Writer: Matt Miller
Director: Jason Ensler
Cast: Zachary Levi (Chuck Bartowski), Sarah Lancaster (Ellie Bartowski), Adam Baldwin (Major John Casey), Joshua Gomez (Morgan Pace), Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah Walker), Tony Todd (CIA Director Graham), Bonita Friedericy (General Beckman), C.S. Lee (Harry Tang), Ryan McPartlin (Captain Awesome), Julia Ling (Anna Wu), Vik Sahay (Lester), Mark Christopher Lawrence (Big Mike), Scott Krinsky (Jeff), Philip Shahbaz (Art Dealer), Keli Daniels (Hotel Employee), Matthew J. Willig (Uri), Brandon Molale (Ivan), Lorena Bernal (Malena) & Grant Thompson (Allan Watterman)
Director: Jason Ensler
Cast: Zachary Levi (Chuck Bartowski), Sarah Lancaster (Ellie Bartowski), Adam Baldwin (Major John Casey), Joshua Gomez (Morgan Pace), Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah Walker), Tony Todd (CIA Director Graham), Bonita Friedericy (General Beckman), C.S. Lee (Harry Tang), Ryan McPartlin (Captain Awesome), Julia Ling (Anna Wu), Vik Sahay (Lester), Mark Christopher Lawrence (Big Mike), Scott Krinsky (Jeff), Philip Shahbaz (Art Dealer), Keli Daniels (Hotel Employee), Matthew J. Willig (Uri), Brandon Molale (Ivan), Lorena Bernal (Malena) & Grant Thompson (Allan Watterman)
Chuck embarks on his first mission, as Morgan and the rest of the Nerd Herd try to help him become store assistant manager...Sarah: You have no reason to be nervous.
I’m not going to leave your side.
Chuck: Me? Nervous? No. Never.
Sarah: Your hand is a little moist.
Chuck: Yeah, it does that when I’m freaking out.
I’m not going to leave your side.
Chuck: Me? Nervous? No. Never.
Sarah: Your hand is a little moist.
Chuck: Yeah, it does that when I’m freaking out.
While certainly a marked improvement over last week's bland episode, I'm still struggling to get excited about Chuck, or even enjoy watching it that much. The premise is fun, the actors are good value (the core of Levi, Baldwin and Strahovski are excellent), but the espionage drama is mishandled and the humour is limp...
Chuck Versus The Tango finds Chuck (Zachary Levi) embroiled in his first mission, accompanying secret agent protectors Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) and John (Adam Baldwin) to a swanky art auction. They're there to catch arms dealer "La Ciudad" – who's trying to sell a painting with an explosive device hidden in the frame. That's not a bad little set-up, but the plot is very thin (the villain doesn't even get a proper, on-screen comeuppance), and our time is divided with a weak subplot with Chuck's friends at the Buy More store...
You see, Chuck is hoping to become store assistant manager by impressing his boss and fending off competition from rival employee Harry (C.S Lee). His plan involves fixing a large amount of computers with the help of best-friend Morgan (Joshua Gomez) and the rest of his "Nerd Herd" co-workers, but his mission at the art auction leaves his friends facing the task alone.
The whole Buy More aspect to the show is leaving me cold at the moment. I don't find Gomez or any of the other Nerd Herd characters particularly funny or interesting (but I admit it's early days), so whenever the show goes back to the Buy More store my attention wanes.
It's much more exciting to see Chuck, Sarah and John on a mission, and the art auction scenes aren't too shabby once we get into them. As mission prep, Chuck has learned how to Tango by taking lessons from his sister's boyfriend Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) – and it comes in handy when he's asked to dance by sexy Malena (Argentine model Lorena Bernal) at the auction, although he soon realizes he's been taught the woman's part!
The frustrating thing about Chuck is that the performances of Levi, Baldwin and Strahovski are several notches above the writing. If it wasn't for Levi's amiable likeability, Baldwin's amusing gruffness, and Strahovski's genial beauty I'd be switching of after 10 minutes. The casting is first-rate, and the simmering sexual tension between Sarah and Chuck is proving enjoyable to watch – despite the fact it's developing too quickly...
I don't see any reason why Sarah and Chuck wouldn't start a real relationship – as both appear smitten already. It may have been wiser to make Sarah more work-focused and unaware of Chuck's feelings – as unrequited love is more interesting than what we're being given here. Sarah seems to want Chuck to make a move, and Chuck (while designed as the "stereotypical geek") doesn't strike me as the socially-awkward, romantically-dysfunctional type. It's not a case of "will they/won't they", it's "when will they".
This was a funnier episode than last week, but the show is still far from laugh-a-minute stuff. I giggled maybe two or three times, and usually only at an actor's performance and reactions, not anything that stemmed from the written jokes or visuals. I'm not demanding the blistering gag-rate of Family Guy and Scrubs, but I'm a firm believer that a comedy needs one solid laugh every minute. Chuck isn't getting anywhere near that.
None of it would matter if the plot could survive without humour -- as even a straight drama with Chuck's premise would be entertaining. But, while there's a handful of nice scenes here (the Tango, the chair interrogation, a fight on a rooftop), the actual storyline once again doesn't sustain its 43-minutes. And the Buy More subplot to help it last the distance didn't appeal.
On the positive side: this episode worked better than last week's in every respect, so hopefully the improvement will continue. They have good actors and an entertaining idea to play with, but they just need more complex stories to sustain the 43-minutes, and a big increase in the joke-rate – because there's nothing worse than a comedy-drama that's successful at neither.
And, incidentally, is 10pm really the ideal timeslot for this? I suspect it would help if Virgin1 showed it at 6pm. It's hardly adults-only material, is it.
21 April 2008
Virgin1, 10.00pm
