Last week The Bee was showing me some of her moves. While carrying her sleuthing bag and Paulie Bear Pickles, she would dash from room to room to escape “them”. Other moves included her diving to the floor as she caught an imaginary vase, rolling away from harm as she evaded a hail of bullets and rescuing Paulie Bear, Ruby Slippers and Vivian Bear from these contrived plots that include car accidents, bombs and other awful acts. Although I clearly chose this anecdote to make a buzz about The Bee (get it?), this demonstration brought to mind my adventures as the kid who loved to play cloak and dagger. I didn’t quite like Nancy Drew but I sort of liked Scooby Doo and the Mystery Gang and that these kids were going from place to place solving mysteries. When NBC premiered ‘Chuck’ I was all for it.
The basic plot of Chuck: Average computer nerd- an IT type though not the arrogant type that makes you feel like an utter idiot for not understanding why your computer screen went blue- receives an encoded e-mail from an old college frenemy, Bryce. The message embeds the only remaining copy of the world’s greatest spy secrets (The Intersect) into Chuck’s brain and Chuck becomes the unlikely spy. Chuck is assisted by Sarah, the blonde hot chick from the CIA and National Security Agent bad ass, Major John Casey, who thinks Chuck is a fool.
The first season was good. Chuck was trying to balance this secret life as a spy while working at a Buy More (think Best Buy). Chuck works at the Buy More because he was kicked out of Stanford after frenemy Bryce lied to their professor and said that Chuck cheated on a test. Chuck never quite recovered. He is the likable loser type; he got in a jam and can’t quite get his head together. (Been there, done that, got the tee shirt).
There are the motley crew what works with Chuck at the Buy More; other than his friend Morgan, I am too lazy to really investigate more. Chuck lives with his sister Ellie, a doctor and her boyfriend Devon ( (also a doctor) whom Chuck calls Captain Awesome.
During the first season, the show was trying to get its footing. Chuck was a goof, scared and nervous about doing these missions and unsure about how to balance his life working as a Nerd Hurd Squad (Think Geek Squad) with the CIA’s demands of him being The Intersect. This season, Chuck seems to have gotten really cocky and that takes away from his charm.
Now, my nitpicky Chuck observations:
Chuck has not jumped the shark but these ^^^ are the sharks a circling because after catching up on three episodes I was like: “What the holey hockey mom?”
What’s the deal with the way the episodes are written now? There are flashbacks that foreshadow something to come. Has someone been watching Psych and decided that if basic cable can feature a show that opens with a flashback then so could broadcast TV! Two of the three episodes opened with flashbacks for ‘foreshadowing’ effects.
What is the deal with the CIA/NSA only having ONE copy of the world’s greatest super secrets, aka The Intersect? Don’t they know about backing stuff up?
Does Chuck get a paycheck from the government?
Almost every episode has him dropping everything to rush . off to complete a mission or to hang with Sarah. While my last two directors were/are pretty cool, I am pretty sure that I would not have a job if I were to just drop what I was doing and roll out of work for what seems like days at a stretch. Even when I’m gone to do two storytimes I get the stink eye from some of my peers.
What is the deal with Chuck’s flashes?
He seems to flash on EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE! Everybody is some type of spy and everybody seems to know that he is The Intersect. Am I supposed to feel safe with this level of incompetence? Let me back up: When Chuck encounters something from The Intersect a series of images flash through his brain and he can identify a terrorist, criminal, person of interest just by an identifying mark, a mere glimpse of the person or a name. It seems that lately, everything causes a flash. How coinky-dinky!
Is this just lazy storytelling or do the writers really think their viewers are this dumb?
Why does Chuck keep getting out of the van/car?
Last season whenever Chuck went on a mission, he was afraid as most average Joes or Joannes would be (aside: all of the b*tch would come out of me if I had a gun pointed at me as much as Chuck does. I will truly admit that my bark is worst than my bite). Chuck used to be reluctant to be put in harms way yet always seemed to accidentally get in the midst of a mission. This season Chuck is cocky and aggressive. Sarah and Casey will tell him to stay in the car/van/ house and Chuck inevitably runs out to ‘help’ and winds up getting in the way, making matters worst.
What?!?
There is some good stuff about Chuck: Zachary Levi is adorable. He is such an aw shucks type of dude. You know the one: that rare cutie that may be the CNA in your kid’s doctor’s office, the guy that is swilling coffee at Wawa or some random patron (although NOT in my library-we won’t go there!) And because its the holiday season and I think Zachary Levi is adorable I will continue to keep Chuck on the schedule. However, if but if the writing and story lines don’t get any better then I am going to call “Shenanigans!”
-r
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