Posted by Janie Logan Sep 21, 2010, 19:22 GMT
Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Morgan (Joshua Gomez) meet the first "Greta" (played by Olivia Munn) of Season 4, a CIA cover identity that will be filled by different guest stars in each episode. Photo courtesy of NBC.
After another hard-fought battle for renewal, Chuck returned for its fourth season on NBC with a premiere that proved exactly why it deserves to be there.
It had a little bit of everything we love--Chuck & Morgan buddy comedy, Chuck & Sarah romance, classic Casey grunting--with the added element of intrigue surrounding Mama Bartowski (Linda Hamilton, already fabulous in her new role). She’s going to be such a great addition to the show this season, methinks, because she’s convincing as the loving mother Chuck remembers, reading him bedtime stories, and as the ruthless spy who can shoot down a bunch of tough Russians.
EP’s Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak wasted no time dwelling on old problems—Chuck’s Intersect is functioning perfectly with the Governor watches left by his father, Chuck’s relationship with Sarah is going strong. They capitalized on my favorite development of Season 3 (letting Morgan into Team Bartowski) by making Morgan the first person Chuck confided in about his search for his mother, with the caveat that he could not tell anyone, especially Ellie:
"She clearly cannot know about our little rogue spy team that we're gonna start here, outside of the government, secret to the spy world, team of two, army of one, highway to the danger zone, live free or die hard--"
While Sarah and Casey embarked on their months-long CIA mission, Chuck and Morgan set off across the world following leads about Mama Bartowski until they came up against a real-world problem: money (or lack thereof). Without government resources, they went $40,000 into debt and faced the wrath of Harry Dean Stanton, a rifle-toting Repo Man.
When his job search was unsuccessful, Chuck turned to a familiar place: the newly revamped Buy More, which he was surprised to learn was now a CIA cover operation. This could have come across as an overly convenient development, but as Alan Sepinwall points out in his review, it makes sense that General Beckman would want to have more control over the government’s most valuable asset.
She was no longer willing to accept Chuck’s retirement, which was fine because once he let Casey and Sarah in on his search for Mama Bartowski, Chuck realized that he needed CIA resources just as much the agency needed him.
Now the question remains, to which I’m sure there will be an amusing solution, how do Jeff and Lester (who are still on the run for suspected arson) come back into the picture? Perhaps General Beckman tolerates their moronic antics to prevent the Buy More staff from seeming suspiciously competent.
The best part of the episode was the rescue scene in Moscow. “Desolation. Frostbite. Must be Russia…" Morgan’s misunderstanding of Sarah’s “sexting” was hilarious. Somehow the not-seeing of the action made it really exciting—as Casey and Sarah listened in fear to the sounds of gunshots and fighting, and then after Chuck set off the EMP and we only saw flashes from the light of the match/gunfire. Chuck’s heroism was offset by the fact that he didn’t have a getaway car waiting and they had to take a cold bus. Yeah…he’s definitely going to need to return to the spy life.
As much as Chuck hates lying to Ellie, we accept it for the same reasons we always did before she found out the truth and made him quit—she’s better off believing that she can protect her little brother, even though it’s her little brother who’s working to protect her. He wants her to feel safe, which is more important than ever now that she’s pregnant with a Baby Awesome.
Other thoughts on “Chuck vs. the Anniversary”:
-The producers have an impressive lineup of geek-friendly guest stars for this season, from 007 Timothy Dalton, to you-wouldn’t-like-him-when-he’s-angry Lou Ferrigno. Hopefully that will be enough to draw in some new viewers because NBC doesn’t seem to be devoting much energy to promoting the show. As of now, Season 4 only has a 13-episode order, but if ratings improve, there could be more.
-It seems like this “Volkoff” is the new Big Bad. He obviously has some ties to Mama Bartowski, and whoever he is, any guy that’s strong enough to have Dolph Lundgren as his underling is probably pretty intimidating.
-As a new series regular, Bonita Friedericy was a welcome addition to the opening credits with her characteristic look of sternness. Having General Beckman around to interact with agent extraordinaire Morgan Guillermo Grimes can only be a good thing.
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