DVD: CHUCK SEASON 4.

I Love Chuck.

An Amazon 5* review.

Surprisingly, this isn't what you think it is.

 

Truthfully I really love Yvonne Strahovski who is simply wonderful as agent Sarah Walker. She's absolutely gorgeous but not in a "I-know-I-am-so-worship-me mode" but in an appealing adorable way. That she can act and act well helps a lot (and does most of her own stunts). The only other actress I can think of who has that sort of appeal is Kaley Cuoco of The Big Bang Theory. But then the perfect casting of the three leads is one of the main reasons why this series is so appealing. Strahovski, along with Levi and Baldwin, have great comic chops which work by them playing it more or less straight.

What's also helped is the character development of the leads and the gradual unveiling of their various secrets which help keep things bubbling along. One thing I was concerned with after watching the first series was how the relationship between Chuck and Sarah would develop. After three seasons of the Castle the relationship between the two leads remains unchanged. That hasn't happened here. That relationship -romance, really- has grown as Chuck has grown in confidence as a spy. At the beginning he was gawky and unsure of himself, secretly pining for Sarah who couldn't bring herself to admit she had feelings for him. As this season begins, they are not only living together but Chuck is taking the lead on some missions. The romance sub-plot is now: will they get engaged and if they do, will they get married?

But of course there's also lots of spy work to do. This season we finally meet Chuck's mother (Linda Hamilton) who may or may not be on the side of evil Russian oligarch Alexei Volkov (Timothy Dalton), the season's Big Bad. Dalton is, unsurprisingly, brilliant as the manic murderous mastermind and he looks as if he's enjoying every minute of it. As usual there are plenty of twists and turns and surprise revelations and other guest stars.

Next season will be the last and a truncated 13 episodes at that and I'm actually glad. To be honest, I wouldn't have minded if this season had been the end as it would have been a satisfying conclusion. There's nothing worse than something good going on too long. A good show like this should finish at the top leaving nothing but happy memories in the minds of the audience. When I think of all the other drama shows on TV I like, I can honestly say that I enjoy this one the most. Yes, even more than Dr. Who, The Big Bang Theory, Castle, and How I Met Your Mother.

Oh, and the blooper reel is very funny.

TV/DVD: CHUCK SEASON 2: or HOW GREAT CAN LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT GET?

 

Season 1 wasn't great but more than good enough for me to want to watch/buy Season 2. Which is just as well because it's bloody brilliant. I just love almost everything about it. This is comedy/thriller/romcom/action/spy stuff at its best.

The main cast has grown on me. Zachary Levy as Chuck the underachieving nerd with potential is simply perfect in his part as he manages to be convincingly nerdy while developing into an action lead. Yvonne Strahovski, as Sarah his still-unrequited love interest, is a lot more subtle an actress than I initially gave her credit for. Bonus point for being Australian totally convincing as American, plus another for actually needing a stunt double less than anyone else in the cast. Looking as gorgeous as she does doesn't hurt either.

There's a lot more going on than was revealed in the first season where Chuck got the superduperramalamadingdong computer The Intersect downloaded into his brain making him a national resource at risk from enemy action. Now we gradually find out that almost everyone in his past life is involved with it and that by the end it was pretty much only Chuck who could actually contain it in the first place. There really is a whole load, a mountain's worth even, of skulduggery involved as Chuck learns the secrets of his past.

I've become rather fond of Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin), Chuck's sister's husband to be, nicknamed after his favourite word. My first impression was of a stupid jock but while McPartlin  partly plays him like that, the actor does far more with what could have been a nothing of a role. Awesome is a truly good person, genuinely kind and considerate albeit not the most perceptive person in the world. Originally just a throwaway character for the first season, the writers and producers saw what I've just described and he's now an important part of the cast.

The list of guest stars is to die for. Well, if you're into cult TV or movies that is. Guesting in four episodes is the lovely Jordana Brewster who lives in my memory as the lesbian criminal mastermind who falls in love with her good spy counterpart in the 12-rated spy/comedy/action/lesbian romcom D.E.B.S. (an Ian 5* recommended movie). Here she is the girl who broke his heart and now re-enters Chuck's life only for him to discover she works for the bad guys and always has. British actor Jonathan Cake is great as a tough MI6 agent who strikes sparks with Sarah much to Chuck's displeasure.

In the buildup to the season's climax, we finally meet Chuck's long missing father and he's played by the always-likeable Scott Bakula! (Quantum Leap,you dummies!) And when he gets to say his catchphrase "Whoo boy", my face broke into a grin of sheer geek delight. I'm not going to tell you his precise role in Chuck and his sister Dr Ellie's lives in case you haven't seen it and are planning to )and if you haven't you better). Suffice to say, it's a doozy.

Other names of note include Chevy Chase as a billionaire computer baddie, Arnold 'The Mummy' Vosloo as a (and how did you guess) baddie, Michael Rooker (who should need no introduction), Bruce Boxleitner (Babylon 5) as Ellie's future father-in-law, Morgan Fairchild as Ellie's future...etc, etc, Dominic Monaghan (LOTR) as a British rock star, Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica -the Cylon in the Red Dress!) as a CIA agent with plans to replace Sarah (booo!), and lots of other people I've vaguely or not heard of, and Nicole Richie (famous for being the adopted daughter of Lionel and ex-BFF of Paris Hilton) as Sarah's high school nemesis.

The scripts are sheer delight with wonderfully witty dialogue and some hilarious scenes. Point worth noting, as Levi says in a DVD extra, in his real life, Chuck is the straight man and in his spy life he's the comic relief. Even the idiots Chuck works with in Buy More are more amusing than in the first series, though the Chinese girl doesn't get enough to do. (I like quirky women. My favourite character in Holby City is the ascerbic Ukrainian goth Dr Petrenko.)

And just in case you think I've forgotten, the show wouldn't be nearly as good without the contributions of the actor playing Agent Casey, the true American patriot with menace and a sense of humour that you can cut your fingers to bleeding ribbons on, the one and only, the amazing-

Adam Baldwin

and did I mention Scott Bakula?