First (Second and Third) Impressions: Chuck

When the Intercet 2.0 was unveiled I had flashes of sharks jumping, but in the nine months since the Chuck finale I talked myself into everything being okay and even gave the chance of the that happening at 10 % during the latest round of Playing the Percentages. Then the first half of the two hour premiere happened and something was missing, the spark that made Chuck the second Best Show of 2009. Chuck was too mopey, there was little Jeffster, and Morgan returned from Hawaii. Sure there were some classic moments like Casey continually calling Chuck a lemon and the Token Hot Chick climbing out of the pool like a Bond Girl.




But the episode just didn’t come together. That was until Casey descended on Mexico with a big grin on his face because he got to use his massive gun. That was I finally realized Chuck was back. And not only was Team Bartowski was back, so was Carina who brought Vinnie Jones along for the ride (who kicks off the long line of guest stars Chuck will face off against this season). And as great a scene the engagement party was with Uncle Casey’s toast, Jeffter trying to drink Vinnie and his boys under the table during the housewarming party took the cake for the episode especially with Casey and his “Beware of Grumpy Neighbor” sign spraying down the festivities.



By the third episode in twenty-four hours, I was fully back on board thanks to some Casey fun and the inclusion of Captain Awesome to the team. Of course Casey would have tried to assassinate a communist dictator for his hero Ronald Regan in the eighties (and failed! Three times!) and naturally he get the nickname Angel of Death by the locals. The episode seemed very similar to the best Firefly episode Jayetown where they both go back to a place they are not welcome only to turn out to be a hero. Then The Ring strikes again kidnapping Captain Awesome which should led to another Awesome episode next week which cannot come too soon after getting three episodes in two days. And we still haven’t even gotten to the Lana Lang who showed up for a half a second in the season promo on Sunday which made me all giddy. Now if you excuse me, I have to pour out some bubbly in the memory of Buster Bluth.



Chuck airs Mondays at 8:00 on NBC. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can download Chuck on iTunes or Amazon Video on Demand (see below along with the first two seasons on Blu-Ray and DVD):