Chuck – Chuck vs. The Beard
While Chuck vs. The Beard might not have been the deepest, darkest, most thought provoking or daring episode of Chuck, it was so undeniably fun that I just found myself grinning throughout the whole thing. Chuck vs. The Beard, in list form:
1) I think it’s going to be great for the long term Chuck Bartowski character development that Morgan finally knows his secret. The pleasure and challenge of this season has been Chuck’s sudden character shift and all the resulting reverberations in his private life. In the spy world, he’s much more awesome now – he’s intelligent and skilled, and he comes with a sweet instant-Ninja feature (even if it is pretty buggy). It’s entirely reasonable that his relationships outside the spy world would begin to disintegrate now that his identity is aligned in a new way. Still, the audience misses what Chuck once was, and Sarah misses him as well. Morgan is a great way to keep Chuck grounded in both places, and his eternal adoration of Chuck’s abilities make it completely acceptable to him that Chuck would get picked by the CIA. He immediately sympathizes with how tough Chuck’s life has been these past few years, but he also frames Chuck’s life in terms of the same familiar relationship they’ve always had (which is why it’s so nice that Morgan complains about Chuck flashing on Duck Hunt).
This shot made absolutely no sense in the context of the scene. It is a Jeffster! glamor shot, plain and simple, with no explanation or apology. And it is excellent.
2) Triumphant return of Jeffster!
3) While the whole Buy More plot was basically a set-up for a series of silly sight gags and then Jeffster!, I do think the continuing allegiance to the Buy Moria nation state has a nice role to play in the whole tone of the show. Aside from the lovely flag tableau, my favorite moment of Buy More patriotism came from this week’s bad guys, excellently played by that one dude from The Drew Carey Show and that other guy from Reno 911. “So that’s the sound of liberty” has to be the best blurb Jeffster! could ever hope to get.
4) As with almost any time I use a list on this blog, this list is just an excuse to post this, which I saw linked around twitter today, and which made me laugh for a very long time.