I didn't expect to see Cole Barker (Jonathan Cake) again, as I'd wrongly assumed he'd been assassinated by Fulcrum last week, but it turns out he's just been captured and tortured into revealing who the Intersect is. In typical Barker style, the hunky MI6 agent soon escapes (defeating nine men in the process, he later boasts), to return to the Castle for a debrief with Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski), Casey (Adam Baldwin) and Chuck (Zachary Levi). Major Beckman (Bonita Friedericy) wants the gang to capture Dr. Busgang (Robert Picardo), codenamed "Perseus", a founding father of the government's Intersect technology whose research is now being used by Fulcrum to build their own version...
In a brief but invigorating change to normal procedure, it's Sarah and Casey who are sent undercover at a swish party to find Dr. Busgang, with Chuck and Barker providing live reconnaissance from the Castle. Of course, the situation soon takes a turn for the worst after Sarah schmoozes Busgang, and Fulcrum move in to thwart their operation, meaning Chuck is forced to accompany the injured Barker in a mission to rescue their pals. This results in Chuck being handed a gun for the first (the flimsy source of the "lethal weapon" title) and gets a chance to prove his own masculinity to Sarah by pulling off a Barker-style rescue... that doesn't quite go according to plan.In the Buy Snore -- er, Buy More -- there's actually a nicely diverting storyline for Morgan (Joshua Gomez) and Anna (Julia Ling), as the latter mistakes Morgan and Chuck's bachelor pad lease form as documentation for their a surprise love nest. Of course, Chuck also has to break the news to Morgan that he'll be moving in with Sarah instead, so Morgan's plan to put Anna off cohabiting is ultimately pointless. To help him in his task, Morgan enlists Lester (Vik Sahay) and Jeff (Scott Krinsky) in a bid to "repulse" Anna by revealing domestic habits she'll hopefully refuse to live with -- like regular Wii tennis competitions.
As is rather common for Chuck, the storyline here was fairly insubstantial and formulaic fare, but it was the richness of character-based drama that made "Chuck Versus The Lethal Weapon" soar to unexpected heights. For the second episode in a row, Sarah is put in the position of being sexually tempted by the near-perfect, rugged-yet-debonair Agent Barker, while Chuck's heart quietly breaks as he's forced to pretend he's okay with the idea of his faux-girlfriend finding love with someone who appears to be a perfect match for her.
There was nothing especially new about what was going on here, but somehow the love-triangle felt more compelling from Zev Borow and Matthew Lau's pen. It helped that the reactions of Levi and Strahovski (while occasionally too broad from Levi, or too distant in Strahovski), mostly speak volumes in their tiny glances and stolen looks. A big part of Chuck's appeal is the complicated romance between nerd and babe, and the show continues to score hits whenever it plays with that aspect.
Chuck's mythology is also broadened nicely, after we learn that Dr. Busgang believes it's possible the Intersect could be retrieved from Chuck's brain, but it's a process that will require the aide of the Intersect's main creator -- a scientist codenamed "Orion", whom I'm sure we'll eventually get to meet. One thing did confuse me, though: how does Busgang know about "flashes"? Was the Intersect designed to be transferred to a human mind from the start, for people to "flash" intel? I always thought it was a huge super-computer and the fact it was downloaded into Chuck's head was never by design. Maybe I've misunderstood its usage all this time, but I just can't see a plausible reason for why the government would want a database of secrets stuck in their agent's minds.
Quite a few times this season, it's the final ten minutes of development and revelations that leave you beaming, and that proves to be the case here. Barker realizes that Sarah's in love with Chuck, so he leaves for the UK without her; Chuck decides he can't live with Sarah if their relationship is just an act, but finally admits that he's head-over-heels for her; and there's a fantastic reveal where Chuck takes down his cherished Tron poster, and we see that the reverse is covered in clues he's been collecting about the Intersect. This shows that feckless Chuck is a great deal more committed to getting his life back than we expected, and the incentive is undeniably the likelihood of a chance with Sarah.Overall, a humdrum storyline gave us plenty of character moments to savour, another likeable performance from guest-star Cake (who's never unlikeable, despite his character's role), and it all culminated in some mythology-expanding information and a fun refocusing of the Chuck/Sarah dynamic. A solid, entertaining hour.
22 September 2009
Virgin1, 9pm
written by: Zev Borow & Matthew Lau directed by: Allan Kroeker starring: Zachary Levi (Chuck), Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah), Adam Baldwin (Casey), Joshua Gomez (Morgan), Scott Krinsky (Jeff), Vik Sahay (Lester), Bonita Friedericy (General Beckman), Ryan McPartlin (Captain Awesome), Sarah Lancaster (Ellie), Jonathan Cake (Cole Barker), Robert Picardo (Dr. Busgang/Perseus), Vincent Duvall (Duncan) & Julia Ling (Anna)
