TV Review: Chuck - "Chuck Versus the Dream Job"

Orion reveals himself! Now, to anyone who pays attention to Internet chatter, this was probably not a big surprise. At the very least, speculation has been rampant ever since word got out of two top name actors appearing as guest stars before the season runs out. Did you guess correctly?

Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) has always been a normal guy. Normal, that is, for someone who works as a government operative in addition to having a job with Buy More. Think Best Buy installer, and you get the picture of his day job. He opens an email from his college roommate, Bryce Larkin, and downloads information about all kinds of top secret spy stuff directly into his head. Chuck's prior personal talent just happens to be putting pieces together. So now this download makes him more than a little valuable to any intelligence agency. Therefore, John Casey (Adam Baldwin) and Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski) get the assignment of keeping him alive. It's not as easy as it sounds.

Why? FULCRUM. These are rogue CIA agents who have decided to work for the terrorists. I have to wonder if other acronym laden groups have had people defect. Nothing shown so far suggests anybody else, but this show could go anywhere. Experience tells me not to ignore the possibilities.

Chuck would like it very much if he could get the Intersect out of his head, but only one person knows how. Orion, the guy who designed the original. He contacts Chuck and wants to meet. This is more than a little disturbing to General Beckman (Bonita Friedericy), who knows Chuck is the most valuable asset she's got against the terrorists. The problem is solved when FULCRUM catches Orion and blows him up inside a helicopter ("Chuck Versus the Predator").

Back at the homestead, Chuck has another situation to deal with. Ellie (Sarah Lancaster), his older sister, is getting married soon and would like dear old Dad to walk her down the aisle. Since Dad left years ago, there's a slight issue with regards to his whereabouts. Sarah locates him though with the help of government computers ("Chuck Versus the Broken Heart"). Time for a road trip!

Now then, the role of the father could have been played by a number of people. All one needs is the correct age for having two adult children. Bring in Scott Bakula! He isn't who I would choose. Yes, he's old enough but Ellie and Chuck don't look like him in the slightest. Oops! Be that as it may, the reunion is a tension filled one. It's been 10 years since either child has seen Dad, and the sting is still present. Ellie has trust issues, so she assumes the worst about everyone even if they never give her a reason. Take her fiance Devon aka Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin), for example. He goes to a bachelor party and a picture is taken of him kissing a very attractive stripper. It's part of one of Chuck's missions, of course. Alex Forrest (Tricia Helfer) needs his badge to help plant a bug in a hospital patient ("Chuck Versus the Broken Heart"). Ellie soon sees the picture, thanks to Lester (Vik Sahay). Chuck's coworker is gleeful, so Ellie is hurt even more.

Article Author: NancyGail

NancyGail writes from her home in Georgia.

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