Chuck Season 3

The biggest fear I had last week (and this should tell you something about the a-perilous nature of my life) was that, despite my anticipation, despite my giddiness at the prospect of its return topped off with the unexpected gift of the Season 2 set from TLomL (squee!), Chuck's magic would be gone, or at least greatly diminished. Given the season 2 finale, and the new/augmented direction the show would take as a result, the possibility was certainly there.

And after the first two episodes aired as the season premier, I thought that might be true. Yeah, it was good to see Chuck, Sarah, Casey, Awesome, Ellie and the Buy More gang back, something felt off. I enjoyed the episodes, don't get me wrong, but it was almost like an athlete coming back from an extended time injured to be almost his former self (obviously, this was an athlete who didn't take PEDs). Were all those Subway sandwiches bought in vain?

Nope. Episode 3, "Chuck Versus the Angel De La Muerte," proved that the show was the same goofy bundle of action, comedy, romance, and fun that it's been, it just needed those first two episodes to establish its new direction. Between Chuck's new abilities, and new organizational nemesis there was enough foundation to be laid that it makes sense the episodes wouldn't feel quite the same.

What did this episode feature? The episode featured Awesome being awesome, Ellie getting to do something other than be in the background/nag her brother, Sarah and Chuck (hopefully) putting the crushes aside for awhile, Casey being all sorts of growly-gruntily awesome, getting to see another aspect of the Intersect 2.0. A decent bad guy, a great bad guy trying to be not-so-bad, and a jaw dropping cliffhanger.

Should've seen the cliffhanger coming, but was enjoying myself too much to look around for it (which made it so effective); and NBC's promo department have ruined it between commercials for next week/promo photos they've released. Oh well.

It wasn't quite a pure return to formula, there was only a passing reference to any of the good people down at the Buy More(which we can use less of--as long as it's not too much less), which is good, really--I'm not against growth, I'm just not crazy about fixing what ain't broke.

I should note, in light of episode 3, the previous two seem better, which is a plus.

If you missed these episodes, fear not, you can still catch them thanks to the magic of teh Intranets.