stunt_muppet

 

Despite swearing that I was not going to pick up any new fall shows this season (I’ve already got seven to keep track of), I was charmed by the premise of Chuck and ended up watching it anyway. And the results?

 

Not bad. Not bad at all. Not a work of utter mad comedic genius like, say, Psych or Monk, but an enjoyable hour of television with a likable protagonist. But then, I’m a sucker for hopeless socially awkward nerds as central characters, so that may be my own personal taste talking. I liked Chuck. I found him funny. I loved that, while he was definitely a nerd, he wasn’t as exaggerated as TV nerds typically are. He still had a modicum of social skills and seemed like he might be a real, functioning human being (and he plays Call of Duty, and is therefore awesome). His sister was nicely done as a character, too; she tried to help her brother and seemed reasonably intelligent, as opposed to the vacuous tart who most often fills the sibling role in shows like these.

 

Also, “Captain Awesome” amuses me greatly, especially since it sounds like something my friends and I would come up with. XD

 

Now, Sarah. Yes, yes, I could have done with fewer heavy-handed reminders of how hot Sarah is, but hey, comes with the turf of not being an 18-to-25-year-old-male in TV-land. So far, I like Sarah well enough, but she hasn’t done much to distinguish herself from the Requisite Action Babe in every other spy movie on the planet – beautiful, capable, more compassionate than her male colleagues, etc. Then again, this is only the pilot, so perhaps there are further facets to her character that we’ve yet to explore.

 

The show gets points, however, for dressing her in full-out ninja gear when she went to steal Chuck’s computer. As a signal to the audience that we weren’t supposed to take all this seriously, it worked wonders. But for some reason, it didn’t seem too silly or too stupid or even, in context, particularly unbelievable. It’s just…yeah. The FBI has ninjas. No explanation needed.

 

The other agent, whose name I don’t remember at the moment, wasn’t particularly memorable either – the Requisite Cranky Semi-Antagonistic Guy. But again, more personality is bound to emerge once we’re out of the pilot. At least, I hope so.

 

No, what upheld the show was not so much the characters as the premise and the humor – like Chuck disabling a bomb by visiting virus-ridden internet porn, which was maybe the best thing about my entire evening. The humor in this show felt unforced (with a few exceptions, such as Sarah’s ‘dancing’) and made me laugh without benefit of a laugh track. If the show stays consistently funny and the premise holds water after an episode or two, I’ll be all aboard. But it wouldn’t hurt for both of Chuck’s spy handlers to gain more depth in the weeks to come.

-Rrgh. It’s the first ten seconds of the season and there’s ALREADY Camera Crap. It’s like they’re doing it on purpose.

 

-Okay. Hold up. Look, I know everyone already knew it, and it was in the previews and everything, but shouldn’t we have at least built up to The Premier’s Big Revelation (which I will not call by name because calling it by name means acknowledging it’s existence and I WON’T) instead of dispensing with it in the first five minutes? Just because the in medias res thing worked in “Nailed” and “Rampage” doesn’t mean it works here.

 

-Why is it ALWAYS eight hours earlier?

 

-Jake is less obnoxiously smug and smirky today! Huzzah! (And he’s got a rather nummy vest ensemble on, which he works so much better than the “Internal Affairs” suit.)

 

-‘Sup, Sergeant Tripp.

 

-Dammit, I’m forced to admit that Calleigh and Jake are sort of cute together, and Eric’s jealousy is starting to grate on my nerves. Damn it.

 

-Also, Calleigh is so very pretty today, as is Alexx. And Eric.

 

-Thank you for flashing back to the fight instead of the sex. That makes my day a little happier.

 

-Jury’s still out on whether or not I care about Stephanie, the case, or anything yet. She’s less offensive than most of the other relatives of victims in S5, which I guess is a good sign.

 

-I refuse to believe that Ryan and Natalia just happened to run into each other. But Ryan does look very nice with a tiny dusting of scruff. Also, what was Natalia saying about the glass ceiling? I wasn’t paying attention.

