Chuck is like an ultra-modern Get Smart or the Pink
Panther series (both of which have also received frequent updates
with varying success). It's an action-comedy-spoof about spies.
The show is about computer tech Chuck Bartowski, who is forced into the world of
espionage when the nation's secrets are downloaded into his head.
The series stars Zachary Levi as the title character,
Adam Baldwin (of Firefly, no relation to the famous brothers) as
John Casey, and Yvonne Strahovski as Sarah Walker. This team of Chuck and his handlers has enormous
chemistry. The interplay between them, and the other spies they encounter, is always entertaining. The show also reminds me of Alias, in the sense you
don't really know which characters are good and which
are evil for certain. They seem to change their
allegiances every time they turn around, and they
never truly trust each other.
Sarah Lancaster (Everwood and What About
Brian) plays Chuck's sister Ellie. At first I felt she was wasted
on this show since it's necessary to the plot that she
often remains on the periphery. Her character's
boyfriend, nicknamed Captain Awesome, is funny as the
butt of jokes but also took a while to show much
depth. However, they are used more creatively as the season progresses.
I'm not always a fan of the character Morgan (Joshua
Gomez, Invasion), either. He and some of the
other Buy More employees on the show are sometimes
annoying or unlikable (with the exception of the golden performance from Julia
Ling as Anna), and the subplots dealing with
intra-store politics seem forced and silly. Yes, it's
humorous that the spies need to maintain day jobs and
real lives as a cover, but if the characters on the
sidelines are never going to be let in on the secret
then they will constantly seem oblivious. Eventually
they need to start wondering where the spies run off
to in the middle of the work day, and why so many strange things
happen, or they're just going
to seem like idiots. Thus, the other spies and the guest stars who are
only on the show for one or two episodes fare better.
It's a large "buy" the audience must make to believe
Chuck becomes a living computer after simply seeing
images flash across a screen. I expected some
explanation in the pilot but none came. However, the
rest of the plot is actually very easy to digest and
follows the logic of the spy genre well. In
retrospect, it may be better that the show chooses to
keep some of this mystery.
Even later in the series, when they revisit the story
of how Chuck was kicked out of Stanford and how the
computer's files were downloaded into his brain (both
thanks to his former friend Bryce), just enough of the
secret is told to keep the story interesting. This
could have been a jump-the-shark moment for the
series, but instead it pulls it off
wonderfully.
The show only grazes the alternative reality genre
itself, since most of the technology shown probably
does exist, just not in the hands of the average
consumer, but its appeal to fans lies in its
references to geekdom. Chuck and Morgan's Halloween
costume is a sandworm from Dune, and a master
remote control for the store's TVs becomes an homage
to The Lord of the Rings' "one ring to rule
them all" line.
Chuck usually hits just the right mix of funny,
thrilling, and sweet. If it can get its development of secondary
characters to become as focused as its tone, it will
be even better.
The show has been picked up by NBC for a second season in 2008-2009.
Tom McMeekin is a writer and artist from Pennsylvania and a recent
graduate of Clarion University. His Web site is TomMcMeekin.com. For more from Tom, check out his ARWZ Blog
Alternative Reality Web Zine: ISSN# 1559-3037
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