and Sarah. I've found that their relationship is what keeps my attention the most during each episode. The two of them have a great chemistry as actors and this is readily apparent to anyone watching, especially when the other scenes are so outrageous. The ridiculousness of "Chuck" is supposed to be its selling point but it's letting us down. I get that self-deprecating humor can be funny and "Chuck" is all about not taking itself seriously. The problem is that the humor doesn't always make you laugh and at times its too much to stand.

This episode Chuck got to jump into his first mission. A painting with radioactive materials was being sold at an auction where an international terrorist "La Ciudad" would try to buy it. As usual Chuck makes a mess of the situation and he ended up tied to a chair being tortured by La Ciudad. The scenes provided some mild humor and some fun but that was the extent of it.

While all of this was going on Chuck co-workers were trying to fix all the computers at Buy More so that her would be promoted to Assistant Manager and not Tang who would cancel the two hour lunches they all get to take. Unlucky for Morgan, he got locked into the cage with the computers overnight and couldn't fix any of the computers. Chuck got him out early in the morning, fixed all the computers and realized that he wants more than Buy More. This seemed to go over really well with Sarah who I think sees a lot of potential in Chuck.

I also somewhat enjoy Chuck's relationship with his sister, Ellie. She provides some normalcy to the craziness of his life and it could be good to see her get in on the secret one day. I think Sarah Lancaster as part of the spy game would take advantage of her wide range in acting skills while providing a lot of humor as well.

So far I've enjoyed the serious moments of this show more than the light-hearted attempts at comedy. I hope we see more building of the Chuck and Sarah relationship as it's the best part of the show. Basically "Chuck" comes down to two things - fun and enjoyment. If you're looking for an hour of care-free, non-thinking television this is your show. Until next week...enjoy.

Chuck: Chuck Versus The Helicopter

ORIGINAL EPISODES, MONDAYS @ 8PM ON NBC

Well, well we're finally back with the "Chuck" reviews. It's been a while since my review of the pilot episode and it's certainly nice to be back with our good old friend from the Nerd Herd, Chuck Bartowski. After watching the second episode I realize exactly where this show fits in to the grand scheme of television watching. Basically, the only way to enjoy watching this show is if you take it for what it is, a light-hearted dramedy about a guy who unknowingly downloads all the U.S. government's secrets into his brain and has to work with two government agents to stop terrorists. The truth is that if you think about the premise of the show you almost want to laugh at how absurd it sounds; I know I do. But I realized that if you're not expecting a show that takes itself seriously and you watch it just for the fun of it then the show is actually very enjoyable. If you believe this then last night's episode was great.

Chuck is really starting to embrace his new life and dive right into the secret agent lifestyle. Well, okay, not really. But it's funny watching him run around trying to handle everything that's happening. When a government doctor gets blown up, Chuck has to decide who's trying to kill him, Sarah (CIA) or Casey (NSA). The comedic humor as he goes back and forth between who he thinks it is was actually very funny. I even found myself laughing out loud during the dinner party Chuck's sister, Ellie, put together to meet Chuck new girlfriend (well fake girlfriend for the cover), Sarah. Unfortunately for Chuck, he starts thinking Sarah is the double agent and is trying to poisen everyone with her soufle. As it turns out, Chuck should be worrying about Casey instead.

Underlying everything in the episode was Chuck's developing feelings towards Sarah. You can tell he really is falling for her. It could be a while until anything happens though since she's clearly not over Bryce and Chuck kind of pissed her off when he thought she wanted to killed him. Her new cover as the Weinerlicious lady next to Buy More is hilarious! I also love how the high school kids keep going in and out of the store because they want to see her in the low cut short and short skirt. This is definitely something I could see my friends doing back in high school.

Before I go, I have to give a shout out to Sarah Lancaster. I'm so happy she's in this show. She's a great actress but hasn't really gotten that big break just yet. She keeps bouncing between different shows that I've watched over the years (Everwood for one) but hasn't landed anything permanent just yet. Anyway, see you all next week and keep the comments coming.

"Chuck" on NBC - Pilot

SERIES PREMIERE, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 @ 8PM ON NBC

For my first review I want everyone to know that I'm going to keep it short and to the point. So many blogs are pages and pages and pages long and most of us really don't have the time to sit there reading 22 pages. So I'm going to start with shorter posts and if you would like more just let me know.

Through a friend I am generally able to get an opportunity to watch the new shows on NBC about 2 months before they air on tv. This year is no exception although I am a bit behind.

Last night I sat down and popped "Chuck" into my DVD player. Usually I know all about a show before I watch it but this time I heard absolutely nothing about this show. I went in blind, only knowing that it was a 1-hour drama I was about to watch.

As it turns out, the show was decent. Now I've watched enough shows over the years to know that it's never really possibly to peg exactly how a show will fare when everyone else watches it but I think NBC has a decent shot of a moderately rated show with this one.

Pilots are never perfect and this one certainly wasn't. It's basically a story about a geek who works at "Buy More" for the "Nerd Herd," a help desk that runs out of the store helping customers with electronics problems (Sound familiar to anyone? Possibly remind you of any store we all know and love?). Well, it turns out that our main character Chuck is an engineering genius who never got along with his college roommate. His college roommate was not only an engineering genius also (and smarter than Chuck) but had the looks and the physical traits that unfortunately every woman wants. Chuck has no idea but his college roommate is now a spy for the CIA. Just after stealing all the U.S. governments secrets he emails them to Chuck just before he's killed. Unknowingly, Chuck opens his former roommates email (Chuck hadn't heard from or spoken to him since college) and somehow downloads all the information into his brain. The governments goes after Chuck to find out where he has this information but in the end Chuck ends up working for the government when they find out he can access all the information in his head and find patterns that can be used to stop terrorists. And so we have our show...

The pilot suffers from many problems. First, it never ever addresses how in the world Chuck downloaded ALL of the U.S. governments secrets into his head just by looking at them and in only a matter of hours. Second, although the show does have comedic moments (which I think separates it from other cheesy drama's), it turns some of the dialogue into boring, pathetic, "I can't believe they actually wrote those words for the actors to say" statements. Now I don't know about you but when I hear characters talk like they're coming straight out of a cartoon for 3 year olds I can't stand it.

But in the end the show does have some redeeming qualities. The show actually has potential in the storyline if they can straighten out some of the dialogue and get rid of some of the ridiculous and cheesy, action shots they use here and there. Also, they cast Sarah Lancaster as Chuck's sister Ellie. I'm a big fan of Sarah's and any show with her in the cast will at least get a chance from me. Further, this isn't just a straight up drama; there actually a few funny moments. If this was just a plain-old drama I wouldn't even think about checking out episode #2. Lastly, Yvonne Strahovski as Chuck's possible love interest and CIA agent Sarah Walker, is gorgeous, very sexy, and brings some excitement to the show. Her chemistry with Zachary Levi (a.k.a. Chuck) is instantaneous and makes you want to see more.

For now, I say watch. Give it a chance and keep an open mind. The writing should come around as the episodes progress.