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There have been some pretty major changes in the world of Chuck since the start of the third season: Morgan became part of the spy world and made an awesome team with Casey; pretty much everybody knows Chuck’s secret, but he’s promised Ellie to retire from the spy world; Morgan accidentally blew up the Buy More; and, after his father’s death, Chuck discovered that he’d been trying to find his missing wife (Chuck’s mother). But most important change of all is that, after two and a half seasons of near misses and wasted chemistry, Chuck and Sarah are finally together.
As much as I love Chuck, season 3 was inconsistent at best until ‘Chuck Versus the Other Guy’. The last six episode mini-series benefitted greatly from finally losing the ‘will-they-won’t-they’ element, telling some fun stories, and then the building sense of concern over what harm the Intersect was doing to Chuck. The final two episodes showcased all that was brilliant about this show, and the start of Season 4 continues this wonderfully.
There was so much to love in ‘Chuck Versus the Anniversary’. Sure, the refitting of the Buy More as a CIA base was one of the more ridiculous things this programme has ever done (and that really is saying something), but it was fun to get to see General Beckman out from behind her computer screen, although I hope the return of the Buy Morons doesn’t take too long to happen. The entire Chuck and Morgan as spies montage was great fun, and the moment where Sarah and Casey denied any knowledge of these two super spies was brilliant. The budget cuts have been done cleverly – by not showing Chuck take out Drago’s ten men, it allows for some real tension and a great moment that shows just how much he matters to Casey, which was probably my favourite moment of the whole episode.
And, most wonderfully of all, the main problem Chuck and Sarah had here was missing each other when Sarah is on a mission, a plot that resulted in some fun scenes and a classic Casey line. When asked if he’d ever been in a long distance relationship, he simply replied, “No, I either leave or they die.” While I don’t expect their relationship to be trouble free, I hope the show allows them to be happy more often than not.
This is one of the best cast programmes on TV at the moment. They usually nail it when it comes to guest stars (Linda Hamilton as Mrs Bartowski, for example) but the heart of the programme is the main characters. In particular, putting Morgan in the spy world has allowed Joshua Gomez to shine, bringing real depth to a character that was originally quite annoying, while Casey steals just about every scene that he’s in thanks to Adam Baldwin being generally amazing. But the show’s best assets are their two stars, Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski, and their sizzling chemistry. Strahovski here proves that she has a real comic touch, while Levi is still as charming as ever as the nerdy spy.
Chuck will never be the funniest programme on TV, but there’s not much on the box at the moment that can rival it for sheer entertainment, wit and heart.
Chuck season 4 airs on Thursdays at 10pm on Living
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