Chuck is a mixture of a spy show and a geek flavored sitcom. Charles Bartowski receives an email from his college roommate with files from a shared NSA and CIA computer, called the Intersect, that contains all of their combined intelligence data. Because of Chuck’s ability to retain information he stores all that data in his brain and is able to recall it when certain visual stimuli trigger it.
Chuck is your average geeky guy who is the lead Nerd Herder (think Geek Squad) at the local Buy More (think Best Buy). His co-workers are a motley crew of losers and geeks and the hijinks perpetrated at the store provide outstanding comic relief to the action parts of the show.
The government knows Chuck has the Intersect in his head so they send their two best agents to protect him. Major Casey is played by Adam Baldwin. He is a real hard character, has no sense of humor and is a pretty scary man. Agent Sarah Walker is played by the lovely Yvonne Strahovski. Chuck and Sarah meet at the Buy More where he fixes her phone and asks her on a date. Their date is interrupted by Casey trying to capture chuck, and then that is interrupted by Chuck flashing on something and they all go stop a terrorist plan.
The sexual tension between Chuck and Sarah is an integral part of the show. Both of them are wildly different people but intensely attracted to each other. Since Sarah is in charge of Chuck’s welfare she cannot let herself become too attached to him, but she cannot stop the way her heart feels. It is encouraging to see a gorgeous woman like her fall for such a nerdy man like Chuck. It shines a ray of hope for the single geeks out there that there is someone for you.
The action scenes are not up to blockbuster movie levels. But, for a TV show they are pretty decent. The fight scenes can sometimes feel a bit contrived but they do pull off some cool moves. Both Strahovski and Baldwin are very agile and the choreography is very believable. The explosions and other special effects are also on par with other TV effects so they do not detract from the presentation
The comedic timing of the actors is superb. Zachary Levi is hilarious as a typical geek. His sense of humor on camera is similar to his real life sense of humor from what I can gather from the interviews I have watched. The things Adam Baldwin can do with just a simple grunt never ceases to amaze me. He often plays characters that do not talk much, but all he has to do is give one of his signature grunts and I crack up laughing. Yvonne does not add much to the humor portion of the show, but she holds down the straight woman role admirably.
The mixture of geek subjects and stellar action is a recipe for success for me and many of my friends. The humor and character interaction is what makes moves this show from great to purely awesome. I find myself watching each weekly episode at least twice a week. Its Geektime gives Chuck: The Complete First Season an enthusiastic 10 on the d10 of TV watching.