 

-Okay, unless it’s actually relevant to the case, I don’t think I care about Natalia’s target practice. But the “Don’t tell anybody” exchange was rather cute.

 

-Aaaaaand we have Plot Twist. Here he is, in all his skinny blue-shirted blonditude. He’s got the eyes, too.

 

-A ha ha. We have Junior Posing. I’m far more amused by this than I should be.

-You know that's gotta be an uncomfortable moment for Horatio. "You know, that kid looks exactly like my ex back in Queens - got the same hair, the same...oh, fuck."
 

-Eeeeeeee Yelina! Yelina Yelina Yelina! And she’s wearing white! She looks so good in white!

 

-She knows. She so knows. She sees right through you, Horatio.

 

-Augh. Eric, just stop it with the jealousy. It’s really annoying.

 

-Aaw. He’s so defensive of Kyle already. It’s cute.

 

-Commercial note: I’m so seeing August Rush. Freddie Highmore is adorable.

 

-You keep his stuff in a barrel? That’s so sleazy of you. No wonder he’s a delinquent.

 

-What? What? Who is this Julia Everly? Military nurse, that could mean they met while she was on shore leave…oh, damn. I’m already writing AU fic about this. Muse, stop it. Stop it now.

 

-I highly doubt that computer drives have that kind of graphics when they’re hooked up. I mean, all mine gets is a “Your Files” menu.

 

-Hey, a flashback. Must be important.

 

-You know, I don’t hate anybody in this case yet. They all seem harmless enough. This is a good sign!

 

-How has she not overpowered him? Kyle’s like, ninety pounds.

 

-Was she even tied up? Oy!

 

-I really hope this kid is as intelligent as you’re giving him credit for, Horatio.

 

-Also, shouldn’t someone have heard that conversation in a crowded prison?

 

-Eric, should you be telling him all this? You probably shouldn’t tell a suspect about the precise evidence against him; that gives him time to clean up or alter something.

 

-AAAGH. IT’S THE DAMN ZOOM LENS THING AGAIN.

 

-…Okay, so Ryan’s involvement in this is officially the most random thing ever. But I’m glad that he’s not actually a suspect, like trailers made it look. The whole thing felt like a plot device to explain where he’s been all this time, but at least it made some sense.

 

-Well, the case got solved inside of an hour, so technically if we didn’t have the Big Revelation subplot, this episode would be over. Very tidy.

 

-Valera’s hair isn’t blond anymore! Yaaaay!

 

-Way to be subtle about this, Horatio.

 

-I…but…wha…oh, DAMN, they went and changed Horatio’s backstory again. Why the hell was he in Florida sixteen years ago? I thought he was supposed to be a New York cop sixteen years ago, except in Season One when he was a rookie CSI in Florida twelve years ago and so wouldn’t have been doing undercover work anyway and…

 

*headdesk* I give up. Not. Going. To bother. The people who write this show can’t be arsed to keep their main character’s history straight; why should I be? But more detailed rantings to come in the full review.

[EDIT] No. Wait. I lied. There IS a way to make this work with his canon as it exists as of Season 4. There totally is. It's not another plot hole! (Well, not a big one, anyway.) 

The fact that I lay awake at night and pondered this until it made sense (and came up with a whole other list of thoughts for the full review) should tell you a little something about the way I watch TV. [/EDIT]

 

That said, the circumstances of Kyle’s existence are far less offensive than they could have been. It does continue Horatio’s legendarily bad relationship track record, at least. I hate to admit it, but I kind of despise this plot arc a little bit less now. Not much, because it still adds another temporal implausibility to Horatio’s backstory, but…a little.

 

(It all makes much more sense if I just accept the fact that Horatio can, in addition to his many other talents, move through timespace at will.)

 

-STOP FLASHING THE LIGHTS ON AND OFF. It’s annoying.

 

-Wait. Wait. I thought the premiere was ninety minutes. Dammit, I’ve been lied to again.

 

-Sadly, we’ve continued the tradition of Alexx getting no fricking screentime per episode. Le sigh.

 

-Holy cheese – what is that preview? Is he actually going to get shot at? Do we get injury? Please say yes.