While I like when shows try to re-invent themselves and stay refreshingly new, but whenever shows attempt to increase their ratings by throwing a completely, radically different episode – the end result ends up feeling a bit distasteful. It feels almost like your being pressured by an extraordinarily aggressive used car salesman. Sometimes if the changes are appropriately transitioned into the plot, these ‘gimmick’ episodes can actually become memorable and fan favorites.
Otherwise (more commonly), these episodes leave viewers unimpressed and exasperated, and the following episodes end up feeling a bit out of context with the plot direction. For example, the 3D episode of “Chuck” was fun to watch in many ways, but how exactly did that 3D gimmick contribute to increasing the viewing experience? The scenes that actually demonstrated how effective the 3D visual technique was were few and far between. I went into that episode with high expectations, and left feeling underwhelmed.
On the other hand, this episode had a terrific plot, and the potential of being one of the best episodes in “Chuck’s” lineup. Chuck finally is en route to removing the intersect from his head, and he has several interactions with the creator of the intersect – Orion. Meanwhile, the Buy More gang is eagerly anticipating the arrival of an exciting new computer, which causes the Beverly Hills Buy More gang to be quite jealous. Then Orion sends Chuck a secret computer that will allow them to communicate securely, but the computer is intercepted by Lester. Then Lester nearly destroys both Buy More stores by using the supercomputer to control a military predator aircraft, convinced that he was just playing a simulation game. Big Mike finds the computer and believes that it is the new computer that the Buy More was expecting, and places it in his office under guard. And that’s all just in the first half of the episode…
Somehow the terrific actor, Arnold Vosloo, comes into the story and is terribly misused as a fulcrum agent, and this where the story line starts to lose credibility. Remarkably, Vosloo’s character manages to pinpoint the location of Orion’s computer to the Big Mike’s Office. As if that wasn’t unbelievable enough, Vosloo seems to get his direction from a group of shadowy individuals, presented like Darth Vader-esque Supreme Court Justices in, of course, a large shadowy room… And then there was Orion, whose character was clichéd in every way, as the mysterious informant promising Chuck to help remove the intersect. Then there were the Buy More antics, which have always been a tad unbelievable, now stretched the bounds of reality when Lester, Jeff, Casey, Sarah, Vosloo, and Chuck all tried to steal the supercomputer in the most ridiculous ways imaginable.
As I struggled to place this episode within a realistic context, I then realized that this “Chuck,” and absurdity is a component of the plot! After all, the main character has a computer inside his head – if I can accept that, then I should be able to understand the show is not intended to be evaluated on such a serious level. The show is less about plot and spy action, but more about character dynamics and relationships. Reviewing the show from that perspective allowed me to realize that this episode was, in fact, not so unrealistic after all.
There were also some really great standout moments of comedic brilliance. For example, Jeff’s office in the bathroom, Emmit’s rather destructive visit to the Beverly Hill’s store, and Lester’s reaction to mistakenly identifying Casey as Jeff during the Buy More overnight robbery scene were definitely memorable moments in “Chuck” history. This episode was also quite revelatory episode as well, as we uncovered that General Beckham doesn’t want the intersect to be removed from Chuck’s head (and the fact that she is quite small as well…), but instead wants Chuck to be trained as a spy. This confirms my predictions that the plot would eventually have Chuck evolve into a superspy.
Ultimately, I still felt that this episode was a little over-the-top. The fact that Chuck just uncovered who Orion was in the previous episode and then he suddenly is contacted by Orion was little difficult for me to digest. The plot was starting to move a little too fast in that respect. Also, there were too few Chuck/Sarah interactions in this episode. I give this episode a 7/10. On the plus side, next week’s episode looks like it should be really good. I say that because any show with BSG’s Tricia Helfer in it looks really good.
